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THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION.
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TENANT RIGHT.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Austria again into the field , and such a step would still further complicate the attitude of the German princes , and widen th . e breach between them and the supporters of liberal views . No effort of England can prevent France gaining power , and perhaps territory , out of such circumstances , unless the German people can succeed in acting upon the advice of Von Bennigsen and other liberals , and compel the separate Governments to give up their pretensions ahd consent to a concentration of military and diplomatic power in the hands of a central and constitutional
authority . That the Germans know their , danger is something towards averting it ; and Herk Striegler took a bold and judicious course in the Darmstadt chamber when he denounced the separate alliances which the petty princes are making as " shameful acts of treachery towards the country of Germany . Everything proves that Europe is tending towards organic changes , and it would be a great gain if , before fresh complications arise , we had the satisfaction of seeing Italy completely emancipated from Austrian and Bourbon misrule .
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T HE Democrats who met at Charleston to adopt a " platform . : and select a candidate , have separated without a ^ eeing upon the one or the other . The " irrepressible conflict" has broken out in the ranks of the staunch upholders of the " peculiar institution ; " and the ball is , for the present , in the hands of its determined antagonists . The very strength of the Democratic party has been the great source of its weakness . The Republicans are confined to the Free States ; they have not the shadow of a chance in the South ; and whatever may be their local jealousies and degrees of fervour or fanaticism in the anti-Slavery causetheyrepresent o nly " free soil" interests . The Democrats ,
need ; since the Supreme Court ,: which now , unfortunately , has fallen from its former high estate of good fame , has decided thesepoints in their favour . But such a concession did not content them , they wanted their doctrine distinctl y adopted as part of the party creed . The Convention , however , agreed witfe the minority of the Committee , and adopted its report—a resolution which was immediately followed by the secession of the delegates of the States of Alabama , Louisiana , Mississippi * Arkansas , South Carolina , Texas , and Florida , who immediately
formed a little convention of their own . The original body proceeded forthwith to ballot for a candidate , but no one obtained the requisite two thirds vote , although Mr . Douglas received a very large majority of the suffrages given , and in this dead-lock the Convention adjourned to the 18 th June , at Baltimore , in the hope that something might turn up before that time to bring ^ back their erring brethren , and get the party out of its difficulties . The seceders , finding that they could do nothing themselves * , and beginning to entertain some doubts whether their hasty zeal would be approved by their constituents , also adjourned .
The Democrats are , therefore , off the stage for a time , and public attention is concentrated upon the proceedings of a small party , only important so far as it may , in case of a close contest , be able to turn the scale—the remains of the old " Knownothings , " which was to assemble at Baltimore on the 9 th , and the Republicans , who met upon the 16 th of this month at that marvellous example of the rapidity with which an American cityrises , Chicago . The Republican Convention will , probably , have no very great difficulty in agreeing Upon a platform , but the selection of a candidate will be a much more serious task .
Mr . Seward , who is still first favourite , and who has undoubtedly the : strongest clainis to the honour , although he may be enthusiastically supported in some States , yet has excited a considerable amount of hostility in others . The question which the delegates have to put to themselves is , not who is the best man in our country or party to-be President , but what man holding our opinions , arid consenting to distribute his patronage according to our wishes ,, has the best chance of uniting all the sections of the party , or of carrying any particular state the issue in which is doubtful , whilst victory there would
be decisive of the contest . Whoever they - may choose , the Republicans will have this advantage , that they will be first in the field ; but if . may be purchased "dearly by the opportunity thus given to the Democrats to nominate at Baltimore , if they can contrive to come to an agreement there , the man best calculated to beat him . What will be the issue of a contest the conditions of which are not yet determined , no American can at present venture to predict , and it would , of course , be absurd to indulge in any conjectures ¦^ Ojxihis-side-of-the-Atlantic ., . Nor isJt ,-indeed ,-nf much ijnpojit = ance to us . Whichever party may win in this contest , the policy
of the United States with respect to Slavery is really determined . A victory of the Democrats may retard , as that of the Republicans would hasten , its inauguration ; but nothing can long postpone it . The curse works too grievously to be longer borne . Slavery rankles everywhere ; it makes itself felt every day as the great danger of the United States . It interferes in every thing clogs the national action , absorbs the time of Congress preventing useful legislation , creates discord amongst the different members of the Union , and even threatens its continuance . The burden
has become too intolerable , and Slavery will cease , not from the dictates of humanity , but the more efficacious promptings of self-interest . The policy of the Union will become an energetic compression of Slavery within its existing limits , and an encouragement to its suppression on the part of the different States , The rights of those States will not be interfered with ; the internal sovereignty which the constitution gives them will not be infringed ; but Slavery is an exhausting institution , and confined to its present bounds must infallibly die out . It will be found to cost more than it is worth : and , although it must
necessarily linger for many years in the extreme Southern States , it will be abolished soon by such border ones as Virginia and Missouri ; and , confined to those States in which slave labour alone is profitable , it will cease to be a disturbing political cause . The sooner the question is settled for America in this way , the greater and more rapid will be tho development of her power and influence ; and oh that ground the tnunipli of the Republican party must be deemed desirable , notwithstanding tho protectionist mid agrarian heresies with which it is infected .
, on the other hand , while the South—now that the old Whig party is effete— -is entirely their own , possess an enormous strength in the North . Withoufits assistance they cannot indeed hope to win a presidential contest . Every year the relative strength of the Southern States deeb ' nes , and the interests which at the establishment of the Republic dominated over the Union , depend now for the maintenance of a mere equal footing in it upon an alliance with such C 3 ntral States as Pennsylvania , New Jersey , and New York , in
which the admirable organization of the democracy of the large towns , and the influence of the monied classes , often overcome the sturdy opposition to Slavery and the fanatic zeal for legislation of the Maine Law stamp of the rural districts . It is the consciousness of this growing weakness which makes the South so jealous of its rights , and so arrogantly aggressive , and fosters that inkling for disunion which really underlies the violent speeches and manifestoes , principally intended as mere bounce wherewith-to-frighten ' -opponent * : —— ——— ~
The members of the Convention which met at Charleston represented , therefore , different interests . They were united in their wish to obtain the election of a candidate of their own party , and consequently secure to themselves the " spoils" for another four years , as well as in their opposition to the anti-Slavery party ; but they were divided in their adherence to the candidates , and differed greatly as to the grounds upon which that resistance should be based , and the extent to which it should be carried . The delegates from the . North and West were mostly supporters of Mr . Douglas , and adherents of his doctrine of popular sovereignty , or the right of the territories to allow the
determine fcr themselves whether or not they will " institution ; " those from the South , on the other hand , were opposed to Douglas , although not united upon any other candidate , and maintained that Slavery is necessarily legal in a territory so long as it remains in that condition , and only ceases to be so upon its admission into the Union as a State with a constitution prohibiting it . Where such radical differences existed , there was little likelihood of a cordial understanding being come to , and the divergence soon became declared . The Committee appointed to prepare a " platform" presented two reports , both reaffirming that of the Cincinnati Convention of 1856 , at which Mr . Buchanan was nominated , both
recommending the acquisition of Cuba and denouncing tho conduct of some free States , in opposing the exeoution of the fugitivo slave law , but thnt of the majority adopting in all its repulsiveness the southern doctrine with respect to slavery in the territories , namely , that all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle with their property in the territories , without their rights either of person or property being destrpyed or injured by congressional or territorial legislation—meaning by the word property slaves ; nnd that of tho minority stating , thnt , inasmuch as there were differences of opinion in the Democratic party , it would abide by the decisions of the Supremo Court of the United States over the institution of Slavery in tho territories . Practically , the minority report gives the slave-owners all they
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MR . CARDWELL will probably have more success than all those who , before him , have attempted to legislate for landlord nnd tenant in Ireland , for tho simple reason , that he proposes to do less . His Bill does not confiscate the property of tho landlord for tho benefit of tho tenant—the object really pvoT
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49 # The leader andSd ^ imia ^ AnkO ^^ P ^ Y % Q > I 86 ( n
The Charleston Convention.
TTTTC CHARLESTON CONVENTION .
Tenant Right.
TENANT RIGHT .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1860, page 490, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2349/page/6/
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