Washington telegraph., 1856-04-30


of Capt. Pike. Judge Shortridge. and an
other gentleman from Alabama, and of
gentleman from California. we believe. who
left the Convention some time during its
session if we are informed correctly. The
positions of the gentlemen referred to entitle
their opinions unquestiorably to great res
pect. The arguments which they advance
are legitimate subjects for examination. if
they do no:ssand the test well and good We
have referred to negative reasons in this is
sue. In our next we will try to adduce some
positive testimony to sustain US. in asser-
ting that for Impractical purposesthe princi-
pies embodied in the February Platform,
are, if there IS any reason to have faith IN
the determination of Southern men to do
their duty, and of Northern men who come
to us with professions of fealty to our IRE
served rights to keep their promises. bet.
ter calculated, if administered upon. by such
men as Fillmore and Donelson to allay Sec
tional NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. tranquility,
guarantee, preserve and give the rights of
the whole to all. than any Platform now
before the public or likely soon to be pre-
sented.
To the American Party South.
1t is necessary for the rank and file of the
American Party South to consult together
in regard to the Platform adopted by the
National Council at Its called session, and
the candidates placed upOn 1t by the Ma
tional Convention.
The 18th article of the Platform of June.
1855. announced these four propositions, as
the deliberate sense of the American Party:
1st. That the existing laws on the subject
of slavery ought to be abided by and main
tained, as final settlement Of the whole
matter, in spirit and substance; and that
there ought to be no further legislation by
Congress on the subject.
I'd. That, whether it possesses the poarsr
or not, Congress ought not to legislate on
the subject o. slavery in the Territories
Sd. That it would be violation of the
compact between the United States and
Maryland, and contrary to good faith, to
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia
4th. That when new State presents her
self for admission into the Union, she has
right to come in, if her constitution is re-
publican and she has the requisite popula-
ton, whether that constitution recognises or
prohibits slavery.
1t was very general feeling at the South,
that we yielded something too much, in
'preterml,ting" an expression of opinion as
to the poa1er Of Congress to legislate in re-
gard to slavery in the Territories In most
of the Southern States, the State Councils
made Platforms stronger on this point than
the National one. None made them weaker.
But. in framing that Platform, we were
not making one far the South alone, but
that Northern conservative men could safely
stand on; and it was right that we should
not ask them to declare one opinion as to
the poaeer of Congress, while they enter
tanned another Numerically opposite; it
they acoutd agree that Congress OUGHT
not to exercise ths 7'oaoer, even if it has it.
The june Platform does not declare that
4 Congress ought to do ANY affirmative act
about slavery, but only that ~ ought to
do nothing.
No Southern American, once having
planted his feet on that Platform, can step
off from it to another. without deserced risk
of political ruin and annihilation.
No Southern man ought to abandon. or
can safely abandon any one of the four pro
positions. Ii he does, the South OUGHT to
and viii abandon him.
The National Council, meeting on the
call OF States which had repndiated the June
Platform, was assembled in February. for
The purpose of repeating the 18th article.
The Northern men took control Of it at the
beginning, upon the wrong basis Of repre-
seutation. and kept that control.
The 18th article, with all the rest of the
Platform, was struck out, and a new one
substituted.
That new Platform declares that the peo-
pie of a Territory have the right to frame
their own constitution and laws when?l and
regulate their own social and domestic affairs:
but the word slareyy is carefully avoided
and 1t comedies them, not the rtght but the
PRIVILEGE of admission into the Union,
when they have the requisite population
1t certainly gives up the three first pro-
positions of the 18th article, and it acaters
the 4th, SO that it amounts to little or nothing.
The lst proposition was the chief one Of
the 18th article. The South imperatiyely
demands that the agitation of the subject of
slavery In Congress shall cease, and especi-
ally that it shall no longer legislate on that
subject in the Territories.
The South demands, and has rirht to
demand. in every Platform, Democratic.
Wing or American, specific language on
the subject of slavery. 1t does not want to
be told that laws constitutionally enacted
are to be obeyed until repealed or decided
null by Judicial authority. 1t does not want
to be told that new State shall have the
privilege of admission. 1t is tired of am.
biguities, and sick of generalities; and. as
the matter now stands, when man reclaims
his slave at the risk of his life, and at ten
times the expense of the slave; when clerpy-
men preach sedition, and States pass ner-
sonai liberty acts; antiquities and gener-
antics are mere transparent cheat and
fraud on the South.
And such fraud iS o,,, pI.tfo-,, IL