Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1856-05-24

7
then hear from Southern Know-nothing
Journals in apology for Northern action
under the hypocritical guise of having
disturbed 3 compromise of long stand
ing" 1t was no compromise, and never
so considered by the North, and violated
by them whenever an opportunity pre-
scented itself A compromise sacred
compromise! What reckless c.frontery
in this prctension. Who made it sa-
cred The ink with which the Missouri
restriction was written was not dry before
we find majority of Northern members
in Congress voting againstit its observance,
and no subsequent occasion has ever been
allowed to pass but, with a yandal-like
spirit, they have striyen for its destruc-
ton
The States of Arkansas and Michigan
applied for admission into the Union
about the same time--the latter lying
north of this pretended compromise, the
former south of it; they each possessed
tue usual requisites for admission, but
how differently were their applications
treated. Michigan was admitted with
6ut the least struggle Not so with
Arkansas. Heavy and grievous were
+ the throes she had to pass through before
4 the portals of the confederacy were
thrown open to her Then was heard
the FIST growl of this fiend, aboltionism,
and from that day it has been gathering
strength, until now we find it predomi-
nant in several Northern States. This
discrimination in favor of Michigan and
against Arkansas certainly proves that
then little Of that - high reverence" was
felt for the Missouri Compromise, the
assumed violation of which is now made
to lash the public mind into fury. The
compromise was nothing more or less
than compact, and when compact is
disregarded, is broken by one party, it
fails to have an obligatory force on the
other, and for that reason Gf reason was
wanted, } the South would be released
from its observance. But in truth the
North has so often, SO scandalously bro
ken, trampled upon, or, in their chaste
phraseology. spit upon this their now
sacred compromise that when, during
the contest of 1850, a proposition was
made in Congress to rc-enact, to re-viyify,
this compact by extending the line of
800 30> in the usual form to the Pacific
ocean, the North was a unit, if we mis-
take not, in voting against it. This re-
cent apothcosis of the Missouri Compro-
mise is used by the abolitionists of the
North as a humbug to impose upon those
among them who may yet retain some
love for the Union, while it is now used
by their conductors of the South to
frighten "the timid from their propri-
ETY." 1t is all CANNON. The compro-
: mise measures of 1850 were intended by
their friends to be final adjustment Of
the slavery question. In what did thi'
adjustment consist, if it was not in the
recognition Of the principle that people
inhabiting a territory, when forming ;
State government, should be invested
: with full control Of their domestic insti
: tutions, without any responsibility to thu
y federal government
1t was this principle that popularizet
=" both Of the territorial bills of that session
The vote in favor of the Utah bill wa
y almost unanimous. The bill for New
Mexico would have been equally fayore'
= if it had been free from other serious OBJ
: jections, which it would be out of plac
: here to enumerate. Will it be pretend
= ed that this great principle of popula
sovereignty-that this truly America
principle--was recognized only for tn
convenience of the moment? Certainl
. not. Common sense rcpudiatcs the ide
of final adjustment of momontou
&c question on any such restricted basis
= This principle is, an existing, livinl
Z principle, and acknowledges no perma
y nent authority but the Constitution 0
y the United States: and that the rca
- question il, should not the bill organi
ie zing the territories of Kansas and Ne
: braska have been made to conform h
" this principle, or, in the. language of thu
: bill itself, 'sshould not the law of thu
, Missouri Compromise be so far repealed
as it was found to be inconsistent witt
l. the compromise measures Of 1850"
3 This is the gist Of the agitation at th'
; North, and let the design of the agita
,e tors be covered or yelled as their wit OF
!, ingenuity may suggest, yet it must b.
apparent to all who give the least exam
J. ination, that it is against the compromise
Z Of l850-it is against that "final adj
a iustmenD that they are now warning. -
> The question which overrides in import
ance all others just now is, when thu
- STRUGGLE shall come to an issue, will W.