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mocratic party. (Applause and laughter.) Yes, sir, the
destruction of the Democratic party, consummated by
assassins now grinning upon this floor. (Loud cries of
44 order,"
‚”“order,” “put him out," and great confusion.)

DELAWARE WITHDRAWS.

Mr. Saulsbury did not desire to occupy the attention of the Convention but for a moment. The delegates from his State had done all in their power to promote the harmony and unity of this Convention, and it was their purpose to continue to do so. I am, however, instructed by the delegation to announce that they desire to be excused from voting on any further ballots or votes, unless circumstances should alter this determination. It is our desire to be left free to act or not act, their desire being to leave the question open for the consideration of their constituents after their return home.

Mr. Steele, of North Carolina, briefly addressed the Convention, stating that he, for the present, at least, should not retire.

After explanations and debate, the motion "Shall the main question be now put," (to go into nomination of candidates for President and Vice-President) was carried, and the Convention adjourned.

KENTUCKY WITHDRAWS IN PART.

On Saturday (28d), Mr. Caldwell, of Kentucky, in behalf of the delegation from that State, said:

The circumstances in which we (the Kentucky Delegation) are placed are exceedingly embarrassing, and we have not therefore been enabled to come to an entirely harmonious conclusion. The result is, however, that nine of the delegates of Kentucky remain in the Convention. (applause.) There are ten delegates who withdraw from

the Convention.

The exact character of their withdrawal is set forth in a single paragraph, with their names appended, which 1 desire the Secretary to read before I sit down. There are five others-completing the delegation-who desire for the present to suspend their connection with the action of this Convention. I will add here, that there may be no misunderstanding, that I myself am one of those five, and we have also signed a short paper, which I shall also

ask the Secretary to read to the Convention.

I am requested by those who withdraw from the Conpresent with the Convention, to say that it is their wish

vention, and by those who suspend their action for the

that their seats in this Con 7ention shall not be filled or
occupied by any others; and that no one shall claim the
right to cast their votes. The right of those remaining in
the Convention to cast their individual vote, is not by us
questioned in any degree. But we enter our protest
against any one casting our vote.
I will ask the Secretary to read the papers I have indi-
cated, and also one which a gentleman of our delegation
has handed me, which he desires to be read. I ask that
the three papers be read.

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Mr. Reed, of Ky., spoke briefly in defense of the course of the nine delegates from that State, who remained with the Convention.

MISSOURI DEFINES HER POSITION.

Mr. Clark, of Missouri, announced as the result of a consultation of a portion of the Missouri delegation, that two of that delegation had decided to withdraw from the Convention.

Mr. Hill, of N. C., who had refused to retire with his colleagues on the previous day, now announced his intention of withdrawing.

Mr. Cessna, of Pennsylvania, called for the vote upon his resolution to proceed to nominate candidates for President and Vice-President.

MR. CUSHING RESIGNS THE CHAIR.

Mr. Cushing resigned his post as presiding officer, in a brief speech, and left the chair.

Gov. Tod, of Ohio, immediately assumed the chair, and was greeted with enthusiastic and hearty cheers. After order was restored, he

said:

As the present presiding officer of this Convention by common consent of my brother Vice-Presidents, with When I announce great diffidence I assume the chair. to you that for thirty-four years I have stood up in that district so long misrepresented by Joshua R. Giddings, with the Democratic banner in my hand (applause), know that I shall receive the good wishes of this Convention, at least, for the discharge of the duties of the chair. If there are no privileged questions intervening, the Secretary will proceed with the call of the States.

MASSACHUSETTS DESIRES A HEARING.

Mr. Butler, of Mass., addressed the chair, and desired Objection was made by Mr. Cavanaugh, of Minnesota, and the States were called on

The first paper read was signed James G. Leach, the writer of which animadverted in rather strong terms upon the action of the Convention, in the matter of the admission and rejection of delegates from certain States. The to present a protest. communication was regarded as disrespectful to the Convention, and, on motion of Mr. Payne, of Ohio, it was returned to the writer. The Secretary then read the other two communications from the Kentucky delegation as follows: To the Hon. Caleb Cushing, President of the National Democratic Convention, assembled in the city of Baltimore:

The Democratic Convention for the State of Kentucky, held in the city of Frankfort, on the 9th day of January, 1860, among others, adopted the following resolution: Resolved, That we pledge the Democracy of Kentucky to an honest and industrious support of the nominee of the Charleston Convention.

Since the adoption of this resolution, and the assembling of this Convention, events have transpired not then con. templated, notwithstanding which we have labored diligently to preserve the harmony and unity of said Convention; but discord and disintegration have prevailed to such an extent that we feel that our efforts cannot accomplish this end.

the question of proceeding to a vote for President. When Massachusetts was called, Mr. Butler said: Mr. President, I have the instruction of a majority of the delegation from Massachusetts to present a written protest. I will send it to the Chair to have it read. (Calls to order.) And further, with your leave, I desire to say what I think will be pleasant to this Convention. First, that, while a majority of the delegation from Massachusetts do not purpose further to participate in the doings of this Convention, we desire to part, if we may, to meet you as friends and Democrats again. We desire to part in the same spirit of manly courtesy with which we came together. Therefore, if you will allow me, instead of reading to you a long document, I will state, within parliamentary usage, exactly the reasons why we take the step we do.

Thanking the Convention for their courtesy, allow me to say that though we have protested against the action of this body excluding the delegates, although we are not satisfied with that action

We have not discussed the question, Mr. President, whether the action of the Convention, in excluding cer tain delegates, could be any reason for withdrawal. We Therefore, without intending to vacate our seats, or to now put our withdrawal before you, upon the simple Join or participate in any other Convention or organiza- ground, among others, that there has been a withdrawal tion in this city, and with the intention of again co-in part of a majority of the States, and further (and that, operating with this Convention, should its unity and perhaps, more personal to myself), upon the ground that harmony be restored by any future event, we now de- I will not sit in a Convention where the African slave

trade-which is piracy by the laws of my country-is approvingly advocated. (Great sensation.)

A portion of the Massachusetts delegation here retired. Mr. Stevens, of Massachusetts, said-I am not ready at this moment to cast the vote of Massachusetts, the delegation being in consultation as to their rights.

The call proceeded, the chairman of each Convention making a speech on delivering the vote of his State; and Mr. Stevens finally stated that, although a portion of the Massachusetts delegation had withdrawn, he was instructed by his remaining colleagues to cast the entire vote of the State.

Mr. Russell, of New York, withdrew the name of Horatio Seymour as a candidate. The following is the result of the ballotings for President:

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Total.......173} 5 10 181 73 51 On the first ballot, Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, received a vote from Maryland; Bocock, of Va., received 1 vote from Virginia; Daniel S. Dickinson, vote from Virginia;

and Horatio Seymour 1 vote from Pennsylvania.

On the announcement of the first ballot, Mr. Church, of New-York, offered the following:

Resolved unanimously, That Stephen A. Douglas, of the State of Illinois, having now received two-thirds of all the votes given in this Convention, is hereby declared, in accordance with the rules governing this body, and in accordance with the uniform customs and rules of former Democratic National Conventions, the regular nominee of the Democratic party of the United States, for the office of

President of the United States.

Mr. Jones, of Pennsylvania, raised the point of order, that the resolution proposed practically to rescind a rule of the Convention (requiring two-thirds of a 'l Convention, 202 votes, to nominate), and could ot, under the rules, be adopted without one day's notice.

The Chair ruled that the resolutio.. was in order, and

after a lengthy and animated debate it was withdrawn till after another ballot should be taken. When the result of the second ballot had been announced, Mr. Church's resolution was called up again and passed.

Benj. Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, was nominated for Vice-President, receiving 198 votes, and Mr. William C. Alexander, of N. J., 1. [Mr. Fitzpatrick declined the nomination two days afterward, and the National Committee supplied the vacancy, by the nomination of Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia].

Gov. Wickliffe, of Louisiana, offered the following resolution as an addition to the Platform adopted at Charleston: Resolved, That it is in accordance with the true interpreta

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tion of the Cincinnati Platform, that, during the existence of the Territorial Governments, the measure of restric tion, whatever it may be, imposed by the Federal Consti tution on the power of the Territorial Legislature over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has been, or shall hereafter be, finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, should be respected by all good citibranch of the General Government. zens, and enforced with promptness and fidelity by every

tion, and this resolution was adopted, with on Mr. Payne, of Ohio, moved the previous ques two dissenting votes.

THE SECEDERS' CONVENTION.

The delegates who had withdrawn from the Convention at the Front-Street Theater, to gether with the delegations from Louisiana and Alabama, who were refused admission to that Convention, met at the Maryland Institute on Saturday the 28th of June. Twenty-one States were represented either by full or partial dele gations. The States not represented at all were Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New-Hampshire, New-Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.

The Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, was chosen to preside, assisted by vice-presidents and secretaries.

The Convention adopted a rule requiring a vote of two-thirds of all the delegates present to nominate candidates for President and VicePresident; also that each delegate cast the vote to which he is entitled, and that each State cast only the number of votes to which it is entitled by its actual representation in the Convention.

The delegates from South Carolina and Florida accredited to the Richmond Conven. tion, were invited to take seats in this.

A committee of five, of which Mr. Caleb Cushing was chairman, was appointed to address the Democracy of the Union upon the principles which have governed the Convention in making the nominations, and in vindication of the principles of the party. The Convention. also decided that the next Democratic National Convention be held at Philadelphia.

Mr. Avery, of N. C., chairman of Committee on Resolutions, reported, with the unanimous sanction of the Committee, the Platform re ported by the majority of the Platform Com mittee at Charleston, and rejected by the Convention, (see page 30) which was unanimously adopted.

The Convention adopted a resolution in structing the National Committee not to issue tickets of admission to their next National Con vention in any case where there is a bona filt

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HISTORY OF THE STRUGGLE

FOR

SLAVERY EXTENSION OR RESTRICTION.

MAINLY BY DOCUMENTS.

SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES.

and the whole continent, North and South of the tropics, became a Slave-mart before the close of the sixteenth century.

LUST of gold and power was the main impulse of Spanish migration to the regions beyond Holland, a comparatively new and Protestant the Atlantic. And the soft and timid Abori- State, unable to shelter itself from the regines of tropical America, especially of its proaches of conscience and humanity behind a islands, were first compelled to surrender what- Papal bull, entered upon the new traffic more ever they possessed of the precious metals to tardily; but its profits soon overbore all scruples, the imperious and grasping strangers; next and British merchants were not proof against the forced to disclose to those strangers the sources glittering evidences of their success. But the whence they were most readily obtained; and first slave ship that ever entered a North finally driven to toil and delve for more, wher- American port for the sale of its human merever power and greed supposed they might chandise, was a Dutch trading-vessel which most readily be obtained. From this point, the landed twenty negro bondmen at Jamestown, transition to general enslavement was ready and the nucleus of Virginia, almost simultaneously rapid. The gentle and indolent natives, unac- with the landing of the Pilgrims of the Maycustomed to rugged, persistent toil, and revolt-flower on Plymouth Rock, December 22d, 1620. ing at the harsh and brutal severity of their Christian masters, had but one unfailing resource-death. Through privation, hardship, exposure, fatigue and despair, they drooped and died, until millions were reduced to a few miserable thousands within the first century of Spanish rule in America.

A humane and observant priest (Las Casas,) witnessing these cruelties and sufferings, was moved by pity to devise a plan for their termination. He suggested and urged the policy of substituting for these feeble and perishing "Indians" the hardier natives of Western Af rica, whom their eternal wars and marauding invasions were constantly exposing to captivity and sale as prisoners of war, and who, as a race, might be said to be inured to the hardships and degradations of Slavery by an immemorial experience. The suggestion was unhappily approved, and the woes and miseries of the few remaining Aborigines of the islands known to

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The Dutch slaver had chosen his market with sagacity. Virginia was settled by CAVALIERSgentlemen-adventurers aspiring to live by their own wits and other men's labor-with the neces sary complement of followers and servitors. Few of her pioneers cherished any earnest liking for downright, persistent, muscular exertion; yet some exertion was urgently required to clear away the heavy forest which all but covered the soil of the infant colony, and grow the tobacco which early became its staple export, by means of which nearly everything required by its people but food was to be paid for in England. The slaves, therefore, found ready purchasers at satisfactory prices, and the success of the first venture induced others; until not only Virginia but every part of British America was supplied with African slaves.

This traffic, with the bondage it involved, had no justification in British nor in the early colonial laws; but it proceeded, nevertheless, much as an importation of dromedaries to replace with presumed economy our horses and oxen might now do. Georgia was the first among the colonies to resist and condemn it in her original charter under the lead of her noble founder-governor, General Oglethorpe; but the evil was too formidable and inveterate for local extirpation, and a few years saw it established, even in Georgia; first evading or defy ing, and at length molding and transforming the law.

49

It is very common at this day to speak of our tions on emancipation: Maryland adopted both revolutionary struggle as commenced and hur- of these in 1783. North-Carolina, in 1786, deried forward by a union of Free and Slaveclared the introduction of slaves into that State colonies; but such is not the fact. However" of evil consequence, and highly impolitic," slender and dubious its legal basis, Slavery ex- and imposed a duty of £5 per head thereon. isted in each and all of the colonies that united New-York and New-Jersey followed the example to declare and maintain their independence. of Virginia and Maryland, including the domes Slaves were proportionately more numerous in tic in the same interdict with the foreign slavecertain portions of the South; but they were trade. Neither of these States, however, deheld with impunity throughout the North, ad-clared a general emancipation until many years vertised like dogs or horses, and sold at auction, thereafter, and Slavery did not wholly cease in or otherwise, as chattels. Vermont, then a ter- New-York until about 1830, nor in New-Jersey ritory in dispute between New-Hampshire and till a much later date. The distinction of Free New-York, and with very few civilized inhabi- and Slave States, with the kindred assumption tants, mainly on its Southern and Eastern bor- of a natural antagonism between the North and ders, is probably the only portion of the revolu- South, was utterly unknown to the men of the tionary confederation never polluted by the Revolution. tread of a slave.

Before the Declaration of Independence, but The spirit of liberty, aroused or intensified during the intense ferment which preceded it, by the protracted struggle of the colonists and distracted public attention from everything against usurped and abused power in the else, Lord Mansfield had rendered his judgment mother country, soon found itself engaged in from the King's Bench, which expelled Slavery natural antagonism against the current form of from England, and ought to have destroyed it domestic despotism. "How shall we complain in the colonies as well. The plaintiff in this of arbitrary or unlimited power exerted over us, famous case was James Somerset, a native of while we exert a still more despotic and inex- Africa, carried to Virginia as a slave, taken cusable power over a dependent and benighted thence by his master to England, and there inrace ?" was very fairly asked. Several suits cited to resist the claim of his master to his were brought in Massachusetts-where the fires services, and assert his right to liberty. In the of liberty burnt earliest and brightest-to test first recorded case, involving the legality of the legal right of slave-holding; and the lead- modern Slavery in England, it was held (1677) ing Whigs gave their money and their legal that negroes, "being usually bought and sold services to support these actions, which were among merchants as merchandise, and also generally, on one ground or another, success- being infidels, there might be a property in them ful. Efforts for an express law of emancipation, sufficient to maintain trover.' But this was however, failed even in Massachusetts; the overruled by Chief Justice Holt from the King's Legislature, doubtless, apprehending that such Bench (1697,) ruling that "so soon as a negro a measure, by alienating the slave-holders, would lands in Englaud, he is free;" and again, (1702) increase the number and power of the Tories; that there is no such thing as a slave by the but in 1777, a privateer having brought a lot of law of England." This judgment proving excaptured slaves into Jamaica, and advertised them for sale, the General Court, as the Legislative Assembly was called, interfered and had them set at liberty. The first Continental Congress which resolved to resist the usurpations and oppressions of Great Britain by force, had already declared that our struggle would be "for the rights of human nature," which the Congress of 1776, under the lead of Thomas Jefferson, expanded into the noble affirmation of the right of "all men to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," contained in the immortal preamble to the Declaration of Independence. A like averment that "all men are born free and equal," was in 1780 inserted in the Massachusetts Bill of Rights; and the Supreme Court of that State, in 1783, on an indictment of a master for assault and battery, held this declaration a bar to slave-holding henceforth in the State.

A similar clause in the second Constitution of New-Hampshire was held by the courts of that State to secure Freedom to every child, born therein after its adoption. Pennsylvania, in 1780, passed an act prohibiting the further introduction of slaves, and securing Freedom to all persons born in that State thereafter.

Con

ceedingly troublesome to planters and merchants from slave-holding colonies visiting the mother country with their servants, the merchants concerned in the American trade, in 1729, procured from Yorke and Talbot, the Attorney General and Solicitor General of the Crown, a written opinion that negroes, legally enslaved elsewhere, might be held as slaves in England, and that even baptism was no bar to the mas ter's claim. This opinion was, in 1749, held to be sound law by Yorke (now Lord Hardwicke,) sitting as judge, on the ground that, if the contrary ruling of Lord Holt were upheld, it would abolish Slavery in Jamaica or Virginia as well as in England; British law being paramount in each. Thus the law stood until Lord Mansfield, in Somerset's case, reversed it with evident reluctance, and after having vainly endeavored to bring about an accommodation between the parties. When delay would serve no longer, and a judgment must be rendered, Mansfield declared it in these memorable words:

"We cannot direct the law: the law must direct us. The state of Slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but only by positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasion, and time itself whence it was created, is erased from the memory. It is so odious that nothing can be sufficient to support it but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from the decision, I cannot say that this case is

necticut and Rhode-Island passed similar acts in 1784. Virginia, in 1778, on motion of Mr. Jefferson, prohibited the further importation of allowed or approved by the law of England, and the.e slaves; and in 1782, removed all legal restric-fore the black must be discharged."

The natural, if not necessary, effect of this) decision on Slavery in these colonies had their connection with the mother country been continued, is sufficiently obvious.

SLAVERY UNDER THE CONFEDERATION.

The report of the committee was in the following words:

THE JEFFERSONIAN ORDINANCE, 1784. Resolved, That the territory ceded, or to be ceded by individual States to the United States, whensoever the same shall have been purchased of the Indian inhabitants and offered for sale by the United States, shall be formed into additional States, bounded in the following manner, as nearly as such cessions will admit: that is to say, northwardly and southwardly by parallels of latitude, so that each State shall comprehend from south to north, two degrees of latitude, beginning to count from the completion of thirty-one degrees north of but any territory northwardly of the forty-seventh degree the equator; [the then southern boundary of the U. S.] shall make part of the State next below. And eastwardly and westwardly they shall be bounded, those on the Mississippi, by that river on one side, and the meridian of the lowest point of the rapids of the Ohio on the other; and those adjoining on the east, by the same meridian on their western side, and on their eastern by Great Kanawha. And the territory eastward of this last the meridian of the western cape of the mouth of the meridian, between the Ohio, Lake Erie, and Pennsyl vania, shall be one State.

The disposition or management of unpeopled territories, pertaining to the thirteen recent colonies now confederated as independent States, early became a subject of solicitude and of bickering among those States, and in Congress. By the terms of their charters, some of the colonies had an indefinite extension westwardly, and were only limited by the power of the grantor. Many of these charters conflicted with each other-the same territory being included within the limits of two or more totally distinct colonies. As the expenses of the Revolutionary struggle began to bear heavily on the resources of the States, it was keenly felt by some that their share in the advantages of the expected triumph would be chased and offered for sale shall, either on their own That the settlers within the territory so to be purless than that of others. Massachusetts, Con petition or on the order of Congress, receive authority necticut, New-York, Virginia, North Carolina, from them, with appointments of time and place, for and Georgia, laid claim to spacious dominions their free males of full age to meet together for the purpose of establishing a temporary government, to adopt outside of their proper boundaries; while New-the constitution and laws of any one of these States, so Hampshire (save in Vermont), Rhode Island, that such laws nevertheless shall be subject to alteraNew-Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and South tion by their ordinary Legislature, and to erect, subject to a like alteration, counties or townships for the elecCarolina, possessed no such boasted resources tion of members for their Legislature. to meet the war-debts constantly augmenting. That such temporary government shall only continue in They urged, therefore, with obvious justice, force in any State until it shall have acquired twenty thou sand free inhabitants, when, giving due proof thereof to that these unequal advantages ought to be Congress, they shall receive from them authority, with surrendered, and all the lands included within appointments of time and place, to call a convention of the territorial limits of the Union, but outside representatives to establish a permanent constitution of the proper and natural boundaries of the the temporary and permanent governments be estab and government for themselves: Provided, That both several States, respectively, should be ceded to,lished on these principles as their basis: and held by, Congress, in trust for the common benefit of all the States, and their proceeds employed in satisfaction of the debts and liabilities of the Confederation. This reasonable requisition was ultimately, but with some reservations, responded to.

1. That they shall forever remain a part of the United States of America.

2. That in their persons, property, and territory, they shall be subject to the Government of the United States in Congress assembled, and to the Articles of Confederation in all those cases in which the original

States shall be so subject.

That whenever any of the said States shall have, of free inhabitants, as many as shall then be in any one of the least numerous of the thirteen original States, such

3. That they shall be subject to pay a part of the The IXth Continental Congress, under the Ar- Federal debts, contracted or to be contracted, to be ticles of Confederation, assembled at Philadel-apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments phia, Nov. 3, 1783, but adjourned next day to thereof shall be made on the other States. Annapolis, Md. The House was soon left without 4. That their respective governments shall be in a quorum, and so continued most of the time-republican forms, and shall admit no person to be a of course, doing no business-till the 1st of citizen who holds a hereditary title. 5. That after the year 1800 of the Christian era, March, 1784, when the delegates from Virginia, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi in pursuance of instructions from the Legisla-tude in any of the said States, otherwise than in ture of that State, signed the conditional deed punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally guilty. of cession to the Confederation of her claims to territory northwest of the Ohio River. New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts had alState shall be admitted, by its Delegates, into the Conready made similar concessions to the Confede-gress of the United States, on an equal footing with the ration of their respective claims to territory said original States; after which the assent of two-thirds of the United States, in Congress assembled, shall be westward of their present limits. Congress requisite in all those cases wherein, by the Confederation, hereupon appointed Messrs. Jefferson of Vir- the assent of nine States is now required, provided the ginia, Chase of Maryland, and Howell of Rhode consent of nine States to such admission may be obIsland, a Select Committee to report a Plan of tained according to the eleventh of the Articles of Confederation. Until such admission by their Delegates Government for the Western Territory. This into Congress, any of the said States, after the establishplan, drawn up by Thomas Jefferson, provided ment of their temporary government, shall have authofor the government of all the Western terri-rity to keep a sitting member in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting. tory, including that portion which had not yet been, but which, it was reasonably expected, would be, surrendered to the Confederation by the States of North Carolina and Georgia (and which now forms the States of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi), as well as that which had already been conceded by the more northern States

That the territory northward of the forty-fifth degree, that is to say, of the completion of forty-five degrees from the equator, and extending to the Lake of the under the forty-fifth and fo ty-fourth degress, that which Woods, shall be called Sylvania; that of the territory lies westward of Lake Michigan, shall be called Michi gania; and that which is eastward thereof, within the Huron, St Clair, and E.ie, shall be called Chersonesus, peninsula formed by the lakes and waters of Michigan, and shall include any part of the peninsula which may

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