Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1848-12-22

| nal divisions and struggles compared wit
t. this Union of the States with ali its valo
and all its countless blessings No patrio
would fomenf or excite geographical and sec
tlonal divisions. No lover of his countr'
would deliberately calculate the value of tn
Union. Future generations would look in a
4 mazement upon the folly of such a course
| Other nations, at the present moment, woul(
| look upon 1t with astonishment, and such O
those as desire maintain and perpetuate thrones
and monarchial or aristocratic principles, vii
view it with exultation and delight, because
| In it they will see the elements of faction
! which they hope must ultimately overthrow
our system. Ours is the gre example of q
! prosperous and free self-governed republic
| commanding the admiration and the imitation
! of all lovers of freedom throughout the world
| How solemn. therefore, the duty--how i'm
| pressive the call upon US, and upon all parts
OF our country-to cultivate patriotic spiri
/ of harmony. good fellowship, compromise and
mutual concession, in the administration of
| the incompatible system of government form
! ed by our fathers In the midst of almost in
superable difficulties, and transmitted TO US
! with the Injunction that we should enjoy its
blessings, and hand it down unimpared to
those that may come after rs.
In view of the high and responsible duties
we owe TO ourselves and mankind, | trust
you may be able to approach the adjustment
of the only domestic question which seriously
threatens, or probably ever can threaten, to
disturb the harmony and successful opera
ton of our system.
The immensely valuable possessions of
New Mexico and California, are already in
habited by considerable population, attract
ed by their great fertility-their mineral wealth
their commercial advantages, and the sa-
lubrity of the climate. Emgrants from the
81 prS in, d. J.
preparing to seek new homes in these invi-
ting regions.
Shall the dissimilarity of domestic institu-
tons in the different States prevent US from
providing for them suitable governments q
These institutions existed at the adoption of
the constitution; but the obstacles which they
interposed, were overcome by that spirit Of
compromise which is now invoked. In cen
fiict of opinions or of Interests, real or imag-
mary, between different sections of our coun-
try, neither can Justly demand all which it
might desire to obtain; each, in the true spir-
it of our Institutions, should concede some
thing to the other.
Our gal ant forces in the Mexican war, by
whose patriotism and unparalleled deeds Of
arms we obtained these possessions as an in
demnity for our just demands against Mex
leo, were composed of citizens who belong
ed to no State or section of our Union; they
were men from slave-holding and non-slave-
holding States, from the north and from the
south, from the east and from the west. They
were companions in arms, and fellow-citlZens
of the same common country, engaged IN the
same common cause. When prosecuting
that war; they were brethren and friends, and
shared alike with each other common tolls,
dangers and sufferings. Now when their
work is ended-when peace is restored, and
they return again to their homes--put off the
habilments of war, take their place in society
and resume their pursuits of civil life, surely
a spirit of harmony and concession, and of e.
dual regard for the rights of all, and Of all
sections Of the Union, ought to prevail In pro-
viding Government for the acquired Terrific
ries-the fruits of their common service. The
whole people of United States, and of every
State, contributed to pay the expenses of that
war; and it would not be Just for any one
section to exclude another from all participa-
ton in the acquired Territory. This would
not be in accordance with the just system of
Government which the trainers of the Consti-
tuition adopted.
The question is believed to be rather alb
stract than practical, whether slavery ever can
or would exist in any portion of the acquired
territory, even if it were left to the slave-hold
inc States themselves. From the nature of
the climate and productions of the country, in
could never exist; and in the remainder,
would not.
But. however this may be, the question,
involving as it does, principle of equality Of
riphts of the separate and several States, as
equal copartners in the confederacy, should
not be disregarded
In organizing Governments over their ter
ritories, no duties imposed on Congress by
the constitution require that they should legls-
late on the subject of slavery, while their pow
er to do so is not only seriously question: but
denied, BY many of the soundest expounders
of that instrument. Whether Congress shall
Ieqislate or not, the people of the acquired /
territories, when assembled in convention, I
will possess the whole and exclusive power
to determine whether slavery shall or shall not
exist within their limits. If Congress shall !
abstain f ON interfering in the question, the
people of these territories will be left free to
adjust it they may think proper, when
they apply for admission as States into the
Union. No enactment of Congress could re- /
strain the people of any of the sovereign States I
of the Union. old or new, slave-holdIag or
non-slaveholding, from determining the APP
prehensions which were entertained by some
of our statesmen in the earlier period OF our
Government-that our system was incapable
of operating with sufficient energy and sue.
cess over largely extended territorial limits.
Those who mantalned that II taIs system was /
adopted it would fall to pieces y It's own
weakness, have been disappointed by our ex-
perience. BY this division of power between /
the States and the Federal Government, the
latter is found to operate with as much energy
at the extremes as in the centre. 1t is as suf- |
fcient In the remotest of the thirty States
which now compose the Union, 1t was IN
the thirteen States which formed our co1fed-
eracv. Indeed, it may be doubted, whether,
if our present population had been confined
within the limits of the original thirteen States
the tendency to concentration would not have
been such as to have encroached upon tae
essential reserved rights of the State, and
thus make the Federal Government widely