Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-11-26
WHOLE NO. 328.
Letter from Geo. Robertson, of Kentucky.
LEXINGTON, Nov. 10, 1855.
TO the Editors Of the National Inteiligencer:


LEXINGTON Nov. 10, 1855.
TO the Editors Of the National Intsiligencer,
[coScLUDED.
In a condensed form and comprehensive sense,
this is an outline OF my constitutional principles,
now as ever similar outline Of my fundamental
elements Of national policy would embrace popu-
lar enlightenment, moral and intellectual In all
prudent and constitutional modes; publication Of
the balot-box, so as to assure to suffrage prevail
ing intelligence and Independence vgilant oppc-
sition to the prostitution Of patronage, personal
and official; the selection Of our purest and most
capable citizens for every place Of public trust
legislation acithoM representation Reputation Of
all sectonalisn, and abstinence from all anti-na-
tional agitations in our national councils; nonn-
reference with the domestic concerns of the States
and Of foreign nations steadfast opposition to all
sorts OF foreign influence and the peaceful vind.-
cation, In every legal mode of the vital principle
Of constitutional independence of mind and liberty
OF conscience in religion, as well as in politics;
against all temporal power, political or eectesiasti
cal, regal or papai
Are these principles and doctrines unsounde
Are they not congenial with our institutions, and
would they not be conducive to our happy desti-
nyg Ought they not to be the practical doctrines
of every patriotic Wing and Of every Union Dem
ocrat--of every true American citizenp con-
slider them, each and all, eminently American, and
they are therefore mine. Believing that they arc
essentially those of the American party, am OF
and with it. If outstanding Wings or Democrats
concur with us as to all even. the more vital of
them, and have no paramount rcpugnance to any
Of them, why should they not cooperate with us
in our organized efforts to rescue our country from
the local factions which disturb its tranquility and
threaten its dsmemberment? What is there in a
name? And is not "An,erican" more suitable TO
the times and moro significant of our nationality
than Whig or WDena0cydt!"
But If Wings and Democrats who have opposed
us cannot unite with us, surely We who have left
them, cannot 60 back to them; the motives which
separated US from their organizations will continue
to keep US where we are. For myself can truly
say that cannot now see any good reason why I
should leave the American party for any other po-
litical organization, because believe It more fra.
ternal and seEsacrifcing in its spirit and more
national, comprehensive, and conservative In Its
principles and Its purposes than any other party
that exists or has existed in America and / feel
that the time has come when the best interests Of
the Union require all Its true friends to rally under
banner inscribed with just such principles
despair Of the future nationality Of the Whig party.
Its old principles and policy do not sufficiently
cover the ground which patriotic statesmen should
occupy for meeting this crisis. And the surviving
body OF the Democratic party is far less national
and conservative. In its progressive" evolutiors
it has turned its back on its ancient .Jacksonian
anti-nulfying. platform, and, in its last Baltimore
pronunciamento, 1t has revived the destructive
doctrine that the Constitution of the United States
is a mere league or compact Of confederation be-
tween sovereign States, each still retaining all its
original sovereignty and, Of course, the consttu-
tiona right to nullify any act Of Congress which It
may choose to pronounce unconstitutional; and,
also, that Congress has no implied power as to
crimes or punishments, and, rs an inevitable con-
sequence, no implied power Of any sort or for any
purpose.
Such are the assumptions of the first and Sc
cond Of the Resolutions Of '9s," as expressed ard
| expounded by their author; and all those resolu-
tions, without exception or qualification, were
adopted as a new plank In the Baltimore Platform
for the Democratic party General Jackson he,,
sleeping IN his gravel On, thai foundation of
qnicksdnds the Union can neyer rest ia peace nor
long stand. Moreover, that rotten plank, and the
abrogaton of the Missouri Compromise by the IN.
fiuence Of President Pierce, and the appointment
of Free-soer as Governor of Kansas, and the
legalization of the votes Of fresh unnatural;zed
foreigners, (as auxiliary TO Free-soism) effected
| by the same influence, contributed more than all
other causes TO the agitation which now alarms
every Union patriot. Democratic chiefs having,
thus excited the disease of the body polite, we
cannot trust the same empirical doctors with the
cure. Their temporizing nostrums win not heal,
but only aggravate. If they desire restoration,
they must come and help US to apply the only
| pathological remedies. / can never, therefore,
| stand on the modern PLATFORM laid by Democratic
leaders, nor can Mr.. Winthrop or any other Whig
or american, IN principle ever there stand.
The foregoing considerations indicate why can
not go back to hopeless and disointed remnant
OF any old party. But there is another reason why
could not go called. could never occupy
the platform Of the Massachusetts, Wings as de-
scrbed in Mr. Winthrops letter. The most Of il
is very good as far as 1t goes, but il is not COM
mensurate with the ex'gencies Of the crisis, and
IL is moreover scctionalized by anti Union plank.
After enumerating several sound and national pri
ciples as constituent elements of the Whig plat
form of Massachusetts,, he adds, on the subject cf
slavery, that, while that party "abstains fiom a
unconstitutional and illegal interference with Il
whatever, Gt) would omit no legal or constitutional
effort to arrest and prevent 9 eztensio7l." This
necessarily means that there are constitutional
means for arrestng the extension Of slavery. And
what can they be unless frcesolism be one Of them?
And, while Mr.. w. expressly repudates every
thing sectional, did he suppose that any platform
with this freesoi plank in 1t could be national
Did no hope ever to see Southern Wings stand ON
ite Did he not know that it Is one Of the chief
causes Of all our anti Union discords and dvisonsa
How, then, could the Massachusetts, Wings be 9TH
erwise than sectional as long they insist that
anti-national and useless plankY And how could
continued organization and unproffa6is persistence
on such a foundation promote the harmony of the
Union? Or how could IL escape Mr.. Winthrop's
own Just denunciation when be said, in this same
letter: "'One thing have resolved on in my own
political career, and that is, never to give counte-
nance or support TO any policy or any party which
hnds in my conscientious conviction towards dis
organization or disnnion Y
No nonslavehoding party which agitates slavery
or countenances the agitation Of 1t in any form in
the States Territories Of these United States. In
which the agitators do not reside, should cherish
vain hope of being either national, peaceful, or
conservative. All such agitation, If prolonged will