Weekly National Intelligencer

THE CONSERVATIVE PLATFORM.

The following are the resolutions adopted at a meeting of the conservative members of the House of Representatives, held on the 28th of June last.

They were promulgated at the time as the expression of the views which then obtained among their authors with regard to the origin and objects of the "war for the Union:" These resolutions were published in the Intelligencer of July 1st, 1862, and are reproduced at the request of a subscriber in the State of Kentucky.

THE RESOLUTIONS.

Feeling the great weight of our responsibility as members of Congress, we have met in no party spirit nor for any party purpose, but for the purpose of deliberating and consulting together how we may best perform our Congressional duties in the present great and perilous crisis of our country's fate, and we have come to the following conclusions, namely:

1. Resolved, That the Constitution and the Union and the laws must be preserved and maintained in all their proper and rightful supremacy, and that the rebellion now in arms against them must be suppressed and put down, and that it is our duty to vote for all measures necessary and proper to that end.

2. Resolved, That the true interests of the country, as well as the dictates of humanity, require that no more war or acts of war should be prosecuted or done than are necessary and proper for the prompt and complete suppression of the rebellion.

3. Resolved, That the States are component and essential parts of the Union, bound together inseparably by the Constitution of the United States: that none of them can cease to exist as such so long as that Constitution survives, and that it is the exclusive sphere and duty of the States to order and direct their own domestic affairs. While the rebellion therefore has not annulled or destroyed the constitutional relations of the so-called "Seceding States" to the Federal Government, neither has it divested those States of any rights or powers, municipal or otherwise, properly belonging to them as members of the Federal Union. The actual exercise of those rights and powers may for a time be interrupted or obstructed by rebellion, and some illegitimate authority may be substituted in its place, but as soon as that rebellion is suppressed, these States will be entitled, as of right, to resume the exercise of all the rights and powers, dignities and immunities which properly belong to them as States of this Union.

4. Resolved, That the present war, as avowed by the President and Congress, and understood by the people, was commenced and prosecuted for the purpose of suppressing the rebellion, and preserving and vindicating the Constitution, the Union, and the laws, and for that purpose only. It was a great and noble purpose, high above any mere sectional or party objects, and at once it inspired and united in its support all loyal men of every creed, party, and section. "At the call of the Government a mighty army, the most patriotic, sprung at once into the field, and is bleeding and conquering in the defence of its Government. Under these circumstances it would, in our opinion, be most unjust and ungenerous to give any new character or direction to the war for the accomplishment of any other than its great first purpose, and especially for the accomplishment of any mere party or sectional scheme.

5. Resolved, That the many and great victories lately achieved by our armies and navies, whilst they ought to convince the world of the vast military power of our Government, give us the pleasing assurance that our deplorable civil war will soon be brought to a close, should the proper objects of the war, as herein before defined, be kept steadily in view. When that is done, and when such punishment is inflicted on such of the guilty leaders as will satisfy public justice, and upon such others as have made themselves conspicuous for crimes committed in the prosecution of the rebellion, it is our opinion that our Government should adopt such wise measures of clemency as will tend to bring back cordial reconciliation and peace to the whole country.

6. Resolved, That the doctrines of the secessionists and of the abolitionists, as the latter are now represented in Congress, are alike false to the Constitution and irreconcilable with the unity and peace of the country. The first have already involved us in a cruel civil war, and the others (the abolitionists) will leave to the country but little hope of the speedy restoration of union or peace, if the schemes of confiscation, emancipation, and other unconstitutional measures which they have lately carried, and attempted to carry, through the House of Representatives, shall be enacted into the form of laws, and remain unrebuked by the people.

7. Resolved, That Congress has no power to deprive any person of his property for any criminal offence, unless that person has been first duly convicted of the offence by the verdict of a jury. And that all acts of Congress like those lately passed by the House of Representatives which assume to forfeit or confiscate the estates of men for offences of which they have not been convicted upon due trial by jury are unconstitutional, and lead to oppression and tyranny. It is no justification for such acts that the crimes committed in the prosecution of the rebellion are of unexampled atrocity, nor is there any such justification as "State necessity" known to our Government or laws.

The foregoing resolutions are in explanation and reaffirmation of the resolution passed at the extra session of the present Congress, known as the "Crittenden resolution," and which declared "that this war is not waged on our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those 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."