The true Democrat., 1856-04-08
v~-"~"-1-"s+---- TO the American Party South,

gard to the PLATFORM adopted by the national couhcil at Its called session, and the candidates placed upon it by the national convention.
 The l2th article of the platform of June, looo, announced these four propositions, as the deliberate sense of the American party:
 lst. hat the existing laws on the subject of slavery ought to be abided by and maintained as final settlement of the whole matter. in spirit and substance; and that there ought to be 10 further legislation by Congress on the sub ject.
 2d. That, whether it possesses the po,cer or not, Congress ooght not to legslate on the sub- ject of slavery in the territories. Sd. That it would be violation of the com- pact 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 herself tor admission into the Union, she has y1qht to come Tn, If her constitution is republican and she has the requisite population, whether that constitution recognizes or prohibits slavery.
 IL was very general feeling at the south, that we yielded something too much, in "pre- termittlng'' an expression of opinion as to the pol0er of Congress to legisate in regard to sla- very in the territories. In most of the south crn States, the State councils made platforms stronger on this point than the national one None made them weaker.
 But ln framing that platform, we were not making one tor tie south alone, but one that northern conservative men could safely stand on; and 1t was right that we should not ask them to declare opinion as to the poace1 of Congress, while they entertained ah0tAer da- metrlcally opposite; f they ecouM ogreeMat Con- gress OUGHT not to exercise Me poloer, even if it has it.
 The June platform does not declare that Congress ought to 10 ANY affirmative act about slavery, but only htat H ought 10 do notHing.
 No southern American, once having planted his feet on that platform, can step of from it to another, without deserued risk of political ruin and annihilation.
 No southern man 0ugt to abandon, or can safely abandon any one of the fonr proposi- tions. If he does, the south ought to and will abandon him.
 The national council, meeting on the call of States which had repudiated the J une platform, was assembled in February, for tue purpose of repeating the 12th article. The northern men took control of it at the beginning, upon the wrong basis ot representation, and kept that control.
 The 12;h article, with all the rest of the platform, was struck out and new one sub- stituted.
 That new platform declares that the people of territory have the right to frame their own constitution and laws when?l and regulate their own social and domestic affairs; but the word 8laUefy is carefully avoided-and 1t con ccdes them, not the right, but the PRIVILEGE of admission into the Onion, when they have the requisite population.
 It certainly gives up he three first proposi- tions of the 12th article, and it ,0aters the 4th, so that it amounts to little or nothing.
 The lst proposition was the chief one of the l2th article. The south imperative'y demands that the agitation of the subject of slavery in Congress shall cease, and especially that it shall no longer lcgisato on that subject n the terri tories.
 The south demands. and has a rigH to de- maud, in every platform, democratic, whig or American, specifc language on the subject of slavery. It does not want to be told that laws constituti0naNy enacted are to be obeyed until repealed or decided nuii by judicial authority. It does not want to be told that a new State shall have the pyryliegs of admission. It is lir- ed of antiquities, and sick of generalities; and, as the matter now stands, when man reclailns his slave at the risk of his life, and at ten times the expense of the slave; when clergvmen preach sedition, and States pass personal libcr- ty acts; ambguities and generaitles are mere transparent cheat and fraud on the south.
 And such fraud is ony platform that stud- ously omitS the word s}aUeTy, and uses rounda- bout phrases, clrcunlocutiOns, to aU0tI express ing plain ideas.
 If the ne1g platform is the same in su5stqoce as the old, why the change? If 1t is not, the south has TO use for it.
 The new platform leaves the northern men who stand upon it perfectly free to agitate against the fugitive slave law, for the abolition of slavery in the District, for expressing the trade in slaves between different States, and for the restoratioA of the Missouri compromise: and it sge5aNY denounces the repeal of that compromise, by dcnouncng the President for abetting 1t.
 do not envy the southern man who under takes to defend the new platlorm after once standing on the old one.
 was a member of the national council both in June and in February. In June, desired, at first, to ecc5HIe the question of slavery from the platform, denomcing, and not unless codt denounce, in doing so the men of the party in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the north who had declared auti-savery to be part of the na- tlonal American creed; as having done 50 with out authority, and 50 perverted and prostituted the organizations to improper purposes.
 Met by an unanimous resolve on the part of the northern members to have declaration that the Missouri mpromise ought to be restored, aided in establishing the l2Jh article. Once upon it, and deemiug it eminently rightin prin. ciple, it became impossible for me to abandon it, or consent to its modification. When 1t was struck out, I withdrew from the council, and destroyed my credentials as a delegate to the nominating convention, ill which l refused to take my seat.
 The American party south cannot stand on the new platform It must necessarily repud- ate it. On 1t, 1t would not carry single coun- ty anywhere.
 It is said that the men nominated are plat form enough. That nugM be so, if we had no platform; if they were on no platform; II we had never had a platform.
 It is said that the new platform is s,tbstaatiat ~ the same as the old one. Then how came it to be offered by free-soiler from Illinois, who declared, after 1t was adopted, that he would vote for the admission of no State per hitting slavery? If 1t suits him, it cannot suit me.
 It is not substantially the same. It was fruD,el in Washington, to get rid of the 12th article It was o6eret and aloptel for that pur pose in Philadelphia; and we may as we'll look it frankly in the face. It yiells I'D all that we fought for and gained the June be- fore.
 And now as to the candidates That may not be misunderstood, let me say that was d. ,oays a whig, until joined the American par ty. I was supporter of Mir. Filmore's adml- nistration. I was indignant when he was thrown aside for General Scott. What thought of him then, think now.
 But when we formed the American party, we assured our democratic friends who joined us, that 1t was mt meant to be the whig party in disguise. They joined us in that belief. On my motion, my State council declared that the mo- mhee for president ought to be northern man, whose antecedents had been democratic. Twas playing fairly.
 The old whig organizations are revving all over the country. The old whig committees and clubs are alive and astir again. Ourdemo cratic brethren will say that we have deceived l .l =. .l, a1