Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-08-03

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decisive influence, even In those slave
holding states which could not raise
cotton. The inevitable and speedy re-
suit was the consolidation of the polit-
ical power necessary to protect an in
terest at once so vast and so liable to
assault
AN ALARM BELL.
The outbreak of the Missouri ex-
element, though natural, was unex-
pected. She causes which led to it
had not been understood and analyz-
ed. The older class of statesmen,
who had come down from the period
of the Revolution. from the great
work of cementing the Union and
organizing the Federal Government,
deplored the agitation and viewed the
result with the gravest apprehension
The compromise by a geographical
line dividing the slave States from
the free was regarded by this class of
patriots as full of danger-a constant
menace to the place and prepetuit of
the Union To Mr. Jefferson, still
living in vigorous old age, the trouble
sounded like an alarm bell rung at
| midnight. While the measure was
pending in Congress he wrote to a
member of the House of Represen-
tives that ''the Missouri question is
the most portentous one that has ever
threatened the Union. In the gloomi,
est hour of the Revolution War l
never had any apprehension equal to
those which | feel from this source.
Men on both sides of the controversy
equally realized its significance and
dreaded its probable results. They
likened the partition of the country
By geographical line unto the an
cient agreement between Abraham
and Lot, where one should go to the
right and the other to the left, with
the certainty of becoming aliens and
the possibility of becoming enemies.
The Missouri question once settled,
the anti-slavery agitation subsidized as
rapidly as it had arisen. This was a
second surprise to thinking men. The
result can, however, be readily ex-
planned. The Northern States felt
that they had absolutely secured for
freedom a large territory west and
north of Missouri The Southern
States believed that they had an i'm
piled and honorable understanding
outside and beyond the explicit letter
of the law-that new States south of
the Missouri line could be admitted
to slavery if they desired. The great
political parties then dividing the
country accepted the result, and for
the next twenty years no agitation of
the slavery question appeared in any
political convention nor affected any
considerable body of the people.
THE ANTI-sLAvERY PIONEERS.
Within that period, however, there
grew up a school of anti-slavery men
far more radical and progressive than
those who had resisted the admission
of Missouri as a slave State. They
formed what was known as the Adolf
ton party, and they devoted them
slavery by every instrumentality
which they could lawfully employ
They began, therefore, by demanding
the abolition of slavery in the Dis
trict of Columbia and in all the Ma
tional forts, arsenals, and dockyards,
where, without question or cavil, the
exclusive jurisdiction belonged to
Congress; they asked that Congress,
under it's constitutional authority to
regulate commerce between the States,
would prohibit the interstate slave
trade; and they prayed that our ships
sailing on the high seas should not be
permitted by the Government to carry
slaves as part of their cargo under
the free flag of the United States and
outside the local jurisdiction that
held them in bondage. They denied
that man should aid in executing
ence to his conscience and trampled
underfoot the Divine command.
Hence they would not assist in the
surrender and the return of fugitive
slaves, holding it rather to be their
duty to resist such violation of the
National rights of man by every peace
full method and justifying their resist
ance by the truths embodied in the
Declaration of independence, and
still more impressively by the pre-
cepts that were taught in the New
Testament.
PERSECUTION AND ABUSE.
In the early days of this agitation
the Abolitionists were a prescribed
and prosecuted class, denounced with
unsparing severity by both the great
political parties, condemned by many
of the leading churches, ibelled by
the public press, and maltreated by
furious mobs. In no part of the coun-
try did they constitute more than a
handful of the population, but they
worked against every Encouragement
with zeal and firmness that bespoke
intensity of moral conviction. They
were in large degree recruited from
the Society of Friends, who brought
to the support of the organization the
same calm and consistent courage
which had always distinguished them
in unfolding before the world their
peculiar tenets of religious faith, car
ing nothing for prejudice. meeting OPP
probrium with silence, shaming the
authors of violence by meek non-re-
sistance, relying on moral agencies
alone, appealing simply to the reason
and the conscience of men. They ar
rested the attention of the nation by
arraigning it before the public opinion
of the world and proclaiming its re-
sponsibility to the judgment of God.
In the light of the present day,
when slavery no longer exists in the
land, when speech is absolutely free
in and out of congress, it is hard to
believe that during the presidency of
Mr.. Van Buren,, and under the speak
ership of Mr.. Polk, the house of rep
resentatives voted that every petition,
memorial, resolution, proposition, or
paper touching or relating in any way
or to any extent whatever to slavery
or the abolition thereof, shall, on pre-
sentation, without any further action
thereon, be laid upon the table with
out being debated, printed or referred. "
The above extracts show sufficiently
the authors style and method They
are taken from the introductory chap
tiers of the work, and give a good idea
of what the book will be when con-
pleted We await with some curiosity
further installment Critics and
readers alike will be anxious to sec
how Mr.. Blaine deals with events
more modern. He has been in public
life for many years, is acquainted with
many secrets of statecraft, and, if he
feels so disposed, can unravel many
tangled threads of diplomacy. 1t is
not unlikely that the later chapters
will be far more interesting to politi-
I clans than the early naoreS from which