The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1854-03-10

n honor OF the man, outweighs many oppositea
I Now, for the irst.time, was a geogrspbical
s line established between slavery and freedom
Q In this country.
E Let us pause, and ascertain upon wha. prin.
D ciPle this compromise was adopted, and 10
what territory it applied. The controversy
was between the two great sections Of the
: Union. The subject was q vast extent of
, alinos: unoccupied country, embracing tho
whole territory west Of the Mississippi. II
was territory in which slave law existed AZ
the time Of acquisition. The compromise
, section contained no provision allowing slay.
. cry south of 36 . 30. It could never have
{ received the sanction Of Congress IL it had.
The continuance Of slavery there was ,eft
to the determination Of circumstances. Tbere
was, probably, an implied understanding that
Congress should not interfere with the ope-.
alton OF those eircumstances--and that was
all. The prohibition north Of &c Q 80 was
absolute and perpetual. The act in which IL
was contained was submitted by the Pre,i.
dent to his Cabinet, for their opinion upon
the constitutionality of that prohibition
CALHoUE, CRAWFORD, and Writ were mem.
bers of that Cabinet. Each, in a written
opinion, affirmed its consiitutionality, and the
act received the sanction of the President.
Ihus we see that the parties TO the arrange
ment were the two sections Of the country
the free States on one side, the slave States
on the other. The subject Of it was, the
whole territory west of the Mississippi, out.
side OF the State Of Louisiana; and the prac.
tlcal operation of it was, the division of this
territory between the institution of slavery
and the institution Of freedom.
The arrangement was proposed by the
slave States. 1t was carried by their votes.
large majority of southern Senators voted
for it; majority Of southern Representatives
voted for it. 1t was approved by all the
southern members Of the Cabinet, and re.
ceived the sanction OF a southern President,
The compact was embodied in single bill
containing reciprocal provisions. The ad.
mission of Missouri with slavery, and the
understanding that slavery should not be pro.
hibited by Congress south Of SO . 30, were
considerations of the perpetual prohibition
north Of that line. And that prohibition was
the consideration Of the admission and the
understanding. The slave States received a
large share OF the consideration coming to
them, paid in hand. Missouri was admitted
without restriction by the act itself Every
other part of the compact, on the part of the
free States, has been fulfilled to the letter.
No part of the compact on the part of the
slave States has bsen fulfilled at all, except
in the admission of Iowa, and the organizes
tion of Minnesota and now the slave States
propose to break up the contract without the
a.l a.
States, and upon a doctrine of supersedurs
which if sanctioned at all, must be inevitably
extended so as to overthrow the existing pro-
hibtion Of slavery in all the organized Ter.
ritories.
Let me read to the Senate some paragraphs
from Niles's Register, published in Baltimore
March IL, 1920, which show clearly wha,
was the universal understanding in respect to
this arrangement:
"The territory north Of SO 80 is forever
forbidden to be peopled with sl,ve., except in
the State of Missouri. The right, then, to
inhibit slavery in any of the Territories i,
clearly and completely acknowledged, and 1t
is conditioned as to some of them, that even
when they become States, slavery shall be
forever prohibited in them. There is no
hardship in this. The territories belong to
United States, and the Government may right
fully prescribe the terms on which it will dis
pose of the public lands. This great point
was agreed to in the Senate, 80 votes to II;
and in the House of Representatives by l34
to AZ, or really l49 to 81. And we trust that
it is determined forever in respect to tho
countries now subject to the legislation of the
General Government"
ask Senators particularly to mark this:
at is true the compromise is supported only
by the letter Of the laru, repealable by the au-
thority chich enacted IL; but the circumstances
of the case glue to this ldp a MORAL FORCE
equal to that Of a positive protision Of the Con-
stitution; and Toe do not hazard anything Jy
saving that he Constitution erists in its OBJ
servance Both parties have sacrificed much
! to Cancellation. We wish to see the COMPACT
kept in good faith, and we trust that kind
Providence will open the way to relieve US Of
! an evil which every good citizen deprecatss
a. the supreme curse Of the country"
That, sir, was the language of Maryland.
er, in 1920. He expressed the universal un-
| derstanding of the country. Here then is
compact, complete, perfect irrepealable, SO
far as any compact, embodied in legislative
act, can be said to be irrepealable. 1t had the
two sections of the country for its parties.
great Territory for its subject, and perma.
nent adjustment of dangerous controversy
for its object. 1t was forced upon the fres
States. 1t has been literally fulfilled, by the
free States. 1t is binding, indeed, only upon
honor and conscience, but, in such matter,
the obligations of honor and conscience must
be regarded as even more sacred than those
of constitutional provisions.
. MIR. President. if there was any principle
which prevailed in this arrangement, II was
that OF permitting the continuance of slavery
in the localities where 1t actually existed At
the time of the acquisition Of the Territory.
and prohibiting it in the parts of the Terri
tory in which no slaves wers actually held.
This was wide departure from the orisinsl
policy which contemplated the exclusion Of
f, slavery from territories in which 1t actually
eristed at the time of acquisition. But the
ide. that slavery could ever be introduced into