The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-07-18
[coNrINuEp FROM FIRST pAnrl


You may slay the Wilmot Proviso in the Senate
chamber, and bury it beneath the Capitol to-day
the dead corse, in complete STEEL will haunt your
legislative halls tomorrow
When the strife is ended in the Territories you |
now possess il will be renewed on new fields |
North as well as South, to fortify advantages |
gained or to retrieve losses incurred for both Of
the parties well know that there is Yet in that |
word Hereafter
Senators have referred us to the promise of |
peace which heralded in the Missouri Compro- |
mise. Sir. that prophecy is but half its journey
vet The annexation of Texas the invasion of
Mexico, this prolonged struggle over California,
this desperate contest for the SHOWS and sands of
New Mexico and Deseret, are all within the
scope and limits Of the prediction; and so are the
strifes yet to come over ice bound regions be-
yond the st. Lawrence and sun-burnt plains be-
meath the tropics.
But while this Compromise will fail of all its
purposes it will work out serious aud lasting
evils. All such compromises are changes of the
Constitution, made in derogstion Of the Consttu-
ton. They render it uncertain in its meaning
and impair its vigor well as its sanctions This
Compromise finds the Senate in wide divergence
from the House Of Representatives, by reason of
the undue multiplication Of feeble, consumptive
States, effected by former compromises of the
same sort, You will increase that evil until the
Congress Of the United States win be unable to
conduct the business of the country, by reason of
Az jqaDch and the result will be the abolition
OF one branch or Of the other the abolition OF
either would prOSsbiy be fatal 70 MoervS
This compromise is rendered doubly dangerous
ythe circumstance that is concession to alarms
Of dsOrganization and faction Such concessions
once begun, follow each other with fearful rapid
ty, and always increasing magnitude. II is time
high time, that panics about the Uuion should
cease; that 1t should be known and felt that tn,
Constitution and the Union, within the limits O
human security, are safe, firm, and perpetual
Settle what you can settle confde in that old ar
bitter, Time, for his favoring aid in settling TO
the future what belongs to the future and yo,
will hereafter be relieved of two classes of patriot
whose labors can well be spared-those who clam
or for dsunion, either to abolish slavery or to pre-
vent emancipation, and those who surrender prin
ciples or sound policy to clamors so idle
Sir, the agitations which alarm us are not sign
OF evils to come, but mild efforts Of the Common
wealth for relief from mischiefs past
There is way, and one way only, to put then
at rest. Let US 20 back to the ground where oul
forefathers stood. While we leave slavery to tn,
care Of the States where it exists let us infexibly
direct the policy of the Federal Government Il
circumscribe its limits, and favor its ultimate ex
, sSneDt. Let .Scss III 80 20 s1.is as.4l0rount
entailed upon them, instead of contriving how to
maintain an equilibrium that never had existence,
ocasIss 11,,ssy So", az s5me tiule--it mSy &c
ten, or twenty, or even fifty We lrs hence-by some
means, by all means Of their own, and without our
aid, without sudden change or violent action, they
may bring about the emancipation of labor, and its
restoration TO its just dignity and power in the
State Let them take hope to themselves give
hope to the free States, awaken hope throughout
the world They will thus anticipate only what
must happen at some time, and what they them
selves must desire, if it can come safely, and as
soon as it can come without danger Let them do
only this, and every cause of disagreement will
cease Immediately and forever We shall then
not merely endure each other but we shall be
reconciled together and shall realize once more
the concord which results from mutual league,
united councils, and equal hopes and hazards, in
the most sublime and benefcent enterprise the
earth has witnessed. The fingers of the Powers
above would tune the harmony of such peace