Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1854-01-11
al gtanoar0.
RALE1Gn. WEDNESDAY,. JAN. II, 1853.
TERRITORY OF NEBRASKA.


report submitted to the Senate, on Wednesday
last. by Judge Douglas, chairman of the Committee
ON Territories in regard to Territorial Government
for Nebraska. This report shall appear at length in
our next As the Washington Union says: "This
subject has been looked to with serious apprehcn-
sons in consequence of the suppostion that tmight
fcarfuly revive the slavery agitation. Mr.. Douglas
was fully impressed with the Importance and delica-
CIV of the issue involved and has devoted the full
powers of his capacious mind to its investigation He
has arrived at conclusions which seem to us to be
unassailablc e plants himself resolutely upon the
Compromise of 1850 final settlemcnt-not final
merely as to the Territories then in dispute but final
as to all future legislation for territorial govern
ments. Adopting this the basis of his action, he
has applied the great pacific principles of the Com
promise measures of 1850 to the bill for organizing
the Nebraska Territory. He goes further, and ex-
tends the provisions of the fugitive slave law to the
Territories The reasoning of Judge Douglas strikes
our mind as unanswerablc, and VIC indulge the
fident hope that the propositions submitted by him
will be unhesitatingy confirmed by Congress. They
present practical test of the sincerity of the
nant entered into by the democratic party at Balti
more. If the principles of the Compromise, as
brought forward in the Nebraska bill, sustained
by the united democratic votes of senators and rep
rcscntatives all doubt as to the final expulsion of
the slavery question from the democratic organiza-
ton will be put to rest. We may then gladly pro-
claim the national democracy unit, and repose con-
fdcntly upon the conviction that the federal Union
is safe We commend Mr.. Douglas report not only
for the ability with which it is prepared, but for the
sound national, Unon-loving sentiments with which
it abounds We shall publish the report in our next
issue" This, be it remembered, is the language OF
the organ of President Pierce The Nebraska ques-
lo1;t
ing their forces and cndeavorng to exclude slavery
from the Territory y number of slaves already
there and the aboIitionsts fear that the inhabitants,
in instituting State government, Will establish the
institution. They appeal to the obligation of the
Missouri compromise, but in van. Col Benton,
threatens but his threats amount to nothing Judge
Douglas true the compromise Of 1850, and to tho
rights of the saveholdng States, makes his report,
and all the weight of the administration of General
Pierce is at once thrown in favor of it.
The Richmond Enquirer says
1.-The position assumed by this journal, some time
since that the Compromise of 1850, being new
compact and treaty between the North and the South
the subject of slavery necessarily abrogated eve
ry previous arrangement of conflicting character,
that in consequence the settlement of $50 is of no
obligation and effect, has been affirmed by Mr.. Doug
las in his able report and sanctioned by the Admin
istration in emphatic language. The abotionists
will undoubtedly oppose the principle with all their
power and in the event of defeat they will have
course to the eXpcdicnt of positive enactment i'll
exclusion of slavery. The representatives Of the
South, reinforced by executive influence, will tri-
unph, and we will not despair of the admission of
another slave State. Nebraska is rapidly filling up
with slavc-hodng population and in all probabil-
ty the citizens, in ilstituting State government,
will sanction the system of negro slavery And
thus something will be accomplished towards
toraon of the legitimate power of Southern inStitu
tons There is region of this vast continent
where the wealth of naturs has been distributed in
more abundant measure than i'll Nebraska. Salu-
brity of climate, variety of vegetable production and
fertility of soil, make an inviting region TO the emf
grant 1t is an important conquest for the South.
In cnumcrating those who deserve we'll of the
South i'll regard to the Nebraska question, it would
be gross INJUSTICE to omit the name of Judge Doug
| las This report gives him additional claim to
the confidence of the South and the admiration of
| the country"
The Editor of the South-Side Democrat, Mr.. Banks,
writing from Washington, Jan. 4, says:
81 spent last evening with the little giant" He
was alone and talked unreservedly on public mat
| tiers Few Statesmen by their conversation have
ever Impressed me as favorably. There is a capti-
waiting frankness and bodncss and straight forward
independence about Judge Douglas rarely to be met
with in politicians, especially those who have at
tanned the degree of enncnce as himself lie
is singularly imbucd with that quality which nearly
! all of them ack-tirmncss. lie never shrlnkS from
responsibility rather courts it and often shoulders
unnecessarily. His conscience and his judgment APP
pear to be the motive power of his actions He
|
easncss of the time who anXiousy awaits tho
rise the rise or fall of the popular mercury. No
man who converses with Douglas, who even social
| ly gladiates with him, help being struck with
! his wonderful originality of mind-his power of
gumentation-hs remarkably fertile and suggestive
intecct-his tersc and epigramatic expression
He read me bill which he had drawn, chair
man of the Committee on Territories in the Senate,
relative to the organization of Nebraska 1t is ably
written and is type of himself There is Snuff
| ling-no ingeniousy contrived terms which can be
made to mean thing in latitude north, and
another in latitude south, and third at the equator
no modifying PLASTER about the evils of slavery in
the abstract by way of greasing the bill for feeso
throats-on the contrary he marches straight up to
! the question and stands square upon it. The bill
| unequivocaly declares that the Missouri Compro-
mise has been superseded by the acts of 1850, and
| puts Nebraska upon the same basis with Utah and
| New Mcxico-reinoving all restrictions upon the
rights of the stakeholder 1t acknowledges the bind
ing force of those in their application to all
territory to be hereafter acquired, and utterly repu
dates the idea that they made simply for term
i of years. or a settlement of questions then
| pending. The bill goes bow-shot farther, and
| with view of giving certain gentlemen (who have,
since its passage, disclamed much about the fug
tive slave law, but Who at the time of the taking of
the VOTE unfortunately i'll out of the Senate
opportunity of gratifying their wishes, it applies
the requirements of the law to the Territory of Ne
| braska.
The bill in short aims to take the whole subject
of slavery out of the halls of Congress and throw it
back where it egitimately belongs to the people of
the states and territories.