Wabash express., 1860-03-28
Important Presidential Document.
LETTER FROM HON. EDWARD
BATES OF MISSOURI.
Views ON the Leading Questions of
the Day.

Views ON the Leading Questions q
the Day.
Below is the reply of the Hon. Edwar
Bates to certain interrogatories propouude,
by Missouri delegates to the Chicago Con
vention
GENTLEMEN / have received your letts
propounding to me certain questions, sever
in number, which you suppose will cove
most, ifnot all of the grounds of controver
sy in the approaching Presidential election
PRELIMINARY EXPLANATION.
With pleasure will answer your ques
tions. Before doing so. allow me to glance
at the peculiar circumstances in which
am placed, and the strangeness of the fac
that l, mere private man. am called upor
to make avowals and explanations with
any view to take me from the shades o
private life, and place me al the head o.
the Nation. came to this frontier in my
youth and settled in st. Louis when it was
mere village. All my manhood has beer
spent in Missouri, and during all this time
! have followed profession which leit my
character and conduct open to the observa
ton of society, and while it has been my
constant habit freely to express my opin
ion of public measures and public men, the
people of Missouri, of all parties, will beal
me witness that / have never obtrusively
thrust myself forward in pursuit of official
honors. have held no political office
and sought none for more than twenty. FIVE
years. Under these circumstances, I con-
fess the qualification which feel in receiv-
ing the recent manifestations of the respect
and confidence Of my fellowcltizens. First,
the Opposition members of the Missouri
Legislature declared their preference for
me as candidate. Then followed my
nomination by Convention composed of
all the elements of the Opposition in this
State. And now. the Republicans of Mis-
souri,, in their separate Convention Just
held in st. Louis, have reaffirmed the nom
ination. 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 q
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 oi
preventing all division aud controversy
among those who, for their own safety and
good, ought to be united in their action.
For all this am deeply grateful, and as
far as concerns me personally, 1 must de-
clare, in simple truth, that il the movement
go no farther, and produce no personal re.
suits, still l am paid and overpaid for a
life of labor, and for whatever of jealous
effort and patient watching I have been
able to bestow iu support of line oi
governmental policy which believe to be
for the present and permanent good of the
country.
Now, gentlemen, 1 proceed to answer
your questions, briefly indeed, but fully
plainly, and with all possible frankness;
and do this the more willingly. because
l have received from individuals many
letters-too many to be separately answer
ed-and have seen in many public Journal.
articles making urgent calls upon me fel
such a statement of my views.
lst-Slauery and its Extension in the Terri
teries.
On this subject, in the States and in tb
Territories, / have no new opinions-n,
opinions formed in relation to the presen
array of parties. | am coeval with tb
Missouri question of lsI9-2O, having be
gun my political life in the midst of tha
struggle.
AT that time my position required me t
seeek all the means of knowledge withi
my reach, and to study the principles in
| volved with all the powers of my mind
and | arrived at the conclusions which NJ
subsequent events have induced noe [,
change. The existence of negro SLAYER,
in our country had its beginning in tn
early time of the colony. and was imposes
by the mother country, against the will
of most of the colonsts. At the time o
the Revolution, and long after. it was com
monty regarded as an evil, temporary il
its nature, and likely to disappear in tn
course Of time; yet while it continued,
misfortune to the country. socially an
politically. Thus was taught. by thos
who made our Government. and neither III
new light of modern civilization nor tn
discovery OF new system Of conslitr
: tioual law and social philosophy has er
abled me to detect The error of their teacl
ing.
/. Slavery is social relation. a domest
institution. Within the States it exists b
the local Law. and the Federal Governmel
has no control over it there. The Territ
ries, whether acquired by conquest
. peaceable purchase. are subject and sui
, ordinate, not sovereign, like the States :
| The nation is supreme over them, aud d
National Government has the power to pc
nit or forbid Slavery within them. f
! tertaining these views, l am opposed
: the extension of Slavery, aud in my opil
, ion the spirit and the policy of the Co
ernment ought to be against its extension
2d--Does the Constitution Garry SlaUe
into The Territories
answer no The Constitution of Il
United States does not carry Slavery in
the Territories. With much more show
reason, may it be said that it carries 81
very into all the States. But it does n
carry Slavery anywhere. 1t only acts u
on il where il finds it established by q
local law. In connection with this poir
: am asked to state my views of the DR.
Scott case, and what was really deterrni
ed by the Supreme Court in that ease.
is my opinion, carefully considered, th
the Court determined one single point
: law only. That is, that Scott, the plaintl
: being a negro, of African descent, not I
cessarilysa slave, could not be citizen
IL