Daily State Sentinel

UNION DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.

JANUARY 1, 1862.

Whereas, The Democratic party having, from the date of its organization, been in favor of the maintenance of the Union and the preservation of the Constitution, and seeing in the present condition of the country the deplorable effects of a departure from its time-honored and conservative principles, and the triumph of sectionalism; and firmly believing that the Union and the Constitution can be preserved alone by the restoration of that party to power, we invite all true Union men throughout the land to unite with us in sustaining its organization and carrying out its principles:

Therefore,

Resolved, 1. That we reaffirm and endorse the political principles that from time to time have been put forth by the National Conventions of the Democratic party.

2. That we are unalterably attached to the Constitution, by which the Union of these States was formed and established; and that a faithful observance of its principles can alone continue the existence of the Union, and the permanent happiness of the people.

3. That the present civil war has mainly resulted from the long continued, unwise, and fanatical agitation, in the North, of the question of domestic slavery, the consequent organization of a geographical party, guided by the sectional platforms adopted at Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Chicago, and the development thereby of sectional hate and jealousy, producing (as had long been foreseen and predicted by us) its counterpart in the South of secession, disunion, and armed resistance to the General Government, and terminating in a bloody strife between those who should have been forever bound together by fraternal bonds, thus bringing upon the whole country a calamity which we are now to meet as loyal citizens, striving for the adoption of that mode of settlement best calculated to again restore union and harmony.

4. That in rejecting all propositions likely to result in a satisfactory adjustment of the matters in dispute between the North and the South, and especially those measures which would have secured the border slave States to the Union, and a hearty co-operation on their part in all constitutional and legal measures to procure a return of the more Southern States to their allegiance, the Republican party assumed a fearful responsibility, and acted in total disregard of the best interests of the whole country.

5. That if the party in power had shown the same desire to settle, by amicable adjustment, our internal dissensions before hostilities had actually commenced, that the Administration has recently exhibited to avoid a war with our ancient enemy, Great Britain, we confidently believe that peace and harmony would now reign throughout all our borders.

6. That the maintenance of the Union upon the principles of the Federal Constitution should be the controlling object of all who profess loyalty to the Government—and in our judgment this purpose can only be accomplished, by the ascendency of a Union party in the Southern States, which shall, by a counter revolution, displace those who control and direct the present rebellion. That no effort to create or sustain such a party can be successful which is not based upon a definite settlement of the questions at issue between the two sections; and we therefore demand that some such settlement be made by additional constitutional guaranty, either initiated by act of Congress or through the medium of a National Convention.

7. That the Republican party has fully demonstrated its inability to conduct the Government through its present difficulties.

8. That we are utterly opposed to the twin heresies, Northern sectionalism and Southern secession, as inimical to the Constitution; and that freemen, as they value the boon of civil liberty and the peace of the country, should frown indignantly upon them.

9. That in this national emergency the Democracy of Indiana, banishing all feeling of passion and resentment, will recollect only their duty to the whole country: that this war should not be waged in the spirit of conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or institutions of the States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.

10. That we will sustain, with all our energies, a war for the maintenance of the Constitution, and of the integrity of the Union under the Constitution; but we are opposed to a war for the emancipation of the negroes, or the subjugation of the Southern States.

11. That the purposes avowed and advocated by the Northern disunionists, to liberate and arm the negro slaves, is unconstitutional, insulting to loyal citizens, a disgrace to the age, is calculated to retard the suppression of the rebellion and meets our unqualified condemnation.

12. That the total disregard of the writ of habeas corpus by the authorities over us, and the seizure and imprisonment of the citizens of loyal States where the judiciary is in full operation, without warrant of law and without assigning any cause or giving to the party arrested any opportunity of defense, are flagrant violations of the Constitution and most alarming acts of usurpation of power, which should receive the stern rebuke of every lover of his country and of every man who prizes the security and blessings of life, liberty and property.

13. That liberty of speech and of the press are guaranteed to the people by the Constitution, and none but a usurper would deprive them of these rights: they are inestimable to the citizen and formidable to tyrants only. And the attempts which have been made since our present unfortunate troubles, to muzzle the press and stifle free discussion, are exercises of despotic power against which freedom revolts and which can not be tolerated without converting freemen into slaves.

14. That the seizure of Slidell and Mason, on board a neutral vessel, on the high seas, was either in accordance with international law, and so legal; or else in violation of such law, and so illegal. If the former, we lament that our nation has been humiliated by their surrender, under a threat; if the latter, it was the duty of the Administration at once to have disavowed the act of their officer, and instead of incarcerating the captives in Fort Warren, to have immediately repaired the wrong by placing them, as far as practicable, in the same condition in which that officer had found them. In either event, the action of the Administration was vacillating and cowardly, and degrading to the dignity of a great nation.

15. That the action of the Republican party, as manifested in the partisan character of all appointments of the Administration to civil office; and, in holding party caucuses by the Republican members of Congress for the purpose of impressing upon the legislative action of that body the peculiar dogmas of that party, have demonstrated that their professions of "sacrificing party platforms, and party organizations, upon the altar of their country," are but so many hypocritical and false pretences by which they hope to dupe the unwary into their support; and we warn all loyal persons, as they love their country, not to be deceived thereby.

16. That the disclosures made by the investigating committee in Congress of the enormous frauds that have stalked into the army and navy departments, implicating the heads of those departments in a connivance at, if not an actual participation in a system of corruption, and in which our brave soldiers have been defrauded of their proper supplies, and our Government threatened with bankruptcy, demands a thorough investigation into all our expenditures, both State and National, and that a speedy and marked example be made of all such "birds of prey," who, taking advantage of the necessities of our country, have fed and fattened upon public plunder.

Resolved, That the meritorious conduct of the Indiana troops, in every battle field where victory has perched upon the national banner, has filled the people of this State with the highest gratitude to her gallant sons, and thus we send our best wishes to officers and men, dispersed throughout the country, and the heartfelt greetings of every Democrat for their further brilliant achievements in the coming contests for the maintenance of the Constitution and the Union.