The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1860-04-05
4oljtjtaI.
LETTER from Hon. EDWARD
BATES,
Defining his Position on the Politi-
cnl Questions Of the Day
ST. LOUIS, March 20.

GENTLEMEN: / have received your
letter propounding to me certain ques-
tions, seven in number, which you sup
pose will cover most if not all Of the
grounds of controversy in the approach |
ing Presidential election,
With pleasure 1 will answer your
questions. Before doing so, allow me
to glance at the peculiar circumstances
in which / am placed, and tho strange
ness Of the fact that 1, a mere private
man, am called upon to make ayOwals
and explanations with any view to take
me from the shades of private life, and
place me at the head of the Nation
I came to this frontier in my youth and
settled in St. Louis when it was a mere
village. All my manhood has been
spent in Missouri, and during all this
time, have followed a profession which
left my character and conduct open to
the observation Of society, and while it
has been my constant habit freely to
express my opinion of public measures
and public men, the people Of Missou-
ri, of all parties, will bear me witness
that I have never obtrusively thrust
myself forward in pursuit Of official
houors, I have held no political office,
and sought none for more than twenty
five years Under these circumstances
1 confess the qualification which l feel
in receiving the recent manifestations
Of the respect and confidence Of my fell
low-oitizeus. First, the Opposition
members of the Missouri Legislature
declared their preference for me as a
candidate Then followed my nomina-
/ ton by a Convention composed Of all
the elements of the Opposition in this
State. And now, the Republicans Of
Missouri, in their separate Convention
! just held in st. Louis, have re-afirmed
the nomination, and proposed, by their
delegates, to present me to the National
/ Convention, soon to be held at Chicago,
as a candidate for the first Office in the
nation.
These various demonstrations in my
own State are doubly gratifying to me
because they afford the strongest proof
that my name has been put forward only
in a spirit Of harmony and peace, and
with hope Of preventing all division
and controversy among those who, for
their own safety and the public good,
ought to be united in their action.
For all this am deeply grateful; and
as far as concerns me personally, l must
declare, in simple truth, that if the
movement 90 no farther, and produce
no personal results, still I am paid and
overpaid for life Of labor, and for
whatever of jealous effort aud patient
watching | have been able to bestOw in
support of line of governmental pol
icy which I believe to be for the pres
ent and permanent good Of the country,
Now, gentlemen, l proceed to answer
your questions, briefly indeed, but fully,
plainly, and with all possible frankness
and l do this the more willingly, be.
cause 1 have received from individuals
many lotters-too many to be separately
answercd-and have seen in many pub.
lie journals articles making urgent calls
upon me for such a statement Of my
views.
lsT-sLAVERY AND ITS EXTENSION II
THE TERRITORIES,
On this subject, in the States and il
the Territories, l have no new opinions
no opinions formed in relation to thu
present array of parties. l am coeva
with the Missouri question of 1890
having begun my political life in tn
midst of that struggle.
At that time my position required m
to seek all the means Of knoWledg
within my reach, and to study the prin
ciples involved with all the powers Of
? my mind, and / arrived at the conclu
sions which no subsequent events hav
induced me to change, The existenc
of negro slavery in our country had ii
beginning in the early time Of the colo
n.y. and was imposed by the mothe
country, against the will Of most Of th
J.. oolonists At the time Of the Revolu
ton, and long after, it was oommonl
regarded as an evil, temporary in ii
nature, and likely to disappear in tn
course of time; yet while it continued
a misfortune to the country, social
. and politically. Thus was l taught b
oI buOS6 VINO mdub our NONSl utASAIl "H
i neither the new light Of modern civil
cation nor the discovery Of a new sys
tenn Of constitutional law and soci;
philosophy has enabled me to detect th
error of their teaching,
Slavery is a social relation, a domei
tic institution. Within the States
exists by the local law, and the Federt
Government has no control over
g. thore. The Territories, whether al
quired by conquest or poacoable pu
chase, arc subject and subordinate, NJ
sovereign, like the States The natio
= is supreme over them, and the Nation
&C Government has the power to permit
s forbid Slavery within them. Entertain
he ing these views, 1 am opposed to Il
extension of Slavery, and in my OPT
ion tho spirit and the policy Of the Go
b. ernment ought to bc against its ozte
BY sion,
y 2D-DOEs THE CONSTITUTION Carl
90 SLAVERY INTO THE TERRITORIES?
,,s,,o, mol Tho CongfifufiOn Z