The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-01-27
The Abolj ..,..a u.N-s.x.

ne preparing TO oppose the repeal OF the Mis-
souri, compro mise, the notice in our advertising
Columns WI IL show. So extensively have their
'octrines oeen spread through the city that Sc
Veral Oh hose who are now actively engaged
orgalhz ing the present movement were formerly
Inemp' .rs of the Union Castle Garden Committee
ihey have nearly all the party press, on
oou sides, to back them. The Seward Or
ga ms, Times and Tribune, the Post, the
tspress, and the Commercial, vie with
each other in the severity Of their Gen.
sure of Judge Douglas project. In the Legis-
iature, Senator Dickinson has introduced reso-
iutious, probably framed by his friend Mr.. Sew.
ard, denouncing it. The thunder of the meet
ing at the Tabernacle will reverberate through
| out the entire North, and fill the free States
with angry revilers of Southern institutions
Over the whole country hurricane will sweep,
whose first effort will be to overwhelm those
| Northern meRlbers of Congress who have the
moral courage to stand by the constitution;
but striking down the men who vote for the re-
peal of the unconstitu tional compromises of
| 1920, will not destroy the agitation, will not
postpone the struggle, will not terminate the
controversy. II will be merely the first battle
| in a great campaign (; the survivors will march
J over the bodies of the slain, to renew the con-
test and win the victory at last. Nothing to us
| is clearer than the final issue. 1t may yet be
| distant years may roll over ere it is accom-
| plished but thatkventually all these compro-
misses must be repealed, and the independent
rights of the South placed on firm, stable ba-
| sis. we have not the smallest shadow OF
doubt. This Congress may not reach the seat
| of the evil or re-establish our system on solid
constitutional principles. The power OF the
spells which has already broken down the ALI
ance between the democrats of the North and
those of the South, and led Southern statesmen
and Southern Journals into the lowest depths
of treachery-the general corruption prevailing
among our public men, and other temporary
causes-may delay the denouement, and defer
! the accomplishment Of this measure of right
But MONDAY is not clearer than its ultimate
coming.
The contest will sorely embarrass the admin
istration 1t was only natural that President
nominated by fraud and elected by ignorance
| and deception, should have fallen into some
| SUCH thV hiot opportunity ou'
President Pierce is not the less perplexed on
this account. There is but one course for his
administration to pursue. They must discover
| what the constitution authorizes Congress to
| do, and what it leaves for the decision of the
several States. and having ascertained these
points, they must obey the constitution to the
letter, at ali hazards.
| The result of such an inquiry, honestly con-
| Quoted, would show that the constitution gave
no authority 10 Congress to stipulate that new
| States any more than old States should en-
| ploy one kind of labor to the exclusion of al
others. There is no warrant in the consttu-
ton for any such proviso as that referring to
lands North $780, in the Missouri compromise.
| All these COMPROMISES are, in law and in fact
| illegal unconstitutional, null and void. By
the constitution of the United States, the gene
| raj government has no other powers over the
several communities composing the federal
Union than those specially and specfcal-
Iy delegated and secured to it by the
original act of partnership. 1t occupies
the position Of q special agent. in law,
whose authority is obviously bounded by the
letter Of his mandate or instructions. Should
the agent overstep those bounds and assume
to act for his principal without adequate au-
thorty, his deed would be null and void. Pre-
oisely in like manner the acts of the general
government which are not fully warranted by
the powers delegated to it by the independent
States of the Union, are null, void, and
worthless. Such an act was the proviso c.
Guiding slavery from the unoccupied territory
north of So degrees &c. in the Missouri CON-
promise. This was debating to future States
that. whether they wished or no, they should
employ free, and not slave labor 1t was de-
liberate assumption by Congress of the right Of
controlling and directing the domestic iosti-
tutions Of free, Independent communities, over
whom the constitution had given it no such
control whatever. 1t does not matter one jot
whether the communities in question were in
existence at the time the assumption was made,
or whether they were then only in embryo. 1t
could not apply to them until they entered
upon an independent existence and thus it
was in reality, as gross violation of their
rights, though prospective merely, as an inter-
ference by Congress in the domestic institu-
tutons of New York or Georgia would be to-
day. II Congress were to declare tomorrow
that New York should be o slave or Georgia a |
free State, the act would be nullity on the
face of it. What legal, what practical differ
ence would there be between such an act as
that and the proviso that all future States |
north of fixed line shall be free Reading |
the const tuition by the light Of reason, COM
mon sense and experience it seems impossible |
to trace distinction between the two cases.
To us they seem perfectly parallel
We said that an immense opposition to the |
repeal of the Missouri compromise was being or
gained in the North and that the whole party |
press OF New York had combined against it |
The movement springs from feeling. nnadnlte.