The State guard., 1848-07-11

sent no valid objection. He had throwf
 himself upon the principles of the Missou
 ri compromise, extending the line on tn,
 parallel of thirty six and half degrees 0
 north latitude to the Pacific, south c
 which the whole question of slavery wa
 to be left to the immediate control of tha
 portion of the Union. had indeed sael
 letter from MT. Yancey published in ;
 Montgomery paper putting what l con
 sidercd forced and absurd construction
 upon a paragraph in the Berks county let
 ter. Happening to meet Mir. Buchanan
 at the Presidents levee on Friday evening
 1 called his attention to this letter, anC
 asked him if he intended to be understood
 as claiming that the population of terri
 tory in an unorganized capacity had the
 right to control the question of slavery il
 such territory. He declared that no sucl
 idea had been entertained by him-tha
 the construction put upon his language by
 Mir. 1ancey was a preverston of its plain
 and obvious meaning-that in his opinion
 the inhabitants of territory, as such
 had no political rights, that they had nc
 power whatever over the subject of slave |ry-and that they could neither interdict
 nor establish it, except when assembled in
 convention to form State constitution
 He further authorized and requested me
 to mako any public use of these declara-
 tions that might think proper to correct
 any impression which MT Yancey's con
 struction of his language in the Berk's s
 letter might have made.
 When our delegation arrived at Balti- more we had a meeting to consult upon the course we should take in the Conven- tion. At this meeting the letter of Mir.
 Woodbury under date, think of 18th
 May, in reply to the interrogatories pro- posed to him by Yancey, was produced and read. Its substance had been cor- recty reported. On the subject of slave. ry in the Territories and the power to control it, MT. Woodbury declined to give any opinion, alluding that his public sta ton rendered it improper for him to ox- press his views in relation to grave mat ter, which might beae:ae question of judicial investigation.
 Baaring in mind the fact that the Ala bama Convention of which most of the delegation were members had pledged it's selfto the country and that it's members had pledged themselves to each other, under no political necessity whatever to support for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States, any persons who should not openly and avow. edly be opposed to either of the forms of excluding slavery from the Territories of the United.Statesim ime ntioned in the resolu- tions :; and recollecting that the rcso!u- lions adopted by that body were declared to be instructions 10 their delegates to the Baltimore Convention to guide
 them in their votes in that body" l con- sidcred mysel. absolutely prohibited, in the face of Mir. Woodbury's letter, from casting vote of Alabama in his favor as a candidate for the Presidency.
 l then called the attention of the dele. gation, and of Mir. Yancey in particular, to the position occupied by Mir. Buchanan, and related to him and then in detail the conversation l had with that gentleman on the subject of Mir. Yancey's construction of his Berk's letter. In reply to an in- quiry of one of the delegates, stated that l was both authorized and willing, if de- sired so to do, to publish under my own signature, in one of the Baltimore papers the declarations of Mir. Buchanan before referred to. l urged upon the delegates the connection impressed upon my mind that in placing hmselfupon the principles of the Missouri compromise and leaving the subject of slavery below thirty six and a half degrees of North latitude, untouch ed by either federal or popular authority, he was to all practical purposes within the scope and spirit of our resolutions = that he was in fact openly and avo-.7,ssdmi op?osea ;o notn the forms which we had denounced of excluding slavery from the territories in which it could possibly exist, and that we were authorized under fair
 interpretation of our instructions, to be. stow our votes upon him as candiaate for the Presidency l was sustained in this position by Messrs. Winston, Acklin, Scott, King, Saffold, P. King of Jackson and Solomon, and We determined to cast our four votes accordingly. Three of the dis trict5 were represented by one mem Der each, and one of them by two. They, with Mr. Yancey, castthclrvotes for Wood bury. The numerical majority was with us, nine to six.
 Under this state of facts, it was with unfeigned astonishment that found Mir. Yancey, in his Charleston speech, de- nouncing a portion of the Alabama dele gatiop as having "abapdoned their prnci- ples,' and charging that "there were dele gates from Alabama who made the Vice Presidency even paramount to the Presi- lency and held both 'aramouna to hs in- aructioas" Had thl 'se denunciations come from any other qua rter, every intelli- gent man would have considered them timed at Mir. Yancey hims, ,lf, for notwth- tandlng his presumptious b, ,ast. that "no me could point out in what he had depar- ed from his instructions in si ugle iota, " he facts stands out in bold reli sf that in giving his vote in the conventionf f ra man who peremptorily refused to givea ny pub c pledges or opinion whatever on tn e sub act of slavery in the Territories, he went Irectly contrary to his pledge in the Ala anna convention ''to support no man 0r ie Presidency who was not openly an d l.oIcP,Ji,J o,,oeoJ tn tho .: 4. q