Washington sentinel., 1854-02-03
4 UNION or PATR1oTs.

There are crises when mere party differences
do not came into play, and when men are
called upon to rise above the partisan into tho
patriot. Such an occasion is presented when
great questions spring UP, that go deeper down
and farther back than those principles of poll
cy and expediency that usually constitute the
basis of political organizations. In times Of
pressure and peril, when the integrity Of the
Constitution under whichall parties andsections
live, is threatened, and when the most important
institutions are menaced, it behooves the pa
triot, wherever his lot may be cast, and what
ever may be his peculiar political tenets, to
come promptly and courageonsly to the rescue
We are now in the midst Of such an emer
geney, and it is cheering to see patriotic men
from all sections of this great country pressing
forward to the discharge Of their duty. They
are coming from the north, from the south,
from the east and from the west--from the
democratic party, and from the whig party.
We take no less pleasure in seeing wings
than democrats asserting the true doctrines
and assuming the proper stand. They can
mite against the enemies of their common
constitution, just as they could unite on the
battlefield in repelling an invading foe. 5
We are pleased to sec that the whig papers
ofthe south are beginning to speak out manfnlly
in favor Of the Nebraska bill. We are pleased
to see that influential whig papers in the Old
Dominion are manifesting the right spirit. A
union Of patriots and Constitution-loving men,
in whatever State they may live, and whatever
their party politics may be, will now secure
the triumphant and permanent settlement on
sound constitutional basis Of the disturbing
question of slavery.
We transfer to our columns, from the Peters
burg (virginia) Iatelligencer, ian influential
whig journal,) the following article on this sub
ject, to which we ask the attention Of our
readers:
"THE NEBRASKA BILL.-There is, we believe,
an old law maxim, which says that he who
asks equity must do equity. We have been
forcibly reminded of this legal aphorism by the
course Of the freesoilers and abolitionists about
the Nebraska bill. These exquisite philan-
thropists and moralists shudder at the thought
upon the south, in this new phase of the anti
slavery agitation which has been produced by
Judge Douglass plan for organizing the terri
tory Of Nebraska The Missouri compromise,
which they obstinately refused to apply to Cali
fornia, which they as good as fouted when they
crammed the Wilmot proyiso in the Oregon bill
in lS47, which was in effect repealed by the
compromise Of 1850, is now with them sacred
thing, and their virtuous sensibilities are pro-
digiotisIy shocked at the idea of its being dis
turbed. To show what sort of purists these
men are, is no difficult matter. They press
,Ipon the south the observance of a compact
which has been stripped ofits original binding
efficacy by subsequent compact framed for
the adjustment Of disputes and difficulties Of
the very same character and growing out ofthe
very same question Of slavery; and, whilst they
are CRYING out broken faith in the Nebraska
business, they know that they themselves have
been guilty Of a double and a grosser per6dy,
in having, in the first place, gratuitonsly and
unscrupulously broken compact OF far more
solemn obligation than either of those of which
we have spoken, as it is part and parcel of the
federal Constitution--we mean the clause OF
that instrument requiring the delivery up of
fugitive slayes-and again, in the second place,
in having violated the compromise of 1850, not
only in refusing to aid in the recovery OF fugi-
tive slaves but in actually resisting the authori
ties in their efforts to have the law Of the land
executed.
sIn view Of these notorious breaches Of faith
by themselves, with what sort of faces can they
now rebuke the friends of the Nebraska bill,
even admitting that the Missouri compromise
was clearly and undeniably in force? Have
then done equity in the premises SO handsomely,
that they can with propriety ask or claim it
Have Mey proven themselves so tenacionsly
observant Of their own obligations, as to be war
ranted in their imputations and assaults upon
the south at junctnre like the present? Or,
have they not rather debarred themselves, by
their own guilty practices, of all rghtful title to
be heard with respect, when they clamor as
they now do about the ssnctity Of compacts?
Nothing can be more disgusting than the IL
rades in which these law-and dConstitution-break
>ers are daily indulging, about violated faith
where faith has not been violated except by
themselves. The Nebraska bill, as we under.
stand it, does not, fairly and equitaby speak
ing, contain single feature that is not in per-
feet harmony with the Constitution and with
the last great compromise of 1850. Upon this
ground we have taken our stand; and, honestly
believing that it is the true ground upon which
the whole matter rests, we intend to maintain
it. The abolition press, we fancy, will find it
pretty tough work to defend successfully the
absurd and ridiculous positions which they oc-
cupy. That, however, is their concern, not
ours"