Washington sentinel., 1854-03-02

l
met, no matter how soon, and settled. "The
consequences" to use their own language
must be left to God" but we hope those who
have this quarrel to settle will do it without re-
gard to the preudices or parialities of the north
or south, and come up to their duty to the Con
stitution and the whole, Union, "though the
heavens fall."-Rochester Adcertiser.
From the Reading lPa.) Gazette and Democrat,
The Nebraska Question.
We publish, on the outside Of this weeks pa.
per, the able speech Of Senator Douglas in
support of the bill now before Congress to or
| ganize the Territories of Nebraska and Kan.
zas, and ask for it careful perusal The free
soilers iii Congress- and their abolition confed.
crates throughout the Union, are raising a
great hue and cry against this bill, denouncing
it in the most inhammatory language, as ali
intended violation of solemn compact" and
sacred pledge" and branding its authors with
all sorts Of opprobrious epithets. But MIR.
Douglas has successfully exposed the hypocrisy
Of these agtators, and the falsiy of their artful
representations. He clearly proves that they,
who now profess such strong attachment for
the Missouri compromise, and speak Of it rev.
erently as sacred compact" have ever been
4 its most determined opponents. In lS4S, when
| an effort was made to settle the slavery ques
tion by extending the Missouri compromise
line to the Pacific ocean, they defeated it, and
plunged the ocean into that tempestuous sea OF
sectional strife which was only calmed by the
passage of the compromise measures of 1850.
In short, every act of legislation designed to
prevent slavery agitation in Congress has been
Systematically opposed by the very men who
now denounce the Nebraska bill ; and for the
l La IL tl,n,r
capital Exclude it from the staples of congress
They are men Of "one idea; drive that from
their heads, and they become nonentities.
The fact is, this Nebraska business narrows
itself down to very simple question, and that
is, whether the principle of the compromise Of
1850 is to be maintained, and slavery re affirmed
to be purely local and domestic affair, with
which Congress will not henceforth intermed
| die. Or in the apt words Of Mr.. Douglas,
whether, instead of mere arbitrary geograph
| ical line, great principle of selfgovernmen
shall settle all questions Of slavery in the Ter
ritories. The recognition and permanent es-
| tablishment of this principle, are the only
means of giving the death-blow to political abo
litionism, and saving the country from those
violent internal commissions which must peri
odically occur so long as slavery is allowed to
be the subject of national legislation. This
principle puts slavery precisely where it was
when the Union was formed, and where il
ought to be. 1t is strictly domestic institu.
| ton, with which Congress ought not to inter
| fere, even if it had the power; and as origi.
| nally the Constitution neither established nor
prohibited, but permitted it where the people
of the several States had introduced it, so now
it should be left exclusively to the people Of
/ H. 10 he al "a 1pho
| they will come into the Union as free or slave
States. We are no slavery propagandist; on
the contrary, we believe that this nation will
only be truly great and free, when human bond
age is abolished throughout its wide extent.
| But, at the same time, we do not believe thai
the work of three centuries can BIS undone in q
| day; we have no faith in the honesty or phi
lanthropy Of those who would plunge the coun
try into all the horrors of intestine war, and
rend asundcr the bond of brotherhood which
has made US united, prosperous, and inde-
pendent people; all for the sake of compare
lively small portion of our population, whose
only civilization and consequent claim to our
regard, has been derived from those who hold
them in captivity, and whose capacity to enjoy
the boon craved for them, has not yet been, b,
any means, made apparent; and, finally, We d.
not believe that a condition of existence which
has elevated the African race morally, socially
and intellectually, far above its native standard
is so enormous an evil that it must be abolished
hastily at any co t.
The people are always the best judges OF
wha, is for their own good, and we are willing
to leave them, now and always, whether they
inhabit States or Territories, to settle matters
of strictly local import for themselves. If they
decide not to hold slaves, we shall be the bet
ter satisfied; but if they take fancy to the
peculiar institution" we see no stronger
reason, from that circumstance, for excluding
them from the Union, than there was for the
original thirteen States to refuse to enter into
the national compact. We are not frightened
by the insane clamor which the abolitionists
are raising, that, unless the prohibition of the
of the Missouri compromise is insisted upon,
slavery will inevitably be introduced into the
new Territories. They predicted the same
thing Of California, New Mexico, and Utah,
with the same apparently earnest and positive
asseverations; and yet the facts show that
California is now free State and the people
of the two Territories named, have voluntarily
and of their own accord, prohibited slavery
With regard to Nebraska and Kansas, time
will, in oil human probability, exhibit the same
result. Mr.. Everett, although opposed to the
bill of Mr.. Douglass, candidly admitted, in his
speech on Wednesday, "that the climate would
not suit slavery--that shareholders would not
desert their cotton.felds and rice plantations
to carry their slaves into the rigorous climate
Of Nebraska Opposition to the measure,
therefore, which merely asserts q principle cor
rect in itself, and involves no consequences Of
the sort that many honest minded citizens re-
gard as evil, can be considered nothing else
than the idle ciamor of demagogues, who
would purchase short-lived notoriety at the
expense of truth and honesty, and at the peril
of the peace, harmony, and even the perpetuity
of the Union.
Welcome Citizen.-" We understand y