The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-01-26
THE ALBANY ATLAS AND THE OHGAN ~
STRANGE CONJUNCTION.

STRANGE CONJUNCTION.
When the Barnburners or Radical Demo-
Gratis of Now York acquitsced in the Compro-
mise Measures of 1850, and agreed to support
General Pierce we were distinctly assured by
many of their leading men, that their position
was that of mere acguiescenee not approval
that their principles on the subject of Slavery
extension were unchanged-and that, should
it become again practical question, they
would be found where they stood in 1848, ar
rayed as one man in defence of free sell and
| free labor.
The time to redeem their pledge has come /;
that practical question is now upon US; the
Nebraska Bill proposes to supplant the Mis-
souri, Compromise of 1920, shielding five hun
dred thousand square miles of country from
Slavery, by the non Intervention doctrine of
the Cass Nicholson letter, which breaks down
every safeguard against the intrusion of the
evil.
AS might have been expected, the New York
! EUening Post never false to Freedom, prompt
I. ly avowcd its hostility to the new measure, ex-
posed its fraudulent character and has steadily
exerted itself to arouse Public Opinion to op-
pose it.
Next followed the Albany atlas, which spoke
out with clearness and decision, and we began
to hope that the solemn pledge of the Radical
Democracy was about to be honorably redeem
ed. Another and later article, however, has
just appeared in the atlas, which seems to us
of dubious import. 1t does not retract any por-
ton of its former article but it does not evince
its usual keenness in detecting and exposing
the double dealing which stamps the Nebraska
BILL In relation to the clerical error" men
toned by the Sentinel, it remarks
at would seem from all this that the Ne
braska bill is not yet completed and that it is
hoped in some quarters to make it more posi-
lively Objectionable than it now is. We shall
therefore postpone further discussion ofit, at
least till we see what it is."
This is precisely what the friends of the bill
desire-to induce postponement of all discus
sion of it by its opponents till it can be brought
up in Congress, and forced through that body,
without opportunity being afforded to the
People to rally against it.
Next Monday has been set apart for its
special consideration in the Senate, and we
apprehend every means will be resorted to-
for the purpose of securing snap Judgment
in its favor. Let the atlas postpone the discus
sion little longer, and it will have nothing to
discuss.
The article in that paper is copied in "the
organ" to the comments of which it is a reply
and from the fact that it appears in the edito-
rial columns of the latter, in editorial type
without any word of dissent, we presume it is
deemed satisfactory by the Administration.
The closing paragraph is worthy of attention.
sit is but justice to it, ("the organ,") says
the atlas, as we'll rs ourselves, however, to say,
that we probably do not disagree in our visvs
of the necessity Of preserving the status quo of
the territory, as left by the Compromises of 1920
and of 1851, and of extending the Fugitive
Slave Law over this part of the public domain
for though the Constitution only names fugi-
tives from and to State as within the
clause, the right of Congress to legislate On this
subject in Territories is established by prece.
dent, and is, indeed, an unquestionable duty,)
and of the right of every State in the Confcde-
ration to frame its Constitution for itself,:with-
out the permission of Congross--a permission
which, as it assumes the right of negation, is
distasteful to every State Rights Democrat"
We have placed the noticeable portion of
the extract in italic The atlas assumes that
" the organ" probably agrees with it as to
"the necessity of preserving the status quo of
kba 1aff hu he f
1920 and 1880" and "the organ disingenu-
ously refrains from contradcting the assump-
ton. They not only do not agree, but they
differ toto eGlO;' and this "the organ" knows
if the atlas does not for, it says
"The Nebraska bill carries out the princi-
pies Of the Compromise OF 1850. 1t leaves the
people Of the Territory untrammelled by Con-
gressional intervention" &c.
Again, it quotes with appreciation the follow
ing remarks from the Detroit Free Press which
it seems to consider an oracular exponent of
Northern sentiment:
"The report Of the Committee on Territories,
which we printed yesterday, makes our readers
acquainted with the proposed plan upon which
all Territories shall be hereafter organized. 1t
is, simply, to leave all matters of territorial
Legislation to the people of the Territories them
sslUes. When Congress has organized Terri
tory-erected and set in motion the machinery
of its GovernmeDt-its duties have been per-
formed and its legitimate polcers exhausted.
1hencsforth the people are their own rulers an
respect TO all their domestic affairs, and inter
terence from any other poper rs anti democratic
and arbitrary And when people inhabiting
such Territory ask to be admitted into the
Union as a sovereign State, Congress has but
toinqure whether the Constitution they present
for their government is republican in form and
intent. Their domestic coucerns-their local
laws, present and future-do not come under
the purview of Congress
"This is the doctrine in brief of General
Cass's Nicholson letter and of the Compromise
Measures; and it is the only doctrine upon
which Territories can be organized and States
admitted. Congress has no more p0a0er 10 in
hibu any particular institution IN Territory
than at has to establish ii, and vice versa"
Finally, the 21st section of the bill itself de-
ciares, "That, in order to avoid all misconstruc-
ton, it is hereby declared to be the true intent
and meaning of this act, SO far as the question
of Slavery is concerned, to carry into practical
operation the following propositions and prin-
ciples established by the Compromise Measures
of 1850, TO wit:
First, that all questions pertaining 10 SD
uery IN the Territories, and in the new States
to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the de-
eis'on Of the people residing therein, through
their appropriate representatives.
Two distinct assumptions run through all
these extracts one is, that the people of Ne
braska when they come to form a State Con-