The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1861-03-23
THE END oFeAN ERA.


of the Thirty=sixth Congress. ended an Era
In the internal policy Of our government.
Tha; Era was the Era of Compromise. For
The last forty years. the statesmen and par.
ties who have administered the government
:: have made Compromise the basis Of their
- pehac~scFsed' and have applied it to the ad
lustment of every disagreement or Difficult.
tya INSTEAD Of. boldly meeting danger, and
destroying isby removing its causes, their
policy has been to appease the threatening
element each time it appeared, and, by grant
ing some portion at1east of it's demands, to
postpone TO future period the execution Of
its threats. .'RsA the time came, a: length,
when the people awoke to the knowledge
that Compromise increases instead of lessons
danger, because it strengthens and encopr=
ages The source from which danger springs;
ana accordingly. in November last, they
elected A-PseEidens pledged-to positive and
- coseiusiye policy; upon the questions then
dividing =the nation. They laid down GER.
tain Fundamental principles and fixed rules
of seton. to serve az instructions to the new
administration; and if apy doubt ever exist
ed as to the fidelity of President Lincoln to
those instructions. they must certainly have
been dispelled by the tone of his inaugural
and the composition of his Cabinet. We
., say therefore with confidence that the Era of
Of Compromise is ended.
The old leaders and the overthrown par
ties were. of course. alarmed and outraged
hxyf Of h. u -.
asst was positively ascertained. they increas-
ed. their Gxorbitant demands, and backed
them with treasonous and Unprecedented
threats. Their hope was to secure--a last
concession, which should be equivalent to
the perpetual ira nsfer of the government into
their hands. gbefore the new administration
came into power. Knowing the devotion of
the people of the North to the Union, aud
the proverLial weakness of our leaders on
that subject, seven of the States for whose
benefit the old policy had been adopted
and adhered to, "seceded,' and others de-
msnded great concessions as the only condi-
ton upon which they would refrain from
doing the same. Forts, arsenals, minis and
Gust ON houses were seized, and civil war
openly threatened. The administration for
long time actively assisted, and never Sc
niously opposed. this party. Meantime, a
"4Peace Congress was called, the '1Critten-
den Compromise" vas introduced and
urged, the " Committee of Thirty three -
Was formed, and numberless other traps
were laid to catch the timid, the time-serv-
inv fba vaOal ord 4ba yao;ltat;nrr
bly, none of US who have not been at w ash
ingtoD during the struggle. can form aaF
'conception:of the powerful and multitudin-
Gus influences brought to bear upon Con-
gress, all tending, though by diverse. ways,
,.uo the one end of the surrender of the prin-
'ripies upon which Mr.: Lincoln was elected
and thessadoption Of a new Compromise.
Under the influence of this tremendous pres
sure, men who had never before wavered
grew weak and uncertain, and others who,
Mess troubled times, had been able to con-
-'ceal beneath respectable conservatism any
positively obnoxious principles, betrayed
their real proclivities. TWAS trying time;
and the pressure was SO powerful and the
danger so great that the wonder seems to US
now, not that many faltered and some fell,
bat that enough were steadfastto prevent the
enemy 8 complete success. Foremost among
those who stood thus ''faithful among the
faithless" and strong among the weak. was
: The Representative from Kansas. One jew
ei. Deviation. to Liberty-had from the be.
ginning adorned her coESaies.. Neither threats
nor brides nor strickening poverty had avail
ed to make her part with it. Shining where
she had placed it. at once her only ornament
and her only treasure, she gave it into his
single keeping. He has kept the sacred
charge, and its brightnessis untarnished and
undimmed. Hereafter, whoever may serve
her in the halls of Congress, she can never
be more houored or more faithfully repre-
serted than she has been by him; and when
instructing those who may succeed him, she
need only bid them emulate-for they can
not excel-the inaexible spirit and stern in
tegrity of CoxwAY.
We have not room here to give detailed
history Of the different schemes and propo-
sitions to which We have alluded as marking
the close of the Era Of Compromise. Suf-
fee it to say that the crittenden Compromise
signally failed N both houses-that the prop
ositions of the Peace Congress fell still-born
and have served only astcmb-stones to mark
thegraves of the politicians who died in Civ
ing them bir;h-and that the following reso
luton. which emanatsd from the Committee
of Thirty three. was the only successful
proposition introduced:
RESOLVED, By the Senate and House of Rep
resentatiVes Of the United States of Americs
in Congress assembled, two. thirds of boil
houses eoncurring. that the following article
be submitted to the Legislatures of the seve
raj States, as an amendment to the Constitu
ton Of the United States. which, when RAJ
fled by rtfee -fourths of said Legislatures
shall be valid. 70 ali iHtents aud purposes, a