Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1849-07-12

Gratis all endorsed tho Nicholson letter, by this pro-
found argument
suppose the Sentinel will no, deny thu, Gen.
Cass was The democratic candidate for the Presidency at
the late election. Ii will be admitted, y g suppose, that
he aoaS the candidate OF the party. Very well. On the
24th day Of December, 1872, Eve months previous TO the
assembling of the Baltimore Convention, Gen. Cass ad-
dressed n letter to Mr. Nicholson, of Tennessee, in which
his views con the subject Of the Wilmol Proviso' were
given at length. Certain leading politicians Of the dem
ocrauc party, desirnUs OF placing Gen. Cass before the
country rs n candidate for the Presidency, thought 1t a
good move on the political chess-bOard, to get the letter,
prepared for the purpose, before The public"
Well! Sauce for Goose is sauce for Gunder."
We suppose that the Journal will not deny that Gen.
Taylor was the Wing candidate for the Presidency at
the late election. 1t will be admitted, VIC suppose,
that he was the candidate of the party Very reH!!
Some months previous to the assembling Of The wing
convention Gen. Taylor, and his friends for him,
were writing all sorts of letters to all sorts of per-
sons. including u certain Mr.. I.ippard at Philadel-
phia. The dishonest leaders, thinking it a good
move on the chess-board, and one by which the peo-
pie could be cheated and the stakes won. forced the
DID man upon the wing convention, and even tried to
put his horse on the ticket as Vice. 1t follows, nc
cording to the Journals logic, that the wing party
made oil the miscellaneous letters Of Old lack, es-
scntial articles of the wing creed including that one
which caused the Journal itself to say, that a regard
for wing principles forbade the nomination of Tay-
Tor !!
But not only all these let;ers,-Old Zack's hun
dreds of negroes were also put upon the wing plat
form, as well as any other "notions'' be might
choose to add,-and thus were the wings made to
approve of WHOLESALE dealing in human flesh, and
the bodies and souls of men :"
Well The Journal is fairly entitled to a leather
rnodol from tho gs0i1 HOSE, binsalf for this nntabla
way of digging out political platforms for parties!
But, powerful as the Journal may con slider such
logic upon the mind of others, it is hardly itself sat
isied, and thus goes on to enforce it by misstatement.
II says:
"This celebrated (Nicholson) letter of Gen. Cass was
published in all the democratic papers North and South,
and was proclaimed to be the true National doctrine in
relation to slavery in our new territories"
Not true, except to a limited extent. We do not
believe that The letter was published in one quarter
part of the democratic papers in this State. We
only published extracts, such as the Boston Post,
Every friendly to Cass,) ventured to publish. The
WING papers made the most of the letter, and made it
appear as bad as possible their misrepresentation
were of course exposed by the democratic press, and
this is the chief reason that the letter was discussed
at all. Gen. Cass was supported by us and by thou
sands of others on the Baltimore platform, and not
upon the basis of the Nicholson letter, which the
Baltimore Convention explicitly refused to endorse.
But, says the Journal, $50 imbued with the doc
trines were the democracy Of this State, that they as
sembled in State Convention, on the 9Th of January,
1913, and endorsed them by the adoption of the fol-
lowing resolution :"
"Rcsolrcd, That the democratic party OF the Mississip-
pi valley knows no North or South, but like her noble
rivers they comprehend both extremes, and looking at
the constitution OF the United States, that binds together
the extremes Of this Union, with its compromises, wo
regard every and any effort upon the part of the National
Legislature, (under present circumstances 10 bind the
future inhabitants of any portion Of our territory as to
their local institutions or internal affairs, which are TO ex-
ist in States hereafter to be formed, as improper, and cal
culated TO create local and sectional divisions, and weak
en- the bonds and ties Of this great confederncy."
That this resolution was thus passed, is true and
it is also true, as the Journal states, that four months
after the adoption Of the above resolution by the In
diana Convention, and five months after the publica-
ton of the Nicholson letter, the Democratic National
Convention at Baltimore, adopted the following:
81. That Congress has no power under the constitu-
ton TO interfere with or control the domestic Institutions
Of the several States, and that such States are the sole
and proper Judges Of everything appertaining 10 their
own affairs not prohibited by the constitution that all
efforts of the abottti0niSts or others made TO induce Con-
greSs TO interfere lc'th questions Of starery, or to take an
cipicRt steps IN relation thereto, are calculated TO lead TO
the most alarming and dangerous consequences and
that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to d.
minish the happiness of the people, and endanger the
stability and permanently Of the Union, and ought not to
be countenanced by any friend of our political institu-
lions"
The Journal infers that this resolution was sim
tended as an endorsement" of Gen. Cass's views as
expressed in the Nicholson letter, and, with a little
self graduation at having made such a wonderful
discovery, it proceeds to comment, thus:
awe ask attention TO the words we place in italics.
What do they mean Read them again "that all r.
forts of the ab0litiOniSts or others made TO induce Con-
gTess TO interfere teih questions of sLarery, OF TO take IN
cipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated, &c, and
ought not TO be countenanced by any friend Of our politi-
cal institutions" They do not say slavery as it exists,
and can have no other application Than to slavery in our
new territories. "The efforts of the abolitionists and
others - What "others ?" The free sellers, of course.
No "incipient steps" are TO be taken-no Wilmot Pro-
viso to be passed, because IL would be On '~iaeipient
step" in relation to slavery, and not to be countenanced.
This was the meaning placed on the resolution by the
Southern delegates to the Convention, and hence il was
that Mr.. Yancey's amendment was voted down-which
meant only the same thing"
A perfect Mares Nest! A simple and notorious
fact knocks these differences and conclusions of the
Journal into nonentityl This resolution, is word for
cOrd, and letter for letter, precisely The same as ii
,cas adopted By The Baltimore Contention Of 1914,
tohtrh nominated James X. Polk. That was long be-
fore we had acquired, or thought of acquiring new
territory, and of course before we had thought of ex-
tending slavery into it. This fact alone is enough 10
beat the breath out of the Journals strained infer
ences. 1t kills them dead. The original authorship
of the resolution too, is no doubt correctly imputed
to Silas Wright, then the particular friend of Mr.
Ven Buren,. No one will suppose he favored any
such notion as the extension of slavery to free terri
tory, or that he intended to discounienance FREE
soilers,-tLe very men, who, had he lived, would
have made him President in place of slave-holdine