Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-08-03
WASHINGTON. d. G.
WILLIAM M. BURwELL, Editor.
To tho American Conservatives of Obi
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 1866.

To the American Conservatives of Ohio.
You possess an influence decisive, perhaps,
of the destinies Of your country, for thousands
will follow your example.
You have chosen for yourselves the institu-
tions of freedom you dislike those of slavery.
You are told this institution will invade and
contaminate your country.
You have been exasperated by Legislation,
which you attribute to On obnoxious admins
tration.
You are indignant that the National Con-
vontion should bave bound the order to recog-
Mise odious laws, and justified this administra-
ton of which you complain.
Under this state Of feeling, you repudiate the
action Of the Convention, and determine you
will not submit to the detested legislation AS
final, but will attempt its repeal.
Awaiting itself Of your anger against an un-
popular law, the Abolition party comes for
ward and asks you to surrender your organi-
zation, abandon your objections to imported
crime and pauperism, retract your censure
Of Papistry, leave in its corruptiops the party
government Of the country, and concentrate
your whole strength upon sectional war for
the present limitation and ultimate extinction
of slavery
Yes Americans! you are asked to admit the
foreigner to an immediate political equality
to fuse with the subjects Of the Roman See,
and, with the reinforcement of these unnatural
allies, to march against your fellow-citizens.
Win you allow a few words of calm consid-
Grafton before you determined
Does the Philadelphia Platform commit you
to the support Of slavery
It is proper to premise that the writer was
one of the authors of that platform, and could
not have consented to anything except guar
antee against further agitation, This exposi-
ton, therefore claims to be candid and au-
thentic.
1t is then affirmed that the twelfth clause
was intended to reserve to each citizen the
right of private Judgment upon the subject Of
slavery, and the right of freely discussing its
adoption or repeal by the people of the States
or Territories within their appropriate juris-
diction. II was not intended to recognise any
Federal authority whatever over the subject.
It was not intended to promote or injure the
institution Of slavery. 1t was intended to OK
clude from Federal discussion the only subject
which threatens the character or duration of
our Union
Under this view, the Convention was re-
auired to determine upon a basis Of adjust
ment--1. 1t was proposed to restore the Mis-
souri, line. .. TWAS suggested to exclude from
the operation Of that line the controverted Ter
,itories. g. 1t was suggested to refrain from
any repeal of the obnoxious legislation, but to
enact an ordinance by which the American
Order should bind itself to exclude from the
Union any slave State, to be erected within the
territory interdicted by the Missouri line.
The objections to these propositions, vnried
in many particulars, but they were subject to
our comprehensive censure. They requiredpos-
tive actions, either in favor Of or against slave
~. They prolonged the agitation. They kept
open the wound. They divided asunder breth-
rem all Of whom were required to serve at the
guns Of the Republic against her foes. To be
more specific: The repeal of this legislation
had to be carried against the resistance Of
Senate, whose constitution would render such
repeal impossible, for at least six years to
come. This would insure nearly a lifetime Of
AGITATION, and an amount Of fraternal aliena-
ton that generations could not remove. 1t
would leave remonstrant minority to agitate
for the restoration Of those laws which had
been repealed. Whether successful or unsuc-
oessful, these measures would have increased
that sectional alienation, which it was the just
purpose Of every patriotic American to remove
forever.
The Convention therefore determined to adopt
the existing law for two prominent reasons. l.
II involved no Inconsistency, because the Anne
rican Order had not enacted the law. 3 1t
involved no immortality, because every citizen
having been represented in the enactment Of
all laws, is bound to abide by their legal adju-
dication. The citizen is thus exonerated from
any moral responsibility for an obnoxious
law; because he has agreed to submit his own
opinion Of its validity to an agricultural, and
that tribunal is presumed to decide correctly.
The moral responsibility, then, rests upon
the tribunal, and not upon the citizen; other
wise, he would be morally responsible for every
legslized immortality which, in his opinion, ex-
listed. In some States lotteries exist; in others,
grogshops in others, Sabbath trade; in others,
usurious contracts; either of which are, to a
sensitive conscience, immoral; and, according
to the doctrines that a citizen is morally re-
sponsible for the integrity Of the law, ought to
be resisted or destroyed 8. The law, as it ex-
lists, restores the precise condition which ex-
listed upon the adoption, and complies with the
requirements Of the Federal Constitution.
There was no Federal law allowing or forbid
ding slavery. There is now none There are
now laws executing the only provisions Of the
Federal Constitution which enjoins legislation
upon the subject The right to enact these
laws has been recognised since the beginning
of the Government
The adjustment was then made on the basis
of the law a. Il exists. Can any patriot com
plain Of this basis Docs It require us to