Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1854-09-04

party thus triumphing in the territories
demanded in the next place that the FIRE,
States should be made hunting crount
/ for slaves, that every man of the Nortl
should be compelled by law to do what n,
gentleman of the South would do for him
self, or could be, under any circumstances
forced to do for Others, a. e., put himself OF
a level with blood hounds, and become
slave catcher, and the law was passed i
Wrestling the power from the States, thai
it might be exercised by Congress, which
was not authorized to exercise it, it wa
passed; creating tribunals of justice whicl
Congress was not authorized to create, re
jecting from its provisions the most sacred
rights Of trial by jury and habeas corpas
this law was passed; imposing unusual ant
offensive penalties upon all who should re-
fuse to take part in its execution, and bri
bing the officers appointed to administer
it by oferaef HIGHER wages in the case O
decision adverse to the poor fugitive
this odious and disgraceful law was record
ed Oh the statute books Of the "Model Re
public" in the central, the eliminating
year Of the nineteenth century. Its pas.
sage, however, was not the worst feature
of the transaction; the craven acceptance
youehsafed it by the pulpits and the com
mercial circles; the plant ease with which
the North bent to the insult, was the sig
niticant fact IN the proceeding, which more
than all Others covered many an honest
face with shame
1t is proper to say that one consideration
prevailed in inducing this ready iilimilia-
ton: the hope Of removing the question
from the sphere Of political agitation. We
are bound to believe, in justice to human
nature, that the many who welcomed the
compromises of 1850, did SO in the since
rest conviction that they would put an end
to the difficulties between the North and
South and we must also confess that il
seemed, for q time, as if that result We're
about to be effected: The national con
yentions of both the great parties acquies-
ced III the settlement; President was
chosen whose inaugural address was little
more than long proclamation of intended
fidelity to it; and Congress came together
and acted III more fraternal spirit than
had been manifested for years. Alas the
uncertainty Of mortal expectations In
the midst Of the apparent quietude, bill,
all bristling with outrages and dangers, is
sprung upon the country. We mean, Of
course, the bill for the organization of Ne
braska and Kansas territories, whose sole
object was to repeal the solemn prohibi-
ton, erected thirty years ago, against the
spread Of slavery into those regions. At
time when there was not q citizen legit-
imately within those tenitories-when no
part of the nation, save few intriguers,
was dreaming of such measure; when
not single state, nay, not single indivi-
dual, had called for tin the face of the
most strenuous opposition from North and
West, this bill was suddenly presented to
Congress, not elected in reference to it,
and forced to passage by all the tyranni-
cal arts known to Legislation, and all the
sinister influences within the reach of an
INSCRIPTIONS Executive. A grosser viola
ton of all the requirements Of honor--oi
al the safeguards and guarantees of repub-
lcanism--was seldom perpetrated.
This we shall show: and in the first
place, let lis remark, that the pretence by
which the act was carried was fraudulent
falsehood on the face Of it, and designed
only as a popular catch for the unrefecting
1t purportod to give the right of selfgoY-
eminent to the people Of the territories
la - an ,,N e,,ob 4lip,r II 1op;ol {lc4
right in the most important particulars
and mystifed it SO in Others as to render
it worthless. Nominally conceding the
''non-intervention" Of Congress in the loca
affairs Of the territories, it yet interyenes
in every form in which Intervention is pos
sible It imposes the Governor and all
other officers upon them; it prescribes the
most unheard-of oaths to the people; it re
stricts the suffrage to actual citizens; il
places in the hands Of the President anc
his agents the power to mould the future
character Of the community; and it aut
thorizes no legislation which is not subject
directly or indirectly, to the control Of the
federal government. The only noh-inter.
yention which it establishes is the permits
sion to introduce slavery into a district
where it was before forbidden, and the
transfer Of legislative control, hitherto ex
ereised by the representatives of the whole
people, to a body of judges appointed b.
4 the executive. 1t had no other end, from
the beginning, and in that end it has sue
/ ceeded.
Besides, this claim of absolute sovereign
ty for the people Of the territories, is a
war with our whole policy from the begin
ning, as well as with the most vital princi
pies of just government. 1t was neye
contemplated by the trainers of the consti
tuition, nor by the people Of the stateswh,
ratified it, that the territories acquired I'M
der it, should instantly be placed upon
level with the original states. On the con
trary, they were to be held in state Q
pupilage, if we so express it, under TIL
control of Congress, until they should hav
acquired population and stability enough
to manage their affairs for themselves.
The idea of "Squatter sovereignty" that
few accidental first-comers should deter
mine the institutions of the future state
for all time, was one of the most ofensiy
that could be uttered, and was unanimous
lv condemned by the great statesmen
i both the North and South. 1t was hele