Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1854-05-12
LEWISBURG UNION COUNTY, PENN, FRIDAY, MAY Z, 1854

such Statc into the Union on an equal foo
ing with the original States, and to prohi1'
slavery in certain territories, approves
March 6, 1s20"-
with an instruction to the Senators, and
request to the Representatives in Congress
to vote accordingly.
"The peace, permanency, and welfar
Of the Union depend upon strict adhe
renee to the Missouri compromise line o
1920" So resolved the whole Genera
Assembly of Missouri as late as ls47.
believed the Assembly was right then:
believe it now: and so believing, shal
adhere" to the compromise now, as then
{" in spirit and in letter"
I should oppose any movement to impair
that compromise, made in an open, direct
manly manner much more shall l oppos'
it if made in a covert, indirect, and un
manly way. The bill, or bills before us
undertake to accomplish their object With
out protesting it-upon reasons which arc
contradictory and unfoundcd-in terms
which are ambiguous and inconsistent
and by throwing on others the responsible
ity of its own act. 1t processes not to in
terfere with the sovereign right of the
people to legislate for themselves; and the
very first line of this solemn profession
throws upon them horse-lcsa Of law
which they have no right to refuse, or time
to read, or money to purchase, or ability
to understand. 1t throws upon them all
the laws Of the United States which are
not locally inapplicable; and that compre.
hends all that are not specially made for
other places also, it gives them the Con-
stitution of the United States, but without
the privilege Of voting at presidential or
congressional elections, or Of making their
own Judiciary. This is non-interference
with vengeance. A community to be
buried under a mountain Of strange law,
and covered with a constitution under
which they are not to have one single po-
litical right. Why this circumlocution
this extension Of mountain of irrelevant
law, with the exception Of the only one
relevant and applicable? Sir, it is the
crooked, insidious, and pusillanimous way
Of effccting the repeal Of the Missouri COM
promise line 1t includes all law for the
sake of leaving out one law; and effects a
repeal by an omission, and legislates by
an exception. 1t is new way Of repeal
ing law, aud bungling attempt to
smuggle slavery into the Territory, and all
the country out to the Canada line and up
the Rocky Mountains. The crooked line
of this smuggling process is this: "abolish
the compromise line, and extend the Con-
stitution over the country: the Constitu-
ton recognizes slavery therefore, slavery
is established as soon as the line is abol-
ished, and the Constitution extended and
being put there by the Constitution, it can
not be legislated out" This is the English
of this smuggling process; and certainly
nothing more unworthy Of legislation
more derogatory to legislative body
was ever attempted to be made into law.
Sir, the Constitution was not made for
Territories, but for States. Its provisions
are all applicable to States, and can not be
put in operation in Territories. They can
not vote for President, or Vice President,
or members of Congress, nor elect their
own officers, or prescribe the qualifications
of voters, or administer their own laws by
their own judges, shcriffs, and attorneys !;
and the clause extending the Constitution
to them is cheat and an illusion, and a
trick to smuggle slavery into the Territory.
Nor is it intended that they shall have
any legislative right under the Constitu-
ton, even in relation to slavery. They
may admit it because it is to be there by
the Constitution they can not exclude it
because the Constitution puts it there
That is the argument and it is juggle
worthy of the trick of one egg under three
hats at the same time-and under neither
at any time. Besides, the Constitution is
an organic, not an administrative act. 1t
is code Of principles, not of laws. Not
clause in it can be executed except by
virtue of law made under it-not even
the clause for recovering fugitive slaves.
But 1 am not done yet with the beauties
of this mode of repeating law by an ex-
ception. There is further consequence
to be detected in it. The Missouri COM
promise consists Of two distinct parts first,
an abolition of slavery in all the ancient
Louisiana north and west of Missouri;
secondly, a provision for the recovery of
fugitive slaves in the territory made free.
By the omitted extension Of this section,
both these parts are repealed. A tract of
country larger than the old thirteen Allan.
tic States, and bordering thousand miles
on the British dominions, is made IN asy-
lum for fugitive slaves. There will be no
law to recover o slave from all that vast