Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1860-08-08

bove his fellows, he exclaimed, "never, p
ever. never" He and Webster and Ben p
IN well understood the force and effect of d
.aving the Mexican law untouched that Il
would forever preserve that territory /
rom the blight of human bondage if the Il
government was truly and honestly adj o
ninistered in accordance with the princi- il
lies of its founders They found the pre- a
Existing law in favor of the right and a
irmly maintained nOn-interference with 7
(. The Bills organizing New Mexico |
md Utah were passed and the Mexican {
aw preserved. In addition to this, these i
Bills also contained this provision. "All
he laws passed by the legislative assem-
bly and Governor shall be submitted. to
The Congress of the United States, and IL
shall be null and of no effect.
Where was the haggard ghost of Squatter
when that was adopted? Ii
we contrast this legislation with that of
1854, we may discover who il is that has
departed from the faith responsible for
the agitation and sectional strife which
threatens the perpetuity of the Union.
We may do so with unerring certainty for
the reason that the country to which the
Congress of 1854 gave territorial govern !
ments occupied the same relative posi-
ton to the slavery question as did New
Mexico and Utah when those territories |
were organized. In the one, slavery had |
been abolished and prohibited by the Mex
lean law and i'm the other by the act OF
the American Congress of 1920, common
liz called the Missouri Compromise. In
both, the pre-existing law may be regarded
in legal effect rs the same. A Bill organic
ing the vast remnant of the Louisiana pur-
chase into territorial government had
been referred 10, the committee on terri
tories in the Senate, and on the 4th of
January 1854, Mr.. Douglas the chairman,
made a special report, accompanied by
what is known as the Nebraska Bill.
That Bill wisely conformed to the legis-
lation of 1850, left the Missouri Compro-
Use undisturbed, and the report of Mr..
| Douglas presents potent reasons in favor
of maintaining intact the letter and spirit
1 of the compromise measures Of 1850.
Said he, "the wisdom of those measures
is attested, not less by their salutary and
beneficial effects in allaying sectional ag-
| itation and restoring peace and harmony
to an irritated and distracted people, than
bv the cordial and almost universal APP
probation with which they have been re-
ceived and sanctioned by the whole coun-
try" The committee therefore deemed
| ait their duty to incorporate and perpet-
uate in their territorial Bill the princi-
piles and spirit of those measures" and in
order to do so they had preserved invio-
late the Missouri Compromise. So APP
parently devoted was this man Douglas,
on the 4th day of January, 1854, 10 the
Missouri Compromise, that he was con-
strained to say that any action other than
non-interference with it would "involve
the same grave issues which produced the
agitation, the sectional strife and the fear
full struggle of $780, Said he, Gas Con-
gress deemed it wise and prudent to re-
frain from deciding the matter in contro-
versy then, either by affirming or repeal
ing the Mexican laws, or by an act declar-
atory of the true intent of the Constitution
and the extent of the protection afforded
: by it to slave property in the territories
so your committee are not prepared to re-
commend departure from the course pur-
sued on that memorable occasion, either
by affirming or repeating the 8th section
J of the Missouri act, or by any act declar'
| atory of the meaning of the Constitution
in respect to the legal points in dispute
/ He then tells us how fortunate it was 'fol
the peace of the country, and the secur
} ity of the Union" that those measures
were adopted and how the two great pc
t litical parties affirmed them "as q cardi
1 nal article of their faith, and proclaimed
them to the world as final settlement o
e the controversy, and an end of the agita
ton He further asserted under tn,
! solemn obligations of Senator, that q;
respect for the avowed opinions of Sena
tors as well as a proper sense of patriotic
duty enjoins upon your committee the pro
: priety and necessity Of strict adheranc'
to the principles and even literal adop
6 ton of the enactments of that adjustment
, in all their territorial Bills so far rs tn,
! same are not locally inapplicable." III
: to this date there was no evidence or man
Hesitation of departure from the faith
no suspicion in the public mind of q wan
6 of devotion to this we'll settled policy o
e the government. Every intelligent free
, man knew that this question of SLAYER,
! was practically settled by law in ever
inch of Territory owned by the genera
, government That there was no way o
f reviving agitation except by reopenin.
6 some wound which had been healed, b.
: undoing what had already been we'll dom
: by wise heads and patriot hearts. Yet
strange TO say, this same Nebraska Bill
was recommitted to the Committee on Ter
! ritories to sleep the sleep of death, "wa
, dropped from the Calendar of the Sen
ate, and within twenty days after thes
loud professions of devotion to the lette
and spirit of the legislation of 1850, which
9 preserved the Missouri Compromise invi
!. olate we find the Nebraska-K Kansas Bill
: rising in its stead, which has proved t.
be common disturber of the public peace
: and L trust in God the assassin of tn
= Democratic party. The amendment final
= ly incorporated in this substitute Bill is a
: once cowardly and false: cowardly in no
! daring to repeal the Missouri Ccmpromis
by direct enactment, and false in the ms
sertion that il was inconsistent with tn
. legislation of 1880 and therefore "inop
e erative and void
4 The fatal work was done by those VIII,
e a few days before maintained that %;
proper sense of patriotic duty enjoined
: upon them not to do it. Yes, by thOs
] who did not feel "called upon to vote,
: even "upon the discussion of SO momen
e tious question" for the reason that i
! would"involve the same grave issues whicl
d produced the agitation, the sectional strif
C and the fearful struggle of 1885," ant
5 would be "a departure from the cOurs
i pursued on that memorable OCCASION.
e True. indeed, it was departure, on,
e whose highways and byways" are marked
= with scenes revolving to the patriot anC
2 discreditable to the sons of glorious an
b cestry. Had the Territory of Kansas ant
: Nebraska been organized, leaving tn,
a Missouri Compromise undisturbed, as wer,
: the Mexican Laws by the legislation o
j 1850, then he who endorsed the one could
e have consistently sanctioned the other
: But, as it is, maintain that no man whC
e honestly endorsed the letter and spirit O
: the compromise measures of 1850, can en-
= dorse the Legislation of "a without max
5 ing record glaring with inconsistencies
t In the one case Congress refused to re
e peal or annul the Mexican Laws, which
t kept slavery out, and in the other, Will
e vandal hand, tore down time-honored
act of the American Congress to let sla.
: very in. In both cases the Territory was
5 free by law. That law was preserved in the
, one and annulled in the other. In the one
9 case Mr.. Davis, of Miss, appealed to the
: Senate to annul the Mexican Laws; but