The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1858-04-02
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISES.

more than once, OF late, to denounce the
passage ofthe compromise resolutions by the
Congress of 1920, as Illegal, unconstitutional,
and prompted more by fear than any just
consideration for the welfare of the country.
II is very easy (says the Richmond Whig) to
talk in thisstrain at the distance of nearly
forty years from the event. 1t is very easy
TO look back upon the acts of our fathers,
and reproaeh them with folly. There is no
man who has such a contempt of danger as
he who is not exposed TO it. There is no
man so wise as he whose wisdom was never
put to the trial.
We are sure, that with our present opin-
ions, had We been in Congress, we should
have voted against the Compromise. We
think we could have foreseen that the great
struggle between the two opposite princ-
pies at work in the constitution, must one
day be brought to crisis. We should have
preferred the battle then, when we were CON-
paratively stronger, 10 postpOnement Of it,
until our enemies should be stronger than we.
We are in favor of the doctrine which impress
ses upon every generation the duty of doing
its own work, and we depracate the irresolu-
ton which throws upon posterity the diff
cuties which belong TO our own day. But
when we think over the great names which
gave strength to the Missouri Compromise,
we are disposed to be forbearing. We can
not believe that we should have been wiser or
better than Clay, Lowndes, james Barbour,
William Pinckney and host of Southern
men besides, nor do we believe TIE editor of
the Union would have been. We think it
probable that these great men had as clear
views upon the subject as any editor of the
present day. We do not doubt that they
had all as thoroughly discussed the question
involved in compromise of any principle of
the constitution as il could be discussed
Why, then, did they come to this conclusions
Simply because they had not the wisdom now
to be found in every newspaper Office. That
age was not fast age, as this is. Some
body says that Mrs. Someryille knew more
than Sir Isaac Newton. No doubt of il, and
every scribbler in newspaper at this day
is qualified to lecture Clay and Pinckney up
on constitutional principles. These latter
had TO get their knowledge by hard knocks!
There was no editorial" road to constitu-
tional learning in those days. They studied
the letter of the constitution, and they
thought they had ascertained its spirit. At
any rate, they had been taught by the high.
est existing authority Qhat of Thomas Jeifer-
SON. that the safety Of the whole Cons:tu-
tion-that sdlus republicae so often spoken
Of-would justify an infringement of por-
ton of it. The great apostle of Democracy
acknowledged that he had deliberately viola
ted it. when he bought the territory of
Louisiana. The power to buy, he express
ly said, was not to be found in it. He res.
ted his justification upon the necessity Of the
case, disunion being otherwise inevitable
Perhaps Mr.. Clay, who proposed, and the
whole body of Southern members when they
voted, for the Missouri line, were actuated
by their affection for the Union, and their
fear of its dissolution. The wiser children
of this generation ought not to be hard upon
them, since they acted only according to
their lights. |! was natural that they-up-
on the very field Of battIe-should feel a
little uneasy, when Thomas Jefferson, safe at
Monticello, one hundred miles off declared
that the discussion struck upon his ear like
the angry tones of fire. bell at midnight
Perhaps they thought that if the compromise
were not exactly constitutional, they might,
with the example of Jefferson before them,
venture thus far in support of the Union.
We are well aware that those who sup.
ported the Missouri Compromise-and they
comprised the entire Southern delegation, so
far as we recollect, with the exception of
Mr. Mason and Mr.. lph-shieded
themselves behind no such apology. They
defended their course as entirely within the
constitution. We are only showing how
they might have justified themselves, even
had the act been avowedly extra constitution
al, as the purchase of Louisiana was. The
memory Of the lustrious patriots who voted
for that compromise, will, we think, survive
the assaults of the Union.
MoRMoSIsM IN PHILADELPHIA.-Th Phla.
dephians just now, are not a little excited
by the discovery of a polygamous adventurer
there, who has been marrying an extensive
assortment ofwives,-some accounts say, as
many as eight! His name is Smith, a very
scarce name. He must be some relation TO
Joe Smith, the Mormon that was.