of the Departments of the Government; as shown in disgracing meritorious naval officers through prejudice or caprice; and as shown in the blundering mismanagement of our foreign relations.

"14. Therefore, to remedy existing evils, and prevent the disastrous consequences otherwise resulting therefrom, we would build up the 'American Party' upon the principles hereinbefore stated.

"15. That each State Council shall have authority to amend their several constitutions, so as to abolish the several degrees, and substitute a pledge of honor, instead of other obligations, for fellowship and admission into the party.

"16. A free and open discussion of all political principles embraced in our platform."

On the 22d of February, the day after this platform was adopted in the Council, the nominating convention met in the same place, with two hundred and twenty-seven delegates, all the States being represented, except South Carolina, Georgia, Maine, and Vermont. Ephraim Marsh, of New Jersey, was chosen chairman, and the inharmonious work of the convention was begun. Some time was consumed in disposing of cases of contested seats, but the greatest heat was exhibited in discussing the question as to the power of the American National Council to prepare and put upon the convention a platform which it would be obliged to respect. Finally a resolution was introduced denying such power, and declaring that the convention would not nominate candidates who would not favor the exclusion of slavery north of 36° 30'. But this resolution was laid on the table, by a vote of one hundred and forty

one to fifty-nine. But this general result was so offensive to the anti-slavery delegates, that about fifty of them withdrew, and most of them went into the new Republican party, giving their support to John C. Fremont. A ballot was then taken for President, with this result: M. Fillmore, 71; George Law, 27; Garrett Davis, 13; John McLean, 7; R. F. Stockton, 8; Sam Houston, 6; John Bell, 5; Kenneth Raynor, 2; Erastus Brooks, 2; Lewis D. Campbell, 1; and John M. Clayton, 1.

The second and final ballot was then taken, and stood: Fillmore, 179; Law, 24; Raynor, 14; McLean, 13; Davis, 10; Houston, 3. Mr. Fillmore was then declared to be the nominee for the Presidency, and a ballot taken at once for the second place, as follows: A. J. Donelson, of Tennessee, 181; Percy Walker, of Alabama, 8; Henry J. Gardner, of Massachusetts, 8; Kenneth Raynor, of South Carolina, 8. Andrew Jackson Donelson was then declared to be the nominee of the convention for the Vice-Presidency. Thus, on the 25th of February, ended this first and last Know-Nothing or Native American National Nominating Convention.

On the 17th of September, 1856, the weak Whigs met in convention in Baltimore. Edward Bates was chosen chairman, and the convention adopted the Native American or Know-Nothing nominees, and adjourned after adopting this their last

PLATFORM.

"Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States, now here assembled, hereby declare their reverence for the

Constitution of the United States, their unalterable attachment to the National Union, and a fixed determination to do all in their power to preserve them for themselves and their posterity. They have no new principles to announce ; no new platform to establish; but are content to broadly rest, where their fathers rested, upon the Constitution of the United States, wishing no safer guide, no higher law.

Resolved, That we regard with the deepest interest and anxiety the present disordered condition of our national affairs; a portion of the country ravaged by civil war, large sections of our population embittered by mutual recriminations; and we distinctly trace these calamities to the culpable neglect of duty by the present National Administration.

"Resolved, That the Government of the United States. was formed by the conjunction in political unity of widespread geographical sections materially differing, not only in climate and products, but in social and domestic institutions; and that any cause that shall permanently array the different sections of the Union in political hostility, and organized parties founded only on geographical distinctions, must inevitably prove fatal to a continuance of the National Union.

"Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States declare, as a fundamental article of political faith, an absolute necessity for avoiding geographical parties. The danger, so clearly discerned by the Father of his Country, has now become fearfully apparent in the agitation now convulsing the Nation, and must be arrested at once if we would preserve our Constitution and our Union from dismemberment, and the name of America from being blotted out from the family of civilized nations.

"Resolved, That all who revere the Constitution and the Union must look with alarm at the parties in the field in the present Presidential campaign-one claiming only

to represent sixteen Northern States, and the other appealing mainly to the passions and prejudices of the Southern States; that the success of either faction must add fuel to the flame which now threatens to wrap our dearest interests in a common ruin.

"Resolved, That the only remedy for an evil so appalling is to support a candidate pledged to neither of the geographical sections now arrayed in political antagonism, but holding both in a just and equal regard. We congratulate the friends of the Union that such a candidate exists in Millard Fillmore.

"Resolved, That, without adopting or referring to the peculiar doctrines of the party which has already selected Mr. Fillmore as a candidate, we look to him as a welltried and faithful friend of the Constitution and the Union, eminent alike for his wisdom and firmness, for his justice and moderation in our foreign relations, for his calm and pacifie temperament, so well becoming the head of a great nation, for his devotion to the Constitution in its true spirit, his inflexibility in executing the laws; but, beyond all these attributes, in possessing the one transcendent merit of being a representative of neither of the two sectional parties now struggling for political

supremacy.

"Resolved, That in the present exigency of political affairs, we are not called upon to discuss the subordinate questions of administration in the exercising of the Constitutional powers of the Government. It is enough to know that civil war is raging, and that the Union is in peril; and we proclaim the conviction that the restoration of Mr. Fillmore to the Presidency will furnish the best, if not the only, means of restoring peace."

26-M

CHAPTER XIX.

ORGANIZATION OF THE NEW REPUBLICAN PARTY-PREPARATORY ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE-FIRST REPUBLICAN CONVENTION NOMINATIONS PLATFORM FREMONT'S LETTERS OF ACCEPTANCE.

ON

N the 22d of February, 1856, a large number of delegates, representing all the Free States and some of the Slave States, met in convention at Pittsburgh, to take into consideration the organization of the "Republican Party," for the purpose of counteracting what was claimed to be the erroneous and dangerous tendencies in the administration of public affairs. This convention acted harmoniously and without delay, but without doing more than to issue an elaborate address to the people of the country, and summon them to send delegates "in numbers three times as large as your representation in Congress, to meet in convention at Philadelphia, on the 17th day of June next, to nominate candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the United States."

This address set forth the principles of the Convention, and the purposes to be promoted by the proposed organization. It declared unalterable devotion to the Constitution, the ends for which it was framed, and the means provided for their attainment; that the powers the Constitution conferred on the