The Rutland County herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1852-1855, 1854-03-03

was detached. and became Territory.
under that name. ln 1919. Mi.sonri.
which was then bot thinly peoplcd. aud
had an inconsidcrahle number Of slaves.
applied Cor admission into the Union.
aud her application brought the question
ofeNlending the pol,ry Of the Ordinance
Of 1857. to thai State, and to other new
SInies ia The region acquired from Lou
l,iana. to direc, issue. The House of
Representatives insisted on a pnohihi.
ton against the further introduction Of
Slavery in the State. n a condition Of
her admission. The Senate disagreed
with The House ia that demand. The
non--lay eholling States sustained the
House, and the slaveholding States sus-
tanned the Senate. The difference was
radical. and tended towards revolution.
One party maintained that the CON
dilion demanded was constitutional. the
other that II was unconstitutional. The
public mind became intensely excited.
and painful 6pprehensions Of disunion
and civil war began to prevail in The
country.
In this crisis, a majority of both
Houses agreed upon a plan for the ad-
lnstmcnt Of the controversy. By this
plan, Maine, non-slaveholding State,
was TO be admitted Missouri was TO
bc admitted without submitting TO the
condition before mentioned and in all
that part of the Territory acquired from
France, which was North of The line of
SO degrees 80 minutes of North latitude,
Slavery was TO be forever prohibited.
Louisiana, which was a part Of that Ter
riory, had been admitted as n slave
State eight wears before and now, not
only was Missouri to be admitted as "a
slave State. but Arkansas, which was
South of that line, by strong implication,
was also to be admitted as slayehold-
ing State. | need not indicate what
were the equivalents which the respect
i've parties were to receive in this ar.
rangement. further than to say that the
saveholding States practically were to
receive slaveholding States, the free
States to receive desert, "A solitude. in
which they might, if they could, plant
the germs of future free States. This
measure was adopted. II was great
national tsansaction-ihe first of n class
OF transactions which have since come
TO be thoroughly defined and well un-
derstood, under the name of compro-
misses. My own opinions concerning
them are well known, and are not ia
question here. According TO the gene
raj understanding, they are marked by
peculiar circumstances and features,
| viz:
First, there is division Of opinion
upon some vital national question be-
tween the two Houses of Congress,
which division is irreconcilable, except
| by mutual concessions of interests and
opinions, which the Houses deem con-
stiiu'ional and just.
Secondly, they are rendered necessa-
ry by impending calamities. to result
from the failure of legislation, and ia
be no otherwise averted than by such
mutual concessions, or sacrifices.
Ihirdiy such concessions are mutual
and equal, or are accepted as such, and
so become conditions of the mutual ar
rangement.
Fo"rthly, by this mutual exchange oI
conditions, the transaction takes on the
nature and condition Of contract, com.
pact, or treaty, between the parties rep
resulted and so, according to wcll-sci.
tied principles of morality and public
Law, the statute which embodies it is un.
dersiood, by those who uphold this sys
TEN OF legislation, to be irrevocable and
irrepealable, except by the mutual con
sent OF both, or Of all the parties con
eerned. Not, indeed. that il /. absolute
ly irrepealable, but that 1t cannot be re
pealed without violation Of honor, jus
lice, and good faith, which, il is pre-
sumed, will not be committed
Such was the Compromise of 1850
Missouri came into the Union immedi
aiely as a slayehoIding State, and Ar
kansas came in as a slayehollng State
without objection, eight years niierward
Nebraska, the part of the Territory re
served exclusively for Free Territories
and Free States, has remained wilder
ness ever since. And now !, is propos
ed here TO abrogate, not, indeed, III,
whole Compromise, bat only that par
Of it which saved Nebraska as free
territory, 10 be afterwards divided inie
non-slayeholding States. which should
be admitted into the Union. AID lhi,
is proposed, Notwithstanding an uniyer
sal acquiescenee in the Compromise, by
both parties, for thirty years, AID IL,
confirmation, over and over again, by
many acts Of successive Congresses. and
Notwithstanding that the slayeholdins
States have peaeeably enjoyed, ever
since II was made, all their equivalents
while, owing 10 circumstances which
v'll hereafter appear, the non-siarehold,
ing States have not practically enjoyed
any q lhose guaranteed to them
This Is the question now before The
Senate Of the United States Of Amer
ica.
u Is question or iranscepdrai im-
( Poiancr, The proyiso Of 1890. 10 be
ahrosalcd in Nebraska. is TIE ordinance
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