The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-08-08
TO THE DEMoCRA0Ys OF THE UNITED
.sss ssss STATES ssa.s sss 9ss55

~
STATES asassI sss gss8.5
DRMocRATIc NATIONAL ExEcUrTvn Cor. RooMs,
8ss WAsHINoToN CITx, D. c., July 16, 1880.
FELLOW CITIZENS: The undersigned, !, have
1t In charge, at the instance of the National
Committee of the Democratic party, to address
you some words Of explanation and counsel.
You are all advised, by this time, that mi.
nority of the dclegates seeded from our reg
plar National Convention, at Baltimore, and
have proposed John c. Breckinridge and Jo-
saph Lane as their candidates for tbs Presi-
dency and Vice Presidency Of the United
States. It Is IN occurrence without example
in our history; and for the consequence which
may nsue-inyoITing, possibly, the existence
If that Union which our fathers besought MS
constantly to maintain-there is a grave re-
sponsibility somewhere. IF the responsibility
be upon those of US Fho have adhered to the
ANCIENT organization of the Democratic party,
whose banners now display the honored names
Of STEPHEN A. Dou9LAs and HERscHEL ".
JoHNsoN, as the regular Democrats aosainees,
we caa but protest, in all sincerity, that we
sought no unjust advantage of oar seeding
brethren, and haFe erred, If at ali, through
mere misiudge0ent. It appears to US, how.
ever, upon careful and, deliberate review of
all that transpired at Baltimore, as well as at
Charleston, that the supporters of Messrs-
Bteekiafidge aaA Lane, In violating the set
tied usages of the Democratic party, and in
abandoning the regular Democratic organiza-
ton. have taken the whole responsibility upon
themselves.
THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY IN THE
TERRITORIES.
Before proceeding to narration of the dis
turbances in our National Convention, at
Charleston, and afterwards at Baltimore, we
deem it necessary to explain the past conduct
of the Democratic party with regard to the
question of slavery In the Territories OF the
United States This question arose, distinctly,
for the first time, when the House of Repre-
sentatives, on motion of Mr.. Wilmot, of Penn
sylvania, August 18th, 1876, added a PRoyIso
to the bill appropriating money in aid of the
negotiations for peace with Mexico, in the fol-
lowing words /.
s.Propided, That as an express and fundamsatal
condition to the acquisition of any territory from
the Republic of Mexico by the United States by
virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated be-
tween them, and to the use, by the Executive, of
the moneys herein appropriated neither slavery ner
involuntary seryitude shall ever exist IN any part
of said territory except for crime, whereof the par
ty shall Arst be duly convicted" -
The bill was lost, in the Senate, by reason
of a controversy upon this particular clause;
and SO, the very Introduction of the question
| into Congress, by Mr.. Wilmot, resulted in de-
feating a bill of the utmost Importance, en-
barrassing the Executive, in the midst of a
foreign war, and in prolonging that war twelve
or eighteen months, expending the treasure
| of the nation, and sacrificing in subsequent
battle the lives of SO many of our countrymen.
| We need not pursue the alarming agitation
thus mischieviously commenced; an agitation
which defeated General Cass, our nominee for
the Presidency in 1848, and, at last, in 1850,
| 10 Of tufI
That catastrophe was avoided, however, by the
frmness and wisdom of the Democratic party
\ in Congress, and throughout the country, aid
ed blythe most eminent chieftains of the his
4 party; and the basis of settlement then agreed
! upon, and afterwards unanimously affirmed by
the Whig as well as by the Democratic Nation
al Convention at Baltimore, in 1852, was thai
! Congress should not interpose its authority
under any circumstances, whether to prohibi
or introduce, abolish or maintain the institu
tion of slavery within the the Territories. A
total exclusion of the subject from Congress
i thenceforA and forever, was the olive branch
held out and accepted, North and South, by th,
Il two great political parties into which th'
4 American people were then divided. w
saw. fellow citizens, that the North and tn
South alike accepted this settlement; becaus
not only did agitation and discord cease, bu
as well the Abolition party at the North a
the secession party at the South, became 81
most extinct.
In January, 1854, at the first session O
Congress under General Pierees administra
ton, a necessity arose for the establishment o
: Territorial GoEernments In Nebraska and Kan
J sas; but a fearful obstacle seemed to lie at tn
> very threshold. The act of Congress, approx
ed March 6, 1920, sometimes called the Mii
isouri Compromise, prohibited slavery in all tb
: L. u Al
tended Obviously, such an enactment wa
inconsistent with the principleadoptedi in 1851
. and ought then to have been repealed by nam,
But It had not been repealed, and, althoug
ineyer operative an fact, had acquired all th
/: authority of age; and of the many eminer
statesman who, waving their scruples in r
card to its constitutionality, had accepted it
; the determination of another con troversy whic
E In 1920, bade fair to render the Union asnnae
. The difficulty seemed, at first, insurmopntabl
] inasmuch as repeal of the Missouri act migl
!. renew the agitation quellei in 1850; wherea
: upon the other hand, to leave such an act
!, Congress in existence would be an abando
q ment of the very principle through which TIL
HAPPY result had been obtained. The Dem
: cratic party, after some hesitation, resolved
= pursue the principle of 1850 to its logical CO
d seauence; to abrogate the Missouri Compr
mise line, so called, even at the hazard of ne
land more dangerous agitation. It appealt
81 to the Wing party for assistance, and some
n the southern. representatives OF that party,
7, Congress, responded to the appeal But Il
northern Wings, with few. exceptions, aba
doned their southern allies, and md uniting wi
the remnant of the old; Abolition party. raisl
an alarm, throughout the North, that the Del
/ oeratic party had thus renewed, ,fg Renare:
/ the identical agitation which it had solemn
promised to disco4ntenance, This Hfusion"
Fl Northern. Wings and Aboliti9nists was large
y strentheued by detection FROM our own ranl
q imen who abandoned us, not because they su
J. ported the Wilmot proviso, but because tn
E feared the Democratic party was about to 81
= render the doctrine Of se4Non Intervention 3
Congress, and become an active agent, thrpus
: the 'instrumentsity of the. Federal Cover
!. ment, for compelling the Territories, one a
: ai, to accept slavery as an institution foreys
D analterable and iuncontrollable Tine n
. now dissipated the fears of many, and tn
Lhaye returned to their old allegiance