Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-01-08

NAA "a NNi - AlN iNNIN NNafA
Hhils abroad the tit,oit conieTs 81 American
citizen i a nobler credensiaI thaa Nas that Of
Romaa. eitiEoa when The olessFa ruled
But great prosperous, and powerful na y
the Republia. al peace with all nations, snd
Die deserved object oi universal admiration,
& Is now threatened with imminent perils
ffon Internal disaensions The public tran
ouility 8 seriously disturbed. The patriotism
Of he country D justly alarmed. The unity
Of The Government 8 denied. Doctrines
subTsriivo oi rs existence are boldly adyo-
Gated end made The basis Of State action
Under TIE prsieRded right 81 State 10 So
cedo from she Ooniederasy at ils pleasure in
peaca or was constitutional liberty Is im-
periled, revolution & meditfted, and treason Is
justified. - .u-f.s 70 s-sr.
We may well pause to inquire, why these
diseontenls, these hostile demonstrations
aQtinrl The Federal Government FHfEI
Ambitious men IN Republics who End their
alma inverted by the regular and peaceful
working Of government, always seek pre-
texts Q disturb Is easy progress, however
prosperous. farty, sectional. personal pre-
jpdices, the growth d dirersliies ID local in
stituiioua habits, and pursuits are seized
N|NNA kN NNl4 AAHAII ~ NANAAA IalAaatAAaAAN Al~
tween the various classes Of country,
strongly unitea BY common interests, but
whose ahion gives them 4 grnhdeor too I'M
posing 70 b graspei BY malcontents who
without merit 70 reach the highest authority
in a great CommonWealth, would reduce il to
fragments % become masters Ia a part Such
conspiraiors never disclose tbe secret motives
Of their disuontent but iabrieate pretences
lor Dissatisfaction Rm0Rg The masses they
Woald move, BY appealsto their pride, their
jealousy their envy, quiokened By narrow,
mistaken, yei hoaesi PATRIOTISM for the local
~ Of is birth, which irom peeuliarity in do-
nestle institutions, has lost the vantage
ground OF superior political influence, once
held in the COnfederaey, s2,i q =. rg.a'
The vast disproporti0nHte increase OF pO-
liGeal power Of the free States over that Of
the slave States, espscially OF those where the
wealth hoTS from an industry and a species
Of agricultlre which expels the white race,
and accumulates another fatal to all progress
has created q preponderance IN Che Northern,
Western and Middle States which has secured
70 them The permanent Oontrol Of the govern
during the fFst forty-eight years Of the Re
public It bed IS impulse, for the most part,
nom the great heart bsating in itscentral re-
gion. Except The two from Massachusetts,
an its Presidents may be said 10 have been
Virginia Presidents, for jackson and Van
BWen were chosen through her inhuence.-
During The Administration Of The elder Ad-
anus, her star dominated over the Congress
sional councils il the person Of Vice Presi-
dent Jefferson. During that Of the second,
Il -.-.sr K, l,-ti7 b-,-,at,o of fl,,,r-rso5
through tie prestige imparted to her candi-
date, Jackson, By The commanding elOquence
Of her Senators and Representatives,
Throughout tie almost half ctntuTy Of Re
publican rule, under the auspices Of Virginia,
the free States were not merely content but
With the exception Of q pafc1ysrn growing
out Of the commercial difficulties contriEed
/ BY Great Britain, dissipl ted BY the war she
provoked, and the momentaFy panic quieted
BY the Missouri Compromise, gave it that
zealods support which rendered this era so
happy and prosperous for the whole country.
Slavery, the anomaly in our institutions, was
looked upon throughout this period as dis
tfesing eEcEescenee, the result Of the yoke we
had worn in our infancy, and which the
strength Of our Constitution would in time
throw of. q .-l5.1 fs,l5
II Ees not until the Premiership Of Mr.
Calhoun, which opened the designs of slavery
pnopagaHdism, thas serious alHrm arose among
the friends OF Republican government that
the power Of a sectional interest, founded on
slavery, was msditatlng themeans Of contest
ing its supremacy over the continent. The
tree States accorded 10 the South all the ter
ritory in which slavery previously existed, to
open up and drain of the sources OF its ma
laria by the African labor it possess Cd. They
trusted that sthe Anglo-Saxou race Of free-
men multiplied and oyerhowed from the
north and middle regions, the inferior race
would recede further South, and make this
whole continent the abode Of freedom. But
the demand that acquisitions Of free terri
tory should be consigned 10 slavery; that
! California should be rejected from the Union
because she came with free republican con-
stitution in her hand, unveiled the deception
praeticsd in the pledge, given by leading ad-
yocates Of tie annexation Of Texas, that it
would open the way f0r the WithdrswaI of
slavery from the temperate lOne on its march
to mingls with the freed blacks in the trop-
les Of Central America. The compromise of
1850, providing for the admission OF four ad-
ditional slave States from Texas, consecrated
that portion added from The New Mexican
conquest east Of the Rio Grande and north Of
the Missoori ComprOmiss line, to freedom
although claimed By Texas--and left all the
resi- Of the territory acquired to the con
straction Of the Mexican law which had
abolished slavery ct one time existing there
This was the second hard-WOn pacifcstion by
which ar. Clay hoped 70 lay forever the
spectre Of disuniOn founding it on the prin-
cinle Of the ordinance Of 1857, which had
resigned 70 slavery al the territory which
properly appertained 70 the domain of the
slave States, reserving that belonging 70 the
United States Tor settlement by freemen ex-
clusiYely.
The leading parties in their Presidential
platforms, IN which they submitted their
claims for the sanction Of the popular vote
at the immediately ensuing election, ratified
the settlement Of 1880, adding new sane
ton to the Missouri Compromises. But both
these compacts between the States for the
settlement Of the great sectional issues were
nullifed BY the Kansas. Nebraska bill. This
brought on the civil war in Kansas, Waged
70 defeat the right Of the people 10 exclude
slavery from the sanction of their eonstitu-
tion, and this falling, the State itself has
been excluded from admission into the I'm
ion. in violation Of the uniform practice of
tile Government from its establishment
The repeal Of the Missouri Compromise did
lot satisfy the slave propagandists. It did
not remove the ban against slavery in the
territory acquired from Mexico, and which
might extend to other territories hereafter
acquired. To secure the right Of taking aRd
holding their slaves in the territories, and
TO fortify it against Congressional interfer-
ence, the supreme Court was invoked 70 es-
tablish as 3 part Of the Constitution, that
the local, domestic, State in stitution Of sla-
very was a property which 6 man could
carry with him and hold as property, Wher-
ever be could 20 himself, and, Il sTefore, it
would be violation Of the Constitution 10
exclude the Institution from any territories
Of the United States. AS the Constitution
Of the United States is equally supreme in
the maintenance Of rights placed under its
protections whether they are coHtTaYened by
the constitutions and laws Of Ststes and Ter
ritoriea, the Drad Scott decision, as interpre-
ted by the South, opens the whole country
70 the expansion Of slavery.
"