The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1856-09-16
A Reply TO the '.Appeal of the Wings of De.
trOit 10 the Wings of Michigan"

The undersigned, whose fidelity to the
true Wing cause and to the principles and
memory Of Henry Clay, has never been
doubted, regret to notice in the Detroit Free
Press of the 23d inst, document signed
by Zina Pitcher, and sixty eight Others,
claiming to be Wings Of the Henry Clay and
Daniel Webster stamp, denouncing Fremont
and Dayton the candidates Of the Republi-
can party, and urging the Wings of Michi-
gan to support Buchanan and Breckenridge,
the Locofoco candidates, under the pretence
that to support the former would be 'viola-
ton of all their antecedents."
That gentlemen, claiming to have been
political friends of Clay and Webster, and
Wings of Michigan, should have ventured
to put forth such document is indeed
strange; and we call attention to it not so
much on account of any apprehension that
it will induce Wings TO turn Nebraska Loco
focos and vote for Mr.. Buchanan, (Which is
what the document recommends) as to set
forth to the public what the sentiments of
the Wing party touching the extension of
Slavery have uniformly been in this State.
1t will thus be made to appear that the
signers have either overlooked and utterly
disregard the often declared and well estab-
lished principles Of the party to which they
claim to have belonged, or that they have
now, at time when the interests of the
country and the cause of freedom more than
ever demand firm adherence, willfully and
knowingly deserted them with a view to aid
in the extension of slavery; an object to
which the whig party as well as Mr.. Clay
and Mr.. Webster were ever strenuously OPP
posed.
For this purpose we call the attention to
the following:
Alta Mass Convention of the wings of
Michigan, held at Marshall, on the 4th of
July, 1914, when Mr.. Clay was in nomina-
ton for the Presidency, the following resolu-
tion was unanimously adopted, viz:
"Resolved, That we believe in maintain
ing the integrity of the present territory
of the United States and not extending its
bounds for any purpose whatever; and that
its extension for the avowed purpose of ex-
tending and perpetuating the institution of
slavery will be opposed under all circumstan-
ces; and we are therefore, opposed to the an
nexaton of Texas, as clearly unconstitution-
al and opposed to the principles of Republi-
can Freedom"
Hon. Francis Granger, of N. Y, was pres
ent and addressed the meeting in advocacy
of the principles here asserted, as he had
done at the Clay House in Detroit.
The next day July 5th) there was Con-
vention of Delegates from the "Clay Clubs"
throughout the State; and this Convention
of Clay Wings unanimously adopted the fol-
lowing resolution:
"Resolved, That this Convention regard
the annexation of Texas to the United States
as an open violation of treaties with foreign
powers, as virtual declaration Of war a.
gainst Mexico, as an fringement of the Con-
stitution of the United States, and as the
last resort of Locofoco Free Traders and
Southern nullifiers to extend and perpepet-
uate the institution of slavery and to dissolve
the Union"
The sixty-nine now tell us that to oppose
the extension of Slavery is to dissolve the
Union. If they were Wings then what are
they now? Who has deserted Wing princi-
pies They who now go for Buchanan, Free
Trade and Slavery extension, or we who,
thinking our principles as good now as they
were then, scorn to desert theml
It should not be forgotten that those were
Wing sentiments at time when Slavery ex-
tension was the admitted policy of the Loco
foco party-as it is still.
Again---on the 11th of May, 1s4s, when
General Taylor, the hero of Buena Vista, was
the Wing candidate for the Presidency, the
Wing State Convention met at Jackson, and
among others, passed the following resolu-
tions:
"Resolved, That the further extension Of
the Slave power under the shelter of the Con-
stitution is at war no less with the rights of
humanity and the laws Of God than with the
principles asserted in the Declaration of In
that the extension of Slave re-
presentation in Congress, whereby property
is made basis Of political power would be
grossly unjust to the Free States; and that
we deem it to be tho duty Of Congress TO a.
dopt the principles Of the Ordinance of l7e7 |