New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-06-13
THE PLATFORM AT BALTIMORE

A number OF Journals IN the interest OF the
Democratic party profess to hope that the plat
form difficulty may be settled at Baltimore by the
adoption of the so-caled Tennessee resolution.
That resolution, brought forward at Charleston
after the secession had taken place, and as o
means of concilatng the seceders, though offered
| in the name of Tennessee, was really concocted
by the New-York delegation. 1t was as follows:
esored That all the citizens of the United States
equal night settle with their property in the Territories of the
States and that under the decisions of the Supreme
stution their rights of person property be
,1oyed impaired by Congressional Territorial legislation"
This resolution, upon which no action was taken
by the Convention to which it was offered, would
according to reports current at Charleston, have
been satisfactory to the seceders, and hence, we
suppose the idea that it may yet form the basis of
party reunion.
The Newly ork- Tennessee resolution is but an
attempt to stiAe the dispute which has arisen out
of old antiquities by substituting new ambiguity
in their place. Property il word which, just at
the present time, bears very different signifca-
ton North and South st the North, in the con-
nection in which il is used in the above cited reso
luton, that word would suggest only the idea of
household goods, farming and mechanical utensils
merchandise, and live stock. Certainly, all the cit
liens of the United States have right to settle in
the Territories with such of these articles as they
may possess. Certainly, neither Congress nor the
Territorial Legislatures have any authority to de-
prive them of this right. This is, indeed, such a
mere truism that anybody might We'll wonder that
the Democratic party should think it necessary to
proclaim it in so formal and solemn manner, and
to back up their own assertion of it by an appeal
to the Supreme Court.
But cross Mason and DixOn's line, and this
mystery is at once solved. No sooner is that line
passed than the word property gets great ex-
tension Of its meaning. 1t still means household
goods, tools, and live stock; but, in addition to
these, and much more than all these, it means
slaves. So that this resolution which, to Northern
ears, seems merely to assert what nobody ever
disputed, to Southern ears appears to concede all
that the South ever claimed in relation to Slav-
cry in the Territories. Were it worth while TO
dwell upon the matter we might refer to the use
of the term all the citizens of the United
States" instead Of citizens of all the States
and to the reference to the decisions of the
Supreme Court, as designedly introduced with
the very purpose Of giving to either side a
ground for claiming that its Interpretation is
the true one.
Were this matter of ambiguous platiorms, de-
signed TO bear one Interpretation at the North and
another at the South, new thing instead of an old
stale, and broken-dOwn expedient; had no open
breach occurred in the party had no Charleston
Convention been held, and no split taken place
there; had no quarrel taken place in the
Senate between Douglas on the one hand
and the entire body of the Southern Sen
ators on the other; were the pending con.
troyersy touching Slavery in the Territories con-
fined TO few leaders, instead OF being difiused
through the masses Of the party, and made the
turning point of the Presidential nomination; were
there no re-eaters on the one side anxious to pre-
cipitate the South into extremes, and no Douglas
on the other, satisfied that he has yielded too much
already, and that the only hope of securing the
vote Of single Northern State is to yield nothing
further--it might Do possible to carry through