Washington sentinel., 1854-02-04
From the Detroit Free Press.
A rrfofs

~ u
when the good faith and sincerity of all those
men, in every State of the Union, who have
professed to stand upon the democratic plat
form and who have yielded acquiescence in the
compromise measures of 1850, are to be
brought to practical test And we are glad
that it is so. We are glad that every mans
faith, who makes protestations of democratic :
fealty, is to be tried by the touchstone of prin-
ciple for principle is the only bond of party
union and party strength. No political organi-
cation can long survive that is made up of dis
cordant elements. If the democratic party is
not now pure, it'cannot be too soon purified
If there are those within its pale who look one
way and row another, whose professions are
hollow and false, the sooner expurgation shall
take place the better for the party and for the
country.
The question of the organization of terrific
rial government for Nebraska will afford the
test to which we have alluded. The bill pro-
viding for such government, reported by Mr..
Douglas from the Senate Committee ON Terri
tories embodies the principles of the compro-
mise of 1850. Such is our understanding Of
that BILL By it Congress simply erects gov.
ernment and sets its wheels in motion, without
legislating, or attempting to legislate, for the
local interests of the new territory; leaving all
such legislation to the immediate representa-
tives ofthe people Of the territory themselves.
But it is said that Mr.. Douglass bill vir-
tually repeals the Missouri compromise So 1t
does; or so it ought, if it does not What is
the Missouri compromise? Let us see In
the first place, it provided for the admission of
Missouri into the Union with constitution
tolerating slavery and then it stipulated
"That, in all that territory ceded by France
to the United States, under the name of Lou
scso xybso 1;ao &c A..
tude, not included within the limits of the State
contemplated by this act, slavery and involun.
tary servitude, otherwise than in the punish
ment of crimes whereof the parties shall have
been duly convicted, shall be and hereby is
prohibited forever"
This is the Missouri compromise; and the
Wilmot proviso is nothing more and nothing
less in principle. If therefore, the Wilmot
proviso is unconstitutional, land such is the
democratic doctrine the Missouri compromise
is also unconstitutional, and should beyepealed.
The compromise measures of 1850, in effect,
abrogated the Missouri compromise. They de.
clared the principle, and enforced it in respect
to Utah and New Mexico, upon which new
territories should be organized. That princi-
pie was the entire right and freedom of the
people OF the territories to regulate their own
internal affairs, to legislate for themselves
deny the great fundamental doctrine of the
right of the people everywhere to selfgovern.
ment.
States are sovereign. Nobody nowadays
denies their right, whatever arbitrary restric-
tons Congress may have placed upon them
when they were in a normal condition, to estab-
lish the institution of slavery as well MS to abol
ish it. This admitted the uselessness, the
folly, and the wrong of congressional interven-
ton in the affairs of territory is the more
apparent. For example, the territory of Ne
braska lies north of the Missouri compromise
line; and if the law establishing that line is
worth anything, (which we contend it is not,)
slavery is inhibited in that territory, but the
moment it becomes State slavery can be
established in it in the face of any power that
can be exerted to the contrary in any quarter.
Aside from all principle involved in the doc.
trine ofcongressional nonintervention, we have
no fears that slavery will go into the territory
of Nebraska. In the first place, there is q
natural obstacle to it, in that the climate
is not adapted to slave labor And, in the
next place, it is perfectly certain that the
territory will be settled by a population to
whom negro servitude is distasteful; and
owners of slaves will not be likely to take
their property where it will not be recognised
as such by the constitution of the State when
State snail De erected. Utah and New
Mexico are both farther south than Nebraska
and, although the doctrine of non-intervention
was applied by Congress to them, there is not
now slave and never will be slave within
their borders
But whether slavery would or would not 20
to Nebraska is not the question. That must
be left to the people, whom we must learn to
trust. Everywhere in America they are capa.
BILE, and the most capable, Of managing their
own affairs.
We repeat, we are glad this question has
arisen now, because it is time it was perma.
nently and for all time settled. Besides, we
want to know who are democrats and who are
not We want to know whose professions of
acquiescence in the compromise measures of
1850 are hypocritical and false, and whose are
sincere and truthful. The national democratic
party has. planted itself firm as rock upon
the platform of those measures. The admin
istration of General Pierce stands on that plat
FORM Those who are not with us on this great
vital question are against us, and against the
administration. Let us at last certainly know
who is who