Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-02-17

Congress OF 1887, extended over new parl al
the national domain. acquired under our pres
ent Constitution Ii is rendered venerable by
It's antiquity, and sacred by the memory Of thai
Congress, which, IN surrendering its trust, after
establishing The Ordinance, enjoined il upon
posterity, always 10 remember that the cause
OF the United States was the cause of Human
Nature. The question involves an issue of
public faith, and national morality and honor.
II will be sad day for this Republic, when
such question shall be deemed unworthy Of
grave discussion and intense interest. Even
II II were certain that the inhibition Of slavery
IN the region concerned was unnecessary, and
IL The question was thus reduced TO mere alb
straction, yet even that abstraction would in
volve the testimony Of the United States on the
expediency, wisdom, morality, and justice, OF
the system Of human bondage, with which
this and other portions Of the world have been
so long afflicted and il will be melancholy
day for the Republic and for mankind, when
her decision on even such an abstraction shall
command no respect, and inspire no hope into
the hearts of the oppressed. But il is no such
abstraction. Il was no unnecessary dispute,
no mere contest Of blind passion, that brought
that Compromise into being. Slavery and
Freedom were active antagonists, then seeking
for ascendency in this Union. Both Slavery
and Freedom are more vigorous, active, and
Safeguarding now, than they were then,
or ever were before or since that period The
contest between them has been only protracted
not decided. Ii is great feature in our ma
tonal Hereafter. So the question OF adhering
TO or abrogatng this Compromise is no un.
meaning issue, and no contest of mere blind
passion now.
To adhere, is to secure the occupation by
ireemen, with free labor, of region in the
very centre Of the continent, capable of sus
tanning, and in that event destined, though il
may be only after a fardistant period, to sus-
tain ten, twenty, thirty, forty millions Of peo-
pie and their successive generations forever
10 abrogaie, is to resign all that vast region
TO chances which mortal vision cannot fully
foresee; perhaps to the sovereignty OF such
stinted and short-lived communities as those of
which Mexico and South America and the
West India Islands present us with examples
perhaps TO convert that region into the scene
OF long and desolating conflicts between not
merely races, but castles, TO end, like similar
conflict IN Egypt, in convulsve exodus of
the oppressed people, despoling their superb
ors perhaps, like one not dissimilar in Spain,
In the forclble expulsion of the inferior race,
exhausting the State by the sudden and com
plete suppression OF great resource Of national
wealth and labor; perhaps in the disastrous ex-
pulsion, even OF the superior race itself, by
people TOO suddenly raised from slavery 10 lib
erty, as IN ST. Domingo. To adhere, is to Sc
cure forever the presence here, after some lapse
OF time, Of two, four, ten, twenty, or more
Senators, and Of Representatives in larger pro
portions, TO uphold the policy and interests of
the non slaveholding States, and balance that
ever-increasing representation of slavehodng
States, which past experience, and the decay
Of the Spanish American States, admonish us
has only just begun to save what the non
slayeholdlng States have in minis, navy yards,
the military academy and Notifications, to bal
ance against the capital and federal institutions
in the slaveholding States; to save against any
danger from adverse or hostile policy, the cul
ture, the manufactures, and the commerce, as
well as the just influence and weight Of the
national principles and sentiments Of the slave
holding States. To adhere, is to save, to the
-slaveholding States, as well as to the slave
holding States, always, and in every event,
right OF way and Tree communication across
the continent, to and with the States on the
Pacific coasts, and with the rising States on the
islands in the South Sea, and with all the east
ern nations on the vast continent of Asia.
To abrogate, on the contrary, is TO commit
all these precious interests TO the chances and
hazards OF embarrassment and injury by legis-
lation, under the influence Of social, political,
and commercial jealousy and rivalry and in
the event of the secession Of the slaveholding
States, which is so often threatened in their
name, but thank God without their authority,
TO give to servie population La Vendee at
the very sources Of the Mississippi, and in the
very recesses Of the Rocky Mountains.
Nor is this last contingency against which
a statesman, when engaged in giving Consti-
tuition for such Territory, SO situated, must
veil his eyes. II is statesman's province and
duty to look before as well as after | know,
indeed, the present loyalty of the American
People, North and South, and East and West.
know that it is sentiment stronger than any
sectional interest or ambition, and stronger than
eventhe love ofequality in the non saveholding
States; and stronger, doubt not, than the love
OF slavery in the slaveholding States. But
do not know, and no mortal sagacity does
know, the seductions of interest and ambition,
and the influences of passion, which are yet to
be matured in every region. know this, how
ever that this Union is safe now, and that il
will be safe so long as impartial political
equality shall constitute the basis Of society, as
il has heretofore done, in even half Of these
States, and they shall thus maintain Just equi-
librium against the slaveholding States. But
am well assured, also, on the other hand, that
II ever the slavehoding States shall multiply
themselves, and extend their sphere, SO that
they could, without association with the non
slaveholding States, constitute Of themselves a
commercial republic, from that day their rule,
through the Executive, Judicial, and Legisla-
tive powers Of this Government, will be such
as will be hard for the non slaveholding States
to BEAR and their pride and ambition, since
they are congregations OF men, and are moved
by human passions, will consent TO no Union
in which they shall not so rule.
The slaveholding States already possess the
mouths Of the Mississippi, and their territory
reaches far northward along its banks, on one
side to the Ohio, and on the other even TO the
confluence Of the Missouri. They stretch their
dominion now from the banks Of the Delaware,
quite around bay, headland, and promontory,
to the Rio Grande They will not stop, al
though they now think they NAV, on the sum