Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-05-19
n. n. R.-Repphllc.u Ready Relief.


n. n. R--Repuhlican Ready Relief.
The tremendous enthusiasm Of the Chicago
Convention over theadoptiop-e the piAiformr
seems 70 have been, not became any thing
positive was affirmed, but Because they had
passed the dead point. of danger, and had
adopted sufRciency Of glittering generali-
tics, without affirming any positive line of
motion. The platform of So affirmed the
duty of Congress to exclude from the Terri
tories the twin relics ofbarbarism--poly
and slasety. tAt this time biis 70 organize
five new. Territories ara pending in Congress,
and 1t would seem TO be the. time, If ever, to
put the Congressional prohibition in force;
but the party drops its positive declaration
for Congressional prohibition, and substi-
ttutes singular piece Of mosaic work, made
up Of general principle taken from the Com
stitution, and of a declaration that Congress
should enforce the Constitution. We pub
lish again this curiosity, which is quite as
Ingenious and Deiphic as the Cincinnati
Platform, q. ,,,iii-- .-.7 a7 5fs..-. ar s..-
''8. That the normal condition of all the
territory of the United States is that Of free
dom; that as our Republican fathers, when
they had abolished slavery in all of our
national territory, ordained that no person
should be deprived Of life, liberty, or prop
erty, without due process of law, il becomes
our duty by legislation whenever such legis-
latiOn is necessary, 70 maintain this provi-
sion of the Constitution against all attempts
TO violate il; and we deny the authority Of
Congress ora Territorial Legislature, or of
any individuals, 10 give legal existence to
| slavery in any Tefritofy Of the United
States. 'r7't -'-i1- 7f ir1i--' '7- '' r
i, The normal condition Of the States is that
of freedom, just as much as the Territories,
and in another resolution the Convention
/ adopted the Declaration of Independence, de-
claring the normal condition of all men To-
be that of freedom; therefore, if the declara-
tion that, ''It becomes our duty by legisla-
ton (what legislation p to maintain this
provision of the Constitution against all at
tempts to violate it,p means anything, it
means that it becomes our duty to maintain
the right Of aIlmen to freedom, But it does
not mean this, although this Interpretation
may be intended for certain latitudes; there
fore, it means nothing at all, with great care
and premeditation. 1t is merely little
joker, fixed up by the elder Blair and Greeley,
which may seem 10 bo under the radical or
the conservative thimble, according TO the
latitude, but win always be under the thumb
| Of the manipulation. There is not particle
te' choose between this and the Cincinnati
Platform, whose whole virtue consists in the
fact that it can be interpreted to suit any de-
mand. ..a .- -.r; f,. .,-.,.-.. .i..
The only declaration in this resolution that
amounts to anything positive, is the negative
one denying the authority of Congress, or of
a Territorial Legislature, or of any individ-
uals, to give legal existence to slavery in any
territory of the United States. This is the
-dogma of non-intervention, showing that
the Republican party has inheritsd the Pc
culjar virtue of the ancient Whig party, to
/ take up positions which the Democracy have
abandoned. But the Republicans will not
stand up to this. Congress does give legal
existence to slavery in the organized Terri
tories by the fugitive-slave law. individuals
have given existence to slavery in the States
| without any assistance of law, and the Re-
publican party recognizes its existence as
legal and sacred. Slavery in the States is
not established by law any more than other
4 property. 1t exists by the acts ofindividuals,
and this gives it a legal existence, for the
law protects rights which individuals &C.
quire. This is the way that slavery has beer
established wherever it exists, and the en-
ergy of the Republican party is chiefly ex
hausted in asserting their respect for it