Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1854-11-28

I The following we'll written communication,
intended for insertion some time since, but over
looked, is well adapted to the present occasion:
For the Times.
THE QUESTION OF THE DAY.
EDITORS OF THE TINES ALLOW a pleased reader
to offer to you his cordial admiration of the fear
lessness with which you espouse the cause of un-
popular truth and resist the progress of popular
wrong. Where the structure of society is such
that the Press constitutes potent lever of popu-
lar sovereignty, it is of the utmost Importance to
the safety and well-be;ng of the people that it
should be free, pure and ntrammeled-vigilant
and watchful for the exposure of error, and bold
and faithful in the cause of right.
Is it not a most singular and humiliating fact,
that those principles and practices which are the
most plain, direct and inevitable deductions from
our basis of government, should happen to be
just the principles and practices least recognized
and most unpopular among the American people?
Thus government founded upon the capacity of
the people for self government, ought to be the
last place on earth where the people are converted
into articles of merchandise, and sold upon the
auction block. 1t moreover happens that that
sentiment of liberty, with which the air is made
vocal on every recurring 4th of July, which forms
the burthen of our literature-the sentiment which
is embazoned over the rostrum of our public halls,
Inscribed upon our banners, stamped upon our
coin and implanted in the tender minds of our
children,-is the sentiment propounded only at
the peril of life and limb, in one half the States
of this Union. A government purportng to de-
rive its just powers from the consent Of the gov
erened, and which owes its very existence to an
earnest protest against the right of taxation with
out representation, steadily persists in ruling with
an iron rod, portion of its people without their
consent, and in taxing them for the maintenance
of a government which refuses them voice in its
administration.
The American people, emerging from the war
of independence, enfeebled and PROSTATE in all
the sources of power, felt the urgent need of
government which should save them from the hor-
rors of anarchy and afford them repose and secu-
rity against the disorders of long and desoating
war. In that dark hour they committed the fatal
mistake Of compromising with Slavery. The
temptation was great and the circumstances fur
nish degree of extenuation. But those noble
men felt the inconsistency and the wrong of tol-
Grating in their midst specie of despotsm &c one
hour of which is worse than ages of that which
they had been struggling against" The discus
sions of that period show that there was gene
raj desire and expectation that Slavery should
cease in the course of few years. 1t was the
distinct understanding that Slavery was to be
confined to its then present limits, being local,
sectional affair, pertaining to the States in which
it existed. The tone and purpose of the govern
ment was for freedom.
Alas how have the just expectations and pur-
poses of the Fathers been disappointed and frus-
trated. From that first false step the public mind
has become dcbauched and one safeguard after
another destroyed until there is imminent danger
that our whole fair domain may be wrenched from
the uses of freedom and given out to Slavery.
Messrs. Editors, there can be no such thing rs
a compromise between right and wrong. Such
has never existed but in name. Every departure
from that straight and narrow road which leadeth
unto righteousness, results in manifold evils great
than any sought to be averted by the expedient.
The history of an individual or of people who
have attempted it, is history of ruin and disas-
ter. Nor does our government furnish an excep-
tion to the rule. for compromise, beyond the
theory, has never existed in our government
Elements so antagonistic as freedom and slavery
cannot co-exist, apportion and limit their func-
tions as we may. 1t would be as reasonable to
expect a fraternal union between fire and gun
powder. Besides, the spirit Of compromise, of
all nations the earth, is least adapted to ours.
That spirit of timerousness and half-acting which
is its essential CHARACTERISTIC is lily suited to the
of the American character. The So
called compromise measures Of 1850 were the
merest chiid's play that ever grown statesmen
were guilty of. The idea Of giving, as a mother
would apportion pap among her quarrelsome
children, a little here to the North, and little
there to the South, as a means of settling, as
final fnality,' great question like Slavery, is
too preposterous for a moments attention.
1t is incredible that sensible men should have
sought, by such means, to dispose of vital issue
underlying our very existenc, a nation as if
such course could win single concession from
Slavery, or lesson, in the minds of earnest men,
a sense of its enormities.
1t is useless to add proof on this score after
witnessing the deliberate abrogation of the Mis-
souri, compromise. However it may have been
heretofore, the diy of compromises is past forev-
er. This measure is a systematic attempt to rem
der d" freedom sectional and slavery national.''-
1t is one of series of measures designed to rem
der our government in name as it has long been
in fat, the chief propagandist, among nations, Of
chattel slavery. The revival of the African slave
trade and the annexation of Cuba are to follow.
The apparent indifference on the part of the South
to the Nebraska measure is easily explained by
the fact that Douglas, anxious to "steal the
thunder" as his own, sprung the alarm before the
plot was matured. By this measure the whole
people have become involved anew in the guilt of
slavery. 1t is no longer a sectional question:
Let the North arouse herself for the struggle
Old party issues are dead. The country has out
grown them. The progress and wants of the age
demand new issues. The world is alive with war
fare. However crude and contradictory these
conflicts may appear they nevertheless exhibit the
brute energy of oppressed nations for liberty
They are so many different phases of the ancient
strife between the priviledged few and the masses.
In the Eastern hemisphere the opposing forces are
marshaled by "the clash of resoundng arms, .
and the dread enginery of physical warfare. In
the Western, it is hoped, it may be war of ideas
in which NAV he onposed tn each other the vea-