Litchfield enquirer., 1857-03-05
sioa, by the Convention holden at Nsm ar,rruza..

on the 18th inst., as the candidate of tbe Electors Of the Fourth Congressional District who are opposed to the principles of the pres, ent Federel Administrator for the office of l Representative i'll the next Congress. and ask. 1 ing my acceptance of such nomination Your letter also incloses the following Resolution to the request contained in which, you wish ne to respond /: ..a..s. .s..
 l" Resolred, That the President of this Convention be requested to communicate to the Hon. ORR,s S FERRY, the resolves of this Convention with re- quest that written response may be given for the purpose of publication in the opposition papers of this State.'' ..y- ts e-.%
 The Resolves of the Convention, alluded to in the foregoing Resolution, are as follows:
 '' Whereas, The chief question dividing the nolit cal parties of this State and nation is now whether the area of Slavery shall be extended or limited and ,-. .4r.; ts E~
 Whereas, The present cxgencies of our national affairs demand unity of organization and action from all who would confne the Slave institution to its present limits therefore ii.
 ! Reolred That we, the Delegates of the 4th Con- gress onal District, in Convention assembled. do fully ndorse and approve of the Platform of prn- clples adopted by the State Convention at New Haven, on the 9th of January, and the political union and consolidation there effected and further
 Resolred That this Convention do fully and bearti- ly endorse the State Ticket then and there put in nomination, commenting it to the confidence and support of the voters of this District
 Reoteed That we hereby respectively renounce all obligation allegiance to any previous political or ganization, and that cordially unite together to promote and perpetuate the great principles that so signay trumphed in this Statc at the late Presiden ! tial electOn.' -. 4-.
 l approve these Resolutions. The passage of the Kansas-N ebraska Bill, and the subse- quent developments of the true political char aeter of the institution of Slavery, seem to me to have left but one course of action for those who love the Union, who cherish the Constitu- tlon, or who are, in any wise, imbued with the spirit of the men who framed the one, and es-- tablished the other and that is, to oppose an Inflexib,e resistance to the further extension Of human bondage. For the real question is. whether the government of this country, shall remain representative Democracy, or be- prac- tically changed to a slave-holding Aristocracy The elevation of the many of that great mass, ln every human society, which is composed of the men who labor with their hands, to posi- tlon of civil and political equality, with the other classes of the community and as neces-. sary consequence therefrom, the reposing of } the ultimate sovereignty of the nation in the , aggregate whole, constitutes the true Dcmoc-. racy, which was intended to be perpetuated in the Republic by the tramers of the Constitu- ton. Slavery, both in theory and fact, is op-.
 
 equality, but of every civil right to the labor Ing class; 1t IS the government of the few, and the subjecton of the many it is Arstocracy, in it's most odious forn >r
 Henceforth the true dividing line between political parties in this country, must be be- tween those who choose to permit, and those who determine to resist the expansion of such a system I have just described There is no longer left any middle ground The Con- vention which nominated Mr. Buchanan for tie Presidency, in putting forth the system of po- litical doctrine by which his Administration IS to be guided, has left open all the vast Terri tories of the Republic to the extension of Slavery. It has declared its utter indifference whether freedom or bondage shall be the Con- dition of the laboring classes in the future States of the Republic. It has rtnounced the doctrine Of equal rights, upon which this gov crnment is based. By the adoption of such principles the present and incoming Admins tratIons have not mcrcy stricken at the slave they have declared War upon the entire free labor of the Republic The inevitable conconl- 1 itant of Slavcry-supprcsSion of freedom uf speech and of liberty of the press-they have treated as thing too triling to be worthy of serious regard. Unrestricted permission to the expansion of Slavery is the very foundation principle upon which the new Administration is to rest Inhexible hostility to that expan- sion is the fundamental idea of the Resolutions. of the Convention, and therein do heartily concur.
 But while do so I would, at the same time expressly repudate any intention of inter- ferng with the constitutional rights of the States wherein Slavery is established Their unbamy condition, burdened as they are, with this ter trlble evil. awakcns, indeed all my sympathies. but the organic lav of the Republic has left the remedy in their own hands exclusively Political duty and political responsibility are correlative terms for the institution of bondage i'll Georgia or Mississippi, am no more civilly responsible, than am for despotism in Russia, or oppression in Naples and being thus with out responsibility, have no civil duty Q per form in the one case, or in the other But for the establishment of an aristocratic oppression over the unorganized, and common domain of the Republic. I, with all the people of the land am responsible, and therefore at all times, in fall places, and under all circumstances, I will resist it. +' '@"'
 Entertaining these views and believing them to be cherished by the great majority of tue people of Connecticut, from having seen them so recently vindcated in our Commonwealth. when fairly presented to the citizens thereof, in the late Presidential election, have earnestly desired to see them embodied as the principles iof onc-eompact, and powerful political organz- aton in this State. l have regarded the Con- vehtion of the Sth of January as having ac- compished that result. Uniting us in the bond of union, by whose strength we struggled and conquered in the Presidential contest, it leaves us to the unrestricted. exercise of our in dividua judgement, in other matters of political opinion, and gives us yigor, without making us the slaves of party. The course thus adopt- ed, has seemed to me an eminently wise one, and have cheerfully given it my unreserved support