Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/206

162 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 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 mag nitude of the then approaching crisis, and in the document now under consideration proposed a ju dicious scheme of rescuing the country from the horrors of a civil war, which soon after desolated so large a portion of the land. His perfectable plan was one of African colonization, somewhat similar to one seriously entertained by his successor, Mr. Lincoln. Had President Fillmore s scheme been adopted, there are some who think that it would have been successful, and that our country might have been blessed with peace and prosperity, 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 colo nization. Mr. Fillmore retired from the presidency March 4, 1853, leaving the country at peace with other lands and within her own borders, and in the enjoyment of a high degree of prosperity in all the various departments of industry. In his cabinet there had never been a dissenting voice in regard to any important measure of his administration, and, upon his retiring from office, a letter was ad dressed to him by all its members, expressing their united appreciation of his ability, his integrity, and his single-hearted and sincere devotion to the pub lic service.