and South, may stand side by side on all issues connected with Slavery, and advocate the same principles. That is all we ask. All we demand at your hands is, that there shall be no equivocation and no doubt in the popular mind as to what our principles are."

Virginia, 1; Missouri, 4; Tennessee, 1; Kentucky, 24; Ohio, 23; Indiana, 13; Illinois, 11; Michigan, 6; Wisconsin, 5; Iowa, 4; Minnesota, 4—165.

lished Democratic doctrine with regard to Slavery in the Territories.

The debate was continued, amid great excitement and some disorder, until Monday, April 30th, when the question was first taken on Gen. Butler's proposition; which was defeated-Yeas 105; Nays 198-as follows:

YEAS-Maine, 3; Massachusetts, 8; Connecticut, 21; New Jersey, 5; Pennsylvania, 161; Delaware, 3; Maryland, 54; Virginia, 12; North Carolina, 10; Georgia, 10; Missouri, 4; Tennessee, 11; Kentucky, 9; Minnesota, 14; Oregon, 3-105.

NAYS-Maine, 5; New Hampshire, 5; Vermont, 5; Massachusetts, 5; Rhode Island, 4; Connecticut, 34; New York, 35; New Jersey, 2; Pennsylvania, 10; Maryland, 21; Virginia, 24; South Carolina, 8; Florida, 3; Alabama, 9; Louisiana, 6; Mississippi, 7; Texas, 4; Arkansas, 4; Missouri, 41; Tennessee, 1; Kentucky, 3; Ohio, 23; Indiana, 13; Illinois, 11; Michigan, 6; Wisconsin, 5; Iowa, 4; Minnesota, 24; California, 4-198.

The question was next taken on the regular minority report, as presented in a modified form by Mr. Samuels; which was adopted, by the following vote:

YEAS-Maine, 8; New Hampshire, 5; Vermont, 5; Massachusetts, 7; Rhode Island, 4; Connecticut, 6; New York, 35; New New York, 35; New Jersey, 5; Pennsylvania, 12; Maryland, 3;

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Squatter Sovereignty' platform, but to withdraw from the Convention in case such a one should be adopted. Among the resolves so adopted and made binding on their delegates by the Alabama State Convention, were the following:

"1. Resolved, by the Democracy of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled, That, holding all issues and principles upon which they have heretofore affiliated and acted with the National Democratic Party to be inferior in dignity and importance to the great question of Slavery, they content themselves with a general reäffirmance of the Cincinnati platform as to such issues, and also indorse said platform as to Slavery, together with the following resolutions:

"2. Resolved further, That we reäffirm so much of the first resolution of the platform adopted in the Convention by the Democracy of this State, on the 8th of January, 1856, as relates to the subject of Slavery, to wit: The unqualified right of the people of the Slaveholding States to the protection of their property in the States, in the Territories, and in the wilderness in which Territorial Governments are as yet unorganized.'

"3. Resolved further, That, in order to meet and clear away all obstacles to a full enjoyment of this right in the Territories, we reaffirm the principle of the 9th resolution of the Platform adopted in Convention by the Democracy of this State, on the 14th of February, 1848, to wit: That it is the duty of the General Government, by all proper legislation. to secure an entry into those

Territories to all the citizens of the United | States, together with their property of every description; and that the same should be protected by the United States while the Territories are under its authority.'

"4. Resolved further, That the Constitution of the United States is a compact between sovereign and co-equal States, united upon the basis of perfect equality of rights and privileges.

"5. Resolved further, That the Territories of the United States are common property, in which the States have equal rights, and to which the citizens of every State may rightfully emigrate, with their slaves or other property recognized as such in any of the States of the Union, or by the Constitution of the United States.

"6. Resolved further, That the Congress of the United States has no power to abolish Slavery in the Territories, or to prohibit its introduction into any of them.

same

"7. Resolved further, That the Territorial Legislatures, created by the legislation of Congress, have no power to abolish Slavery, or to prohibit the introduction of the same, or to impair by unfriendly legislation the security and full enjoyment of the within the Territories; and such constitutional power certainly does not belong to the people of the Territories in any capacity, before, in the exercise of a lawful authority, they form a Constitution preparatory to admission as a State into the Union; and their action, in the exercise of such lawful authority, certainly cannot operate or take effect before their actual admission as State into the Union.

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"8. Resolved further, That the principles enunciated by Chief Justice Taney, in his opinion in the Dred Scott case, deny to the Territorial Legislature the power to destroy or impair, by any legislation whatever, the right of property in slaves, and maintain it to be the duty of the Federal Government, in all of its departments, to protect the rights of the owner of such property in the Territories; and the principles so declared are hereby asserted to be the rights of the South, and the South should maintain them. "9. Resolved further, That we hold all of the foregoing propositions to contain cardinal principles-true in themselves--and just and proper and necessary for the safety of all that is dear to us; and we do hereby instruct our delegates to the Charleston Convention to present them for the calm consideration and approval of that body-from whose justice and patriotism we anticipate their adoption.

"10. Resolved further, That our delegates to the Charleston Convention are hereby expressly instructed to insist that said Convention shall adopt a platform of principles,

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recognizing distinctly the rights of the South, as asserted in the foregoing resolutions; and if the said National Convention shall refuse to adopt, in substance, the propositions embraced in the preceding resolutions, prior to nominating candidates, our delegates to said Convention are hereby positively instructed to withdraw therefrom.

"11. Resolved further, That our delegates to the Charleston Convention shall cast the vote of Alabama as a unit, and a majority of our delegates shall determine how the vote of this State shall be given.

"12. Resolved further, That an Executive Committee, to consist of one from each Congressional District, be appointed, whose duty it shall be, in the event that our delegates withdraw from the Charleston Convention, in obedience to the 10th resolution, to call a Convention of the Democracy of Alabama, to meet at an early day to consider what is best to be done."

The Alabama delegation concluded with the following statement:

"The points of difference between the Northern and the Southern Democracy are: "1. As regards the status of Slavery as a political institution in the Territories whilst they remain Territories, and the power of the people of a Territory to exclude it by unfriendly legislation; and

"2. As regards the duty of the Federal Government to protect the owner of slaves in the enjoyment of his property in the Territories so long as they remain such.

"This Convention has refused, by the Platform adopted, to settle either of these propositions in favor of the South. We deny to the people of a Territory any power to legislate against the institution of Slavery; and we assert that it is the duty of the Federal Government, in all its departments, to protect the owner of slaves in the enjoyment of his property in the Territories. These principles, as we state them, are embodied in the Alabama Platform.

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Here, then, is a plain, explicit and direct issue between this Convention and the constituency which we have the honor to represent in this body.

"Instructed, as we are, not to waive this issue, the contingency, therefore, has arisen, when, in our opinion, it becomes our duty to withdraw from this Convention. We beg, Sir, to communicate this fact through you, and to assure the Convention that we do so in no spirit of anger, but under a sense of imperative obligation, properly appreciating its responsibilities and cheerfully submitting to its consequences.

The Alabama delegation, which

included ex-Gov. John A. Winston, Wm. L. Yancey, Reuben Chapman, ex-M. C., and other prominent citizens, thereupon withdrew from the Convention.

Mr. Barry, of Mississippi, next announced the withdrawal of the entire Mississippi delegation. Mr. Glenn, of Mississippi, stated the grounds of such withdrawal, as follows:

"Sir, at Cincinnati we adopted a Platform on which we all agreed. Now answer me, ye men of the North, of the East, of the South, and of the West, what was the construction placed upon that Platform in different sections of the Union? You at the

West said it meant one thing; we of the South said it meant another. Either we were right or you were right; we were wrong or you were wrong. We came here We came here to ask you which was right and which was wrong. You have maintained your position. You say that you cannot give us an acknowledgment of that right, which I tell you here now, in coming time will be your only safety in your contests with the Black Republicans of Ohio and of the North. (Cheers.)

"Why, sir, turn back to the history of your own leading men. There sits a distinguished gentleman, Hon. Charles E. Stuart, of Michigan, once a representative of one of the sovereign States of the Union in the Senate, who then voted that Congress had the constitutional power to pass the Wilmot Proviso, and to exclude Slavery from the Territories; and now, when the Supreme Court has said that it has not that power, he comes forward and tells Mississippians that that same Congress is impotent to protect that same species of property! There sits my distinguished friend, the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Pugh), who, but a few nights since, told us from that stand that, if a Territorial Government totally misused their powers or abused them, Congress could wipe out that Territorial Government altogether. And yet, when we come here and ask him to give us protection in case that Territorial Government robs us of our property and strikes the star which answers to the name of Mississippi from the flag of the Union, so far as the Constitution gives her protection, he tells us, with his hand upon his heart-as Gov. Payne, of Ohio, had before done-that they will part with their lives before they will acknowledge the principle which we contend for.

"Gentlemen, in such a situation of things in the Convention of our great party, it is

right that we should part. Go your way, not like Hagar, driven into the wilderness, and we will go ours. The South leaves you friendless and alone-but I tell Southern men here, and, for them, I tell the North, that, in less than sixty days, you will find a united South standing side by side with us. (Prolonged and enthusiastic cheering.)"

Mr. Mouton, of Louisiana, briefly announced that all the delegates from his State but two would withdraw from the Convention, and protested against the right of the two to act or cast any vote in behalf of the State.

Hon. James Simons, of South Carolina, announced the withdrawal of the delegation from that State, in a communication signed by all the thirteen members thereof, in the words following:

"We, the undersigned delegates appointed by the Democratic State Convention of South Carolina, beg leave respectfully to state that, according to the principles enunciated in their Platform at Columbia, the power, either of the Federal Government or of its agent, the Territorial Government, to abolish or legislate against property in slaves, by either direct or indirect legislation, is especially denied; and, as the Platform adopted by the Convention palpably and intentionally prevents any expression affirming the incapacity of the Territorial Government so to legislate, that they would not be acting in good faith to their principles, or in accordance with the wishes of their constituents, to longer remain in this Convention, and they hereby respectfully announce their withdrawal therefrom."

Mr. John Milton, of Florida, next announced the unanimous withdrawal of the delegation from that State, in a protest signed by five delegates, which was read by Mr. Eppes, whereof the essential portion is as follows:

"Florida, with her Southern sisters, is entitled to a clear and unambiguous recognition of her rights in the Territories; and this being refused, by the rejection of the majority report, we protest against receiving the Cincinnati Platform with the interpretation that it favors the doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty in the Territories-which doctrine, in the name of the people represented by us, we repudiate."

"That it is the right of every citizen to take his property, of any kind, including slaves, into the common territory belonging equally to all the States of the Confederacy, and to have it protected there under the Federal Constitution. Neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature, nor any human power, has any authority, either directly or indirectly, to impair these sacred rights; and, they having been affirmed by the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, we declare that it is the duty of the Federal Government, the common agent of all the States, to establish such government, and enact such laws for the Territories, and so change the same, from time to time, as may be necessary to insure the protection and preservation of these rights, and prevent every infringement of the same. The affirmation of this principle of the duty of Congress to simply protect the rights of property, is nowise in conflict with the heretofore established and well-recognized principle of the Democratic party, that Congress does not possess the power to legislate Slavery into the Territories, or to exclude it therefrom.

"It is sufficient to say that, if the principles of the Northern Democracy are properly represented by the opinion and action of the majority of the delegates from that section on this floor, we do not hesitate to declare that their principles are not only not ours, but, if adhered to and enforced by them, will destroy this Union."

Mr. B. Burrow, of Arkansas, announced the withdrawal of three delegates from that State, for these rea

sons:

"1st. Because the numerical majority have usurped the prerogatives of the States in setting aside the Platform made by the States, and have thus unsettled the basis of this Convention, and thereby permanently disorganized its constitution. Its decrees, therefore, become null and void.

"2d. Because we were positively instructed by the Democracy of Arkansas to insist on the recognition of the equal rights of the South in the common Territories, and protection to those rights by the Federal Government, prior to any nomination of a can

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didate; and, as this Convention has refused to recognize the principles required by the State of Arkansas, in her popular Convention first, and twice subsequently reasserted by Arkansas, together with all her Southern sisters, in the report of a Platform in this

Convention; and, as we cannot serve two masters, we are determined first to serve the Lord our God. We cannot ballot for any candidate whatsoever."

Mr. J. P. Johnson, on behalf of that portion of the Arkansas delegation who had concluded not to leave the Convention until after time had been afforded for consultation, said he hesitated, "because he conceived that the stability of the Union itself was involved in the action taken here by the Southern representatives.”

The Georgia delegation here asked leave to retire for consultation, which was granted. Messrs. Bayard and Whiteley-Senator and Representative in Congress from Delawarenow retired from the Convention and joined the seceders. Mr. Saulsbury, the other Senator, gave his reasons for not retiring at this time, and the Convention adjourned for the night.

Next morning, May 1st, Mr. Henry L. Benning presented a notification from twenty-six of the thirtyfour delegates from Georgia, that they had decided to withdraw from the Convention-four of them in obedience to a vote of the majority, which they had opposed.

Mr. Johnson, of Arkansas, now announced the withdrawal, after due consideration and consultation, of the remainder of the delegation from his State; but Mr. F. B. Flournoy gave notice that he did not concur in this action.

The formal protest and withdrawal of ten delegates from Louisiana was now presented. It states that these delegates act in obedience to a reso