THE

AMERICAN REVIEW.

No. LXXXVIII.

FOR APRIL, 1852.

THE ADMINISTRATION: THE PARTY.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE, AND WHAT IS TO BE DONE.

pended useful legislation; have given wide. play to chicanery and intrigue; have interrupted the natural flow of business; have stringently and hurtfully compressed party bonds; have troubled social relations; have wrought up State and sectional animosities; and, for months, have filled the whole country with political commotion. Invaluable to Americans as has been their enjoyed right of electing their Chief Magistrate, its exercise-though now acknowledged by all the world to be without danger-has not been free from many admitted evils.

A PRESIDENTIAL election has usually been deemed the most violent and trying movement of our civil system. Its original regulation received the especial care of the framers of our Constitution, and its subsequent working has centred the attention of all who have watched our great republican experiment. It is the most formidable of our organic operations, because it is the least frequent, and, unlike every other, is not local in its scope, but simultaneously agitates every portion of the national fabric; because it brings most momentous political principles into direct collision, and kindles The present Presidential canvass remarkmost ardent popular passions; and because ably differs from its predecessors in its comit is the least reducible to the laws and cal-posed and comparatively innoxious character. culations of political science, and has been It has, of course, set professional politicians the least satisfactorily tested in the history all agog, but has as yet produced little or of nations. It is an inability to sustain this no excitement among the people. The exsame trial that makes a French republic so ecutive and administrative functions of the perfectly impracticable, and a consciousness government go on as equably as ever. of this inability that is now constraining where would a stranger in our midst see France to bend passively under the most op- any thing that indicates the recurrence of pressive usurpation. Our own civil organi- an event which has so often shaken the nazation has never yet been seriously endan- tion from centre to circumference. How is gered, or impaired by this experimentum this unwonted calm to be accounted for? crucis, and in no way have its excellence The reason is obvious and unmistakable; it and durability been more auspiciously de- lies in the general popular contentment with termined. But our Presidential elections, the present administration. The calm is though they have not produced or been but the quiet of perfect satisfaction. The near producing convulsions or shocks, have great stimulus to political as well as to almost uniformly been attended with power- every other action, is avoidance of evil; but ful perturbations. They have stimulated in this case there is no stimulus, because improper executive interference; have sus- there is no evil, either real or fancied. There

VOL. IX. NO. IV. NEW SERIES.

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is no agitation, because the silent, peaceful | The House of Representatives at once bepower of attraction is every where predomi- came a scene of the fiercest turmoil. Sixtynant. There is no movement, because there is no motive for a change.

The present administration went into power at the most critical juncture our country has ever experienced; and, though it has not had the advantage of a party majority in either branch of Congress, it has carried itself through its difficult term of office, thus far, with a sagacity and a success that have silenced complaint and challenged universal admiration. It has had to meet the most momentous foreign and domestic questions-questions, upon the decision of which depended peace or war abroad; and other questions, which involved the issues of life or death at home-but it has favorably settled them all, and has done it too without the sacrifice of a single legal sanction, a single moral principle, or a single honorable sentiment. Its strength and patriotic courage have never failed it an instant under any pressure of circumstances, and have throughout kept it true to the only safe path. It may now justly be said, that at no period since the foundation of our government have our national affairs, both internal and external, been in a more secure or a more honorable position than at the present time. The administration has been thoroughly Washingtonian in principle and in spirit, and has been conducted with a wise, comprehensive, unselfish, liberal, conciliatory policy, every way worthy of the earlier days of the republic. Other administrations may have done more to startle or to dazzle, but not one, it is certain, has been more substantially useful.

two ballotings were had, in vain, for Speaker, and every balloting was made fightingground. Ambition, pride, selfishness, jealousy, passion, hate, fanaticism, in short, every feeling that can stimulate energy, were enlisted in the hot encounter. It was not until the twentieth day, and the sixty-third trial, that the Speaker was chosen, and then by an expedient totally unprecedented. A fortnight longer was consumed in completing the organization of the House, and the whole proceeding, instead of settling any thing, left the sectional parties more implacably hostile than ever. In the Senate, too, the conflict soon commenced in earnest, and was carried on for six months, up to the time of General Taylor's death, with constantly increasing vehemence. Reconciliation became every week more difficult. Two plans of settlement were introduced, the one by the Executive, partial and temporary, the other by a special committee of the Senate, complete and permanent; but neither would yield to the other, and both were opposed by a common enemy. But, mean time, the necessity for action was every day becoming more urgent. The excitement at the South was fearfully increasing, and threats of secession were freely proclaimed. The press was using the boldest and most inflammatory language. State Conventions were summoned to provide for an emergency, and a general convention of the Southern States was held at Nashville, preliminary to the formation of a Southern Confederacy if the Missouri line of compromise were not accepted as an ultimatum. Even the most The condition of our country at the time moderate of the Slave States were forming of General Taylor's death, and President a settled purpose to resist the application of Fillmore's accession to office in July, 1850, the Wilmot Proviso, to the last extremity. was one of unprecedented danger. The anti- Moreover, the civil condition of the territory slavery movement, which was commenced in question required immediate legislation. fifteen years before, had been continually California was in the most anomalous posigathering power and boldness. Artfully tion, being virtually a State, and yet not a stimulated and directed by demagogues, it member of the Federal Union. Ütah had had become a controlling political power, no government at all, and New-Mexico nothand had effected the most wonderful party ing but military rule. A boundary dispute changes. The admission or the exclusion of between New-Mexico and Texas was fast slavery from California, Utah, and New-growing into bloody civil war. The LegisMexico, became the all-exciting question of lature of Texas, convened in extra session, the day, and brought the North and the resolved to maintain jurisdiction by force, if South face to face in stern hostility. The necessary, over the disputed region against opening of the thirty-first Congress was the New-Mexico or the United States. Approsignal for commencing the decisive battle.priations were made, volunteer companies

mending that the doubtful claim of Texas be settled by a liberal indemnity. A strong and yet pacific letter was sent to the Governor of Texas, explaining the action of the previous administration, and removing all ground for anger or jealousy; and yet, to be prepared for every contingency, military reinforcements were dispatched without delay to New-Mexico. After a contest, such as had never before been waged in an American hall of legislation, the Compromise was prostrated in the Senate, but only for a moment; with new form and fresh strength it rose again, and prevailed. In the House it had to pass throngh another violent but shorter struggle, and, after repeated narrow escapes, was finally successful.

were raised, aid was proffered by General | Texas, declaring a determination to mainQuitman and other Southern Governors, tain the supremacy of the Federal authority manifestoes were put forth by Southern over entire New-Mexico, and yet recommembers of Congress, of a determination to make common cause with Texas, and a violent collision appeared almost inevitable. Such was the crisis when Millard Fillmore became President, on the 10th of July, 1850; a crisis which every way justified the solemn declaration of Mr. Webster, three days afterwards, in the Senate: "There has not been, in my acquaintance with the people of this country, a moment in which so much alarm, so much sinking of the heart, has been felt at the state of public affairs, in a time of peace, as is now experienced." The death of General Taylor had greatly darkened the prospect. His Southern birth, his vast personal popularity, his devoted patriotism, calm temper, and equable judgment, had, it seemed, preeminently qualified him to be the pacificator of his country. The nation mourned his loss in gratitude for the past, but more in bitterness for the future.

Mr. Fillmore took the charge of affairs under great disadvantages. A Northern man, known to be adverse to slavery on principle, and on that ground strenuously opposed by the South when a candidate; with no uncommon endowments, or marked antecedents, or distinguished reputation; without the natural prestige and influence that belongs to a President by popular election; and with the prejudice which a humiliating example had attached to the name of President by accident, he seemed, most unfortunately, ill-adapted to the emergency. But he showed no sign of faltering. With firmness and discernment he took the bearings of his position, and quickly decided his course. A new administration was formed, whose ability and all-comprehensive patriotism commanded general confidence. The master intellect of the age was its chief Counsellor. With one accord, casting aside all personal considerations, and local ties, and sectional influences, the President and his Cabinet cut free from the plan of their predecessors, and threw their whole influence in favor of the Compromise Bill, which, to all appearance, was already doomed in the Senate. The action of the administration admirably combined promptness with wisdom, and firmness with conciliation. A message was transmitted to Congress, calling attention to the threatening attitude of

Legislation upon this fearful subject was now terminated, but the end was not yet. It is often far easier to pass laws than to make them respected. The province of the administration had thus far been to advise; it was now its duty to execute. Majorities in both sections of the country were profoundly dissatisfied with the adjustment, each because it believed that too much had been yielded to the other. At the South, the admission of California as a free State, and the surrender of slave territory to NewMexico, were denounced with extreme bitterness, and resistance was invoked at all hazards. At the North, the Fugitive Slave Law was inveighed against and opposed with unexampled vehemence. But, from the outset, the administration did its duty. It appointed the most trustworthy commissioners; gave all its agents the most ample powers and instructions, both in regard to preventing resistance to the law and punishing it when it occurred; issued proclamations, and took advantage of every proper occasion, by speech or letter, to inculcate respect for the legislation of the country, and infuse the spirit of compromise. Every where, throughout the whole land, the Federal authority was maintained with fidelity and vigor, and yet not the slightest cause for just offense was given either to the North or the South. With all these favorable influences, the popular excitement, in both sections of the country, gradually subsided, and patriotism and prudence regained their equilibrium. The result is, that there has not been a period for