The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-01-25
fore Mr.. Douglas would be right in declaring
all such acte one and all null and void

fore Mr.. Douglas would be right in declaring
all such acts, one and ALL null and void
But, in founding this new bill upon the COM
promises of 1850 the Senate committee and the
President seem to have overlooked the fact that
these measures reaffirm the Missouri compro-
mise in reference to these identical pew terri
tories. They cannot rest the policy of this new
measure upon the inality of the acts of $780,
because in reaiiirmipg the Missouri interdct
those acts Jeal'lrm an unconstitutional law. II
viii not avail the administration and the COM
mittee to shelter them- elves behind the mea-
smes of 1850 in superseding the act OF 1920.
The principle of the new bill supersedes both
compromises upon the basis of the sovereign
right of the people of the territories to decide
the question OF slavery or free soil for them
selves. by the acts of 1850 the people of Utah
and New Mexico were allowed the determine
ton of their own local policy; but Kansas and
Nebraska were specifically tied up again by the
Missouri line. Hence, as far as these new ter
ritories are concerned the new Senate bill is
practically repeat OF the late adjustment. Its
inality is ended and the whole issue between
slavery and anti-slavery is reopened upon a
new platform. Upon this point the bill is a
bubble and dodge, and carries falsehood
upon its face.
The inality of the late adjustment, then,
being at an end, we repeat that the whole ques-
ton Of Southern slavery in all its aspects, in
all its bearings, and in all that has been done
or may be done, is fully reopened for discus
sion and agitation. If the fnality is term-
mated upon the Missouri compromise the abol-
tioDists mag claim that there is an end
Of the fnality of all the other measures of the
schedule Of 1850, and that, including the Fugi-
tive Slave law they are all open for repeal
Consequently we shall soon be involved in the
req citation Of the whole subject, in every
shape and form. fer the Senate have reopen ned
the whole matter; and before we are done with
it we shall be required to come to clear, dis
tinct, and final settlement of the whole subject,
than those of temporary armistice for the
next Presidential election.
The storm is approaching. The gathering
elements Of general CONFUSION, deeper, and
broader, and stronger, than any we have yet
suffered, are distinctly visible in the horizon
all around US. Corruption and the spois, as
predicted by Mr.. Calhoun, are hurrying up the
explosion, and the corruptions of the spoils
will add tenfold to the violence and ferocity OF
this impending struggle The Union will be
shaken to its centre, for the contest will be
rrotracted for years to come. Vain the hope,
if such there be vain the calculation Of passing
this new bill at the present session. 1t may
be dragooned through the Senate after a
bard and desperate resistance; but its in
PRODUCTION into the House will be the
signal for another revolution among par
ties and factions. The whole chain of all the
instincts, jealousies, animosites, traditions and
hereditary antipathies, between the two sections
moral, social, religious, and political. will be
revived again into active and embittered re-
ordinations. Parties and cliques, and conspir-
ing spoilsmen, will be borne down by the revul-
sion, and their plans and intrigues for harmony
End the spells will be swept of like dry reeds
N high wind. The administration itself, as
the storm widens and sbarpens in its fury, will
be shattered and dismantlcd ard left drifting
ike the ill-fated San Francisco
Recoiling at length from the very verge OF
disulion and civil war, patriotic men Of the
North and Of the South from the Debris OF the
administration and the late political parties of
the day will come again TO the rescue The
North Will feel again the blessings which this
Union coniers upon her in the slaye-grown pro-
ducts Of cotton, sugar, rice, and other staples
TIE South will return to her allegiance as to
the ark of safety But this reunion will be not
upon a temporary compromise or quibbliug
armistice; but upon distinct, comprehensive,
permanent constitutional adjustment, for once
and for all
This adjustment is foreshadowcd in this,new
bill, repeating all existing compromises, in fact,
and reopeniDg the whole issue upon its exact
merits under the constitution The day for
mixed concessions between abolitionism and the
propaganda of slavery has passed by. No more
hybrid mulatto compromises will avail-no more
schemes Of differentiation and free soil, share and
share alike. The constitution recognizes no such
mixed principles no such doctrines of African
and Anglo Saxon amalgamatiou Ours is an
Anglo-Saxon constitution in its terms in its
spirit, and in its intentions in is origin, in its
Developments, and in its destiny. 1t is the
charter of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors to the
people; and it is to the people that it DEGREES
all powers not granted to the federal govern
ment. 1t has granted no powers to draw lines
and parcel out territories between free soilers
and Shareholders AL such acts are null and
void. Hence the new Senate bill is right in
resting upon the fundamental law, but false in
pleading the ilnality of the acts of 1850 when
their lnality is ended and they are defnnct.
The new bill is n new adjustment. and opens
up the whole question of slavery for a new set
Tie ment, upon fixed principles, from the begin
ming to the end. We have the beginning but
the end has yet to come
We must go through this ordeal of thorough