Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-01-17


Those Northern people who are crying ont
50 Justify, st the promptingu Of their fears,
that compromise should be made with our
Southern rebels, would do well to remember
that all this wickedness and folly had its ori-
gin in this very thing called compromise 1T
is the Missouri Compromise that IS the father
Of the present rebellion. That compromise
was made in 1921; and far-sesing men then
denounced it as a breeder Of future iniquity.
It was then called the planting a tree Of evil,
whose bitter and blighting fruits we should
some day be obliged to harvest That tree
has now ripensd its abundant and pestilent
crop, and the harvesting We cannot avoid If
we would. our only resort now is not 70
plant any more such trees, but to carefully
gather and destroy ali the fruit Of this one,
and then thoroughly root up and destroy the
tree itself-and so end the pestilence alto
gether
Those who remember the details Of the pas
sage of that compromise through Congress,
viii not have forgotten the excitement It
caused at the North among the constituents
of those Northern Congressman that were
drawn into the measure, and voted for it,
And no more viii they have forgotten the
exultations Of the South over the triumph
they had achieved through the aid Of North
ern votes. The eccentric John Randolph
was then prominent in the House Of Repre-
sentatives, and his merciless sarcasm taiFlS I,g
vote passed, and fully secured, than he assaiI-
ed the Northern men "whO had yielded to
the compromise with his keenest shafts Of
satire He dubbed them "dough-faces,'
which, so far as we know, is the origin OF
that most significant epithst as applied to po-
litical delinquents. In his exultatons he de-
nounced the whole North as one eow@rdly
pattern Of humanity, whose blood would fly
their countenances at the first sight OF dan
ger. a0n the final vote. Mr.. Speaker" said
he, 81 we had these dough-taces, as many as
we required, and could have had more, but
we would moi" From that day, and from
circumstances thus growing out Of that com
promise, the entire South took up and re-
peated the cry that all men Of the North are
towards; and that cry, thus begun, has been
continued 70 the present hour. One whole
generation has passed away since that event.
and the present men Of the South, who are
enactsng treason there, have, from their very
cradles constantly heard that the North con-
tains no man that will not turn pale and
trembIe at the sound of threat. This so
long taught has come to be believed By these
Southern rebels; and it is that belief which
lies at the bottom Of this whole movement Of
rebellion. It is all designed to scare the
North, and to obtain new concessions to the
slave power.
This, then, is the fruit Of that fatal COM
promise; and viii making another comprO-
mise better our condition, or bring peace to
our borders No; our quiet viii be farther
removed than ever by each and every new
concession. The crisis that is upon Us is the
fruit Of our own fault; and sooner or later,
we all see, it has got to be met; no comprO-
mise, however craven, on our part, can avert
it but only stay it for e time; and it would
be a moral delinquency, on our part to do
this, and so cast the accumulsting evil upon
the shoulders of poslerity, instead Of meeting
it now, as we are bound to do, and so finish
it forever. ..I I.-.
Meanwhile, amidst all the evils which this
rebellion is producing, it seems likely to bring
one substantial good with it, and that is the
release OF MEn AAQlA Llb Ml1utaA AOA4AAuLAOA
of what is known as spiritiaLiSm. II seem:
wholly impossible that the great and the good
Of our revolutionary period can now be wit
Messing the dark and damning plJis and ma
chinations Of the present traitors to destroy
that fair fabric which they fought for and es
tsbIshed, without # permitted, reading tC
these political assassins such midnight lessOnl
as should set their hair on end, and stay tbeil
sscrilegious hands And can any suppose
Washington has witnessed the treason of th'
present successor to the Presidential Chair
and that too with ample means OF reaching
the delinquent with his words, without vent
ing upon him msledictions at least as scath
ing and terrible as those be poured out upoI
the devoted head Of General Lee, at the bat
tie OF Monmouth, and for identieally the saml
crime, viz: treason 10 The cause he had sl0ori
70 defsadi No, no: this Is impossible; anC
we may therefore safely assume that thes'
immortal worthies, in whichever "sphere
they may chance to be, if they have knOWl
edge Of what is passing here upon earth, anC
means Of communicating with Us, instead 0
sending Us amended versions Of nurserJ
rhymes, and furnishing, from out thei
.'spheFes," rscsipts for compouhding pap anC
eaudle, would ere now have flashed npor
these miscreants such lights Of the past ant
the present as would have scared their eve
balls to behold. -.ast,4UlTFf