New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-01-26

believe. Ex.Presdente, 70 DO sure, are not
always exactly dead; aud even Mr. John Tyler,
who never, during his official days, had suPet
fluffy of vitality, has recently shown the usual
sign of life in decayed politician, and has writ
ten q letter. The Ex-President, therefore, may
be considered not 70 much dead as done for"
He is like an old coat past service when skies
are clear, but pretty sure to be brought out In
rainy weather-a garment shabby, but Passaoe
in fog; split here and there, but in all its
looped and Widowed raggedness better than
nakedness; or, to pursue the figure, fit enough
to be straw stuffed and hoisted upon pole to
terrify the crows. OF such it may be said that,
while there is life in them, there is letter.
SO Mr.. Fillmore, from that very library,
We suppose. which witnessed his Know
Nothing adurations, wrote, upon the 18th
ultimo, an epistle to Somebody, which
only now do We notice emerging from
Somebody's pocket into the public prints.
1t appears that Somebody requested Mr..
Fillmore to go to the South as Grand
Plenipotentiary Pacfcator. For that high
Office by Somebody was Mr. Fillmore nominated,
and by Somebody was he unanimously confirmed
at Union meeting held by Somebody expressly
for the purpose. Mr. Fillmore is urged to I'm.
dertake this patriotic mission" He may smell
tar and SEQ prospective feathers. He may have
fearful dream of being ordered :" to leave
"within four and twenty hours" He may feel
an uncomfortable rail between his august legs;
or q still more uncomfortable cravat Of the
hempen variety around his highly respectable
neck. So he has issued in his own behalf and
has served upon himself writ of Ne Great. Ii
the Union can be saved by etter.writing he has
sheafs of pens and quarts of ink and reams OF
paper at its service; but if the Union can only
be saved by dangerous journey in midwinter,
why, the Union may be damned. This is what
Mr. Fillmore with much verbal gentillty and
chaste circumlocutioD, says; and it is the most
sensible thing be has ever said in his life. E1-
Presidents can be better employed than in going
upon tom-fool errands for anybody.
But while declining to travel for the benefit of
the public health, Mr.. Fillmore is willing to
talk in that behalf, aud to talk, as we think, in
a discreditably loose way. Here is what Mr..
Fillmore wants"
What wan, from the Republican puty
dominant the North that they least hs oons-Tvs
tive portion them ready and willing forward aud
repeal ali Unconstitutional slave laws i've up 70 the CON
iahfuly and treat our Southern brethren friends When
hs sy such s,s su oaS S 70 o
example and harmony and aisns Affection between
the North and the South"
In order fully to estimate the unspesksby
amiable and redundantly fraternd spirit Of this
tid-bit, by which it appears that Mr.. Fillmore is
anxious TO preserve the peace BY quarreling with
his neighbors, we must bear in mind the posture
of public aiairs. The strongholds Of the Govern
ment in the hands Of rebels; the American flag
dishonored by the hostile artillery of thieves and
pirates; the country assailed by laud-rats in
the Treasury, and by water-ra.s in Pensa.
cola Bay; the Constitution de6ed by dele
gates in convention and by mad and drunken
rioters, with arms on their shoulders; Senators
false TO their osths, and eaten up BY undignihed
passion striding from that Chamber which has
been the scene alike Of their oaths taken and Of
their Oaths broken; the country wsntonly
alarmed, and its great interests gratuitously
threatened because law-abiding men will not
submit TO law.breaking men; at this mo
ment, when we are TO be bulied out Of the
ment of the elective franchise, Mr.. Fillmore,
who breathes the same air and treads the same
soil with u.s. lectures us upon our short
comings and our sins, and drawls out his stale
reproachss as if he were our keeper or our
king. He il out of date. He learned the fossil
formula which for the thousandth time be
DOW reiterates long ago, when he was
in a public place, if not in the public
service. When he was in fashion, several years
since, it was the fashion, also, to talk as he
talks now. He assumes that the Republican
party is not ready to repeal unconstitutional laws;
is not ready TO live up TO the compromises Of the
is not ready to execute the laws Of
Congress honestly and faithfully; is not ready to
treat our Southern brethren az friends This,
we, upon our part rejoin, is something more than
mere gratuitous assertion. 1t is the vulgar and
unchartable gossip Of the pot-house; it is the
small change of political sneaks; il is the weak
and witless subterfuge of creatures with an ire
sistible propensity to crawl, and with just sense
enough to be ashamed of the degradation; of
men whose souls are in the stocks, and who
have the prices-current written upon their hearts.
But if Mr.. Fillmore be really in earnest, we
should like 10 ask him why we are 10 be driven
ut the bayonet's point to the stools Of repentance
which he has been SO kind as TO arrange for usl
Was the lamp so nearly burned out, and were
we such incorrgible sinners, that nothing could
bring us to sense of our perilous state but the
,raitorous pranks and headlong perjuries of South
Carolina Does Mr.. Fillmore believe that the