The Oxford intelligencer., 1860-08-08

The following letter from Charles O'Con-
ner, Esq, was read at the great Breckenridge
and Lane ratification meeting held IN New
York ON Wednesday night last;
New YORK, July II, 1860.
Gentlemen Cordially approving the nom
ination of ]. C. Breckenridge for President
and Joseph Lane for Vice President of the
United States, regret that it will not be in
my power to address the ratification meeting
appointed to be held tomorrow at the Coop
er Institute.
However deeply it is to be deplored that
rival platforms and rival candidates are pre-
sentcd to the Democratic party, threatening
to divide its strength and deliver it over as
an easy prey into the hands Of its opponents;
yet, such being unhappily the fact, the duty
of making a choice cannot be avoided.
The difference between these platforms,
like every political question of the times, de-
rives all its significance from the subject of
negro slavery. Its relation to the Terrific
ries and to the mode of governing them Is
merely the form in which this perpetually
recurring subject is here developed as an el-
ement of strife. The controversy, in all its
practical bearings, is merely this How is
negro slavery to be dealt with!
In its moral, political, legal and economi-
cal aspects, my views on that general subject
have been so distinctly and so often express
ed, that my position in reference to the rival
platforms now before us could not be doubt
full
The most fertile regions of the globe can
not be so cultivated as fully to develop their
natural resources for the benefit of mankind
except by negro labor; negro labor cannot
be there employed except through the judi
cious compulsion of a superior race ; and in
no way can so great measure of physical
enjoyment and moral improvement be Impair
ted to the negro as by his compulsory sevi-
tude in these very regions.
From these undeniable facts, written in the
great book of nature, proven by experience,
and not without sanction from revelation, my
reason draws the inference that negro slavery
is not repugnant to justicc-is not unprofta-
bic to the white man-is not oppressi to
the negro, and is not inexpedient as a matter
of social policy.
Let us apply these views to our own coun-
: z Al z.
lie, negro slavery has ever been main pillar
of our strength, an Indispensable element of
our growth and prosperity. 1t is NOW an in
legal part of our being as nation ; to expeli it |
by fraud or tear it out by violence, would be
a national suicide"
1t follows that "to vindicatc its essential |
Justice and morality, in all Courts and
places, before men and nations, is the duty |
Of American citizens"
A moral war has been made upon this in
stitution by infdels, and quasi religious
crusade has been preached against it by an
other class. Hitherto, at least in the North,
no one has defended it, and its Southern ad-
rocates have not been heard. The natural
results have ensucd; Judgment has passed
against it by default, and the idea that it con-
lcts with natural justice and divine law has
aiken possession of the Northern mind.
This state of things afforded most prom
sing quarry for the industry of political par
" makers, and they have availed themselves
If it. They thus argued: "With the ma
ional conscience on our sidc--with God and
nature both on our side, and against our an
agonist-surely we must win" According
V this bright idea has been industriously
worked into political organization, and here
tands before us at the North the Black Re-
almost, if not absolutely, invincible.
Why has that party any strength Why
locs it now threaten to destroy the harmony
between the North and the South, leading to
lisunion and disaster, deep and irremedial
1t is simply because the false assumption
# Abolitionists that negro slavery is wicked
nd unjust, has been permitted to pass unre-
uted.
How is that destructive party to be shorn
f its pernicious strengthl There is but
ne method by which this object can be ef
scted: and that is by denying and disprov- I
ng the false position on which it is founded. |
We must, as a party, insist unqualifedly '
hat in the institution of negro slavery there
nothing whatever which calls for unfavor- I
bic action by Government; that the right 1
{ the white master, to the services of his
egro slave, is, in every moral sense, precise t
: the same as his right to any other proper I
:. '
IL this principle be not true, no honest
ian ought to desire the permanency of our 9
epublic; if it be true, the Black Republi- d
IN doctrine is reasonable and destructive
llacy.
am in favor of the principle enunciated
the Senate resolutions of 1860, and in the
port of the Committee on Resolutions !.
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