Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1860-07-18
Hon. j. G. BREcKINRIDGE.
WASHINGTON CRY, July 6, Il

DEAR SIR: have your letter of the Esd ultmo.
by which am officially informed of my nomination
for the office of President of the United States by
the Democratic National Convention, lately assem-
bled at Baltimore The circumstances of this NOM
nation will justify me in referring to its personal
aspect
have not sought nor desired to be placed before
the country for the office of President When my
name was presented to the convention at Charleston,
il was withdrawn by friend in obedience to my
expressed wishes. NY views had not changed when
the convention reasSembled at Baltimore; and when
| heard of the differences which occurred there, my
indispostion to be connected prominently with the
canvass was confirmed, and expressed to many
friends.
Without discussing the occurrences which pre-.
coded the nominations, and which arc, or soon will
be, well understood by the country, have only to
say that ! approved, as just and necessary to the
preservation of the national organization and the
sacred right Of representation, the action OF the
convention over which you continued to preside;
and thus approving it, and having resolved to srS-
tain it. feel that it does not become me to select the
position shall occupy, to shrink from the re-
sponsibilities of the post to which | have been as
signed Accordingly accept the nomination from
a sense of public duty. and, think, unnHuenced
in any degree by the alluremenS of ambition.
avail myself of this occasion to say that the
confidence in my personal and public character i'm
piled by the action of the convention will always
be gratefully remembered and it is but just also to
my own feelings to express my qualification at the
association of my name with taat of my friend
General Lane patriot and soldier, whose great
services in the field and in council enttle him to
the gratitude and confidence of his countrymen.
The resolutions adopted by the convention have
my cordial approval They are just to all parts Of
the Union-to all our citizens native and natural
iceland they form noble policy for any admin
istration
The questions touching the rights Of persons and
property, which have of late been much discussed,
find in these resolutions constitutional Solution.-
Our Union is a COnfederacy of equal, sovereign
States, for the purposes enumerated in the federal
constitution. Whatever the common government
holds in trust for all the States must be enjoyed
equally by each 1t controls the Territories in trust
for all the States. Nothing less than sovereignty
can destroy impair the rights Of persons prop
erty. The territorial governments are subordinate
and temporary, and not sovereign; hence they can
not destroy impair the rights of persons prop
erty While they continue 10 be Territories they
under the control Of Congress- buthe constitution
nowhere confers any branch of the federal gov
eminent the power discriminate against the rights
of the States or the property Of their citizens in the
Territories. 1t follows that the citizens of all the
States may enter the Territories of the Union with
their property, of whatever kind and enjoy it dur
ing the territorial condition without let hinder
ance either by Congress or by the subordinate ter
ritOrial governments
sovereignty in the territorial governments and from
the equality Of the States. Indeed they are essen
tial to that equality which is and has been the
vital principle Of constitutional Union. They
have been settled legslativcly-setted judicislly-
and are sustained. by right reason. They rest on
the rock Of the constitution. They will preserve
the Constitution. They will preserve the Union.
1t is idle to attempt to smother these great issues
or to misrepreSent them by the of partisan
phrases which are misleading and delusive. The
people will look beneath such expressions {" in
teryenton," Congressional slave CODE" and the
like, and will penetrate to the real questions nvolv
ed. The frienGs Of constitutional equality do not
and never did demand congressional slave code,
nor any other "cOde" in regard to property in the
Territories. They hold the doctrine of non-nter-
vention by Congress or by Territorial legislature
either to establish prohibit slavery but they
sert fortified by the highest judicial tribunal in the
Union) the plain duty Of the federal government in
all its departments to secure, when necessary, to
the citizens of all the States the enjoyment Of their
property in the common Territories, everywhere
else within its jurisdiction. The only logical an
swer to this would seem to be to claim sovereign
power for the Territories to deny that the con-
Stitution recognises property in the services of
gro slaves, to deny that such property can exist
memorable logic, which works its steady way
through clouds and passion compels the country to
meet the issue There is no evasive, middle ground
Already the signs multiply OF n tanatical and grow
ing party which denies that under the constitution,
by any other law, slave property can exist; and
| ultimately the struggle must come between this
| party and the national democracy, sustained by all
| the other conservative elements in the Union.
| think it will be impossible for a candid mind to
discover hostility to the Union faint of section
alsm IN the resolutions adopted by the convention.
The Constitution and the Union rcpoSe the equal
ity of the States, which lies like broad foundation
underneath our whole political structure. AS
construe them the resolutions simply assert this
equality. They demand nothing for any State or
section that is not cheerfully conceded to all the
rest 1t is well to remember that the chief disor-
! ders which have afflicted our country have grown
out Of the violation of State equality, and that as
long as this great principle has been respected we
| have been blessed with harmony and peace. Nor
will it be easy to persuade the country that resOlu-
tons sectional which command the support of a
majority of the States and approved by the bone
and body of the old democracy, and by vast mass
of conservative opinion everywhere, without regard
to party.
1t has been necessary more than once in our his
tory to pause and soemnly assert the true charac-
ter of this government A memorable instance oc-
CURED in the struggle which ended in the civil rev.
olution of 1900. The republicans of that day, like
the democracy Of this, were stigmatiZed as disun-
onists but they nobly conducted the contest under
the constitution and saved our political system. By
like constitutional struggle it is intended now to
assert and establish the equality of the States as
the only OASIS OF Union and peace When TINS o.
ject so national, constitutional, just shall be
accomplished the last cloud will disappear from the
American sky, and with common hands and hearts,
the States and the people will unite to develop the
resources Of the whole country to bind it together
with the bonds of intercourse and brotherhood and
to impel it onward in its great career. The const
tuition and the equality Of the Substitutes are
symbols of everlasting Union let these be the raj
lying cries of the people - =
i trust that this canvass will be conducted with
out rancor, and that temperate arguments will take
the place OF hot words and passionate accusations
Above ALL venture humby to hope that Divine
Providence, to whom we owe our origin our growth
and all prosperity, will continue to protect
beloved country against all danger, foreign and