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measures of the party, on which all could reunite and harmonize.

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Believing that an expression of the views and principles of the Whigs of this State, as they are understood by us, in relation particularly to ques tions which now agitate the country, should be made, in order to induce an intelligent, honest, and cordial co-operation among ourselves and with the Whigs of the other States of the Union, the State Committees, appointed at the respective Conventions held in 1850 at Syracuse and at Utica, and the Committee appointed by the Whigs of the the following, as presenting what they believe to Legislature at its recent session, have agreed upon be the sentiments of the great body of the Whigs of the State of New-York:

OWING to the fact of the last Whig Convention of the State of New-York occurring so soon after the passage of the great comWe congratulate the country on this repromise measures of the last session of Con- sult. The following is the statement of pringress, that the heats engendered by the de-ciples which they have agreed, after discusbate on those measures had not had time to sion, to set forth:cool, there occurred a division in that body touching the compromise, which led to the appointment of two Whig State Central Committees holding hostile opinions on the policy in question. Since that time it has been obvious to all reflecting politicians that the smoke of the conflict has been gradually clearing away, and the landmarks of duty and principle have become more or less distinct to the minds of all but those who are constitutionally incapable of seeing. The steady light of the Constitution-that beacon of all true American statesmen-is again being recognized as the guide through the difficulties that surrounded us. Under the influence of these facts, the Whig Committee of the State Legislature invited the two Committees above mentioned to meet in Albany, "with a view to harmonize the Whig party in this State." They accepted the invitation, and met about the first of the present month; and after a conference of three days, agreed to a call of a Convention for September next, to be held at Syracuse; and also agreed to a statement of the principles and

VOL. VIII. NO. III. NEW SERIES.

"An Economical Administration of the Govern

ment:

"The strict accountability of public officers, and their rigid adherence to the limitations of power prescribed by the Constitution and the laws; an honest and faithful performance of all obligations made with foreign nations, with a scrupulous reof our own: gard for their rights, and a firm and steady defense

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The Improvement of the important Rivers and Harbors of the country, so as to render them navigable and accessible, by prudent and systematic appropriations, founded upon examinations made by competent and disinterested public officers:

"Such a discrimination in the Duties necessarily laid upon Imports for the support of Government,

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pair the public faith, and all unlawful enterprises calculated to disturb the public peace and provoke civil war, or to sever or weaken the relations of any State with the Union:

as shall secure to the Industry of our countrymen a just remuneration, and shall stimulate Mechanical and Manufacturing Enterprise, and thus provide a home consumption for the products of Agriculture, which may control and counteract the unsteady demands of foreign markets, and as shall promote that healthy interchange among ourselves of the fruits of our own skill and labor, which is so well calculated to cement our Union, and main-cation, Finance, and Jurisprudence, and in the tain the spirit of national independence:

"That the Whigs of the State, as a body, are inflexibly opposed to the subjection of any territory of the United States, now free, to laws imposing involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, and they rejoice that no proposition to that effect is now pending, or is likely to be presented; while, at the same time, they unqualifiedly acknowledge the right of every sovereign State to regulate its own municipal institutions, in such manner as its people may deem most conducive to their safety and happiness, without interference, directly or indirectly, by citizens of other States, or subjects of other countries:

"That the Whigs of this State will abide by the Constitution of the United States, in all its parts, and that they will receive its true meaning and construction from the judicial tribunals it has created for that purpose, and will always sustain and defend such decisions, as the law of the land, until they are reversed by the same tribunals :

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That the laws of Congress and of the State Legislatures, pronounced constitutional by the judicial tribunals, must be enforced, and implicitly obeyed; and that while this is cheerfully recognized as the duty of all, as subjects of the laws, yet that the right of citizens, as voters, is equally undeniable to discuss, with a full and mutual regard for the rights and interests of all parts of the confederacy, (which is as necessary now to maintain, as it was indispensable to achieve the blessed Union of these States,) the expediency of such laws, and the propriety of any of their provisions, and to seek, by constitutional means, their repeal or modification:

"That all who are animated by a sincere desire to preserve the Union unimpaired, and the free institutions which it sustains and guarantees, by which alone individual security and national peace and prosperity can be perpetuated, must condemn all attempts to resist, defeat, or render ineffectual any laws passed by constitutional majorities of legislative bodies, in either the Federal or State Governments; and that the Whigs of New-York will ever be found prompt to render a patriotic acquiescence in all such laws:

That the Administration of this State has fully justified the confidence in its capacity, intelligence and integrity, which called it into being; that the public interests in the various departments of Edu

extension of the means of intercourse and of cheap transportation, have been vigorously and prudently sustained and promoted; Constitutional Government by legal majorities has been vindicated, and the general prosperity of the State has been sedulously and successfully maintained; and by emploving the means which previous expenditures, guided by enlightened forecast, had placed within our reach, to consummate the great work of the age, has presented a vivid contrast to the narrow, unjust, and wasteful policy of those who would scatter those means by such an impotent application of them as would postpone to a very distant posterity, if not indefinitely, the enjoyment of an inestimable heritage of wealth and prosperity:

"That for the purpose of sustaining those views and principles in the election of State officers entertaining them at the ensuing general election, the Committee above mentioned recommend that a Convention, consisting of one delegate from each Assembly District of the State, be held at Syracuse, on the 17th day of September next, at 12 o'clock at noon."

It will be seen that reflection and patriotism have combined to produce a reconciliation of the conflicting elements. There must in all questions be some absolute principles, which are ascertainable by reason and candor combining to discover them. In this case we believe these principles have been ascertained and set forth. On the practical application of them there may still differences of opinion arise; but in the mean time a great gain has been made, inasmuch as the party can act together under them, and await the issue of events for their application, when the same reason, patriotism and candor will, we have good reason to hope, prevail, should occasions arise when they have to be acted on. In this statement we conceive each division has conceded to the other That the National Administration is entitled the abstract principles that lay at the founto the confidence and support of the Whigs of New-dation of their opinions. The right of obYork, for the eminent ability and patriotism which jection and constitutional resistance has been conceded, whilst on the other hand the policy and necessity of acquiescence, submission to and maintenance of existing law, has been admitted and enforced. This is in perfect accordance with the very genius of our political institutions, and must command the approval of all candid minds.

have characterized its measures; for its successful

management of our foreign affairs; the generous sympathy it has exhibited toward an oppressed people struggling for freedom; the force and dignity with which it has maintained the right to indulge such sympathy, and with which it has rebuked the threats of an imperious Government to violate the immunities of an accredited public agent; and the determination it has evinced to repress and defeat all movements tending to im

There has undoubtedly been, as we have

and settles all questions. No officer, however high, can administer "as he understands," or make his will the law. He must be held strictly accountable to the nationthe people. Not their will of to-day or tomorrow as he may conceive it is, or will be, but their will as it has been enacted into constitutions and laws.

already intimated, a reaction in the public mind; and it has become generally apparent to all, that no practical good can result from the agitation of any of those questions which were intended to be settled by the compromise measures. Parties, it has at last become perfectly plain, can accomplish nothing towards their ascendency as such, by incorporating into their legitimate creeds Honesty and good faith (for we must diany thing sectional. Very properly, there-vide this paragraph of the "platform") are fore, these Committees have repudiated for the very soul of the Republic. Our agreethe Whigs any such idea, and have promi-ments and obligations with and to other nanently set forth those doctrines which have tions must be preserved inviolate by the addistinguished them heretofore, and which ministrators of the government, if they would have animated those known by this name not create a moral atmosphere in which the in every part of the Union, North and nation will sicken and die. Without this South. how can we assert, maintain and defend our own rights from encroachment? Without this, instead of going forth to fight for them, when the occasion may arrive, in the bright armor of right, we shall be covered but with the shirt of Nessus, that will poison and destroy; happy if, like Hercules, we have but the spirit left to make our own funeral pyre, and become immortalized for what we have done in our more heroic and virtuous youth.

The action of the Whigs of the great State of New-York on this subject has been watched with great interest and anxiety by its friends in other sections of the country, and the proceeding on which we are commenting will be hailed by them as an auspicious omen of a return to that harmony which will enable them, as heretofore, to labor together for those great principles of national beneficence for which they have ever contended.

Those principles are, it will be perceived, very properly put forth prominently in this call. They are such as the country cannot do without and prosper. They are essential to the independence and the vigor of the nation. Its true progress is involved in them, as is demonstrated by every page of our history.

An essential feature in the administration of a republican government is economy; an economy that has no merely technical signification, but that also embraces the idea of obtaining real value and service for the money expended; discouraging by its pos itive requirements that bane and canker of our political life, office-seeking, by retaining all who have conscientiously qualified themselves to serve the country, and appointing none but those who have the character and ability to do the same. To the victors do not belong the spoils, for there are no spoils, unless parties confess themselves thieves and plunderers of the public purse.

The

Under a republican government there are no irresponsible public officers. Constitution and laws of the land confer and limit all powers and proceedings, define all duties and privileges; the judiciary explains

So far these propositions may appear to some to be undeniable abstractions, not properly belonging to the creed of any party as such; but whoever so considers them has taken little note of the last twenty years of our political history. During that time they have been openly and palpably violated by our opponents. Some of their great men have avowedly acted in opposition to them. They have been the apologists for State delinquencies to them, and they have encouraged irresponsible combinations for the infraction of some of the most important by the desperate and reckless "fellows of the baser sort" amongst them. If not openly incorporated into their creeds, "Baltimore platforms," and so forth, opposition to these principles has become part of the common or unwritten law of the party.

Among the passages of recent history which crowd upon us in illustration of this, there is one which covers so much ground, and illustrates and confirms in so striking a manner these observations, that we will fortify our position by quoting it.

In Mr. Calhoun's speech against the Conquest of Mexico, delivered in the Senate, January 4th, 1848,* occurs the following

See American Review, March, 1848.

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