The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-03-23

House of Representatives; but it is conceded that
several of the former were elected the regularly
nominated candidates of the party.
Elsewhere in our paper may be found a sketch OF
,'e admirable speech of Mr. Fillmore, lately deliver
ed at Louisville at the banquet given in his honor,
and have only to regret that it not reported in
full. The fattering reception which the ex-Presi-
dent met with during his Western tour must have
been truly gratifying to him.
Thomas D. Elliott was yesterday nominated in
Massachusetts, for Congress, to fill vacancy
On the inside of to-day's paper may be found the
New Police bill, an article about the Nicaragua
Transit Company terrible Floods and Storms, the
Washington Market, list of the killed and wounded
on the steamer Reindeer, Another Charitable Call
Court Reports, Theatrical and Commercial Intelli-
gence, &c, &c.
The Nebraska Controvcrsy-Its Position and
Prospects.
The Nebraska bill has been referred to a
Committee Of the Whole by vote Of ITO to 95.
nine from slave States; the minority was COM
posed of twenty members from the North
and sixty ght from the South. OF course this
vote cannot be regarded as an index to the feel
ing of the House on the subject. The reference
was moved by Mr.. Cutting in speech which
took strong ground in favor of the principle of
the bill. A large proportion Of those who voted
for the reference are likewise in favor of the
bill. Forty-six Northern members are said to
have declared their intention of supporting it,
whereas only twenty opposed the refer
ence. Moreover, the bulk Of the absentees
would have sided with the bill, and against any
measure that could be construed as detrimental
put the widest construction on the vote when
we interpret it as an indication of desire on
the part of the House to discuss the measure
frequently, deliberately and thoroughly. We
shall have allowed it all the weight which it
can claim when we say that it will probably
have the effect of protracting the controversy
possibly for years to come. Nothing is more
certain than that the questions involved in the
organization of Nebraska cannot be overlooked
or overslaughed. Year after year the matter
will come before Congress, and in more press
ing shape each time. Nebraska will knock for
admission with more pertinacity after every re-
fusal ; and however we may postpone the
answer 70 her prayer, there must come day
when that answer can no longer be delayed.
Nor sit less clearly written in the book of fate
that that answer, to be final, must be in exact
accordance with the sacred principles of the
constitution. When the mists of prejudice
have been cleared away, and the first impulse
of angry passions Gained, all parties will see
that the question involved is not question of
slavery or anti-slavery. The moral iniquity
charged upon the one, and the superior virtue
claimed for the other are both as foreign to the
question as the crime of stealing or the excel
lence of honesty. 1t is probable that the geo.
graphical position, the physical character and
the climate of Nebraska will, in point of fact,
exclude slave labor from its soil; but this has
nothing to do with the point in dispute. That
point involves one Of the most important prin-
ciples Of our constitution-one of the chief COR
ner stones on which this Union rests-the ques-
ton whether citizens of the United States in
new Territory or State, have under the consti-
tuition the same right to determine and regulate
their own social institutions as the people of
New York or any other State North or South.
We contend that they have, and that the South
ern planter can carry his slave property there
and be protected by the laws of the Union on
the same constitutional grounds as the agricul-
turist or the emigrant from the free States with
his hired servants. Ultimately, the social insti-
tutions of all Territories seeking and obtaining
admission into this Union on equal terms must
e moulded and fashioned by the people thereof
when they possess q sufficient population to en-
title them to take rank as States
We are now obviously standing on the brink
of universal agitation of this great principle.
II will now be discussed in all quarters, in all
shapes. by men Of all parties 1t will be dinned
into the ears of the people from now till it is
settled: will in q measure convulse the whole
country, and may not improbably exercise a
large influence upon the next Presidential cleo
tion For our part we look forward to the agi-
tation with calm confidence Werely implicitly
on the Independent spirit, and the consttu-
tional loyalty Of the people, and feel convinced
mat when the matter is laid squarely before the
people OF the North and Northwest, and time i
Afforded them for reflection, they will trample
out the fanatic excitement which is now being
reused in their midst, and vote deliberately and
understandingly in favor of granting TO the citi-
zens Of Nebraska the rights which they claim for
themselves.
If, during the discussion the first act Of which
may be said to have closed with Mr.. Cuttings |
motion, any one incident has been more striking
than another, it is undoubtedly the malign in
uuence which the administration have exercised |
pm The bill ever since its BIRTH and the va |