Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-07-18

sentative proposes legislation upon it. No COM /
pgint Of violated rights comes from any territory:
No evidence is offered that the Constitnton the laws
and the Courts are not competent 70 protect per- |
sonaI right and prfFete property. Hence whis |
would never abandon Unconstitutional right espe- |
cally after it bad been udicaly determined, lnsver
would prematurely raise any question to distract
the country when no voice demands it, North, |
Gouth East or West
= Is should bel cause Of cengratulaton to every
patriot that the territorial question is nearly fought
out It is nearly fought out No man of sense and
observation eyer supposed t at the institution would
ever penetrate into Minnesota, Nebraska and other
northern territories. As the territory south of
certain parallel of latitude where slave property
is really profitable, and where the interests of both
races seem to harmonic in this relation, do not
doubt that climate and interest, and The proximity OF
slave States, and the Constitution and the courts
viii sustain US there in all orr rights, and that we
will have Southern States out of Southern soil
Fellow citizens, propose now to offer you some
reflections on another aspect OF pu0he affairs. we
have been speaking of questions that concern Ken
tueiy no more than the Othe- States but We may
soon have to meet questions that come nearer home
--freside, hearthstone questions. l disclaim the
spirit of an alarmist o. a demagogue yet, since
have been acquainted with public affairs, there new
er was time when the interests of this Union were
in so much peril or when the feelings of the people
| wereso much alienated as at this hour Certainly,
if the aspect of affairs at Washington IS In the slight
est degree indicative of the feeling elsewhere, TINS
4
The danger springs from the character ana pur-
| poses of political organization in this country
| called the Republican party do not thln& tnat
| we yet fully realize IN Kentucky the aims OF this
party, what it intends, and the probable eonse-
quences of its in the United States nor 90
think that the of the Northern people at all
realize the consequences which will be SURG to fol
low any attempt to execute its proclaimed puf-
poses. At first it seemed to limit its aims to Tie eX
clusiOn of slavery from the Territories but, like
| a.
| continually onward. The rear rank of the Repuo-
lcan army marches up and eneamps on the ground
| occupied by the advanced guard, months before,
while the advanced guardhas been marching steadily
| forward .sl.
We claim only thoge rights guaranteed to US by
the Constitutions which is the bond of the American
Union. Among the clearest Of them ars the right
to the return of fugitives from labor and the Dght
to live in peace with cur domestic institutions after
the manner of fathers and 1t Is as clear vIo-
aon of the Constitution to refuse these rights as If
the instrument wePestoPn into fragments II y the
purpose of the Republican party to abolish slavery
in the United States. know that many men OF
worth and ability in its ranks do not propose TO
press the issue to this conclusion. But they cannot
control the party. and soon they must fall into the
ranks and imbibe its spirit sever their connection
with Ii forever.
To show the spirit and purpose of this organiza-
ton, present to you few proofs from many tnOu-
sands os kindred character.
The first is petition of the Republican PLATFORM
| adopted three years ago, but beyond WHICH they
| haYs now far advanced
RESOLVED, That with our Republican fathers, we
hold it to be the sefeVident truth that all men are
endowed with the inaienable right to life, liberty
and the pursui1 of happiness and that the primary
object and Interior design of our Federal Govern
ment were to these rights to all persons I'M
der its exclusive jurisdiction that Republi-
can fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all
our NATIONAL territory, ordained that no person
should be deprived of life liberty or property with
out due process Of law, i Becomes our duty to
maintain this provision of the Constitution against
all attempts to violate 1t for the purpose of estab
fishing Slavery 10 The Territories of the United States
by positive legislation, prohibiting It's existence or
| extension therein.p +a
careful scrutiny Of this solution will reveal the
fact that the Republican party make the doctrine
of negro equality portion Of their political creed
and intend TO develop this idea wherever the Fed
| ePal Government has exclusive Jurlsdction-and by
forced construction of the Constitution they claim
japisdicus4 far beyond the point we can con
f sent to allow i Accordingly as soon as
they obtain power, they VII pot only pro
hibit slavery in the TerritoFies, but viii gbOl
| ish it in the District of Columbia, and in the
forts arsenals and dOckyards throughout the South
: ! ern States-and will put an end to the eoastwlse
. | and internal trade, while they already announce
that no otEeF leye State in any latitude, shall even
be added 70 the VpioP give y9q these facts with
opinion they are far short Of the Ultimate purpose
Of the controlling spirits OF that organization
, Agsin, l read from the same platform; sac
@Resolrsd That the Constitution confers upoT
Congress sovereign power over the Territories Of
the United States for their Government, and that
the exercise of this power it is both the right and th'
imperative dEty Of Congress to prohibit in the Ter
Fitores those twin relics Of b4FbaFlsH -PolygamI
and slavery" 80
Is this the spirit of our re evolutionary ancestors
Is this the spirit of the Constitution Did our fore
fathers fresh from the revolution and all glowing
waged by man, unite to form bound of Union which
recognized and in many respects protected in mos
of the taen existng States relic of barbarism
Are fifteen States Of the Union, in the opinion of tht
rest, defled by crime fit to be ct4s9ed with poyga
my? Yet this Ia the insult put upon US, snd upGr
the memory of our ancestors and theirs, by the ram
pant and spurious philanhropsts of these latter times
If it be relic of barbarism, spreading over half the
body polite, these worthy gentlemen less II
JUSTICE 20 theF 9wR cOneienees than labor to extir
| pate it
The party with this glstform carried large ma
orty of the nOnslaYe holding States at the last Pre-
sidential election.
Nor is this all. 1 could produce to you the dec
laraqoH of its representative men in all parts of the
Northern States, going infinitely further than any
| thing have read. To show the ultimate purposes
of the Republican party Iquote its policy as shad
owed forth by its most eminent leader Do not weary
of few extracts, for these uterances are the rally
ing cries ofmons ofmen. hold in my hand aIspeeof
delivered only last year at Rochester, by Mr.. Seward
a Senator from New York, who is to-day the mos
Influential! public man in the Union, on whose words
millions hang and by whose directions millions
move. That distinguished gentleman uttered the
following language;
Our country IS theatre which exhibtss in full
operation two radically different political systems :
the one resting the basis Of servG or slave labor
the othes she basis of voluntary labor IF free
men, f.--s
"TheItwo systems are at once perceived to be in
congruous. But they are more than homogeneous,
they are incompatible. They never have perma-
nenty existed together in one country and they
never can"
''
"HithertO the two systems have existed in differ
ent States but side by SIDE within the American I'm
ion. This has happened because the Union Is Con-
federation of States But in another aspect the Uni
ted States constitute only nation. Increase Of
population, which is filling the States out to their
very borders, together with and extended net
work Of railroad and other avenues, and internal
commerce. which daily becomes more intimate is
rapidly bringing tRe States into higher and more