The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-02-09
THE NATIONAL ERA WASHINGTON D. C, FEBRUARY g. 1854

Mr.. Mason in offering his proviso, re-afGrminl
the article so often quoted from the annexa
ton resolutions, was merely to provide agains
any reduction of the number of States which
were to be formed in virtue Of that article. Tn,
record disproves this. The language of th'
proyiso itself shows that the object of MIR. Ma
son was to re-afirm the whole article, and SC
cure all the objects proposed by it. sPro
vided," is the language that nothing herein
contained shall be construed to impair or quail
fy anything contained in the Sd article of the
I'd section Of the joint resolution for annexine
Texas to the United States, approved March /
1845, either in regard to the number Of States
that may hereafter be formed out of the State
Of Texas, or othsraoise"
If he had meant only to prevent any reduc
ton in the number of States, his proviso would
have been confined to that point What did
he mean by inserting or othsr,0ise?"
By quoting the whole Of the third article re-
ferred to, instead of one-half, as Mr.. Douglas
has done we shall at once understand his
meaning:
"That new States of convenient size, not ex-
ceeding four in number, in addition TO said
State of Texas, and having sufficient popula-
ton, may hereafter, by the consent of said
State be formed out of tho Territory thereof,
which shall be entitled to admission, under the
provision of tho Federal Constitution. And
such States as may be formed Of that portion of
said Territory lying south Of So deg 80 min.
north latitude, commonly k1aoUn as the Missouri
Compromise line, shall be admitted into the
Uaton soifh or 4cithout Slavery, as the people
of each State asking admission may desire.
And in such State or States as shall be form
ed out of said Territory north of said Missouri
Compromise line, Slavery or Involuntary ser
vitude except for crime, shall be prohibited"
Recollect-the Omnibus Bill had been de-
feated-the Utah Bill alone had passed-the
New Mexican Bill had not been acted upon
the only Bill before the Senate was that to SET
tie the Texas Boundary; the object of Mr..
Mason therefore was, not only to provide
against the reduction of the number of States
to be formed out of Texas but to reafhrm the
bargain by which those States might enter the
Union ,Dith Slavery.
What was there left of the Missouri Com
promise to act upon -? exclaims Mr.. Douglas
AL, we answer, that Slavery had gained by
the Annexation Bargain--seueral States, aoith a
provision that they might become slauehoiding,-
aye, and at that time, all of the Territory
rorth of Sc deg. 80 min, with a provision that
it should be non slaveholding
That this free territory was subsequently in
with New Mexico, and subjected to
q provision, which Mr.. Douglas assumes laid it
open to Slavery, could not and did not annul
the third article of the second section of the
of annexation, in application to the
rest Of Texas. So that even admitting for the
sake Of the argument his groundless assump-
lion to be true, it does not disprove our state
ment that the Missouri Compromise was rec
ognised and affirmed in the Texas Boundary
Bill, one of the Compromise Acts Of 1850.
THE NEBRASKA BILL-THE ARGUMENT-NO g.
Having exposed the fallacies of the argu-
ment Of MIR. Douglas, let us state briefly the
which demonstrate the falsity
IF the assumption that the Missouri Compro-
mise was superseded by the principles of the
legislation of 1850.
The question CT the validity of the Missouri
Compromise was not before Congress in 1850.
It was not argued or even intimated that the
t, or could in any respect disturb it. If allu-
sion were made to it at all, it was as to fixed
fact, an unalterablc law, which nobody pro-
posed to repeal. In none of the resolutions of
Conventions subsequently held to sustain these
acts, in none Of the resolutions of State and
National Conventions making adhesion to them
a test of political orthodoxy, was the idea
preached of conflict between them and the
Compromise of 1920 Had the Union men of
the South dreamed that that Compromise was
and the vast Territory of Nebras
"a opened to Slavery by the legislation of
1850, with what exultation they would have
referred to this result as an abundant justifca-
ion of their policy against the assaults of those
State Rights men who charged them with hav-
ng basely betrayed the interests of the South
But, such thought never found utterance in
he South. Had the enemies of the legislation
Of 1850, in the North, conceived the bare
Of such result, would they have
been silent?
What considerations prevailed with those
Northern men who waived the Wilmot Proviso
policy in 1850 The belief that the Mexican
Laws, the local laws Of the Territories of Utah
and New Mexico, not having been abrogated
by their cession to the United States, would
continue to work the exclusion of Slavery the
assurance that the climate and soil of those re-
gions would forever discourage the growth of
Slavery; and the fact that by the proposed
arrangement the whole of California would
come In es free State, and Slavery be thereby
shut out from the Pacific coast. By these con-
siderations alone, were the People of the
North brought even to acquiesce in the legis-
lation They acquiesced, because, although
tho policy of positive enactment by Congress
against the extension of Slavery was waived,
they were led to believe that this object was as
secured in another way. But,
weighty as these considerations were regarded
by many, and powerfully urged as they were by
such men as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster,
the majority of the House, which was in favor of
the Wilmot Proviso, was at last overcome, only
by a Parliamentary strstagem. The Speaker Of
that body was an adroit tactician, committed
to the Compromise Measures. He and the
Southern leaders in favor of tho Compromise
knew that. on direct vote, the Proviso would
be sustained; that were the Bill to organize a
Territorial Government for New Mexico to
come up On It's own merits, either it would be
defeated, or the Proviso would be attached to