Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/483

Rh without war tranquillity throughout the length and breadth of our broad land, and if in indulging this delusive dream he erred, it was surely an error that leaned to virtue's side. There is a legend "that he serves his party best who serves his coun- try best." In Mr. Fillmore's action it is confident- ly believed that he thought not of party or of per- sonal interests, but only of his bounden duty to his country and her sacred constitution.

One of the president's earliest official acts was to send a military force to New Mexico to protect that territory from invasion by Texas on account of its disputed boundary. Then followed the passage by a large majority of the celebrated compromise measures, including the fugitive-slave law. The president referred to the attorney-general the ques- tion of its constitutionality, and that officer in a written opinion decided that it was constitutional. Fillmore and the strong cabinet that he had called around him concurred unanimously in this opinion, and the act was signed, together with the other com- promise measures. The fugitive-slave law was ex- ceedingly obnoxious to a large portion of the Whig party of the north, as well as to the anti-slavery men, and its execution was resisted. Slaves in several instances were rescued from the custody of the United States marshals, and a few citizens of Christiana, in Pennsylvania, were killed. Although it was admitted that Fillmore's administration as a whole was able, useful, and patriotic, although his purity as a public man was above suspicion, and no otlier act of his administration could be called unpopular, still, by the signing and attempted en- forcement of the fugitive-slave law and some of its unfortunate provisions, of which even Mr. Webster did not approve, the president, as has been already stated, lost the friendship and support of a large portion of his party in the north.

Mr. Fillmore's administration being in a political minority in both houses of congress, many wise and admirable measures recommended by him failed of adoption ; nevertheless we are indebted to him for cheap postage ; for the extension of the national capitol. the corner-stone of which he laid 4 July, 1851 ; for the Perry treaty, opening the ports of Japan, and for various valuable exploring expedi- tions. When South Carolina in one of her indig- nant utterances took Mr. Fillmore to task for send- ing a fleet to Charleston harbor, and he was offi- cially questioned as to his object and authority, the answer came promptly and to the purpose, " By au- thority of the constitution of the United States, which has made the president commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and who recognizes no re- sponsibility for his official action to the governor •of South Carolina." With stern measures he re- pressed filibustering, and with equal firmness ex- acted from other countries respect for our flag. Mr. Fillmore carried out strictly the doctrine of non-intervention in the affairs of foreign nations, and frankly stated his policy to the highly-gifted Kossuth, who won all hearts by his surpassing eloquence. At the same time, however, it was clearly shown how little the administration sym- pathized with Austria by the celebrated letter ad- dressed to her ambassador, Hulsemann, by Daniel Webster, who died soon after. His successor as secretary of state was Edward Everett, whose brief term of office was distinguished by his letter declining the proposition for a treaty by which England, France, and the United States were to disclaim then and for the future all intention to ob- tain possession of Cuba. In his last message, however, the president expressed an opinion against the incorporation of the island with this Union.

Nothing in Mr. Fillmore's presidential career was, during the closing years of his life, regarded by himself with greater satisfaction than the sup- pressed portion of his last message of 6 Dec, 1852. It was suppressed by the advice of the cabinet, all of whom concurred in the belief that, if sent in, it would precipitate an armed collision, and he readily acquiesced in their views. It related to the great political problem of the period — the balance of power between the free and the slave states. He fully and clearly appreciated the magnitude of the then approaching crisis, and in the docu- ment now under consideration proposed a judi- cious scheme of rescuing the countiy from the horrors of a civil war, which soon after desolated so large a portion of the land. His perfectly prac- ticable plan was one of African colonization, some- what similar to one seriously entertained by his successor, Mr. Lincoln. Had President Fillmore's scheme been adopted, it is quite possible that it would have been successful, and that our coun- try might have been blessed with peace and pros- perity, in lieu of the late war with its loss of half a million of precious lives and a debt of more than double the amount of the estimated cost of his plan of colonization. Mr. Fillmore retired from the presidency, 4 March, 1853, leaving the country at peace with other lands and within her own bor- ders, and in the enjoyment of a high degree of prosperity in all the various departments of indus- try. In his cabinet there had never been a dissent- ing voice in regard to any important measure of his administration, and, upon his retiring from of- fice, a letter was addressed to him by all its mem- bers, expressing their united appreciation of his ability, his integrity, and his single-hearted and sincere devotion to the public service.

The surviving member of Fillmore's cabinet, who also sat in the 27th congress with him, in a communication, with which he has favoi'ed the writer, says : " Mr. Fillmore was a man of decided opinions, but he was always open to conviction. His aim was truth, and whenever he was convinced by reasoning that his first impressions were wrong, he had the^ moral courage to surrender them. But, when he had earefidly examined a question and had satisfied himself that he was right, no power on earth could induce him to swerve from what he believed to be the line of duty. . . . There were many things about Mr. Fillmore, aside from his public character, which often filled me with sur- prise. While he enjoyed none of the advantages of early association with cultivated society, he pos- sessed a grace and polish of manner which fitted him for the most refined circles of the metropolis. You saw, too. at a glance, that there was nothing in it which was assumed, but that it was the natu- ral outward expression of inward refinement and dignity of character. I have witnessed, on several occasions, the display by him of attributes appar- ently of the most opposite character. When as- sailed in congress he exhibited a manly self-reli- ance and a lofty courage which commanded the admiration of every spectator, and yet no one ever manifested deeper sensibility, or more tender sym- pathy, with a friend in affliction. ... He seemed to have the peculiar faculty of adapting himself to every position in which he was called to serve his country. When he was chairman of the commit- tee of ways and means, members of congress ex- pressed their sense of his fitness by declaring that he was born to fill it. When he was elected vice- president, it was predicted that he would fail as the presiding officer of the senate, yet he acquitted himself in this new and untried position in such a