Demoine courier., 1854-06-22
From the National Intelligencer.
Death and Burial of the Missouri
promise.

patched in the Senate House a little after
midnight by G majority of almost three
10 one. This ancient pact had fulfilled,
it is true, in all substantial ends, its mis-
sion of peace. But we should have
been glad, for the good it had done, had
it been permitted to live until an old age
had closed its blameless life. Feeling
thus, how could we. withou, gtief and
repugnance, see it hurried out of the
world oy the hand of violence! Graft.
tude 10 the service it had done the State,
and respect for the memory of the pat
riotlc and vlrtuous men who gave it be-
ing, to say nothing Of the sanctions of
honor by which it was surrounded, had
inspired us with veneration for this old
compromise, the earliest aud most i'm.
por,ant since that Of the Constitution.-
We Witnessed its birth with joy, and re-
member the universal conten, it spread
through the land; but we lille thought
we should live 10 witness its death, still
less TO see il strangled in the place of
lis birth. AL! for what? Can any man
tell! Do not those-many of them at
least-who have given their voices for
It's repeal, deny that it is demanded by
any essential or practical object! Were
lis repeal justified by one high consid-
era.ioa Of State or public good, or had it
been demanded by any single section,
public meeting, association, county, town
or hamlet in the whole country, the sac.
rIice might be at least e%xtenua;ed. On
the contrary, il is admitted 10 have been
alike unnecessary and uncailed for.-
Nothing then is gained by it; nothing, at
least, that should weigh as the dust of
the balance. But how much, alas, is
lost. Who.can penetrate the future to
tell the distant; consequences of this
weeks work in Congress-! We speak
now 30 those who love the Union of the
States. To the men of passion, 10 sec
tional patriots, TO those who are ever
calculating The value of the Union,"
who reason by imputatiops, and whose
highest flight of argument reaches only
the level OF Impeachment of motives
10 such we should deem it a waste of time
and of courtesy TO address a word on
this occasion. But to the gentlemen of
the South who think That there is some
thing to respect aud esteem beyond Ma
son and DIXon's line; who have some
venerasion for the glnries o. Lexington
and Saratoga as well as those of Kings
Mountain and Eutaw; who look at the
Stars and Stripes with affection. ard
think there IS something in this Union TO
be proud of and to stand by-to such,
we say, a monstrous mistake has been
committed; not a fatal, we hope and trust,
but a fearful one. All! had you, when
this deceltiul boon was rendered you,
only said, mo; the compromise may
have been unsanctioned by the Consti-
~'1uIion; 1t may have been %unjus, to the
South, but was the only mode of accom-.
'modating a most threatening difficulty:
1t was adopted by the joint rounseis of
the North and South; it was a compact
'oi mutual concessions; il was agreed to
by men as wise, as firm, and patriotic
'as ourselves; il has stood long; i, has
performed its benign office; and altho'
II might have been unjust to US, We will
mot dishonor those who framed and rat
'itied il; there is nothing now to be gain
ed or lost by il; a bargain is a bargain;
.let il stand" Gentlemen, had you an.
swered thus, instead of breaking the seal
of tina, old compact, you would have
riveted The North to you, not with hooks
OF steel. but links of iron cable. and The
hideous forms of Aboitionism and Free
soilism would never more have reared
their heads high enough TO disturb for a
moment The public councils of the coun.
Try. llwould have been the death knell
of both. You would have made one
country and me people, indissolubly and
forever. But you have won q victory;
and one hundred cannon were fired in
The dead of the night in honor of i'll
hands might doubtless have been found
quite as ready to Apply the match to Gel
citrate the defeat OF The bill, had it been
given u hat the administration was
opposed to i. ips.ead Of being in lis ia.
vor. 1.-The kings name is a tower of
strength" Gentlemen, you have won a
victory; it was the pride Of eictory prob
ably which hurried many of you for
"hia h hhC hSut, duus lhstSdQ VI To-
counting the blessed fruits which it will
bring to the ~vic,ors, it will be fortunate
for those who are to come after us if his
tory shall give as innocent an account of
i. as is found in the story of the poet
which follows:
1t was asummer's evening,
Old Gasper's work was done,
And he before his cottage door
Was sitting in the sun;
And by hims ported on the green
His little grand-child Wilhelmine.
She saw her brother Peterkin
Rolling something large and round,
That he beside the rivulet
IN playing there had found;
She came to know what he had found
That was so light, and large, and round.
Old Casper took it from the boy,
Who stood expectant by,
And then the old man shook his head,
And with a nat'ral sigh,
"'Tis some poor fellows skull" said he,
"Who fell in the great victory.
81 find them in the garden, for
There's many hereabout;
And often when l go to plough,
The ploughshare turns them out:
For many Thousand men, said he,