Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1854-06-02

Thc Nehraskn Bill Passed.

1t is with no satisfaction that we refer to !
what we have all along said of the Nebraska
bill, that with such u House Of Representa-
tves as we have at Washington there was
very great danger Of its success Yesterday
the bill passed by ll3 votes to 100, meagcr
majority, it is true, and mcacer as it was, an
artificial and Fictitious majority, in which
mems votes were at variance with their con-
vIctions. The Administration have been ac-
lively and openly canvasslng for the votes
of members ever since the bill was sent to the
Committee of the Whole. The Washington
Star, one of the journals by which the
measure has all along been sustained, spoke
only two or three days since of the general
rumor that clerkships in the public offices
were to be conferred upon the friends of
members who voted for the bill-a rumor
which was treated as authentic, and which
nobody has taken the trouble to deny or dis
credit Indeed, it is well understood that all
the influence of patronage and solicitation
has been sxertcd by the President to secure
the passage of the bill. But for this influence,
continually put forth and daily REINFORCED,
the measure would have found in the House
| the ignominious end it deserved.
sOf the dishonor which IA measure reopen
ing to the barbarous institution of Slavery
vast region, closed against it for "a third part
of IA century, must bring upon our country,
we have already spoken There is another
point of view in which we must now, whether
willing or not, look at the question. The
President has taken course, by which the
greater part of this dishonor is concentrated
| on the Democratic party. Upon him, and his
Administration, and upon all the northern
| friends of the Nebraska bill in Congress, and
upon the Democratic party who gave the pre-
sent Executive his power of mischief, the
people will visit the great political sin of the
day. The Wings of the free States have
taken care that no part of the guilt shall be
found on their skirts Their representatives
in Congress, to man, voted against the Ne
braska bill, as if they had agreed among
themselves that the Democratic party of the
! North should take and bear the entire res
ponsibily Of the measure. The result is ine-
lita5le Seward is in the ascendancy in this
State and the North generally the Demo-
cratic party has lost its moral strength in the
free States it is stripped of the respect of
the people by the misconduct of those who
claim to he its leaders; and whatever boast
we may make of our excellent maxims of le-
gisatiun and policy in regard to other ques-
tions, the deed ofyesterday puts us in mino-
rty for years to come.
Let it be remembered, that there are two
classes Of men at the North whose resent
ment is awakened by this procceding-that
is to say, those who acquiesced in the Com
promise of 1850 and those who did not, The
latter class relied upon the promise made
with such emphasis and solemnity in Mr.
Plcrcc's inaugural speech, that the agitation
of the Slavery question should never be re-.
vivcd during the continuance Of his Admins
tratIon, if any power which he could exert
f might prevent it. In the very teeth of thu
engagement they have seen him consent to hC
made an instrument for reviyng this agita
; ton, wantony, without necessity, withou
any urgency on the part of the South no
not casually or thoughtlessly, but with thu
most deliberate predetermination. Not only
the enemies the Compromise Of 1850, there
fore, hut it's very friends at the North, ar
. deeply offended If Mr. Fillmore sacrifice,
his popularity by the part he took in the le
gislation Of 1850; if he saw himself in con
Y sequence, excluded from the nomination t.
r the Presidency two years afterward, hi
! northern associates compelled to go into pri
l vate life, and the Wing party defeated am
q broken up, what may we expect the retrlhu
tion of this still greater political transSres
5 sion to be
= Still more strongly will the public disar
e probation and disappointment he expressed
. If the people shall see, as they probably will
n that the admission of Slavery into Nebrask
e IL the preparation for yet other measure
Il having in view the aggrandizemont of th
c slave puwcr-the wrestling of Cuha frol
4 Spain to make several additional slave States
s the creation OF yet other slave States, in tel
c ritory acquired from Mexico, and the renewd
n of the African slave trade. These things ar
# contemplated the southern journals aircad
] speak Of them ~ hmiiarly and llippantly a
5 they do of an ordinary appropriation bill, an
- who shall say that they are not already a
$ our door When We think of how improhf