The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1854-03-15

duct OF new race, as they plant starry
banners over all her prairies, and fling them
to the winds Of every peak. In sweet be-
wilderment she drops her garland of wild
prairie blooms, as they approach to put up
on her brows the crown of the American
Confederacy. Now the question is, shall
Nebraska be Southern or Northern State!
Shall this charming Naiad be the patroness
of agriculture or Of manufactures And it
is assumed that if Mr.. Douglas bill passes,
and the wilful beauty, whom it concerns, has
her way, her sympathies will turn towards
the South. She must be put under con-
straint before she will receive the North
as an accepted suitor.
Upon this last probability, we are unable
to give an opinion. The rest, we have no
hesitation in saying, is the mercst fancy
sketch Nebraska, such as the abolition
speaker, in Fanueil Hall and the Tabernacle
and the Senate, have described it, has no
existence. There is no such Nebraska this
side of the moon. In making this assertion
we rely upon the Gazetteer Of the Mr.. Col
ton, mentioned above. 1t is an admirable
book of reference, and ought to be trustwor-
thy ron The present subject, if on no other
That "Garden of the Lord" as it has been
somewhat irreverently characterised, is shorn
Of its howery loveliness when we survey it
through Mr.. Colton's telescope. We see,
sure enough, are the outincss that have
been traced-grand mountains in the far
West the watershed Of mighty rivers that
stretch up from the Gulf Of Mexico and the
Pacific to unite their murmurs here. All
else bellies the sketch. Along the East,
Prnircs spread out and undulatc, swell up
on swell, for hundreds Of niles. And the
centre, where, according to Mr.. Hale in the
n. Y. Tabernacle, the Chinese are to found
new Middle Kingdom, is worse-accord.
ing to the Gazetteer. II is an "unprofita-
BILE, irrcclaimable wilderness, with scarcely
an oasis to relieve the monotony Of its
drearn"ss; it is the great American Desert,
in crossing which the way yfarer has more to
dread than the mariner that dares the deep,
not only on account Of the inhospitable
character of the country but also from the
hostilitics of the native sasages besetting
his path and seeking his destruction. Thous-
ands have perished under the rife and
tomahawk and at every step the grave of
some unfortunate gives warning of dangers
to be avoided, or tells Of the sufferings en-
dured by the hardy nen, whose tracks are
the tide-marks ofempire flowing to its Wes
tern destination" And as to the Nebraska
River, how could Mr.. Summer quote Mil
toms
"Southward through Eden went river large"
with reference toit! An insignificant broad
stream beset with islands Of cotton wood,
willows and shrubs, and so shallow that
ran cap walk all over it-what Imaginable
connection mas ms win -Ine nvers OF Ssou
that are full of water! 7" The bother about
Nebraska, as central kingdom .fiow-
cry land" las Mr.. Hale describes 1t, or A.
Occupying central spaces on this hemis-
phere, which, in their general relations. may
well compare with that early Asiatic home"
as Mr.. Sumner more cautiously says, is sus-
cePtible OF very simple explanation. 1t is
not easy to catch fish with n naked hook
Nebraska must be blited before the most
silly gudgeon will bite at it.
The statement in the Gazetteer NAV not
do fully justice to this territory. We are
inclined to think that it does not, rs il over
passes the alluvial lands to be found there
But nothing like the luxuriance of language
and figure in which the pet political theme
Is now dressed, ever has been fourd in the
monotonous and savage reality. The for
mer Is the creation Of political insanity, If
not Of something worse. The statesman
who represents this wilderness as an unri.
vailed paradise, would not find il hard to rs.
sert that palm trees and flowing springs
cover the Desert Of Sahara.
The Nebraska agitation il most mapif.s,,y
a political stra'agem, and its advocates are
proceeding on the well known principIc that
every thing is fair in war. Aboli,iopis,s
aud discontented Office seekers have taken
this subject as convenient masked battery,
from behind which they can discharge mis-.
slies at the present government and estab.
.ished institutions Of the country. The bill
OF Mr.. Douglas does not propose to make
Nebraska slave territory, us the Northern
demagogues and clergy have in SO many in
stances unblushingly asserted. It simply
asserts, in behalf Of the people Of the terri.
tories, the sacred privilege of sclfgoveru-
ment Disavowing all sectional fayoritism.
It comedies TO the people the unques,ionable
right to adopt for themselves such domes,ie
institutions as their own conscience and
Judgment, their circumstances and the char.
sster OF their country may require. II pro.
poses that ihc Congress Of ihese United
States shall cease to be, what il has 80 LONG
bcen' an anti-slavery propaganda.
The bill calls, indeed, for the repeal Of
tho Missouri Compromise, but Of this the
North has no right TO compain. How did
the North regard this compact, now SO Ga.
cred In her estimation, when the South pro.
posed in strict accordance with its spirit, as