The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-11-25

Having shown elsewhere the Religious
View Of Republicanism, as exrmpli6ed by
the New York Independent, and which
seems fast gaining countenance and support
from all the organs Of the party, we proceed
now to examine another form of Heroism
to which some of the members of that party
have devoted themselves since its organiza-
ton. 1t will be recollected that the chief
feature in the party creed at its inception,
was resistance to the extension of slavery
into the free territories Of the country, and
from the beginning of its crusade upon the
domestic institutions of the Southern States
until the present time, there have been
members of the party who, seriously and
honestly, supposed, that a political effort
was needed topreserve the virgin soil of the
Territories from slave labor. This view of
the subject, thus honestly entertained, was
occasioned by, and grew out of, the fierce
struggle, of parties, which resulted in the
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill and
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise 1t
was impossible for such persons, at the time,
to believe that any good motive could actuate
those statesmen who sought to break down
that time honored barrier to the encroach-
ments of slavery on the one hand, and of
freedom on the other. 1t was Of no avail
against their prejudices, that eloquent men
vindicated the measure, upon the principles
on which our republican government rests,
and sustainedthe movement with unfinching
fidelity to those principles, until they OBJ
tanned the verdict of their country, upon the
merits, in the Presidential election of 1856,
So strongly had many people been impressed
with the fairness of the arrangement made,
by former generation, in stipulating that
slavery should not 60 north of a certain
line, nor freedom south of it; and so sacred
had it become in their regard, as a solemn
compact, that they resolutely resisted the
idea that it could be abrogated by the same
authority which established it, without
cheating somebody in the operation. But
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise has
become matter of history, and vast
majority of the people of the country are
satisfied with the essential justice Of the Act,
while the principles upon which it was urged
are fast becoming the settled policy of the
country, with degree Of certainty and
unanimity which has rarely attended any
other exciting political issue, passed upon
by the American people. What party
would now have the temerity to advocate
the restoration of the Missouri Compro-
mise line?
But, Notwithstanding the manifest sound
ness Of the principles involved in the disso-
luton of that compact, there was still appa-
rent among the people who had idolised it
as an hereditarylegacy, essential to freedom,
and who had been taught that slavery on
this continent was the most powerful insti.
tuition on earth, an honestly cherished belief
that slavery could be forced into our Terri
tories if that line should be blotted out. 1t
was of no consequence to them that seven
eighths of all the citizens OF the United
States were as irreconcilably opposed to
the institution as themselves, and that those
seven-eighths were the active migrating
portion of oar population and that the
large foreign emigration which goes drec tly
to our Territories, is from education an d
impulse rigidly opposed to it. Neither
was it of any account that slave labor
can be made profitable, only, in very small
portion of our public domain, and that our
people rarely carry their property where it
will not pay. The clear, terse and unan-
swerabe reasoning, showing that the peo-
pie could be safely trusted with the subject
as it was their own business, in which they
already felt vital interest, and the GER
tainty that the inhabitants of our Terrific
ries would be from the North, and from the
European States in overwhelming MAORI
ties, was powerless to many faithless souls,
who seemed to have lost all confidence in
American lib. rty, and cherished with death
less tenacity their unbounded confidence in
the almighty power Of American slavery.
So faithless, were they, in the people, that
they actually supposed the President o the
United States and the handful of Southern
fire-eaters, could force slavery upon a COM
munity against their will, and destroy at
once and for ever, the most sacred principles
of government ever cherished by patriot
ic people. The class of men thus afflicted
with an unwarrantable distrust of the peo-
pie of this country, and craven fear OF the
few unfortunate Shareholders of the South,
were mostly honest in their views, who had
allowed their minds to become warped and
distorted by ambitious demagogues and
partisans of the Republican ranks, and have
manifested their party heroism almost ex-
clusvely by harping upon the Supreme
power they so much dreaded, and discredit-
ing the Patriotism and fidelity Of the masses
of the DeOple.