Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-12-11

cOulu hOs nave n0u any as 20 tie oOuth, lot d.
such compacts must be mutual and OF reeipro
cal obligation.
1t has rot unfrequently happened that law
givers, with undue estimation of the value O
the law they give, or in the view Of impartine
to it peculiar strength, make it perpetual II
terms but they cannot thus bind the con
science. the Judgment and the will of those whC
may succeed them, invested with similar re
spOnsibilities, and clothed with equal authority
More careful investigation may prove the law
to be unsOund in principle. Experience ma
show it to 6e imperfect in detail aud impraeti
cable in execution And then both reason anC
right combine not merely to justify, but to re
lquire its repeal.
] The Constitution, supreme as IT. Is over al
the departments Of The government, legislative
executive, and judicial, is open TO amendment
by its very terms and Congress or the States
may, In their discretion propose amendment tc
it, solemn compact, though it in truth is be.
tween the sovereign States of the Union. In
the present instance political enactment
which had ceased to have legal power or au.
thority of any kind was repealed. The position
assumed that Congress had no more right &c
enact such repeal, was strange enongh, and
singularly so in view of the fact that the ar
gument came from those who openly refused
obedience to existing lews Of the land, having
the same popular designation and quality as
compromise acts nay, more, unequivocally
disregarded and condemned the most positive
and obligatory ininnctions of the Constitution
itself, and sought, by every means within their
reach, 20 deprive portion of their fellow citi
zens OF the equal enjoyment of those rights and
privileges guaranteed alike to all by the fun
damental compact of our Union.
This argument against the repeal of the stat
ute in question, was accompanied by another
of congenial character, and equally with the
former destitute of foundation in reason and
truth. 1t was imputed that the measure
originated in the conception of extending
the limits of slave labor beyond those pre-
viously assigned to it, and that such was Its
natural as well as intended effect; and these
baseless assumptions were made, in the
northern States, the ground of unceasing as
sault upon constitutional right.
The repeal in terms Of a statute, which
was already obsolete, and also null for un-
constitutionality, could have no influence 10
obstruct or to promote the propagation OF
conflicting views of political or social institu-
ton. When the act organizing the Territories
of Kansas Nebraska was passed, the inherent
effect upon that portion of the public domain
thus opened to legal settlement, was to ad-
nit settlers from all the States of the Union
alike, each with his convictions of public
policy and private interest," there to found in
their discretion, subject to such limitations as
the Constitution and aud acts of Congress
might prescribe, new States, hereafter to be
admitted into the Union. 1t was a free field
open alike to all, whether the statute line of
assumed restriction were repealed or not
/ That repeal did not open to free competition
of the diverse opinions and domestic institu-
tons field. which without such repeal,
would have been closed against them it
found that field of competition already open
ed, in fact and in law. All the repeal did
was to relieve the statute book of an objec-
tionable enactment, unconstitutional in effect;
and injurious in terms to large portion of
the States.
Is it the fact, that, in all the unsettled
regions of the United States, if emigration
be left free to act in this respect for itself,
without legal prohibitions on either side.
slave labor will spontaneously 90 everywhere
in preference to free labor? Is it the fact,
that the peculiar domestic institutions of the
Southern States possesses relatively so much
of vigor, that, wheresoever an avenue is free
ly opened to all the world, they will pene-
trate to the exclusion of those of the North
ern States? Is it the fact, that the former
enjoy, compared with the latter, such irresis-
tibly superior vitality, independent OF cli-
mate, soil, and all other accidental circum-
stances, as to be able to produce the sup
posed result, in spite of the assumed moral
and natural obstacles to its accomplishment,
and of the more numerous population of the
Northern States?
The argument of those, who advocate the
enactment of new laws Of restrict on, and
condemn the repeal of old ones, III effect
AYERS that their particular views of govern
ment have no self-extending or self-sustain-
ing power of their own, and will 90 nowhere
unless forced by act of Congress-. And if
Congress do but pause for a moment in the
policy Of stern coercion; if it venture to try
the experiment of leaving men to judge foI
themselves what institutions will best suit
them; if it be not strained up to perpetual
legislative exertion on this point; if Congress
proceed thus to act in the very spirit of lib
erty, it is at once charged with aiming to ex-
tend slave labor into all the new Territories
of the United States.
Of course, these imputations on the inten-
tions of Congress in this respect. conceived
as they were in prejudice, and disseminated
in passion, are utterly destitute of any just
ifcation in the nature of things, and contrary
to all the fundamental doctrines.and princi.
Piles of civil liberty and self-government.
While therefore, in general, the people o.
! the northern States have never, at any time
srrogated for the federal government the
power to interfere directly with the domestic
condition of persons in the southern States
but on the contrary have disavowed all such
intentions, and have shrunk from conspicu
GUS utilization with those few who pursue
their fanatical objects avowedly through tn,
contemplated means Of revolutionary changt
of the government, and with acceptance o
the necessary consequences--a civil and ser
vile war-yet many citizens have suffered
, themselves to be drawn into ore evanescen
political issue of agitation after another, ap
pertaining to the same set OF opinions, am
which subsidized as rapidly as they aros
, when it came to be seen, as it uniformly did
that they were incompatible with the com
pacts of the Constitution and the existence o
f the Union. Thus, when the acts Of some o
the States to nullify the existing extraditiol
law imposed upon Congress the duty q
! passing new one, the country was invite,
by agitators to enter into party organization
4 lOT It's Iepedi, Uut tndt agitation Speeuli,
r ceased by reason of the impracticability O
its object. SO, when the statute restriction
: upon the institutions Of new States, by
q geographical line, had been repealed, tn
country was urged to demand its restoration
: and that project also died almost with il
J. birth. Then followed the cry of alarm fror
the North against imputed southern encroach
It ments; which cry sprang in reality from tn
: spirit of revolutionary attack on the domes
h tic institutions of the South, aud, after
troubled existence of few months, has bee
: : rebuked by the voice of patriotic people.
!. Of this last agitation, one lamentable feat
4 ure was, that it was carried on at the imme
+ diate expense Of the peace and happiness {
: the people of the Territory of Kansas TINS
e was made the battle field, not so much {
:, opposing factions or interests within itself, a
u of tho conflicting passions of the whole nec