Union County star and Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1859-1864, 1860-04-06
Judge Bates Platform.
ST. louis, March Il. IS


Slas-B. Gratz Brown, Esq, as Presi
dent Of the Missouri State Convention
which sat in s. Louis on the 10Th of ihl:
month, has oficillIy made known to ms
the proceeding, Of that body, and by then
am enabled 10 know some of you as De-.
erl'es TO the Chicago Convention, repre-
seuting the Republican party of Missouri
| have received your letter, PROFOUND
ing to NE certain questions, (seyen il
number,) which you suppose viii cover
most, II not all, the grounds of controversy
10 the approaching Presidential election.
With pleasure, will answer your ones
lions. But, before doing so, allow u,e tC
glance ai the peculiar circumstances in
which am placed, aud the strangeDes,
cf the fac; that |, a mere private man, am
called upon TO make ayowaIs and explaua-
tious, Wi'h any view TO take me from the
shades Of private life and place me at the
head cf tie nation. came 10 this from.
tier in ny youth, and settled in St. Louis
when it was village. All ny manhood
has been spent il Missouri, aud during oil
that time have followed profession
which lef, my character and conduct open
TO the observation Of society. And while
II has been my constant haiti freely TO ex-
press my opinion Of public measures and
II public men. the people of Missouri, Of
al. parties, vii bear NE witness tha,
have never obtru-ively thrust myself for
ward iu pursuit Of oficial honors | have
held 10 political oftice, aud sought none,
for more than twenty Eve years.
Under these circumstances, l confess
the cra'ifcafiOn which feel IN receiving
the recent manifestations Of the respect
aud cauflence Of my fellow, citizens Flrs',
tue Opposition members Of the Missouri
Legislature declared their preference for
me as candidate: then followed my nom
i3ation BY a 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 reafirmed the
nomination, and proposed, BY their Dele
gates, TO present me to the National Con
veuflon, 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 spiri;
Of harmony and peace, and with the hope
Of preventing all division and controversy
among those, who, for their own safety
and public good, ought to be united in
their action.
Fyr all this l am deeply grateful, and,
as far as concerns me personally, l must
declare, in simple truth, that if the move
mcnt go no farther, aud produce 10 ma
tional results, still. am paid, aud over
paid, for a lie of labor, and fer whatever
Of jealous effort and patient watching |
have been able to bestow in suppor; Of
line Of governmental policy which | be-
.ieye to be for the present and permanent,
good Of the country.
And now, gentlemen, proceed to an
swer your questions, briefly indeed, but
fully, plainly, and with all possible frank
uess And | do this the more willingly
because | have received from individuals
many letters (too many to be separately
answered, aud have seen ~ many public
journals articles, making urgent calls upon
ne flr such statement of views.
/. .S!arery-As eIfeasion an the Terri
tories.
Ga this subject, in the States and in the
Territories, have no new opinions-no
opinions formed in relation to the present
array OF parties. | am coeval with the
Missouri question Of 1920, having
begun my political life in the midst of
that struggle. All that time, my position
required me to seek all the means ofknow-
ledge within my reach, and to study the
principles involved with all the powers of
my mind; and | arrived at conclusions,
then, which no subsequent events have
induced me to change. The existence of
negro Slavery in our country had its be-
ginning in the early time Of the Colonies,
and was imposed BY the mother country
against the viii of most Of the colouists
At the time Of the Revolution, and long
After it was commonly regarded as an evil,
temporary in lis nature, and likely to dis
appear in the course Of time, yet, while it
continued, misfortune to the country,
socially and politically. Thus was |
taught, BY those who made our govern
nent, and neither the new fgh, of modern
vlliz,iion, nor the discovery of new
system of constitutional law and social
mas enabled me to detect the
error Of their teaching.
Slavery Is "a social relation'-a domes.
tic institution. Within the States, it ex-
lists BY the local law, and the Federal Gov.
eminent has no coutrol over it there. The
Territories, whether acquired By conquest
Or peaeeabie purchase, are subject, aud
unfortunate; not sovereign, like the States.
The patton is supreme over them, and the
National Government has the power to
)ermi. or forbid Slavery within them.
these views, am opposed I
0 the extension of Slavery, and, in my
pinion, the spirit and policy Of the gov
rnment ought TO be against its extension.
2. Does the Constitution carry .S2opery
MO The Territories ?
| answer, no-the Constitution of the
nlted States does no. carry Slavery into
lie Territories. WIKI much morc show