New-York daily tribune., 1856-01-17

.op@r thew have been efficiently employed during the
season. The results, though necessarily incomplete,
| will be submitted in q Report 10 the Legislature.
IL j. deeply 10 be regretted that this SUBJECT had not
attracted tie attention of the Legislature at an earr
day and before the channels of the two noble nyers
that form the habor whose nnnage exceeds that OF
any other pou IN the world, had been senoeSy Ear
| rowed by encroachments. Much, however, v now be-
Ing done for the protection Of the rapidly Increasing
commerce OF the Pot of New-York.
| The law authorizing the appointment Of Hsrbor
Commissioner while il defined their duties and h1ed
their compensation, by nsdvertsnce made no appro-
priaon Tor their payment. This, while the Coannns-
sionsrs have prsciced the most rd economy m their
srpeu,iif ures has occssoned inconyenence. ther~
.rs AL ,be earliest attention Of the Legislature 70
this defect in the law. that the Commission may re-
GIVE what l. sready due and BE- enabled 70 prose-
| cute lis duties 10 a concluson.
PROHIBITION.
The At for the Suppression Of IntcmpsraDce, kaup.
ersm and Crime passed by the last iegssfnre, 10 a.
coniance with the clearly expressed demand of the
people went into operation the 9Th OF July lat.
Notwithstanding IL has been subjected TO an opposi-
,ion more persistent, INSCRIPTIONS and DEFIANT than
often incurred by act Of legislation and though e.
Ca and nsgisteral influence, often acting unothciay
ard extra rdiciauy. have combined TO render mop
erstiye 10 the decision o the Courts wrest the
statute from It's obvious meaning, and creaie geu'
eral distru-t in ii not hostility Ia, all egisAauNe
restrictions OF the traffic in intoxicating hors-t hss
| still outside of our large cities, been generally
obeyed The influence is visible IN marked dml'
the City Of NowYork, and Others of our large towns,
| Il has through the connivance OF magistrates
and executive ofceS sworn TO sustain the laws, been
fsgranty diSregarded, on the preense p,ncipay OF
H. uconstutionality. The course pursued has indi-
Gated hut little confidence the part of tbcee opposed
| 20 the law in the ultimate decision OF the Court and
still les of Willingness To let the statute De tested py
sctua experiment. That sonie OF tue detair Oh 'ho
p,ob bitorv Act are imperfect, and that of it,
provisions are susceptible OF lax Interpretation,
not to be denied. Thr defects do not however vtlae
he main principle of the law, which seems " me 10 oe
entirely accordant With our Constitution, ana III nar-
nonv with The Obligation which Government owes to
| the people. NV confidence in the power and duty OF
the Legislature 10 prohibit the traffic in intoxicating
Eouors and in the good results which may bs anticl
peted from such prohibition, is in no degree shaken:
But no further action the subject recommended
unti the constitutional questions involved IN the exist
| ing law shall have been adjudicated by the Soun OF
APRsha' .msn,lmeO,. if suy NAV be needed to render
the statute more effective for the suppression OF lu.
| temperance, Pauperism and Cnne, ana 10 guard
against the neglect malt,asahcc of tho-e to whom
| its execution l. inrusted, may bo matters tor yo"r
| subsequent consideration.
THE LENNON CASE.
In pur,uance of resolution of the last Legislature,
appointed two associate counsel to act with the At
torncy General in the suit, pending IN the Supreme
Couf between this State and the state OF Nn-
| ginia known "the Lennon Slave Case
| The case has been prepared and ~ noticed for
| the February Term of the Court, when It " eK-
pectcd it will b, argued. As there III no provision
made to the expenses the part of thus State,
will dcvcye upon YOU to make the necessary appro.
| prishon.
The people OF our State have observed with painful
Interest. the course Of events resulting from the pasage
OF the Act of Congress organizing the Territories OF
| Kansas and Nebraska. Those Territories comprise
very large portion of the region expressly shielded
from Slavery by the Compromise OF 1870. By virtue
OF that compact most reluctant and partial consent
was wrung from the Representatives of the people OF
the Free States to the admission of Missouri into the
| Union rs a Slave State. That Act, preudicial TO
the fame and prosperity OF the American people, and
sven of Missouri herself, slowly and grudgngy
acausced in by the North, under the conviction that
the evil il inv ed instant and irTeparable, while
the good it stipulated would b. greater and more per-
| maneut becoming aud more positive and obvious
in coming But at the expiration of 80 years after
large and valuable strip of country had been trans
Ecrred quietly, if not clandesnely, from froe so to
ssN ehoding Missouri, the favorable occasion pre-
.nted by IN unprecedented triumph Of the savehold-
ne interest was seized to press the repeal OF the Mis-
| our Restriction and consequently to open Kansas
and Nebraaka to Slavery No Congress that ever yet
assembled except that Just dismissed and rebuked BY
the people of the Free States could have been induced
to sanction this repeal and is believed that no other
| Federal Administration but that now going out of
power, could have been impelled TO urge It The OPP
portunity was improved with desperate asssday and
| energy and the effort too successful. All legal
barriers to the establishment Of Slavery in Kansas and
| Nebraskn were removed by Congress; removed too
bv the aid of votes from this and other nOnayebold
| ing Statss The assumption OF uncoDstituti0nahty
which every earnest effort TO restrain any great moral
and social evil faed to encounter, VA invoked
10 excuse tn. reputation Of a solemn contract, by
those who had secured all its advantages. And thus
the Missouri Compromise, 10 long the theme OF
general and extravsgant eulogum, was overthrown by
the very interest which had proposed and constrained
| it's adoption.
| Tie consequences OF this act of perfdy have thus
far fully justified the apprshensons and fulfilled the
predictions ot the champions OF Freedom and pubic
| faith.
| Nebraska ntrenched behind Free States only, viii
probaby be permitted to add another TO their number
| without a serious contest. But Kansas, the other
| hand bordering on a populous portion Of Missouri,
! fanaGcal in its devotion TO Slavery, and through
| which nearly all emigrants enter the new Terri
| tory has in some respects become subjugated
| province of that State. BY Mssourians its Delcg.
| stes TO Congress have been chosen and the sem
! blance Of it, Legislature organized. That Legs-
| laturc has appointed its County Officers for term
| of six years and the same authority assumed
To establish Slavery on its soil, and TO forify it
| by most extraordinary inhbltions and psnalties.
| And when its Federal Governor called for mil
itary force 10 uphold these outrageous enact
meets bis orders were responded to- not by the mhab-
tants Of Kansas, but by armed bands from Missouri
| The sympsthies Of tho North and West have bsea
keenly alive TO the mcnaced subcction by the ne and
| the nife OF the Free-Sol citizens Of the Territory
! gathered at Lawrence. Their calm courage and de.
,1nined attitude rolled back this first demonstration
OF Slavery to conquer Freedom by force OF arms They
entitled to the respect and gfatude OF anwho io's
| the Republic.
| The voice Of Sew-York has repeatedly been heard
N the assertion of the Jefersonisn policy of restricting
Slavery and extending Freedom. j trust that il viii
| be uttered again, with unaninty and an emphasis
worthy Of her history, her principles, aud her oopvc.
| tons.
| Rspubcsn government, popular education And