Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-08-23
Tho xIIth section-The most Impartial
Compromise.

Compromise.
We have, heretofore, undertaken to show
that there has been, and is no disposition on
the part of the Southern States to encroach
upon the new territory of the North, for any
purpose of increasing their political power, The
contest now going on in Kansas is the result
Of the determination Of the people to test Tor
themselves the capacity of a new Territory ior
the employment of particular labor, and TINS
inclination has been stimulated by an open at
tempt, made by the Free soilers in and out OF
Congress, to pre-occnpy the disputed ground
We will proceed to show that there has been
no political combination of Southern States to
pass the Kansas bill, nor to obtain any section
al advantage in the settlement of the Territory.
The older States Of the South are not in favor
of sending their population and property upon
a mission Of propagandism. Neither the ac-
QUESTION Of Louisiana nor Florida originated
with those States, nor at their instance. They
have looked upon all the new Southern terrific
~ added to the Union as creating an attrac-
ton dangerous to their interests. 1t brought
into competition with their exhausted lands
and diminished staples cheap and fertile SOIL
1t is but lately Carolina has shown serious
decline in her property, caused by the rivalry
Of Mississippi and Texas; and although Vir-
ginia and Maryland are now recovering by the
development of other interests from the inju-
rious effects of the same competition, neither
Of them are willing to lose any large amount
Of population or property for the chance of
gaining few more votes in the Senate of the
United States For the loss of slaves is a
loss of taxable value and Of political power,
and is attended with depreciation in the
value of land. AS proof that the slave
holding States mediate no invasion of the free
States, so far from there being very general
movement for that purpose there is an unpre-
cedcnted effort to keep their population and
property at home, by offering them inducements
superior to those of Kansas OF of Texas either.
These States know, moreover, that so long
as they continue compact, and multiply the
means of internal intercourse amongst them
selves, they are safe. They know that slave
labor is more profitable III the older States
even in Virginia-than it has ever been, or
than it is, in the less salubrious planting States
Of the South They know that the coal mines
and copper mines, and iron works; that the
lumber business of Georgia, the tar and tur-
pentine, and even the ground peas Of Carolina ;
the cord wood and oyster provices Of East
ern Virginia, and the immense fields for grazing
and cultivation opened in the interior of the
Southwestern States-besides the improved ca
pacity of the sltve for mechanical employInents,
and for mental pursuits-are all absorbents OF
slave labor; that the rapid enlargement OF the
northern cities, has created demand for every
thing that slave labor can produce, from pint
Of green peas to hogshead of sugar. Where,
then, is the danger OF the disposition of the
South to encroach upon their excellent Gus
tomerss There can be none. lis there
any danger that the Southern States viii
want area for the employment of all their
population? They have already s57,5os
square miles, composing all the cotton, all
the sugar, all the rice, almost all the to-
bacco lands. They produce abundance of
grain, and materials Of clothing, and materials
for every fabric. Why, then, should they be
disposed to fix upon any people an institution
which they may not like! Nothing in the his
Tory of these States shows them to have pur-
sued this purpose. Slavery is in Sebastopol.
II has abundant area, superintendent ammuni-
lion to repel its foes, and experiences no want
Of supplies or provisions Why then weaken
itself by sortes, In which it abandons an i'm
pregnabe position for an open warfare In the
fleldg
The obliterstion Of the only line Of opinion
known to our laws was not asked by the South.
1t certainly relieves that section from an igno-
minious badge Of inferiority, calculated TO pro-
dace and prolong feelings Of animosity but, if
we have been correct in our reasoning, the
South viii gain less by IFS obliteration than
the North. For, grant the principle that Con-
gress may impose conditions upon the admis-
sion OF new States 1t is now applied to the
exclusion Of slavery. Suppose it were imposed
upon any other obnoxious opinion. The con-
stitution forbids Congress to pass a law estab-
fishing religion" But State may establish a
religion Congress may just as well say, then,
that no new State shall be admitted into the
Union, unless it shall have established Catho-
licism as the irrepeaable law Of the land, as
that the civil institutions Of the State shall be
forever sacred TO freedom. Let us reduce the
supposition to practical form.
Suppose the Papal interest thinks fit to ac-
duire the political coAtrol Of an extent Of terri
tory sufficient 10 make five or six States, not
larger than San Marine, or New Jersey, which
shall be named aft y so many saints or martyrs.
Suppose that II be proposed to amend the bill
for the erection Of these separate Territorial
governments Of Saint Paul, Saint Patrick, and
Saint Peter, by Pspal proyiso that the Pro
testant belief and worship shall be forever cx-
cluded from the territory now proposed to be
organized under separate governments Is
this an improbable exercise Of Papal influence
Has not polygamy its representative in Con
gresss Have not foreigners their representa-
lives also9 Have we not government and
party taking sides with Papsts against Protcs-