The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-02-17

sion, or postponed TO the next; for the Terrific
ries in question, from the general absence o
timber and the scarcity of water can never b
densely populated without railroads and thu
pressure Of redundant population in the rear
The annual emigrations westward from the Mis-
sissippi river would not all traverse journey
oftwo thousand miles, over plains, mountains
and deserts, to California or Oregon. if the in
terveniDg country were sufficiently inviting tol
settlement.
There is, then, no immediate practical neces
sity for the organization Of the said Territories
but as the Senate bill rests upon the only ra
tioDal and tenable construction Of the constitu
ton, to wit: the sovereignty of the people ovel
their local affairs, whether in the States or thu
Territories, its defeat will involve grea
triumph to the free sellers, and the most dan
gerous vantage ground gained for the campaign
of 1856. Reafiirm the doctrine of Congression
al intervention, and there will be no end to the
slavery agitation while scrap o: territory re-
mains to be organized, or the margin Of o
desert is presented for annexation to the Union
Pass the repeal of the Missouri restriction and
abide the public Judgment, and the Issue be
tween free soil and slavery being removed from
Congress, the trouble is settled at once aud for
ever.
In one view there is the difficulty to be met
of hair-splitting construction of the constitu-
ton. 1t is contended by many that the power
to make all needful rules and regulations re-
spectiDg the territory or other property of the
United States" comprehends the power to in
terdict slavery in Territory, as needful rule
and regulation. If the trainers of the con
stituton had intended any such construction Of
this clause. they would have illustrated it in
the general spirit of the fundamental law which
they have left us. But what do we find as the
very foundation stones Of the constitution
The recognition of Southern slavery-the con.
cession Of representation for Congress Of
three-fifths Of the slaves of the Southern States
and that most remarkable and decisive con-
cession OF the continuance of the African slave
trade with the South for twenty years after the
adoption of the constitution. These concessions
South, under common fundamental law, the
ruling spirit of which is the equality of the
States, slavery or no slavery, and the sover-
eighty Of the people. 1t is manifest, therefore,
from the compromises with, and the conces-
sions to- the South, and from the plain spirit
and intent of the constitution, that Congress
has no authority to define, or restrict, OF extend
the institution of slavery.
This is the exact issue presented in the Sc
nate bill, both with regard to the absence of
all power in Congress over the subject of slavery
in the States or Territories, and the existence
Of all power among the people thereof And
upon this issue-whatever the fate of the pend.
ing bill at this session--upon this issue, and
upon this broad and general platform, will the
discussion and the agitation 60 on, until the
question is settled before the tribunal of public
opinion. The result will inevitably be recon
struction of parties upon the new order ofthings
which will arise. Already the process of disso-
solution In the rank and file, in the unity and
nationality ofthe old effete whig and democratic
parties, is almost complete. With the former
it is complete; with the latter the only liga-
ment OF adhesion remaining is the cohesive
power of the public plumber" When the
plumber fails the democracy will be dissolved.
and its elements will enter into the new re- orga-
nization of parties, principles and platforms.
The administration of General Pierce will end
the history Of the democratic party of Jackson
and Van Buren,. All his attempts to resuscitate
the Van Buren, free soil dynasty as the legiti-
mate Bourbons are only fastening him to the
end of the chapter.
The discovery has been made that the Mis-.
souri, compromise was but temporizing armis-
tice for the Presidency, and, brought to the test
Of the constitution, o practical nullity. We are
thus brought back to first principles, and there
is no escaping the responsibility of the public
Judgment. The act of 1920 was the result of
an anti-slavery sentiment and agitation first
brought into shape by the expiring remains of
the old federal party at the Hartford Conven
tion. The Virginia ordinance OF 'S7 W as the de-
lusive precedent which gave the later act the CO.
loring Of authority; and the policy and necessi-
ties Of various Presidential aspirants from that
time to this have given this Missouri restric-
tion its thirty-four years of public federation as
part of the supreme law of the land. 1t has
never been brought upon trial before the con-
stitution till now; but now that the indictment
has been made out, it must and will be prose-
cuted to verdict The old parties of the day
will be broken up and dispersed admins
tration itself will probably be Tylerized and
abandoned to its fate-the country may ring in
every quarter with an agitation terrible to all
scheming politicians; but in the end the ship
will regain her equilibrium, and we shall take
new departure in the political history of the
republic, guided by the chart of the constitu-
ton.
The present agitation was foreshadowed by
Mr.. Calhoun He looked upon the compromises
Of 1850 as but temporary truce, as they
did not rest upon the basis of the constitution
Such they have proved to be. They are but
acts of Congress. They are subject to repeal
or modification; and the break into the Missouri