Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1856-05-12
The staunton Convention

The TRANSACTIONS Of the American Convention
at Stsunton viii. ve doubt not. be accepted, in
the MAN, as satisfactory to the friends of Mr..
Fillmore in virgiaia Wings well as Ameri-
cans. The occa non seems 10 have dawn To-
rsther very respectable eoncourse of inielli.
gent aud excellent citizens. whose proceedings
have all the nere weight with US from the fact
that they seem to have been very little controlled
or participated 10 by professional politicians, -
Wetake the composition Of the body to be an
indication Of the SORT Of support Mr.. Fillmore
will receive throughout the Union-not that OF
old party hacks or bravlng demageg'es mol
ultraists and aritafors not mercenary sP'ilstnep
nor unpripcipl,d changeling., but the siald. 30.
her. thinking, conservative body of the people.
who love the Union and the constitution, and
whose highest political ambition is to conir'bot"
towards the preservation of both We need
scarcely say that the Staunton convention IN tho
harmony. dignity aud good sense that character
ICED it's sessions stands in honorable contrast
with tho idiserderly and turbulent conelave which
assembled IN Richmond few weeks ago, under
the auspices of the Democracy. The resolutions,
with ono exception command our hearty assent.
ted. by mplication.th tina, the Kansas bill embraced
an assertion of the odious principle OF squaiter
sovereignty. The admission was mol only not
warrsa,ed By fnct, bot was on many accounts
most iniudicious and impotic. II squaiter sov-
ereignty is established by the Kansas bill, then
squaiter sovereignty Is constitutional. because
the Kansas bill is expressly made subject to
the provisions Of the constitution. Unless II can
be shown that this doctrine, properly character.
lied by Southern Democrats to be "as odous in
practice and as indefensibe in principle as the
Wilnot p,ovso," is in accordance with the pro-
visions u the constitution. it i egregious and
fatal blunder to admit that il is contained in tho
Kaosas bill. For the effect of such admission
is to acknowledge the rigb, of the Yankees aud
foreigners, who are rushing to Kansas, TO put
this grant of the Kansas law into execution, by
at once proceeding to legislaie the South out
Of Kansas These are necessary results Of The
a Omission that the Kansas bill countenances
the heresy of squaitcr sovereignty We con
fess our surprise Tint the intelligent gentlemen
who met at Stanton could have come to
such oonolu sions. For our part, we do not
hesitate TO say that five had construed the Kan
sas bill as establishing squaiter sovereignty. we
should have opposed it as the most fatal legisla.
ton TO the South that had ever been attempted
in Congress. The repeal Of tho Missouri Com
promise, had il been douby as unjust and wrong
as il WIS. coul me- yer have reconciled us to the
assertion of doctrine SO subversive OF order, so
destructive To equality, so skulkingly promotive
of free soilism SO vile in theory and monstrous
in practice as squatter sovereignty. II is poor
relief from the error of the admission 10 have pro-
tested against the incorporation of the princ ple rs
wrong-for that would not prevent its being law
If il we're there nor would the abolitionists in pro-
fitting by the law regard the protest. The true
position for the South TO take-the position Of
principle az well Of polioyis To deny that
squa,ter sovereignty is sanctioned by the const'
tuition, by the Kansas bill, 10y any usage or pro-
cedent of the government. by reason, right or
neoessity--tbat all these are against it, aud ihat
the South will never submit to its practical appli
cation. but will resist all and any such attempts
at every hazard and to the last extremity."-
These structures are made in oensorious or
captious spirit, but with regret, and only as due
to the position which this Journal has uniformly
maintained and will continue to maintain.