The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1860-03-15


in by the treaty of peace, might remain
J and be confirmed. The Democratic
, party refused. The Missouri debate
of 1920 required now, under circum-
, stances of heat and excitement, in
. relation to these conquests. The de-
; tenders of labor took alarm lest the
number of new capital States might
become so great as to enable that class
of States to dictate the whole policy
of Government; and in case of con-
stitutional resistance, then to form a
new slaveholding confederacy around
the Gulf of Mexico. BY this time the
capital States seemed to have become
: fixed in determination that the Fed
eral Government, and even the labor
: States, should recognize their slaves,
though outside of the slave States and
within the Territories Of the United
) States, as property of which the master
could not be in any way, or by any au-
thority divested and the labor States,
having become now more essentially
, Democratic than ever before, by the
! great development Of free labor, more
firmly than ever insisted on the consti-
J tutional doctrine that slaves voluntarily
carried by their masters into the com
: mon Territories, or into labor States.
. are persons-men.
Under the auspicions Influence of a
; Wing success, California and New
Mexico appeared before Congress rs
labor States. The capital States re-
fused to consent to their admission
into the Union; and again threats of
} Disunion carried the terror and con
sternation throughout the land. An
: other compromise was made. Specific
enactments admitted California as a
} labor State, and rcmandcd New Mcxi-
co and Utah to remain Territories, with
the right to choose freedom or slavery
j, when ripened into States, while they
gave new remedies for the reception ot
fugitives from service, and abolished
the open slave market in the District
of Columbia. These new enactments
collsted with the existing statutes,
namely, the Ordinance of 1887, the
Missouri Prohibitory law of 1920, and
the articles of Texas annexation, dis
!, posed by law of the subject of Slavery
in all the Territories of the United
States. And so the Compromise of
1850 was pronounced full, final, abso-
lutte, and comprehensive settlement of
all existing and possible disputes con
corning Slavery under the Federal au-
thority. The two great parties, fearful
for the Union, struck hands in making
and presenting this as an adjustment,
never afterwards to be opened, distur-
bed, or even questioned, and the peo-
pie accepted it by majorities unknown
before. The new President, chosen
over an illustrious rival, unequivocally
on the ground of greater ability, even
if not more reliable purpose to maintain
the new treaty inviolate, made haste to
Justify this expectation when Congress
D assembled. He said:
"When the grave shall have closed all who are
e now endeavOring to meet the obligation of duty
the year 1850 will be recurred to period filled
with anxiety and apprehension. successful wal
just terminated; peace brought with it great aug
: mentaion of territory Disturbing questions arose
bearing upon the domestic institutions of portion
of the Confederacv, and involving the constitution
al rights of the States. But notwithstanding diff
ferences of opinion and sentiment, in relation t6
distinguished citizens whose devotion to the Unior
6 can never be doubted. has given renewed vgor tC
our institutions and restored a sense of securit,
. and repose to the public mind throughout the Con
: federary. That this repose is to suffer no shocl
/ during my official term, if have the power Il
avert it, those who placed me here may be assured
Hardly, however, had these inspiring
sounds died away, throughout a reas
sured and delighted land. before the
:. national repose was shocked again
: shocked, indeed, as it had never befor,
been, and smitten this time by blow
: from the very hand that had Just re
leased the chords of the national har,
= from their utterance of that exalted
! symphony of peace.
o Kansas and Nebraska, the long-de
n voted reservation of labor and free
q dom, saved in the agony of nationa
4 fear in 1920, and saved again in III,
4 panic of 1850, were now to be opened
@ by Congress, that the never ending
|. course Of seed time and harvest might
h begin. The slave capitalists of Mis-
, souri,, from their own well-assuret
@ homes on the eastern banks of thei
4 noble river, looked down upon ant
|. coveted the fertile prairies of Kansas
6 while a sudden terror ran through nj
$ the capital States, when they saw
e seeming certainty that at last a new
!. labor State would he built on thei
o western border, inevitably fraught, a
: they said, with near or remote aboli
# ton of Slavery.
IS What could be done? Congress
>. could hardly be expected to interven
If directly for their safety so soon afte
d the Compromise of 1850. The labo
# hive of the free States was distant
e the way new, unknown, and not with
J. out perils. Missouri was near an,
J. watchful, and held the keys of tn
j. gates of Kansas. She might seize TIN
,r new and smiling Territory by snrprise
y if only Congress would remove tn
al barrier established in 1920. The con
iuncture was favorable. Clay am
N Webster, the distinguished citizen
r. whose unquestionable devotion to tn
r. Union was manifested by their acquies
e. cence in the compromise of 1850, ha,
y gone down already into their honore,
i. graves. The'labor States had dismisse,
Of many of their representatives here fo
a. too great fidelity to Freedom, and to
Ut great distrust of the efficacy of tina
a. new bond of peace, and had replace'
c. them with partisans who were onl
la. 1..&