Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-05-13


bill settled law Of the land What does this
mean, if carried strictly into effect? Only this,
and nothing more nor less--ineiigibility of any
man to the Presidency who had not the privi-
lege-accidental perhaps-of voting for this
bill Nay, more; the claims Of every retired
statesman, Of every Judge of the Supreme
Court, of every private citizen, however talent
ed, of every diplomat who is In the service of
his country abroad, are to be ignored for the
reason, the innocent reason, that he was not
member of the Thirty Congress? Can
absurdity 20 farther than this? Is it not mon
strous? Il, however, it comes to this, what is
the inc vitabe conclusion 10 all right thinking
and honest minds? Simply, that the Nebraska
Kansas bill was Presidential question, and
not as we believed, great constitutional CUES
ton, conceived and consummated for the bene-
fit of the country!
We shrink with unaffected repugnance from
taking this dark view Of it, but, to establish
our point, e. are CONTAINED to do So Sup
pose, then, that it was established for this pur-
pose? How stands Mr. BUCHANAN upon ii?
We have shown the absurdity of the idea, that
no man identified with the fight" or "haying
the smell of fire upon his garments" as our
friend of the Lynchburg Republican heroically
expressed it, had any claim to the considera-
ton of the Convention at Cincinnati. We
hold if the bill be good bill, that every man
in the United States, who, in his humble way,
gave his countenance and support of it, is
BUCHANAN, Of Pennsylvania, however, whose
enlarged experience, great wisdom, and un.
varying adherance to the Constitution, under
all and every circumstance man whom we
hesitate not to say, has as good a constitutional
record as any American statesman-is made
the peculiar and shining mark of those whose
indiscreet zeal for others for the Presidency
have made them attempt to throw around him
the cloud Of distrust and suspicion. And we
regret to say that we have too much reason to
believe that they are instigated to this course
by some Of his most prominent rivals. How
foiled, however, has been their effort. Not
satisfied with a record, as we have said, tina.
not even the most impulsive southernor could
fud,fault with, they find Mr.. BUCHANAN keenly
alive to the success of this great principle, and
uninfuenced by diseased ambition to be
President, his just and orthodox sentiments
fnd their expression even in his private and
personal correspondence while in foreign
land. Returning TO his home after a most
brilliant and successful mission, in which he
has the pride and pleasure to reflect that he
has done much to elevate the dignity of his
own country, and, in his judcious and wise
diplomacy to smooth the troubled waters be-
tween it and Great Britain, he is received with
the greatest popular enshusiasml The people
Of his own State lift up their voices as from
one throat and proclaim him their first choice
for the Presidency. A fortnight after his re-
turn, the city Of Philadelphia in her municipal
election, for the second time in quarter of
century, wrested from the rule and dominion
of the Opposition, the control of her interests.
And here let US state fact worthy of note,
that the Black Republican candidate received
less than three hundred votes out of a half
million Of population! Is this the man
whose claims aud qualifications you would
ignore for the Presidency?
But within the past week Committee APP
pointed by the Pennsylvania Convention to "in-
form the Hon. JAMES BUCHANAN that he is the
unanimous choice" of the convention for the
next Presidency, complete their duty, by pre-
senting him a copy Of the proceedings and
resolutions adopted by the Convention, with the
firm conviction that he will recognize in them
the principles which he has always maintained
and defended, and which have secured to the
country the blessings Of liberty, religious and
political"
ply, met my cordial appreciation, from the mo-
ment first perused them, on the other side of
the Atlantic. 81 heartily adopt them" "They
constitute platform, broad, national and con-
sentative, and one eminenty worthy of the
Democracy Of our great and good old State.r
The resolutions will be found in another col.
lumn, and we invite the careful perusal Of our
readers to them.
Passing over Tor our space will not permit a
dissection Of each of them, admirable as they
all are) the first six resolutions, we come to
consider those touching the repeal Of the Mis-
sour Compromise and the passage Of the Ne
braska Kansas act. Here they are:
RESOLVED, That in the repeal Of the act known
as the Missouri Compromise Act, and the pas
sage Of the act organizing the Territories Of
Kansas and Nebraska, free from uncoustitu-
tional restrictions, the last Congress performed
work Of patriotic sacrifice, in meeting the de-
mands Of sectional excitement by an mistaken
adherence to the fundamental law.
Resoired, That this Legislation cannot be
deemed unnecessary, but that II was expedient
to meet the questions Of which it disposed, and
which could never admit of more easy settle
ment than at present That we recognize in it
the application to the Territories OF the United
States Of the rule Of equal and exact justice
n all rnay, cf all aant,one &C. III 49, caIo.oox