The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-03-15

opened was one which related not at all to
slavery in the existing capital States.-
1t was purely and simply national questi, IN
whether the common interest of the whole
Republcrequiref that Arkansas. Missouri,
Kansas, and Nebraska, should become capi-
tai States, with all the evils and dangers oi
slavery, or be Labor States, with all the Sc
curity, benefits and blessings of freedom. On
the decision was suspended the question, as
was thought, whether ultimately the interior
of this new continent should be an ASYLUM
for the oppressed and the exile, coming year
after year and age after age voluntarily from
every other civilized land, as well as for the
children of misfortune in our own, or whetl,-
er, through the renewal Of the African slave
trade. those magnificet and luxuriant regions
should be surrendered to the control of capi-
tai, wringing out the fruit of the earth tho
the impovishiny toll of negro slaves That
question of 1920 was identicaly the question
OF 1860, so far as principle, and even the
field of its application was concerned. Every
element Of the controversy now present
entered it then; the rightftlness or the
wrongfulness of Slavery its effects, present
and future the Constitutional authority of
Congress the claims Of the States, and of
their citizens; the nature of the. Federal
Union, whether it is compact between the
States, or an Independent Government; the
springs Of its powers, and the limitations
upon their exercise All these were discuss
cd with zeal and ability which have never
been surpassed. History tells us. know
not how truly, that the Union reelel under
the vahemence Of that debate. Patrionism
took counsel from prudence. and enforced a
settlement which has proved to be not final
one; and which, as is now seen, practically
left open all the great political issues which
were involved. Missouri anil Arkansas were
admitted as Capital States, while Labor OBJ
tanned, as a reservation, the abridged but vet
comprehensive field ofKansas and Nebraska
Now. when the present conditions of the
various parts of the Lousianian Territory
are observed, and we see that capital retains
undisturbcl possession Of what it then OBJ
tainel, while Labor is convulsng the coun-
try with so harl AM s, prolonged struggle
TO regain the lost equivalent which was then
guaranteed to it unIcr crcum stances Of so
great solemnity we my well desire not to
he undeceived if the Missouri Compromise
was indeed unnecessarily accepted by the
Free States influenced by exageratlons of the
dangers of DSunion The Missouri debate
disclosed truths of great moment for ulterior
USE
First: That it is easy to combine the Cap
ital States in defense Of even external inter-
ests, while it is hard to unite the Labor States
In common policy.
Second That the Labor States have a
natural loyalty to the Union, while the Capt.
ital States have natura! facility for alarming
that loyalty by threatening Disunion.
Third That the Capital States do not
practically distinguish between legitimate
and constitutional resistance to the extension
of Slavery in the common Territories of the
! Union, and unconstitutional aggression
against Slavery established by local laws in
the Capital States.
The early Political parties were organized
without reference to slavery. But since 1920,
/ European questions have left us practically
unconcened. There has been great in
crease of invention, mining, manufacture, and
! cultivation. Steam on land and on water
has quickene commerce. The press and
the telegraph have obtained prod gious activ-
| ity, and the social intercourse between the
States and their citizens has been immeasur-
ably increased, and consequently, their mu-
tual relations affecting slavery have been, for
many years, subjects of earnest and often
excited discussion. It is in nv way only
to show how such disputes have operated
on the course of political events-not to re-
open them for argument here There was a
slave insurrection in Virginia. Virginia and
Kentucky debated, and, to the great sorrow
of the Free States, rejected the system of
voluntary labor. The Colonization Society
was established with m ich favor in the Capt.
tai States Emancipation Societies arose in
the Free States. South Carolina instituted
proceedings to nullify obnoxious Federal
revenue laws. The Capital States complain
ed of Courts and Legislatures in the Labor
States for interpreting the constitutional pro-
vision for the surrender of fugitives from
service so as to treat them as persons, and
not property, and they Disseminated against
colored persons of the labor States when they
came to the capital States They denied, in
Congress, the right Of petition, and embar-
rassed or denied freedom of debate on the
subject of slavery. Presses, which under
took the defense Of the labor system in the
capital States, were suppressed by violence,
and even in the labor States, public assem-
blies, oonvered to consider slavery questions,
were dispersed by mobs sympathising with
the capital States.
The Wing party, being generally an oppo.
stion party, practiced some forbearanee to-
ward the interest Of labor. The Democratic
party, not without demonstrations of dissent
was generally, found sustaining the policy Of
capital. A disposition toward the removal
of slavery from the presence of the national
capitol aQQNred in the District of Columbia