The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-07-23

tons, to give effect to these foregone eoneu
sions, that our delegates were placed under The
ban.
The effect Of these denuncations upon the
tlmid and the tine-serving was wildly por
trayed in the address, as was also the energy
and decision of the New York Democracy in
this hour of freedoms peril.
In this untoward state Of thlngs-sald the
convention-amid this increasing detection to
the interests of freedom--the Democracy OF the
State of New York felt il their duty TO inter
vene They opposed themselves to the current,
and, if they could not wholly arrest, they stayed
its progress. In their PRIMARY and other con-
ventions, through the press, and in the various
other forms in which, in this quarter of the
Union, the masses are wont to make known
their sentiments and wishes, the voices OF the
freemen of our State were lifted up TO warn, to
encourage, and to rally the friends of freedom,
the lovers of justice, and the supporters of the
Constitution. Stified at Syracuse, il pealed in
trumpet tones at Herkmer and Utica, and has
since been re-echoed from every hilltop in the
| State"
II was in this spirit of devotion to justice.
i freedom, and the Constitution, and with The
noble purpose of bringing back the government
to the policy of Jefferson, that the nomination
of the New York Democracy were made at
Utica, In l648.
INDEPENDENTLY with the Utica conven.
ton, the opponents of slavery extension and the
slave power in Ohio, assembled at Columbus,
I rejected the nominees of both the Wing and
Democratic national conventions, az unfricndly
to freedom, and summoned national conven
ton, to meet at Buffalo on the 9th of August.
A similar assemblage in Massachusetts, con-
Cured in that summons
General Dodge, of Wisconsin, declined the
! Utica nomination. and the New York Democ-
racy determined not to supply the vacancy but
to unite with the national convention, at Buffalo,
in presenting to the American people candidates
representing their principles.
When the convection assembled il was found
to be composed almost wholly of Democrats
of liberty men, thoroughly Democratic in their
principles and views of public policy aud of
Wings, whose attachment to Wing measures
had been overcome by their devotion to freedom
and their opposition to the encroachments of
slavery and the usurpations of the slave power.
The New York Democracy naturally took the
lead.
Preston King, New York Democrat promi-
nent in Congress and at Baltimore, was chair
man of the first informal meeting, on the even,
| ing preceding the regular sitting OF the conven-
tion. In short address, received with unani-
|
must form the basis of the political organiza-
ton ia which they were about to unite. He
was requested to embody those principles in
resolutions, and present them to the convention
upon its opening the next day, as the views Of
the meeting. Three resolutions were accor
dinghy drawn up by him and presented to the
convention. insert them, that it may be dis
| tncty seen what was the line of action in respect
to slavery, recommended by the New York De-
mocracy to the Buffalo CONVEX ion.
| "Eesolued That it is the duty of the federal
government to relieve itself of all responsibility
for the extension or continuance of slavery,
wherever that government possesses constiip-
tional authority, and is responsible for its exis-
fence.
" Resolued That the States within which
slavery exists, are alone responsible for the con
tinuance or ex tence of slavery within such
Stats, and the federal government has neither
responsibility nor constitutional authority to
abolish or regulate slavery within the s ates.
"Resolped, The true and, in the judgment of
this convention, the only safe means of prevent
ing the extension of slavery into the territories
now free, ia to prohibit its existence in all such
territories by an act OF Congress"
| These resol ntions uuan mously approved by
the convention, were referred TO the committee
on resolutions, of which you were chairman |
have already spoken of the harmony which char
acterized the labors of that committee--ihe
unanim " with which they agreed upon the
platform, and the unanimous enthusiasm with
which the convention, with one voice, ratified it.
You have not forgotten it--you will never for
get it.
That platform, thoroughly Democratic in it,
principles and measures, and cordially accepted
hui do for
the convention to adopt the Utica nominations
for the Presidency as their own, although a
| large number of its members were already com
mitted to the support ola New Hampshire Dem
Ocrat, ever faithful to freedom, and then endear-
ed to them the more by the characteristic mag
nanimity with which he had placed the nomina-
ton which had been conferred on him at the dis
posa of the convention.
| Martin Van Buren,, therefore, received the
nomination for the Presidency, while Charles
| Francis Adams, grandson of the foremost and
ableet champion of the Declaration of Indepen
dence, and son of the most distinguished and
| interchangeable defender of the right of petition
and the liberties of the people, received the NOM
| ination for the Vice Presidency. The first of
these distinguished citizens, himself an unwav
ernp Democrat, had been elevated to the high
est political distinctions, both State and nation
| al, by the Democratic party, while the second,
| though hitherto in party connection Whig was
a Wing Of the revolutionary stamp--of the
school of Franklin and JehIerson-not of that
modern school, marked by devotion to the in
terests of property rather than to the rights of
man.
tbs enough to gay Of these nominations, and
of the canvass which ensued, that by this action
of the Independent Democracy, the prohibition
of slavery in Oregon was secured, and the ex-
cluson of slavery from the other territories was
made the most prominent theme of political dis
cussion, and both the other parties in the free
States were compelled to declare themselves in
favor of it; while the whole relations of the
| federal go Jernment to slavery were subjected
TO q thorough investigation, convincing multi
tudee that the best interests of the people, as
well as the correct Interpretation Of the Consti
tuition, demand the total divorce of the federal
| government from slavery. AT the clio of the
canvass, it was found that three hundred tn on
sand electors nearly one-nnth of all the voters
iu the United States, had enrolled themselves
| on the side of freedom. What, then, was to be