Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-01-03
The Republican Party in the South.

LIS IsCpuDllCdu hIby ia IliO DOubu.
We make the following extract from q
letter addressed to CAssUs NJ. CLAY to A.
| p SrosK, in reply to one irsin him, asking
ais opinion Of the pro'rety Of holding a
National Republican CCpvsntisn at PHI -
burg on the 9ad Of February:
"The Republicans Of the slave State,
though fs v in number, are no sw parn.
F.i,hful among the fath!sss, proof AZ inst
the seductions of office and the threstenin 70
st pswsr, we stand firm upon the platlerm
of enr fathers Of '76, in the worldwide apir {
Of the De,lsratior. We hold wtAuuJsfss.
son and his distinguished eotemporaries-~
that slavery 10 an anomaly iny a Ropublic,
and against the law Of God and jnsst
| highest instincts OF rght--tbst justice 10
always the highest expediency--thst Iibsr.
ty and slavery can not go co-exist--but
that one or the other rust die! Whilst
on the enc hand we base ourselves upon
| these central ideas which we inherited as
our birth.right as true Republicans, we do
not forget thst without Jaw there can bs
no true freedom or progress. We have,
therefore, studiously regarded the high OBJ
! legations of the State and Federal Censti-
|
to their supremacy, even when perverted
| by mercenary muorities from their true
spirit. We regard these as sufficiently anti
slavery for all practical purposes--as found
in their own language to establish liberty
and justce-that liberty is national and s.s.
Uery sectional in elaboration of which idea
| refer You to the late letter of the vener-
able F. p. B,air, the distinguished friend
and confidential ndvser Of Andrew Jack.
son. We are neither the advocates OF GEM
|trazation nor disunion, butt the friends Of
National ands State rights in the ample
spheres Of progress aud reform with which
the wisdom of our fathers composed, both.
We therefore believe 1T to be eur bouf,,,,,-
dpty as good men and true Republicans,
to oppose nationally the existence Of sl.:
very, under any pretencs whatever, ia places
of exclusive National domain, BY sea and
land, and to bring the moral and political
influence Of the National Government per
: manently anu firmly and avowedly on the
side oil liberty, as it has heretofore been
errayed on the side OF slavery. And as
the friends Of liberty have acquiesced, with
out revolutionary resistance, in the rule of
slavery, so We demand that the slavery
: propaganda shall acquiesce in the new
:, ule of liberty and law, and they shall DO
lo!st.y branded as traitors to both North and
S1uth, who counsel or act in violation oi
this, only possibility of popular government!
"NowS, sir, there are masy in the slave
States ready. to act openly with Ia Re
publican oarty-"aore who -secrety syA Apa'
: thize with the moyemems-aRd in my lud&
menD a majority Of all the South who WI
acqussce in our rule. believe that the
: time has now come when the majority of
the American people are ready to vindcats
the faith of our fathers in mans capability
of sefgovernment. But it can not ss dis
: guised that this majority is now fragment
airy and disorgasizet. and it requires ssg-
acous leadership and sell sacrificing patri.
etism to array them in successful oppssl.
ton to the concentrated and drilled forces
of the present pro.savery administration. I
think, then, your suggestion is a good one,
and that il will meet the views of the whole
; Republican party. Fo. the sake of unity,
let the first meeting at Plttsburg, ON the
22d of February next, be as homogeneous
) as possible. Then let the National Com.
mittee open an active and conciiatory cor
respondence with all the opponents of the
Save propaganda. lie, Wing and Demo.
crat-Knbw Nothing and aat-Know Meth
ing-Cshoic and Protestant-natve born
aud adepied--and all shades OF opinion, 30
urged by the great necessity of immediate
ana derisive sctioA, to savh, il possible, the
Republic rom it's Threatened submersioa
into one OF the most relentless despetisms
which has ever darkened the pages Of his.
tory"