Washington sentinel., 1856-05-24


Now, sir, l am enabled to state, on unques-
toned authority, that the declaration, that
James Buchanan was chairman of the COM
mi,tee which framed those resolutions, is un-
founded and untrue. / undertake here, in my
place to say to the House and the country,
that Mr.. Buchanan did not report the resou-
/ tions referred 10; that he was not the chairman
Of the committee by which they were reported !;
and that he never saw them until they appear
ed in print But suppose he had reported
! them; suppose he had been chairman of the
committee which reported them-I appeal to
the South 10 answer whether this fact should
stand against him with the long experience of
his life before the country?
But, Mr.. Speaker, this accusation belongs to
the class of idle reports invented, and now. cir
culaied, 10 damage him in the stimation of the
American people. SIR all these accusations,
whether asserted anonymously or publicly, are
triumphantly answered by the record of his
public lte
do not deem it necessary, Mr.. Speaker, to
go into an examination OF the other allega-
lions Of my colleague, in reference to Mr.. Bu-
chanan. So much stress seems to have been
laid upon the particular charge which have
just answered, that thought it worthy of this
special notice. As to the rest, confess my
astonishment that my colleague should have
deemed it necessary to refer TO them.
All such accusations as these against Mr..
Buchanan are answered by thirty-sx years of
devotion to the Constitution of the United
States.
They are answered by the fact that, twenty
years ago, in the Senate of the United States,
he was among the first northern men to resist
the inroads of abolitionism.
They are answered by his opposition to
the circulation of iusurrectionary documents
through the mails of the United States among
the slaves of the South.
They are answered by his determined sup
port of the bill admitting Arkansas into the
American Union.
of the bill admitting Michigan into the Union.
They answered by his early support of
the annexation of Texas.
They are answered by his persevering sup
port of the fugitive slave law.
They answered by his energetic efforts to
effect the repeal of the law Of the State of
Pennsylvania denying to the Federal authori
ties the use Of her prisons for the detention Of
fugitive slaves.
They are answered by his early and unyield-
| ing opposition to the Wilmot proviso.
They are answered by the assaults which
have been made upon him by northern fanatics
during more than quarter of century.
They are answered by the encomiums Of the
true and national men Of every section of the
country in which he is repeatedly designated
as $ distinguished fora4s capacity-distinguish
ed for his high distinguished for
his high eloquence, yet more distinguished still
for the pure morality of his life and the stern
patriotism of his character"
They are answered by the fact that while
har NJ polk ~
position of ianaticism, he proposed to extend
| the Missouri line to the Pacific amid the delight
| and gratitude Of national men of all parts of
| the Union.
| They are answered by every vote he gave in
| the American Congress on the question of
slavery, and by the fact, that of all Northern
men he has been among the most prominent
| in asserting and defending strict construction
of the Federal Constitution.
They are answered by the construction which
he placed upon, the Compromise measures of
| 1850, in the letter addressed by him, in Novem-
Der OF the same year, TO the people of Philadel.
| phia, in which be declared that the Compromise
measures had superseded the Missouri line or,
to use his own language, that that line had
"passed away" which construction led inevita-
bly, to the adoption of the principle of popular
Sovereignty embodied in the Kansas n Nebraska
bill.
They are answered by the national action of
his State-a State memorable in the history of
this question for Its fidelity to the rights of the
other States, record with which he and his
friends are inseparably identified.
They are answered by the resolutions adopted
by the last Democratic State Convention of
Pennsy ylvania, and accepted and endorsed BY
Mr.. Buchanan, on Thursday, the 9Th of May,
in the following language:
"The duties Of the President whomsoever be
may be, have been clearly and ably indicated
by the admirable resolutions OF the Convention
which you have just presented to me, and all
of which, without reference to those merely
personal TO myself heartily adopt. Indeed,
| they met my cordial appreciation from the mo-
ment when ! first perused them on the other
side Of the Atlantic. They constitute a plat.
form broad, national, and conservative, and one
eminently worthy of the Democracy of our
great and good old State.
"These resolutions carried into execution,
with an inflexibity and perseverance preclud
ing all hope Of change, and yet in kindly spirit,
will, ere long, allay the dangerous excitement
which has for some years prevailed on the sub
ject of domestic slavery, and again unite all
portions Of our common country in the ancien,
bonds Of brotherly affection. under the fag o
the Constitution and the Union"
And / now send the resolutions adopted by
the Democracy of Pennsylvania, and endorsed
by Mr.. Buchanan, to the Clerks table, and de
sire that they may be read:
"Resolued, That in the present distracted con
dition Of parties, in which sectional and par
tial issues have been allowed to attain 0
dangerous supremacy, we recognise in the
policy Of the Democratic party, that which
rests upon the Constitution as its basis and
that it is the party which above all others has
in the language Of the illustrious Madison, ever
continued to hold the Union Of the States as
the basis Of their peace and happiness to sup
port the Constitution, which is the cement OF
the Union, as well in its limitations as its au-
thoriiies to respect the rights and authorities
reserved TO the States and to the people, az
equally incorporated with, and essential to, the
success Of the general system; and TO avoid
the slightest interference with the rights oi
conscience or the functions OF religion, 80
wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction
"Resolred, That by the general consent Of the
arJ If all r. II