St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1860-03-15


timately the interior of this new con.
tlnent should be an asylum for the op.
pressed and the exile, coming year ai.
ter year and ge after age, voluntari.
ly from every other civilized land. as
well as for the children of misfortune
IN our own, or whether, through the
renewal of tho African slave t.adv
those magnificent and luxuriant re-
gions should be surrendered to the
control of capital, wringing out the
fruit of the earth through the ilnpov-
erlshing toll of negro slaves. That
question of 1920 was identically 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 rightfulness or the wrong
fulncss of Slavery ; it's effects, pres
cut and future ; the Constitutional au-
thority of Congress ; the claims of the
States, and Of their citizens the ma
ture of the Federal Union, whether it
is compact between the States, or
an independent Government the
springs OF its powers, and the liga-
lures upon their exercise. All these
were discussed with zeal and ability
which have never been surpassed.
History tells us, know not how tru-
ly, that the Union recled under the We
hcmcnce of that great debate. Pat
riotism 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 and
Arkansas were admitted as capital
States, while labor obtained, as a
reservation, the abridged but yet COM
prehcnsivc field of Kansas and Ne
braska. Now, when the present con-
dtions of the various parts of the
Louisiana Territory arc observed, and
We see that capital retains undisputed
possession of what it then obtained,
while labor is convulsing the country
with 50 hard and SO prolonged strug-
gle to regain the lost equivalent which
was then guaranteed to it under Cir
cumstauccs Of SO great soIemnity, We
may we'll desire not to be undcceivcd
if the Missouri Compromise was in
deed unnecessarily accepted by the
Free States influenced by cxaggcra
tions of the dangers Of DisuniOn. Tht
Missouri debate disclosed truths o
great moment for ultcrior use
First That it is easy to combine
the capital States in defense Of ever
external interests, while it is hard It
unite the labor States in common
policy.
.Second That the labor States hay,
natura! loyalty to the Union, while
the capital States have natural ia
cility for alarming that loyalty by
threatening .Disunion.
Third: That the capital States d.
not practically distinguish between
the legitimate and constitutional re
sistancc to the extension of Slavery
in the common Territories Of the
Union and unconstitutional aggression
against Slavery established hy local
laws III. tic .Capitai states.
The early political parties were or
ganized without reference to Slavery
but since lS2O European questions
have left US practically unconcerncd
There has been great increase Of i'll
vcntlon, mining, manufacture, and
cultivation. Steam on land and oil
water has quickcncd commerce. The
press and the telegraph have attained
prodigious activity, and the social i'll
tcrcoursc between the States anC
their citizens has been immeasurably
increased and consequently theil
mutual relations affecting Slavery
have been for many years, subjects o
earnest and often excited discussion
1t is in my way only to show how sucl
disputes have operated on the course
of political cventS-not to rc-opel
them for argument here. There was
a slave insurrection in Virginia. Nir
ginia and Kentucky debated, and, tc
the great sorrow Of the Free States
rejected the system Of voluntary la
Dor. The Colonization Society was
established with much favor in tn,
capital States. Emancipation Socic
ties arose in the Free States. Soutl
Carolina instituted proceedings to nul
lify obnoxious Federal revenue laws
The capital States complained o.
Courts and Leg sislatures in the labor
States, for interpreting the constitu
tional provision 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 de
MED, in Congress, the right of peti
ton, and embarrassed or denied free
dom Of debate on the subject of slave
ry. Presses, which undertook the de
fence Of the labor system in the capi
tai State, public assemblies, convened
to consider Slavery questions, wer,
dispersed by mobs sympathizing will
the capital States. The Wing party
being generally all opposition party
practiced some torbearance TOWARD
the interest of labor. The Dcmocrati,
party, not without demonstrations 0
dissent, was generally found sustain
ing the policy Of capital. A disposi
tiun toward the removal of Slavery
from the presence of the national cap
| itol appeared i'll the District OF Colum
bia. Mr. Van Buren, a Democratic
President, launched prospective veto
against the anticipated measure. A
Democratic Congress brought Texas
into the Union, stipulating practically
for its future reorganization into foui
slave States. Mexico was incensed
War ensued. The labor States asket
that the Mexican law of liberty, whicl
covered the Territories brought in by
the treaty of peace, might remain ant
be confirmed. The Democratic part,
refused. The Missouri debate of lS2i
REQUIRED now, under circumstances 0
heat and excitement, in relation t,
these conquests. The defenders o
labor took alarm lest the number 0