Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-07-25
w ORCEsTER DAILY

| have them first read and disposed OF. Mine
were accordingly read first Mr.. Aldrich's
were then read, and after some discussion put
to the vote. Mr.. Lafflin, the two Democrats,
and myself, voted against them. Mr.. Webb
did not vote Mr.. Aldrich did not press them
further, and my resolutions were accordingly
taken up and discussed. Mr. Lafllin remark
ed that he objected to nothing in them except
the clause in favor of the abolition of slavery
| in the District of Columbia. lie liked it
himself, but thought it would repel some
Democrats. Mr.. Aldrich at first conceded
with Mr.. Laflin, but after discussion, when
the clause was put to the vote, he voted to
retain it, Mr.. Latin alone voting against it.
The chairman then asked if any member
objected to any other portion Of the resolu-
| tions? Mr.. Aldrich said that the resolution
| on the protection Of personal freedom con-
! tanned phrase which was not altogether sat
isfactory to him, as he apprehended it might
be construed into notification. He was asked
| if he should be satisfied with the resolution
| if that phrase were stricken out He replied
| he should be entirely satisfied, and according
| ly, with the consent Of the rest of the COM
mlttee, it was stricken out. Another altera-
| ton by which the date of the oath of August
| for the State Convention, was stricken out
| and a blank left instead, was made at the
| suggestion Of Mr.. Aldrich and Mr. Lafllin.
| The.committee had now been in session an
hour and half. The Chairman put to each
| member i'll turn, the question, shall these
resolutions be reported to the Convention
Mr.. Laffiin said " Yes,' but wished to have
inserted somewhere an invitation to all per-
sons to join the new party. Considering that
there could be no doubt Of the willingness of
the new party to have all persons join it, the
committee did not think it necessary to COM
ply with Mr.. Lafflin's wish. Mr.. Taft voted
YES" and said he heartily approved the
resolutions without any exception. Mr..
Hooper voted " Yes" saying, " l go for these
| resolutions from beginning to end, every
word of them; and believe that great many
Democrats of Plymouth county will support
Them Mr.. Aldrich voted Yes, but said
| he feared the formation of new party was
rather premature. He made no further OBJ
| lection. We then proceeded to the Common,
| and Mr.. Webb read the resolutions to the
| Convention. They were received with great
| cheering and ratified without single dissent
| ing voice. Of the hundreds of Wings present
not one spoke against them.
1t may be well to say that the deliberations
| in Committee were of the most friendly and
| pleasant nature. Nothing could be franker.
| or more courteous, or fairer, than the conduct
| of Messrs. Latin and Aldrich, by whom the
| discussions were chiefly carried on. If they
had any cause of complaint they certainly did
not show it while we were together. The
| pretended account of the doings IN the Com
mittee room, given by the Worcester Tran
script, must have been of course derived di-
rectly or indirectly from Mr.. Aldrich, but l
| do not believe that gentleman will sanction
the insinuations of the transcript, nor deny
the correctness of my statement.
In conclusion, will say of the resolutions,
that while they mark out tolerably complete
| system of anti-slavery action under the Con-
| stitution. they could be considered ''ultra' or
'fanatieal," only by those who are little vers-
| ed in the political history of the State and ma
ton. They include no principle which has
not been repeatedly affirmed by unanimous
| Wing Conventions in this State, with no harm
to any one or any thing, except the political
consistency of the Wing party. In 1915, the
| Legislature of Massachusetts, passed resolu-
tions in favor of the adoption by the citizens
of the Free States, of "a systematic policy of
counteraction by lawful and constitutional
means, of the designs of the slave power
The resolutions adopted at Worcester, are the
necessity of the same policy, and in writing
them had in mind that resolve Of the Wing
Legislature.
This same Legislature resolved "that no
territory hereafter applying to be admitted to
the Union as a State, should be admitted with
out condition that domestic slavery should
be utterly extinguished within its borders
The Worcester Convention took the same
ground.
In lS47 the following resolve passed the
House OF Representatives, by vote of 1873
yeas to 80 nays: "ResolUed, that we are i'm
pressed with the unalterable conviction that
regard for the fair fame of our country, for
the principles of morality, and for the righte-
business which eXalteth a nation, sanctions
and requires all constitutional efforts for the
destruction of the unjust influence of the
slave power, and for the abolition of slavery
within the limits of the United States"
Here we have Wing Legislature, by vote
of five to one. declaring themselves in favor of
efforts for the abolition of slavery i'll the Uni
ted States-a step which the Worcester Con-
vention did not reach, and which no Free
Soil Convention in this State has ever taken.
Three years afterwards, these "unalterable
convictions" this "regard for the principles of
morality, and for the Righteousness which ex-
alteth nation,' did not avail to prevent the
Wing party of Massachusetts from "acquies-
cipg'' in the Fugitive Slave bill, and in the
permission to slavery to extend itself to Utah
and New Mexico.
In 1S49, by vote of 212 yeas to l nay, the
Wing House of Representatives resolved ''that
Congress has full power to legislate upon the
SUBJECT OF slavery III the territories, and SIT
is its duty to exercise that power for the per-
petual exclusion Of the institution from those
territories" Also, 'sthat slavery ought not
to exist in the District of Columbia. and that
it is the duty of Congress to devise the most
just, practicable, and expeditions mode of
abolishing the same" These resolutions were
passed by vote of 2l2 yeas to l nay, the
Wing majority in the House being 120. Yet
Mass Convention of the men of Massachu-
sets in 1854, within sixty days of the passage
of the Nebraska bill, and the rendition of An
thony Burns, is denounced by Wing presses
and politicians, as "ultra'' and 'sfanatical,''
for expressing the same sentiments in more
guarded and temperate language
1t is useless to pursue this topic. If the
Resolutions of the Worcester Convention do
not express the anti-slavery sentiments of
Massachusetts, it is because they do not 90 far
enough, and not because they go too far
There were at that Convention hundreds of
the intelligent and resolute men, who, for
twenty years have carried on the fight with
slavery in all its phases, and who knew ex-
actly what they wanted, and what the times
demanded in the way of platform for the
new party. They got what they wanted and
were satisfied. No committees on resolutions,
no committee of any kind, could have got that
Convention to accept what Mr.. Webster was
wont to call "wishy- washy' resolutions.
They did not go to Worcester merely to pledge
themselves to re- elect nine Wings, good bad,
and Indifferent, to Congress. They came to
r.. !.