Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-09-25

I /
to affirm and exercise the power of prohi-
biting slavery in the same Territories for
ever, from and after January /, 1858, by
enacting and putting in force the following
provision, being the 9Th section of the aci
passed March 6, 1890, to-wit:
SEC. 8. Ind be 1t 1arther enacted, That
in all the territory ceded by France to the
United States, under lhe name of Louisiana,
which lies north of thirtv-sx degrees and
thirty minutes north latitude, not included
within the limits of the State contemplated
by this act, slavery and involuntary servi-
tude, otherwise than in the punishment OF
crime, whereof the parties shall have been
duly convicted, shall be, ard is hereby.
forever prohibited: Prorided, alroys, That
any person escaping into the same, from
whom labor or service is lawfully Claimed
in any State or Territory of the United
States, such fugitive may be lawfully re-
claimed and conveyed TO the person claim
ing his or her labor or service rs aforesaid. y
1t viii be observed that the 9th section
Of TIE Missouri act Commonly called The
Missouri Compromise by It's terms only
applied 10 the territory acquired from
Franco, known as the louisiana purchase,
the western boundary (which was defined
by the treaty with Spain in 1919, AMI sub
sequently by treaties with Mexico and Tex
as, to be the tooth medium of longitude,
while the bill under consideration, under
the guise Of rcyi,inS and restoring thai
provision, extends it more than seven DEG.
of longitude further westward, and applies
it 10 that large extent Of territory to which
it had no application in It's original enact
men. Nor can It be said in fairness or
truth that this provision was applied to any
portion Of the territory in question by the
Joint resolution for annexing Texas to the
United States" for the reason that the
whole territory embraced within the limits
of the republic Of Texas was admitted into
the Union as one State, with The privilege
of forming not exceeding four other States
out of the State of Texas, "by the consent
Of said State" with the condition that "In
such State or States as should be formed
out Of said territory, north of sal Missou-
ri Compromise line, slavery or involuntary
scrvilude (except for ciimc) shall be pro-
hibiied.''
1t was left discretionary with Texas 20
remain forever one State and to reiain the
whole of her terrii ry as slave ;erri ory.
OF to consent TO division; in which case 4
prohibition would take effect. by virtue OF
the compact. from the date Of a forma.ion
of new State within the limits of the re-
public of Texas, north of So deg 81 min
If, on the contrary, Texas should deter
mine to withhold her asseyt, no such new
State could ever be formed. and hence The
prohibition would never take effect. Ali
difficulty, however, on this point, has been
removed by the act of 1850, purchasing
from Texas all that portion of her territory
lying rorih Of So deg. 30 min. and incer-
porating 1t in the Territory Of New Mexi-
co, with the guarantee that, "when admit
ted as a State, the said Territory, or any
portion Of the same, shall be received into
the Union with or without slavery, as their
constitution may prescribe at the time Of
admission.'' Hence al that territory, to
which i, is now proposed TO apply the Mis-
souri restriction for the first time, under the
plea Of restoring the Missouri Compromise
of the Gth of March, 1920, is protected
from any such invasion of the rights of the
inhabitants to form and regulate their own
domestic affairs in their own way, by the
solemn guarantees contained in the com
promise measures of 1850, which blotted
out the geogl aphical line as dividing line
between free territory and slave territory,
and substituted for il the cardinal principle
vi clI-9oNclllIHcnt, Ill d'cOTudiIcc WIN the
constitutions But it will also be observed
that the bill under consideration does not
propose to limit the restriction To the terri
tory acquired from Texas, nor the country
on the east side of the Rio Grande. but to
extend it across that river over portion of
the territory acquired from Mexico, which
was never claimed by Texas nor embraced
within the Louisiana purchase, and to
which there is no pretext for asserting that
the Missouri Compromise ever applied. If
i'll the application of the 9th section of the
act of the 9th Of March, 1890, Commonly
called the Missouri Compromise, over SO
large a district of country to which it never
had any previous application, it be the pol
icy of the House of Representatives to- re-
turn to the "obsolee idea" of eeooraph
ical line rs a dividing line in all time 10
come between slave territory and free ter
rtory-a perpetual barrier against the ad-
vancement of slavery on the one hand ani
free institutions on the other-thc measure