The penny press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1859-1860, 1860-01-19

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lican party cannot be prevented from coming
into power--or that even If 1t should come into
power, the nation would not be both competent
and resolved to keep it in proper bounds, or
arm and suppress it.
THE TERRITORIAL QUESTION.
The entire North in two divisions-the Re-
publicans, and the unfriendly legislation
Democrats--are arrayed against both the
fact and the right of what the greater part Of
the South asserts is the law of the land under
the decision Of the Supreme Court.
oALAMrroUs RESULTS OF THE POLITICAL INTER-
FRREEcE OF THE SUPREME COURT.
The dispute whether the National Terri
tories are slave Territories under the Consti-
tuition ia most calamitous result of attempt
ing to turn over questions pre.eminently politi-
cal to tribunals, wholly judicial as If public
men were warranted in supposing that greet
nations in the highest state Of political excite
ment believed any more In the infallibility OF
Judges, than they did in the infallibility Of
Senators, Kings, or Popes. Even if the deoi.
sion of the Supreme Court had boon so clear
that no man could doubt what was decided
and so cogent that no man could gainsay itG
justice as between the parties to the particular
cause then heard; it would have been q mira
Gle If the decision had settled any political
question. Its main effect was obliged to be-
let the decision be what it might-to exas-
perate all parties, and to render any peaceful
adjustment Of any aspect Of the slave question,
far more difficult than before. In truth, the
Constitutional right which the South supposes
she has secured, can be Of no practical value,
even If ii were universally conceded. For ii
she remains in the Union, she can not carry
on the foreign slave trade; and unless she can
do that she can not proitably send slaves
enough into any Territory we possess--nor
masters enough with those she may send to
prevent their emancipation as soon as the
Territory becomes State. Tho experiment
in Kansas il surely decisive. If, on the other
hand, any portion Of the South will deem it a
sufficient reason to secede, that more slaves
may be imported from Africa, and new slave
Territories formed; either, half the slave States
will not seoede for that reason, Or If all secede
and oonfsderacy Of all the slave States is
formed, that oonfederaoy can not be expected
to allow the African slave trade to be re-
newed e..
The PEOPLE WILL DBCIDE-NOT THE COURTS.
No doubt, of late years, the tendency of
opinion has been to attribute far more sacred
Ube6 W JuuiCibi lutcI pIobhbIOub LQHQ the
founders of the Republic allowed and, there
fore, we witness such fierce debates as to the
true sense Of the Dred Scott decision. With
all possible veneration for the Federal Consti-
tuition, we are not to forget that it was made
for US, not We for it; and, with all loyalty
both toward the national and our State Gov
erhments, let us remember that tie highest of
all loyalty is to society itself, which is above
every form it can possibly put on. Under all
forms Of society, the sll-psrvading questions
are political questions; questions which never
can be permanently settled in free govern
ments; except through representative bodios,
aud then in accordance with the public oon-
science. The question of slavery, as it relates
to the nation, falls under these general con-
sideratious in remarkable manner.
ExrREMIsM OF PARTY.
So long as parties on the one side or other,
seek by every means to assert extreme claims
in others, nothing remains but to fight the
question out in each territory, or, what is
worse, to fight It out over the ruins of the Re-
public, or, what is worst of all, break up the
Union and fight it out afterward.
THE REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE A
GREAT POLITICAL ERROR.
As Southern man, deplored, and still
ieplsre, the repeal of the Missouri Compro
mise, as great political error, pre-emineotly
Injurious to the South. As an American citi
zen deplore the fearfully undue Importance
which the control by Congress over slavery
in the Territories has been made to assume
in our national politics.
THE CONSERVATIVE MIDDLE MEN.
There is no hopelessness in the present as.
pect of affairs. Conservative voters will sd-
Just the difficulty. ...
The enormous mass of voters who acted
with one or other Of those parties-and the
greater part of whom are now acting with the
Republican or Democratic party-are fal
from being committed so permanently to either
that it can be predicted with certainty what
course they will take If matters come to the
worst. Moreover there are very few States
in the Union, in which there is such unity OF
sentiment, as to insure even decided and
constant majority upon either side of the most
important political questions; and nothing ia
more common in many of the States than sud
den and great revolutions in opinion. After
all, the heart Of the nation may be sound, and
it only needs to be convinced of Its peril, tha,
it may, by one mighty outburst Of patriotic
enthusiasm, crush every party that has tried
with its convictions and overwhelm every
public man that has betrayed it.
THE SOUTH SHOULD PAUSE.
The sagacious mon of the South should moi
be deceived by party olamor. ...,., ~.
Even with the perfect certainty that every
slave State will resist with arms any interfer
ence with its security as connected with iti
slaves; there are topics connected with the
time and manner of that resistance which
might easily terminate very fatally, and topic
connected with slavery itself (tho slave trad,
for example) on which the most determined
difference of opinion has manifested itself.
NO sHRIous VIOLATION YET OF RIGHTS NORTH OF
Neither parties have yet proceeded to ex
tremities, and mere apprehensons will no
Justify any irregular, much less any extreme
proceedings further than may be necessary
and effectual to prevent that impending VIC
lstion. ,.
WE ARE ONE FAMILY-oNE NATION.
Let each party act with mutual justice
good faith and forbsarance. It is true tina
the States are sovereign States. But it il
equally true that the nation is naton--th'
American people people. Great nations car
not suddenly disappear like cloud of insects
nor do powerful nationalties fade in day
like tho flower of the grass. It took tn,
Roman Empire thousand years to die; anC
the Hebrew nationality has survived through
all the possible fortune of four thousand years
To rend o nation in twain ia far more tor
rible procedure than for o nation to recover
s,ool hU int ats al