Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1861-02-08
The Folly OF Compro misses.


The Folly Of Compromises.
Contentious and disputes sometimes arise
which can be honorably compromised be
tween the parties. If two men differ il
the settlement Of accounts, or if two cor
porations differ as to claims due, il is al
easy and proper mode to adjust their diff
fercnces by compromise, it being matter
of dollars and cents, and thus save all fur
ther strife and contention. But not so OF
principles or ideas; and the history of al
compromises on the subject of slavery
proves that it is an unmitigated folly. In
1920, the fury and wrath Of the slavehold.
erss rose and we made the Missouri com.
promise, which lasted till it was DESTROYED
BY the same power that made il, the most
bitter fruits of which the country is now
reaping. This lasted till 1882, when we
got down on our knees and compromised
with the traitors of South Carolina, on the
tariff, and at the same time Gen. jackson
predicted that the next difficulty with that
State "would be on the negro question, y
which prediction has psoved true to the let.
ter. The right of petition was denied
for while, and this compromise lasted till
1850, when the slave power made new de-
mands, and the result was another compro-
mise, in which was enacted the most infa-
nous Fugitive Slave Law the world ever
knew. With the passage of this compro-
mise, the Shareholders did not temporarily,
as before, cease their demands, but followed
it up with the Nebraska bill of 1854, and
still pressed forward to make Kansas a
slave State, against the will of her people,
whom they compelled to suffer the most
barbarous and inhuman cruelties, parallel
10 which can only be found in the history
of the Indian wars in the early days Of this
country. This, in brief, is the history Of
one phase Of these compromises. Now for
another.
The history Of political parties bears
most striking record on this subject. The
democratic party has for the most part Of
the time been successful and welded the
power of the government; why? Because
their leaders had the nerve, pluck and cour-
age to carry forward their policy. Gen.
jackson "took the responsibility" and on
his second election carried the country by
an overwhelming majority. Van Buren,
was trimmer, and broke down. Gen.
Harrison was brave old soldier, and tri-
umphed in 1910. Gen. Taylor was anoth-
er, and succeeded in l848. Gen. Scott was
another, but the compromise of 1850 killed
both him and the wing party. Stephen A.
Douglas is not without courage, but he is a
compromiser, and where is he to-day, and
where was he last summer? He carried a
single State, being three less even than
Gen. Scott had in 1852. Now where are
the statesmen and great men of our coun-
try! The wing party we're never success
fnl on their policy; why? Because their
great leaders were ever vacillating and
compromising. Henry Clay, the greatest
statesman of the whig party, who ought to
have been elected president in 1910, was
always compromiser, was overthrow at
The Harrisburg convention of 1889, to be ,
put up and defeated in 1874. How about
Daniel Webster, man whom we have adj
nred more than any other of the old whig
party He, too, was compromiser, but
ne was abandoned BY the slave power and
'epudiated in Massachusetts,. Mr.. Critten-
len, the venerable senator from Kentucky, |
: a compromiser, and he now retires TO s
make room for democrat. F.,
Such has been the fate Of compromising s
nd compromisers. Such is the fearful d
warming to the Republican party, and yet I
o-day. we see great men apparently tray e
ling in tae same highway. The American t
'eople ADMIRE nerve and courage every S
where. it was seen in Jackson, Harrison. r
nd Taylor. IL is seen now in their testi. :
nouials TO Maj. Anderson and Lieut.. Stem u
nen, and 1T WILL ne SEEN HEREAFTER. o