Daily national Democrat., 1861-02-19
Criltenden Compromise.


degrees and thirty minutes, through all the
territory Of the Union, giving all the land
north of the line to freedom absolutely, and
all south Of it to slavery, if the people, when
they come TO form state Government de-
sire it. We see nothing unfair in this, and
we are surprised that SO fair a sheet as the
Appeal should oppose such compromise
1t cannot be said that the Republican party
would thereby abandon their principles ;
because they hold certain principles now, nn-
der the existing Constitution, as Mey inter
pret it--but, if the Constitution were chang
cd in obedience to great demand OF lhe
times for peace and the preservation OF the
Union, the principles of parties would be nee
cssarly modified by the change, and the Re
publican party would be included in the list
/ Agreeing to change the Constitution, Of
course they would DO 50 for eXpedicncy'5
sake, and they would not desire to set up ai-
tcrwards principles in conflict with plain
constitutional clause, about which there could
be no dispute Seward himself acknowledS-
Constitutions Of Governments in accordance
with the unlocked for necessities of times
succeeding ther adoption. And we may add
that no country has existed without its reyo-
lulions. bloody or otherwise; and these rev
olutions settle great fundamental principles.
What was the Magma Charta but the fixing
Of certain principles in the English Con.til' :
tion ? What was the Petition of Right, but
thing of like character? The revolution Of
I Cromwc ell and the revolution Of 1858, both
left behind them grand principles which are
now incorporated in the English Govern
ment After seas of blood as well as cOmmo-
tions without blood England knows to-day
what she has learned in the dear school Of
experience, to wit: the exact boundaries of
the royal prcrogative and the relative rights
of the people as represented in Parliament
and elsewhere Parties are not to-day in
that country what they were centuries ago,
not by any means, because doubtful princi-
pies have been settled and contested Que:-
tions determined by the high authorities Of
conventions or Of armed revolution. Now,
the period has arrived in the history of the
United States, when the question of slavery
must be settled by the incorporation Of some
fixed principle in the Federal Constitution.
Revolution has assumed such proportions as
to be able to demand it, and something maSt
be done at the dictate Of peace or as the re-
suit Of war. A Compromise like that Of
Crltenden's would settle the matter forever.
1t would hurt neither North nor South be-
cause north Of the line proposed slavery
would not naturally go, and south Of it the
people would decide for themselves whether
they wanted il or not; and so some of the
incoming States, formed out Of Territory
south Of that line, would be slave and some
of them free.
The question Of eXpcdiency, then, being
perhaps settled, the only remaining olcc-
ton, on the part of the Republicans would
be on the score Of morality, their belief be-
ing, as they say, that slavery is morally
wrong. Bat, let us see how liimsy an OBJ
jecton this is, when properly viewed. With
ont stopping to question the correctness of
their position as to the moral aspect of the
subject, have they not already waived the
objection on thai score, in conaening as they
do TO the existence of slavery in the States
If slavery is right in thp States, is it not
right in the Territories Was it not the act
of the people of the States, when they came
to form a State Constitution, which lcgalized
eyes Of the Republicans And viii not the
act Of the people in the Territories, when
they come to form Mejr State Constitutions
egalize and establish it in the same manner
Where, then, is the sense or consistency of
heir scruples of morality, in regard to this
natter
We are firmly of the opinion that either
The Crittenden or the Douglas Co mpromise
must be adopted, or the South will for the
most part separate itself from the North
We have never believed that the present
evolutionary spirit of the South was justified
by any of the events of our national history,
because, as yet, the South has not been very
ocrceptibly injured; but revolution has pro-
tressed so far, under the shrinking and driv-
ling policy of the present incumbent of the
Residential Chair, that it now is in an atti-
ude to defy any ordinary physical force,
md to demand concessions from the opposite
lection, as the price of peace.
Douglas offers principle which would |
oreyersettle all dificulty-a principle which
would fix the amount of population a Terri
ory should have before a local Government
should be given it, and, when that amount
should lie reached, leave the people to regu-
ate their own domestic institutions, whether
he Territories were North, South or in any
'thcr quarter
SHORT BUT TO THE PoINT.-It should not be
forcibly and truthfully says the
New Hampshire Patriot, that the people of
.he United States, by majority of nearly a
million, have condemned and repudiated the
1olicy of Black Republicanism, the triumph |
If which, in the late election, in spite of that
immense majority against it, has brought
bout the present ruinous and alarming CON
Iition of affairs. More than 100000 men
olcmnly protested, through the baIlot-box
gainst that party and its policy, while but
100000 men supported them. As their
olcy is thus condemned and repudiated 10y
II immense majority of the people, and as
le fear of the evil results from it has brought