The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1856-07-30
Fremont's letter, accepting the
Philadelphia Nomination.
New YoRK. July 8. 1856.

responsibility, by placing me in tho van
of great movement of the people Of the
United States, who, without regard to
past differences, are uniting in com-
mon effort to bring back the action of
the Federal Government to the princi
Piles of Washington and Jefferson. Com
pretending the magnitude Of the trust
which they have declared themselves
willing to place in my hands, and deep
ly sensible 70 the honor which their un.
reserved confidence in this threatening
position of the public affairs implies, l
feel that | cannot better respond than
by single declaration that, in the event
of my election to the Presidency should
enter upon the execution Of its duties
with singlebcarted determination to
promote the goodness of the whole coun-
try, and to direct solely to this end all
the power of the government. irrespect-
i've Of party issues. and regardless of
sectional strfes. The declaration of
principles embodied in the resolves of
your convention expresses the sentiments
in which have been educated and which
have been ripened into conviction by
personal observation and experience
With this declaration and avowal.
think it necessary to revert to only two
of the subjects embraced in these resolu-
tions, and to those only, because events
have surrounded them with grave and
critical circumstances. and to give to
them especial Importance. concur in
the views of the Convention deprecat
ing the foreign policy to which it ad-
verts. The assumption that we havo a
right to take from another nation its
domains. because we want them, is an
abandonment of The honest character
which our country has acquired. To
provoke bostililics, by unjust assump.
tions would be to sacrifice the peace and
character Of the country when all its in
teres,s might be more certainly secured
and its objects attained by just and heal
ing cOunsels, involving no loss of repu.
tation.
International embarrassment ale main.
ly the result ofa secret diplomacy, which
aims to keep from the knowledge Of the
people the operations of the government
This system is inconsistent with tho
character Of our institutions; and is it.
self yielding gradually to more en-.
lighteDed public opinion, and to the pow.
er of free press. which, BY its broad
dissemination of political intelligence.
secures in advance to the side Of justice
the judgement Of the civilized world.
An honest. firm and open policy in our
foreign relations would command the
united support Of the nation, whose de-
libcrate opinions it would necessarily
reflect Nothing is clearer in the histo.
ry of our institution, than the design of
the nation in asserting its own indepen,
dence and freedom to avoid giving coun-
tenance to the extension of slavery.
The influence Of the small but com
pact and powerful class of men interest.
ed in slavery, who command ono section
of the country, and WELD a vast political
control as consequence in the other is
now directed to turn back this impulse
of the revolution, aud reverse its princi-
pies. The extension of slavery is the
object of the power which now rules tho
government. and from this spirit has
sprung those kindred wrongs in Kansas,
so truly portrayed in one of your resolu-
tions, which prove that the elements of
the most arbitrary governments have
not been vanquisbed by the Just theory
of our own. 1t would be ou. Of place
here to pledge myself to any particular
policy that has been suggested to ter
minnte the sectional controversy engen-
dered by political aDinosities operating
on powerful class, banded together by
a. ascommon interest.
A practical remedy is the admission
o: Kansas into the Union as free state.
The South should, in my judgment, earn.
estly desire such a consummstion. 1t
would vindcato its good faith it would
correct the mistake of the repeal, and the
North, having practically the benefit Of
tho agreement between the two sections,
would be satisfied, and good feeling be
restored. The measure is perfectly con-
sistent with tho honor OF the South, and
vital to its interests That fatal act
which gave birth to this purely sectional
strife, originating in the scheme to take
territory from the free labor Of the coun-
try. secured to it by solemn covenant,
cannot be too soop disarmod Of its per-
nicious force
The only general region Of the middle
latitudes left to the emigranats of the
Northern states for homes cannot be con-
quered from the free labor4rs who have
long considered it as set apart for them
in our inhoritapcs, without prov oking a
desperate struggle, Whatever may be
the persistence of the particular class
which seems ready to hazard evrytbipg
for the success of the unjust sche it
has partially effected, firmly believe
that the great heart of the patton, which
throbs with the patriotism of the free
men of both secii ons, will have power to
overcome it. They will look to tho
rights secured to them by the Constitu-
tion of the Union as their best safeguard
Fl ON opression Of the class which, by
monopoly of the SOIL and Of slave labor,
to till it, might, in time, reduce them to
the extremity Of laboring upon the same
terms with the slaves
The great body Of non-slaveholdipg
free men, including those Of the South.
to whose welfare slavery is in oppression,