The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1856-01-05

nently 0aQanl1eQ IN a66oclatlone 70 iDtiCe
injury on the former by wrongful acts,
which would be cause of war as between
foreign Powers, and only fail TO be such in
our system because perpetrated under cover
Of the Union.
It is impossible to present this subject as
truth and the occasion require, without no
ticing the reiterated but groundless allega-
tion that the South has persistently assert
ed claims and obtained advantages in the
prastical administration of the General
Government to the prejudice Of the North,
and in which the latter has acquieseed.-
That is, the States which either promote or
tolerats attacks on the rights Of persons and
Of property in other States, to disguise their
own injustice, pretend or imagine, and con-
stantly aver, that they whose constitutional
rights are thus systematically assailed are
themselves the aggressos. At the preseut
time this imputed aggression, resting, as it
does only in the vague, ,declamatory charges
oi political agitators, resolves itself into
misapprehension, or misinterpretation, of
the principles and facts Of the political
organization of the new Territories of the
United States.
What is the voice of historyi When
the ordinance, which provided for the gov
ernment Of the territory northwest of the
River Ohio, and for its eventual subdivision
into new States, was adopted in the Con-
gress of the Confederation, it is not to be
supposed that the question Of future rela-
tive rover, as between the States which re-
tanned and those which did not retain a
numerous colored population, escaped not
ice or failed TO be considered. And yet
the concession Of that vast territory to the
interests and opinion of the Northern States,
n Territory now the scat Of five among
the largest members of the Union was; in a
!great measure, the act of the State of Yir-
;ginia and of the South.
When Louisiana was acquired by the
United States, it was an acquisition not
Cess to the North than 10 the South; for
while it was important to the country at
the mouth Of the Mississippi to become the
emporium of the country above it, so also
it was even more important to the whole
Union to have that emporium and although
the new province by, reason of its imper-
feet settlement, was mainly regarded as on
the Gulf of Mexico, yet in fact it, extended,
to the opposite boundaries of the United
States, with far greater breadth above than
below, and was, in territory as i'll everything
else, equally at least an accession to the
Northern States. 1t is mere delusion and
prejudice, therefore, to speak Of Louisiana
as acquisition in the special interests of the
South.
The patriotic. and just men, who partci-
psted in that act were influenced by mo-
tiyes far above all sectional jealousies. 1t
was in truth the great event, which by COM
plcting for lis the possession of the valley
of the Mississippi, with commercial access
to the Gulf Of Mexico, impaired unity and
strength to the whole Confederation, and
attached togethcr by indissoluble ties the
East and the West, as well as the North
and the South.
AS 10 Florida, that was but the transfer
by Spain to the United States of territory
on the east side of the River Mississippi, in
exchange for large territory which this Uni
:, ted States transferred to Spain on tile west
side of that riycr, as the entire diplomatic
history of the transaction serves to demon
strate. Moreover, it was an acquisition de-
manded by the commercial Interests and
the security Of the whole Union.
Meantime, the people of tie United
States had grown up to a proper conscious
ness of their strength, and in brief con-
test with France, and in second serious
war with Great Britain, they had shakcu off
all which remained of undue reverence for
Europe, and emerged from the atmosphere
rof those transatlantic influence xhich sur
founded the infant Republic and had be-
gun to turn their attention to the full and
systematic development of the internal rc
sources Of the Union.
Among the eyancscent controversies of
that. period, the most conspicuous was the
question Of regulation by Congress, Of the
social condition of the future States to be
founded in the Territory of louisiana.
The ordinance Of the government Of the
territory northwest Of the river Ohio had
contained provision, which prohibited the
use Of scryile labor therein, subject to the
condition Of the extradition of fugitives from
service duo in any other part Of the United
States. subsequently the adoption Of
the Constitution this provisions ceased to
remain as a law; for its operation as such
was absolutely superseded by the Cohstitu-
ton, But the recollection of the fact excl
ted the zeal of social propagaadism in some
sections Of the confederation; and when a
second State, that Of Missouri, como to be
formed in the territory of Louisiana, propo-
sition was made to extend to the latter ter
ritory the restriction originally applied 10
the country situated between the rivers
Ohio and Mississippi.
Most questionable as was this proposition
in allits constitutional relations. nevertheless
it received the sanction of Congress, with
some slight notifications Of line, to save the
existing rights Of the intended new State.
1t was reluctantly acquiesced ih by South
ern States as 4 sacrifice to tile cause Of
peace and Of the Union, not only of the
rights stipulated by thc treaty of Louisiana,
batof tho principle Of equality among the
States guaranteed by the Constitution. II
was received by tho Northern States with
xnpry and rAentful condemnation and COM
plsint, because it did not concede all which
they had exactingly demanded. Having
4l.n fo.,.,c. of Ior.;,loiinn ;f