Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1856-06-28
MrR. LETTER,
ANA4&s --~~
Accepting the Nomination.

IA H%
following reply:
WHEATLAND, EAT LANCASTER,
June Is, 1856,
Geutemen-T have the honor to acknow-
LEDGE the receipt of your communication OF the
18th inst, informing me officially of my noml"
nation by the Democratic National Convention,
recently held at Cincinnati, as the Democratic
andidate for the office of President of the Uni
ted States. | shall not attempt to express the
Ureateful feelings which | entertain towards
nv Democratic fellow citizens, for having
deemed me worthy Of this-the highest politi'
cal honor on earth-an honor such as the PEG.
nile of no other country have the power to be-
stow. Deeply sensible of the vast and varied
responsibility attachedt to the station, especially
at the present crisis in our affairs, | have cares
fully refrained from seeking the nomination
either by word or by deed. Now that it has
been offered by the Democratic party, ! accept
il with diifideHce in my own abilities, but with
an humble trust, that in the event Of my eIec>
ton, | NAV be enabled to discharge my duty
in such a manner as to allay domestic strife,
preserve peace and friendship with foreign ma
lions, aud promote the best interests of the Re.
public.
In accepting the nomination, I need scarcely
say that ! accept in the same spirit, the resoIu-
tons constituting The platform of principles
erected BY the convention. To this platform
intend to %confne myself throughout the can.
vass, believing thatI have no right, as the
candidate of the Democratic party, by nswe
ing interrogatories, TO present new and differ
ent issues before the people.
It will not be expected that in this answer,
| should specially refer to the subject of each
of the resolutions: and | shall therefore confIne
- II .,t ~-t.. r.vry r1r N-,,,ina,S
ly before the people.
And in the first place, ! cordially concur in
the sentiments expressed by the convention on
the subject Of civil and religious liberty. No
PARTY founded on religious or political %int0ier-
nDce towards one class of American citizens,
whether born in our own or in a foreign land,
can long continue to exist in this country
We are all equal before God and the constitu-
ton; and the dark spirit of despoiism and bigo-
try which would create odious distinctions d.
| moug our feltow-citiZens, will be speedily
rebuked by a free and enlightened public opin-
ion.
The agitation on the question of domestic
slavery has too long distracted ana divided the
people of this Union. and alienated their aftec-
ions from each other, This agitation has as
sumed many forms since its commencement,
but it now seems to be directed chiefly TO the
Territories; and judging from its present
character, | think we may safely anticipate that
it is rapidly approaching a "fnality." The re-
cent legislation ofsongress respecting domestic
slavery derived, as it has been from the origi-
nal and pure fountain of legitimate political
power, The will of the majority, promises ere
long to allay the dangerous excitement. This
legislation is founded upon principles, as an
cient as free government itself, and in accord
ance with them, has simply declared that the
people of n Territory, like those of a State,
shall decide for themselves, whether slavery
shall or shall not exist within their limits.
The Eebraska-K Kansas act does no more than
give the force of the law to this elementary princl-
PIE or srffgvver~aant-deciarin it to be "the true
intent and meaning of this aGr not to lepisiate
slavery into any Territory or Stale, nor to exclude
it therefrom; but to leave the people thereof per-
fectly free 10 form and regulate their domestic
institutions in their own way, subject only to the
constitution of the United Slates.o This princi-
Pile will surely not be controVered by any indi-
vidual of any party protesting devotion to popu-
lar government. Besides. how vain and illusory
would any other principle prove in practice in re-
gard to the Territories This is apparent from
the fact admitted by all, that after a Territory
shall have entered the Union and become a State,
no constitutional power would thenexist which
could prevent it from either abolishing or estab-
fishing slavery, as the case may be, according to
its soyereignwill and pleasure.
Most happy would it be for the country if this
long agitation were at end. Duringi its whole pro-
gress il has produced no practical good to any hu-
man being whilst it has been the source of great
and dangerous evils. lthas aliented and estrang-
ed one portion of the Union from the other, and
has even seriously threatened its very existence.
To my own personal knowledge, it has produced
the impression in foreign nations that our great
and glorious confederacy is in constant danger of
dissolution. This does US serious injury, because
acknowledged power and stability always COM
mand respect among nations, and are among the
best securities against unjust aggression and in
favor OF the maintenance of honorable peace.
May We not hope that it is the mission of the
party, now the only surviving conser-
VatiVe parry of the country, ere long to overthrow
all sectional parties, and restore the peace, friend
ship and mutual confidence which prevailed in
the good old time, aneng the different members
Of the eonfederacy. It's character is strictly ma
tional, aid it therefore asserts no p~rinciple for the !
ofthe Federal Government which is not
and sustained by its members in each !
and every State. For this reason it is every- :
the same determined foe of all geographic
cai parties, so much and SO Justly dreaded by the |
Father of the Country. From It's very nature it
must continue: 70 exist SO long as there is c~onstitu- :
ion and a Union to preserve. A conviction Of t
hese truths has induced many of the purest. the 7
ablest and most independent of our former oppo-
lents, who have differed from us in times gone G
oy upon old and extinct party issues, TO. come into p
our ranks and devote themselves withsusfosthed i
;ause OF the constitution and the Union. TTnaeri :
hese circumstances, | most cheerfuIly pledge mYslsn
should the nomination of the convention bel \
by the people, that all the power and in
constitutionalIy possessed by the Execu- G
i've, shall be exerted, in a firm but coneiliatory p
pirit, during the single. term | shall remain IN &
'fice, to restore the same harmony among the j.
lister States which prevailed before this apple of =
lscord, in the form of slavery agitation, had I
cast into their midst. Let the members Of /.
he family abstain from intermedling with the .
domestic concerns of each Other, and d
unite, on the basis Of perfect equality a. /,
nong themselves, IN promoting the great national G
biectS of eonman infoFasf4fo ali and Aha o~aa+ IL