Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-10-13
Che Anii- 9laperp Bnslr.
Prom Putnsm's Magazine for October.
THE KANSAS QUESTION.

Prom Putnam's Magazine for October.
THE KANSAS QUESTION.
In the year 1885, IL was dcoreed by convention
Of the whig and democratic parties, representing
three-dfths, at least, of the people who concerr
Themselves with politics, that the compromise
measures were q final settlement, :" in principle
and substance" Of the question Of slavery. Mr.
Webster, who had contributed 80 much talent anC
reputation to their success congratu lated himself
and the country, as he drew near his death, tho
there was then no part of the United States II
which this subject had not been determined anc
disposed Of by positive law. The President of the
nation even, in his first message. was impelled to
speak of those measures as having ''given renewed
viHor to our institutions, and restored a sense oi
repose and security to the public mind Throughout,
the confederacy " and he promised that this repost
'fshould receive no shock If he had power to aver
1t, during his administration"
GA Yet, those measures had scarcely been pro
mu.ged at the outermost limits of our empire
their great advocate of Massachusetts, scarceiy
GOLD in his grave, the President himself was but
warm in hs chair, when the agitation of the sla-
very question broke forth anew, with universally
and earnestness of feeling never before equaled
1t seemed as if oil the warning winds of opinion
were loose, and, as distinguished senator apply
quoted,
Notusque ruunt crcberquc proccllis, Afcus "
Slavery became at once the real and vital question
on every tongue. Older issues were dropped in
tho intense excitement it occasoned the ancient
rallying cries, once 30 potent in marshaing the
electoral heges around tho standards of theii
leaders, grew az charmless the blasts of fish
horns aud the freshest of political frenzies, which
year BEFORE swept over the land like torrent
was arrested and hurled back and droken into
foam by the opposing waves of this greater agi
tation.
Thus, the hopes of a long era of political quiet
engendered by the reconcing action of Congress;
and the conventions, were dashed to the ground
and the flames Of former feud extinguished for q
brief time we're kindled once more into a liveei
energy and glow. But there is a popularity in the
revived commotiou, which it is impossible not tC
remark. During the earlier periods of anti-slavery
excitement, it was mainly confined to mon OF ar
dent temperaments and extreme opinion, to aboli
tionists, strictly so-called but things now
it is shared by men of tempered and conservative
disposition. The cautious and the wise-heads
silvered with age and hearts which experisnce
has taught to boat in measured pulscs-are Joined
with more enthusiastic spirits in n common cause
II is, indeed. exaggeration to describe tho feel
Ing at the North Us general If we except the
small jointstock association which draws tn, I'D
ders of the federal government, and score or two
of effete politicians, who, like the elder Bourbons
forget nothing and learn nothing, there is not a
thinking man among us who is not absorbed in
this topic Of the domination and spread Of sla-
very.
Whence this changer Why are the halcyon
expectations. which crowned the compromises
halo, dispersed Why are minds, the least quick
to catch the impulses of tho times, carried away
by prevailing sentiment2 Why are they COM
PEELED into coalition with those for whom, little
while ago, they felt no sympathy, and whose plans
of policy generally they disapproved? There is
effect, as wo see, and there must be cause. l.
it that the hereditary antslaycry sentiment Of the
North has received some and mysterious
access of violence, like fever which rccurs in a
moro malignant type2 Is it that the people of the
North have been suddenly seized with some ira
tional animosity toward their brethren Of the
South, and rush forward, Llindly. 70 the perpetra
ton Of unprovoked injustice? Not ut all
There is nothing thoughtless or unkind in the re
cent movement. II is legitimate fruit of circum
stances-a natural and normal development Of
events which any sagacious student of cause and
effect, in the moral sphere, might have predicted
and which, indeed was predicted by many in the
deepest lul of 1850.
In the first place, there can be no fnality in pol
tiles, except in the establishment of justice and
truth Where society is divided on a principle
aud that principle involves beside its moral issues
vast practical interests, no parliamentary device
or legislative expedient can put an end to the dis
cussion Of it-no compromise or tenn porary adjust
ment Of it can settle it forever. The very attempt
to settle ii. in this way though it may succeed in
queliing an existing yehemence of agitation, will,
For the mind of man is, in its natue, vital and ir-
pressi5le; you may force it down, but you cannot
Keep it thcrc; its inherent elasticity will il
to spring back and in shat spring, perhaps, it
will tear into shreds the cords by which it was
bound. When the compromises of 1850, there
fore, undertook to suppress in effect, the discus
sion of slavery they undertook what was plainly
impossible and much of the exacerbation which
has since arisen must 30 referred TO o natural re-
volt against that impracticable enterprise.
Bat, in thosccond place. there is to be remarked
special call for the late outbreak of antslavery
feeling, and particularly for its appearance among
those classes which have not heretofore manifested
strong tendency in that direction. 1t is this
that gigantic fraud, as they esteem it, has been
committed In the name of slavery-a surreptitious
and dishonorable act has been pcrpetrated in its
behalf, which has aroused keen sense of wrong
which has brought with it a humiating conscious
ness of yassalage on their part and filled the dull
est understandings with apprehensions for the
security Of our future liberties. The Kansas-Ne-
braska bill, which repealed the Missouri Compro-
mise, sprung like trap upon Congress not
chosen in reference to it,, hurried through the
forms Of legislation, under whip and spur, by q
temporary majority alleging falsehood in its
very terms, and having tho seizure of vast pro-
vince secure to freedomby thirty years of pighted
faith, as its motive-was the fatal signal which
after astounding the nation by its audacity rallied
il to battle. The repeal of statute, which for
nearly half a century had been regarded as ire
pcalabe, and which, whether rightly or not had
come to be invested in general reverence with
somewhat Of the sacredness Of a constitutional
compact--the repeal of it, too, without having
been called for by single soul, under false pre-
tenss, and by an arbitrary enforcement of parlia
mentary rules. struck the people everywhere with
surprise, and those Of the North particularly with
consternation. A few months before it occurred
the very abettors of the transaction had pronounced
itimpossbe. The committee of the Senate which
reported i had pronounced it impossible. Not a
man IN the Union but would, at that time. have
pronounced it equally impossible, had his opinion
besn asked, yet it was repealed by tho simple
declaration, which all the world knew to be untrue
that had been rendered imperative by the legis
Iation Of 1856 Marvellous assurance, bnt still
more marvellous suecessl
We shall not inquire here whether the Missouri
Compromise was originally proper or not; AYERS,
as we are TO compromises in general, we are no
sure thatit would not have been better for al
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