Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-07-12
WAsnINoroN CIrY. JnIY 9. $50.

WAsHINGToN CRY, July 6, 1860.
DEAR Sin: I have your letter of the 23d
ultimo, by which ! am officially informed Of
my nomination for the Office OF President Of
the United States by the Democratic Nation
al Convention lately assembled at Baltimore.
The circumstances Of this nomination will
Justify me in referring to its personal aspect.
have not sought nor desired 70 be placed
before the country for the Office of President.
When my name was presented TO the con-
yention at Charleston, il was withdrawn by
a friend in obedience TO my expressed wishes.
N.Y. views had not changed when the conYen-
ton re-assembled at Baltimore, and when
heard Of the differences, which occurred there,
nv indisposition to be connected prominent
Iy with the canvass was confirmed and ex-
pressed TO many friends. q
Without discussing the occurrences which
proceeded the nominations, and which are or
soon will be well understood by the country
have only to say that 1 approved, as just
and necessary to the preservation of the Ma
tionaI organization and the sacred right Of
representation, the section Of the convention
over which you continued to preside and
thus approving Il, and having resolved TO
sustain it, I feel that it does not become me TO
select the position | shall occupy, nor to shrink
from the responsibilities Of the post to which
/ have been assigned. Accordingly, accept
the nomination from a sense Of public duty,
and. as I think, uninhuenced in any degree
by the allurements Of ambition.
laval myself Of this occasion to say that
the confidence in my personal and public
character implied by the action Of the con-
yentiou, will always be gratefully remember
ed; and it is but just, also, to my own feel
ings to express my qualification at the asso-
citation Of my name with that of my friend
/ Gen. Lane, a patriot and e soldier whose
great services in the field and in council enti-
tie 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 fthe Union, to all our citizens, ma
/ tive and naturalized, and they form a noble
policy for any administration.
The questions touching the rights ofpersons
and property, which have Of late been much
| discussed, find in these resolutions consttu-
! tional solution. Our Union is u confederacy
of equal sovereign States for the purposes en-
umerated in the Federal Constitution. What
ever the common Government holds in trust
for all the States must be enjoyed equally by
each. Il controls the Territories in trust fol
the States. Nothing less than sovereignty
can destroy or impair the rights of persons ol
property. The territorial governments art
subordinate and temporary, and not sover'
eign; hence they cannot destroy or impair th'
rights of persons or property. While they
continue to be Territories they are under the
control of Congress, but the Constitution no
where confers on any branch Of the Fedora
Government the power to discriminate
against the rights of the States or the proper
ty of their citizens in the territories, 1t fol
lows that the citizens of the States may entel
the territories of the Union with their prop
erty, of whatever kind, and enjoy it during
the territorial condition without let or hind
rance, either by Congress Orby the subOrdin
ate territorial governments.
These principles flow directly from the alb
sence of sovereignty in the territorial govern
ments, and from tina equality of the States
Indeed they are essential to that equality
which is and ever has been, the vital princi
the rock Of the Constitution-they will pre-.
serve the Union.
It is idle to attempt TO smother these greai
issues, or to misrepresent them by the use o.
partisan phrases which are misleading and
delusive. The people will look beneath such
expressions as Intervention" "Congression-
! al Slave-code, and the like, and will pene-
trate to the real questions involved. The
] friends 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-intervention by Congress or by a terrific
rial legislature, either to establish or prohibit
Slavery; but they assert 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,
as everywhere else within its jurisdiction.
The only logical answer TO this would seem
to be to claim sovereign power for the terri
tories, or to deny that the Constitution recop-
nizes property in the services of negro slaves,
or to deny that such property eau exist.
lnexorable logic, which works its steady
way through clouds and passion, compels the
country to meet the issue. There is no eva
sive middle ground. Already the signs null
tiply of fanatical and growing party, which
denies that under the Constitution or by any
other law, slave property can exist and al
timately the struggle must come between this
party and the National Democracy, sustained
by ali the other conservative elements in the
Union.
think it will be impossible for a candid
mind to discover hostility to the Union or a