Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-07-03
A Candidate Dsna,ns HI. Position.

A Candidate Defining HIS Position.
In Mr.. Douglass letter Of acceptance, he
reiterates the declaration which he made
when called out at Washington to respond
to the nomination.-that intervention with
slavery in the Territories means disunicn--in
the following words;
1.-THE peace of the country and the per-
petuity of the Union have been put in jeop-
ardy by attempts TO interfere with, and to
control the domestic affairs of the people in
the Territories, through the agency of the
Federal Government.
'If the power and the duty of the Federal
interference is to be conceded, two hostile
sectional parties must be the inevitable re-
suit; the one indaming the passions and am
bition Of the North, and the other of the
South, and each struggling TO use the Federal
power and authority for the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
of its own section, at the expense Of the
equal rights of the other, and in derogation
of those fundamental principles, the prin-
cples Of self-government, which were firmly
established in this country by the American
Revolution as the basis of our entire Repub-
lican system"
Mr.. Douglas makes no distinction in inter
vention by any department Of Government
He includes all intervention Through the
agency Of the Federal Government as pre-
cipitating sectional conflict and putting the
Union in jeopardy; in fact he proclaims inter
vention to be the very irropressible conflict.
This is just. If Intervention is disunion, it
makes no difference which department of the
Government intervenes. Therefore Mr.
Douglas was consstentin denouncing equally
all Intervention Through the agency of the
Federal Government" Tosay that interven-
ton by one department of the Government
the Legislative for instance--is putting the
Union in jeopardy, but intervention by
another department-the judicial for in
stance--will preserve the Union and establish
harmony, is an absurdity that Mr.. Douglas
could not be guilty of. His clear and states
manlike mind sees, of course, that political
evil is far less dangerous while it is in the
control of legislative body directly respon-
sible to the people, than it would be in an ir-
responsible body placed entirely beyond reach
Of the people by life tenure of office, and
controlled solely by their own decisions;
therefore he plants himself boldly on the
ground that all intervention through the
agency of the Federal Government is sec
tionalism and disunion.
Many will find it difficult to understand
how protection to rights of property which
Mr.. Douglas recognizes as having a consti-
tutional existence in the Territories, can have
such dire effects; how protection of property,
which is supposed to be the chief necessity
for forming government, should be its de-
struction; but no one can question Mr..
Douglass sincerity in the belief he has de-
clared; and his lively apprehensions for the
safety of the Union are highly creditable to
his patriotism. ..a.
Mr.. Douglas in his letter also indorses the
platform with the codicil added at Baltimore,
hich is as follows:
''That during the existence of the Terrific
rial governments the measure of restriction
whatever it may be- imposed by the Federal
Constitution on the power of the Territorial
Legislature over the subjectof slavery, as the
eame has been or may hereafter be finally
determined by the Supreme Court of the
United States, should be respected by all good
citizens and enforced with promptness and
fidelity by every branch Of the General Gov
ernment" ....... r..
1t seems by this that if the Court has de-
cided against the power of a Territorial Legis-
lature to restrict slavery, it binds every
department of Government executive, legis-
lative and judicial, to intervene to enforce
the decision; SO that whether Mr.. Douglas is
already on a platform of intervention,
which means disunion and sectional conflict,
depends solely on the question whether the
Court has already decided this point. When
Mr.. Douglas was in full communion with the
Democratic party, the President, in his Off
cial message, declared that the Court had so
decided, and Mr.. Douglas did not protest. If
not decided then, as soon as the Court shall
decide, Mr.. Douglass platform will be in
favor of intervention which is sectional con-
let and disunion.
All must concede to Mr.. Douglas the right
to define his own position, and it is highly
honorable to him that after his nomination
thing which usually closes the mouths of
candidstes-he has defined his position with
such clearness. If he has made the dividing
line between his position, and disunion and
sectional conflict, inappreciable, even now,
and temporary in any event, it is all the more
creditable to his candor