Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-02-06

answer is easy, and the Sentlne! already
knows il bv heart What brought party Re
pubhcanism into existence were the uncon-
stitu,ional encrOdchments OF the Slave power.
|, was the violation OF solemn compact OF
freedom made by our fathers, for the purpose
OF spreadieg slavery over territory d-di"a'ed
and SCI apart for more than thirt, years 70
free labor, that called into existence the Re-
publican party. Il was not opposition
political opposition-to the system of slavery
in the States, but opposition 10 spreading the
system into fr., territory, tbst gave birth
10 the Republican party Wien did the Re-
publican patty ever propose 70 interfere by
legislation, or IN an, othe, way, with the
status Of Slavery as 1T exists ia the slave
States? Fbrtunstely. thr party is on the
record IN regard 10 thar enqnny On the
Ilth oflsst February, Mr., Sherman! Of Ohio,
prominen, and Jealous Repubhcau, iutr6-
duced the following resolution inro the House
of Representatives
" That neither the Congress Of the United
States nor the people or governments of the
non-slaveholding States, have the constitu-
tional night to legislate upon or interfere
with Slavery IN any of the slaveholdins
States OF the Unlon.' ...
The resolution was unanimously adopted,
every Republican member voting for it, in
Z
cluding, OF course those members leaning
most strongly to snti-slavery notions, such
as Owen Loyejoy,' Anson Burlingame, and
| Chas. +. Adams. This resolution, however
was but a repetition Of what the Republicans
had proclaimed long before, The following
resolution is from the Republican Platform
"a. That the maintenance inviolste OF the
rights OF the States, and especially the right
OF each State, to order and control ats o,on
domestic institutions according to its.otcr jatdg
naent, EXCLUSIVELY, is essential to the bal
ance of powers on which the perfection and
endurance of our political fabric depends !;
and we denounce the lawless invasion by
armed force of the soil of any State or IeT~
ritory, no matter under what. pretext, as
| among the gTaVest OF cFiInes'
And yos IA >,ss-~ t.ais ,l.o...e+ .-...a
phatic record, the Sentinel coolly asks US to
make full and frank and final disclaimer
of having anything to do with the system Of
slavery at the South"i Have we not dis
claimed ii over and over again ? Why oail
the Sentinel persist in charging the Republi-
can party with having meditated unconstitu'
tional interference with Slavery in the
States2
But this disclaimer" which has been or
the record from the outset is not sufficient tc
satisfy the Sentinel. 1t asks us to go further
and renouuce the distinctive principles of oul
party, and to discard its very name, as {
thing of evil and of offencei The yer,
name, the Sentinel says, is identical witt
{" hostility to the South"
The +" distinctive principles" of the Re
publican party, as we understand them, are
opposition to the extension of slavery upor
! this continent, and the maintenance of the
right of the majority 10 rule, in opposition (,
the pretensions cf local class Representing
J purely local interest, These are princi
, pies which we shall never renounee--neyer
neveri They are the principles whicl
guided our fathers in the early days of tn
Republic, end which we expect to see agan
triumphantly inaugurated upon the restora
/; ton of the Union. ..-s
n As TO discarding the "p'ry name" of Re
publican, We don't feel called upon to do
at present. We do not wish to thI ust it foI
ward Extensively, on every occasion, at tn
lpresent time, when party names should b
hushed in the din of arms, yet we do not wis
to discard it. We know of no party name W
would like in exchange for it. 1t is a nam
not stained by treason, and no traitor ha
ever stood in its ranks Not a single Re
publican has gone forth to fight against hi
country Can as much be said of the part
to which the Sentinel has belonged2 w
never wish, for our part, to take as part
name that which has been worn and disgrace,
by JEFF. Davis, and Floyd, and Toombs, an
!. kindred traitors. The name of our part
may be regarded by the South-especiall
, the rebel portion of it AS a hostile an
: hated" thing; but we can't help that. The
have no good reason to hate it, except ths
it is the name of party that has all alon
f opposed their reasonable scheme of break
r ing up this Union.
i No; we tell the Sentinel that we propos
TO stand by our principles, and cannot thinl
y of reDouncing them. We do not wish to par
: ticipate in the formation of a new poitica
= party-and if we were to do 30, we shonl
insist, as sine qua non, upon an active, per
? sstent hostility to all the pro-slavery doc
trines and purposes that guided and ami