Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1854-05-05
VOLUME XI.--NO. 5.
WHOLE NUMBER, 525.

this labor, demons.rably the dearest Of any,
can only b. employed to advantage in tho
cultivation of products more valuable than
any known in tLa. quarter Of the United
States that the Committee deem it highly
dangerous anu inexpedient to impair pro-
vision wisely calculated to promote the hap
piuess and prosperity Of the northwestern
country, and to give strength and security
to that extensive frontier. In the salutary
operation Of this sagacious and benevolent
restraint, it Is believed this the Inhabitants
Of Indiana will, at no very distant day, find
ample remuneration for temporary pEivs-
,ion Of labor and emigration"
This was the answer Of the select COM
mittee and it became the answer Of the
House-of this House just Fifty years ago
when the South was about as ably re-
presented here as j. ever has been since,
and when its relative strength Was greater
than it has ever been since. The answer
is peremptory refusal to yield to the Pc
,ition of the people of Indiana, even for
ten years local suspension of this anti
slavery clause. "Highly dangerous and
inexpedient to impair that provision"
Yes, to impair that is the word and it is
a refusal to weaken or lessen, in the small
est degree, an act which the committee
calls benevolent and sagacious act;"
--ud which they recommend to maintain
uuimpaired, because i. is "calculated " to
increase the happiness and prosperity Of
the northwest, and to give strength aud
security to It's frontier" That Congress,
and that witho1. division between North
aud South, would not impair an &C. of SO
much future good to posteri,y, not even
upon the mistaken application of few
present inhabitants
But TINS was not the end Of The petitions.
The people Of Indiana we're not satisfied
with one repulse. They returned.to the
charge and four times more, in the course
Of as many years, renewed their applica-
ticn for the ten years supens;on of the
ordinance. 1t was rejected each time, and
once in the Senate, where the North Caro-
lima Senator Mr.. Jesse Franklin] was
chairman of the committee which made the
report against it. Five times, in as many
ysar sn hs hEsssssa s5ss sI SSaH2Ss aa ,As sss
because it was the reversal By the House
of favorable report from the committee.
And now what inbabitant Of Indiana does
not rejoice at the deiiverance which the
fir,nness Of Congress then gave them, in
spite Of the request of lis Inhabitants fifty
years ago:
Thus,fsc times in the beginning of this
een,ury-fve different times, and without
any distinction between northern and
southern nembers-did Congress refuse to
''impair" the slavery compromise Of 1877,
Notwithstanding FIVE times asked for by the
people Of the Territory. Oh, s11atter sov-
ereignty where were you then? 1t was
a case for you to have shown your head
to have arisen iu your might-and estab-
!isbed your supremacy for ever. 1t was
case Of convention of the sovereigns
themselves; and neither this convention
nor the Congress had dream Of their SOW
ereignty. The convention petitioned Con-
gress as ward would its guardian, or a
child under age would petition bis father,
and Congress answered ike good guard
lar; or good father, that 1t would no; give
them an evil, although they begged for it.
Beuigh;ed times these, aud infinitely be-
hind the presen, age. The mares nest had
ro. then been found in which has been laid
the marvellous egg out of which has been
hatchcd the nondescript fowl, ,yeieps "squat-
ter sovereignty" The illustrious principle
Of non intervention had not then been in
vented. The isnoramuses Of that day had
never heard OF it, though cow to be learned
in every horn-lo and, l believe, no
where else but in tie horn-Dooks
Five times in the beginning Of this cea-
tury did Congress refuse to impair the sla-
very compromise Of 'S7; and now, in the
middle Of the century, and after thirty
years of peace under the Missouri compro-
mise-'le offspring and continuation Of
that of 'sI-wc are called upon, not merely
to impair, for a season but to destroy for
ever, = far greater mpEomise-cXtent.ng
to far more terri.ory-and growing out Of
necessities far more pressing. And low
called upon? Not BY the inhabitants
not by any one human being living, or ex-
pec:;ng to live on the territory to be affect
ed-but upon nctian in Consress-s
silent, secret, limring. hating. creeping,
squirting, ;mpish mc'ion-eoneeived IN
the dark-midwifed in committee room,
and sprung upon Congress and the country
in the style in which Guy FaWkes intend
ed to blow Up the Parliament house, With
hi. fi-e hundred barrels Of gdnpowder, hid
in the cellar under the wood.
(Conc!aded next seek-j
E-Col. BENTON, it is stated, is not
s,tis6eI with the Gaasden treaty, and it
i. thought will ask for an investigation 'f
l. kJ,a II IN, Al make