Year: 1860

sooner or later for all the ills that NAV
flow from their errors. said the demand
Tor Congressional Intervention was prop.
erly rejected at Charleston. And why
do l say SO? Because it was the agree
ment between the North and the South
that the slavery agitation should be re-
moved from the halls of Congress, and
the people of the Territories be left per-
fectly free to regulate their domestic insti-
tutions in their own way, subject to the
Constitution of the United States. This
was the principle ofthe Compromise Mea-
sures Of 1850, and practically applied to
the NebraskaKansas act in 1854. 1t
was adopted by the great political par
ties of the United States in 1862. 1t tri-
umphed in the election of Franklin Pierce
in that year, and James Buchanan in 49,
Sc. tits perhaps the best ground of COM
promise between the North and the South
which human ingenuity can devise.


1t is understood by the people of all
sections, and by it the Democratic party,
at least, of all sections should be willing
to abide. 1t gives advantage to neither
section over the other, because it refers
all questions of dispute between them as
to Congressional or Territorial power ov-
er the subject of slavery to the final arbi-
trament Of the Supreme Court ofthe Uni
ted States. 1t is therefore safe for the
North, and safe for the South. Its prac-
tical working is not without satisfactory
results. Where the people of Terrific
ry desire slave labor, and the soil and cli-
mate are suited to it, slavery will go;
where these conditions do not exist, it will
not go. That finds an illustration in
New Mexico, where slavery is established
and this in those Territories where it is
excluded. Only few days ago, propo-
sitions to repeal the slavery laws of New
Alexico, on the one hand, and the anti
slavery laws of Kan sas on the other. were
made and rejected in the Senate of the
United States.


Suppose the propositions, or either Of
them, had prevailed, is it not certain that
the country would have been thrown into
the widest excitement? But by their re-
lection, intervention was practically
adhered to, and the public mind is satis-
fled and quiet. Let us maintain it firmly
and faithfully. We are bound to it by
every consideration of interest and obli-
CATION of compact. Its abandonment
will prove fatal to the National Demo-
cratic party, and ultimately to the Union
itself. 1t will drive the South into in
tense sectionalism. and the North into
the ranks of the Black Republicans.
do not say every man of the North,
for l know that the great body of the
Northern Democracy will remain true to
the Constitution, despite the overwhelm-
ing food of its relentless cohorts. But /
mean that the free labor States would be
controlled by Black Republicanism, and
would not be able to return single mem
Der to either house of Congress friendly
to the constitutional rights of the South.


l trust that this condition of things
may never exist; but if it should, l know
of no way by which the Union can be
saved. Hence the doctrine of Congress
ional intervention, as advocated by the
newborn sectional party, is fraught with
peril to the country.


The question is now distinctly present.
ed to the people, whether they will ad-
here to the doctrine of non-intervention,
or whether they will abandon it; whether
they will reopen the slavery agitation, by
requiring Congress to take jurisdiction
over it, or whether they will give repose
to the pnblic mind, and security to the
Union, by leaving it where the Compro-
lao % ho af hn
people of the Territories, under the Con-
stitution of the United Safes. The issue
is fairly made up. 1t is Intervention or
non-intervention. It's decision involves
the destinies of this great Republic, and
the highest interests of the civilized world.
Compared with it, the aspirations of men
and the fate of political parties sink into
utter insignificance. Where shall we look
for deliverance from these threatened
evils?


1t has been the mission of the Demo-
cratic party of the Union, in thousand
perils, to rescue our country from impend-
ing calamities. Its past career abounds
with heroic passages. and is illustrated
with the most glorious achievements in
the cause of constitutional liberty. 1t is
the party of Jefferson, and Madison, and
Polk, and jackson. whose Administra-
tions constitute grand epochs in our ma
tional history. 1t is the party of the Con-
stitution. look to it with confidence
Where else shall the patriot look in these
times of political detection and sectional
agitation? Let its integrity be perma-
nently destroyed, and the doctrine of non
Intervention overthrown, and then the
best bopes of the statesman may well be
clouded with gloom and darkness.


1t is to maintain these that consent
to take the position now assigned me, and
welcome the consequences of personal
good or personal i'll which that position
may bring Nothing else could induce
me to brave the detraction which it in
vites and incur the heavy responsibility
which it imposes. have nothing to add
but the expression of my profound thanks
for the honor so Unexpectedly conferred
upon me, and my cordial acknowledge
ment for the hattering terms in which /
have been notified of my nomination.
Whatever may be honorably done, shall
cheeriully do to maintain the integrity of
the party and the triumph of its princi-
pies.


The SABBATH SoHcoL.-President Har-
rison taught for several years in humble