The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-10-20


The Two Parties aud their Candidates.
Letter from Hon. Edward Bates.
The following is copy Of letter from Mr..
BATES, in answer to an invitation to attend the
Wing Convention held at Rock Island, Illinois,
on the 2lst of September:
sr. Louis, Saturday, September IL, 1852.
GEsrLEMEN: have had the pleasure to receive
your polite invitation to attend the Rock Island
Convention, on the 2lst Of this month. am con-
PEELED to forego the pleasure of meeting you on
that occasion, and of contributing my testimony
to the mass of proof tending to show the superior
excellence of the doctrines and policy of our party,
and the vast superiority of the men have chosen
to carry out into action those doctrines and that
policy. Having returned after long visit to the
Atlantic coast, made necessary by my impaired
health, my business will not brook another absence
during this fall. 49, ~;
Between the two great parties in the United
States there. fundamental differences in prnci.
pie. The Wings hold that our National Govern
ment is a government Of la,o-not q Monarchy, nor
an Aristocracy, nor a Democracy-but just such q
republican government as the written and printed
law has made it, and nothing else; that 1t was
made by ourselves, and for ourselves alone, and
not for other countries; that the object of its
alton was the protection Of its members; that it is
wisest and best administered when the public
functionaries seek only to provide for the common
defence, promote the general welfare, and secure
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos
terty; that it ia of our business to TO
judge other nations, to correct their errors and
punish their crimes, except when they trespass
upon our national rights. They (the Whigs) hold
that it is the right and duty of the Federal Govern
nent to protect the citizens of all parts of the
AZ 81 r.. L = H.
try, in commerce and locomotion. That protec-
ton is the great object of good government; and
whsther protection is to be afforded by fleets and
armies, by lighthouses, ports, and breakwaters,
by the improvement of lakes and rivers and the
construction Of roads, or by imposing duties upon
foreign importatons still 1t is the duty of the Gov
eminent to protect. And that in every instance
the kind and degree of protection must depend
upon the wisdom and prudence of Congress.
The Democrats, as party. with some individual
exceptions, hold the contrary of all these PROPOSE
tons. The name they assume is at war with the
very idea of federal or eonfederated government,
composed of separate States, equal in sovereignty
and independence; for personal equality and the
right of the majority of the people to govern is the
foundation and elementary principle OF Democracy.
And that principle necessarily supposes a single
consolidated Cover nment, and cannot apply to q
confederation made up of States UNEQUAL in num-
Der and power. Democracy, therefore, in its very
essence is against the Federal Constitution. 1t il
higher laD, which, disregardng constitutions and
statutes sets up, as the supreme law Of the lind,
the will of the people, whenever and however ex-
pressed.
The Constitution, however, is very different and
very undemocratic; it leaves to the States, lire.
spective of numbers, vast fund Of power to be used
6 tko nalo
ware, with population of less than one hundred
thousand, is as strong in the Senate as New York,
with her three millions. In the primary election
of President, Delaware has three votes, and two
of those three votes given to her by the Const
tuition, without any reference to Democratic num-
bers, and in fiat contradiction of the great Demo-
cratic principle Of popular right and personal
equality. And in the contingent election of a
President-that is, when the electors have failed,
and the election comes into the House of Represen-
tatives-then Delaware and Florida are equal to
New York and Pennsylvania in the choice of a
President. This certainly is constitutional, but
very undemocratic. Under such Constitution,
TO call the Government Of The United States q
Democracy seems to me bald absrdity. Demo
cracy means equality of persons and equal weight
to each man in the Government If II mean that,
il is against the Federal Constitution; If it don't
mean that, the use made of the term, in reference
to the General Government, is a falsehood and q
fraud.
The difference between the two parties, on seve
raj great questions of policy. is scarcely less than
their difference on the fundamental principles of
the Government. The Wings, as far as know,
almost to a man, go for advancing our own coun-
try in wealth, comfort, and intercourse, by the
Improvement of harbors, lakes, and rivers, and
Of hut ant Of
agriculture and the moderate protection of manu-
features. They go, generally, against the acquisi
ton of any more foreign territory; against entang-
ling alliances with foreign nations, and against all
pra gmatcaI interference in their internal affairs.
The Democrats, as a party, Ire against internal
And their candidate tor the Presi-
dency is deeply committed against all such mea-
sures, beyond the mass of his present supporters,
and beyond all former Presidents, including Mr..
Polk. If be be elected, the whole system OF inter-
nal improvements must stop. until some wiser man
and sounder statesman shall be put in his place.
The Democrats, as party, while they refuse to
improve, and thereby strengthen and enrich our
own home country. display an eager desire for
for eign acquisitions. They have already acquired
New Mexico, Utah, and California, and made the
motley people Of those regions our equals, friends
and fellow-citizens. And still they are hankerng
after more-Canad "a, Cuba, Mexico, and the Sand
wich Isands-and the hope of these does but whet
the morbid appetite for japan and China. 1t might
be some mitigation Of the evil If they pursued the
old Roman plan OF conquest and domination but
they prefer as more Democratic the modern French
9 ystem, of confraternity with all mankind, and
universal absorption. Under this corrupt and ru.
inous system, the present United States may find
themselves, in another generation, out. voted by
the heathens whom they have conquered or bought,
and reduced TO the condition of an outside province
Of world wide Democratic empire. .,s..
The Wings are content to mind their own bust.
ness, and govern their own country wisely and
as we'll they able, leaving to others the man
agement of their own affairs and the working out
Of their own destiny. But the Democrats would
propagate their principles with fire and sword.
They would constituts our Government the guar
dian of the weak and the oppressed all over the
world. They would undertake to judge the con.
duct Of all foreign nations to decide upon the jus
tice or injustice of their internal government, and
would involve our country in ruinous ware in sup.
Of neopIe that oh he found in rebellion