Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1854-05-15
Col. Renton,s speech.

l.
i tile efforts to repeal the Ordinance
atI'SI, are peculiarly instructive at III
present 'lme-as it W" give encourage
: Iment to those who are now RESISTING II
. repeal of the Missouri Compromise /
81 the better days Of our Republic Ii
statesmen Of the South were opposed /
: the extension Of slavery to the North
west territorys Z aa r. Et5am
! ~ aEsoLT OF AN ATTEMPT 10 REPEA,
THE COMPROMISE OF 1887.
Inns brings US to the question, Of rs
peal or abrogation of these com promises
Inc one in the constitution cannot Ii,
$ tgot rid of without an amendment to tba
instrument, and is, therefore, Devon,
E the reach of Congress. The other tw !
oelng IN the form of statutes, are sub
Jects of legislation, and legally repeala.
: BILE by Congress. Efforts were made e
Impair one, that Of 1887, some fifty wears
ago. An effort is now made to renea1
the other; and the history and fate q,
the first attempt may be advantageous
IN the consideration of the second. Ii
was in the year 1903. The then terri
tory Ut Indiana had been slave territory
under the French government, and con.
ltlnued SO under the American mill
1887. 1t extended to the Mississinn;
and contained many slaves. Vincennes
lCahokla, Prairie de Rocher, Kaskaskia.
Were all slaveholding towns. The in
habltants were attached to that proper.
ty, and wished to retain it, at least fem.
porarily; and also TO invite a slayehold-
ing emigration, until an increase of non-
ulatlon, should form an adequate supply
OF free labor; and they petitioned Con-
gress accordingly. The petition came
from convention of the people, presi-
ded over by Governor Harrison, and on
~ asked for the suspension of the anti
slavery part Of the ordinance for ten
years, and limited in its application to
their own territory. The petition was
referred to a select committee of the
House, Mr.. Randolph was chairman.
and received IFS answer in a report. in
these words:
"That the rapid population of the
State of Ohio sufficiently evinces. in the
opinion of your committee that the labor
OF slaves IS not necessary to support the
growth and settlement of colonies in that
region. That this labor demonstrablv
dearest of any, can only be employed to
advantage in the cultivation of products
more valuable than any known in this
quarter of the United States that the
committee deem it hi-hl.--i ,,;;,sss
to promise the happi"os
and prosperity Of the northwestern
rlly 70 that extensive frontier. In this
benevolent restraint, it is believed that
the inhabitants of Indiana will, at nov
ry distant day, find ample remuneration
for a temporary priyation of labor and
emigration" 81
This was the answer of the select
committee; and it became the answer of
the house-of this House just fifty years
|ago--when the South was about as ably
here as it ever has been
since, and when its relative strength was
greater than it has ever been SINCE
The answer is peremptory refusal to
yield to the petition of the people of In
diana, even for ten years local suspen-
sion of this anti-slavery clause: s'High@
ly dangerous and inexpedient to impair
that provision" Yes, to impair that
ken or lessen in the smallest lfsf degree Ca an
act which the committee calls "bsnev-
client and sagacious act, and which they
recommend to maintain unimpaired, be-
cause it is calculated to increase the
happiness and prosperity of the north
west, and to give strength and security
to its frontier That Congress
that without division between North and
South-would not impair an act of so
much future good to posterity, not even
upon the mistaken application of few
:, present inhabitants.
But this was not the end Of the. petit
lions. The people of Indiana were not
satisfied with one repulse. They re-
, turned to the charge, and four times
more in the course of as many years, re-
newed their application for ten years
suspension of the ordinance. TWAS re.
) ected each time, and once in the Sen
ate, where the North Carolina Senator
(Mr. Jesse Franklin) was chairman o
: the committee which made the report a
: Igainst it. Five times, in as many years
rejected by Congress and the rejection
G the more emphatic in some instances be
\ cause it was the reversal by the Hous'
: Iof a favorable report from committee
n And now, what inhabitant of indians
: does not rejoice at the deliverance whic
y the firmness of Congress then gave them
y in spite of the request of its inhabitant
i fifty years ago ?
/ Thus, five times in the beginning {
:. this century five different times, an
e without any distinction between north
} ern and southern members--did Cor
: gress refuse to ''i,npair" the SLAYER
: compromise of 1857, notwithstanding
five times asked for by the people OF th
: territory. oh, squattef sovereignty
l. where were you then !? twas cas-
+ for you to have shown your head
"a have arisen in your might-and estal
: lished your supremacy forever. i ";
- a case Of convention of the sovereign
IA themselves and neither this conventie
l. nor the Congress had dream Of the
:, sovereignty. The convention petitions