The record-union., 1896-10-11

The glowing periods and patriotic in
depreciation of the Constitution, de-
claimed from the platforms of schools
and academies by succeeding genera
tions, educated and inspired the passion
for nationality, the Union ,and the flag,
which put 100000 Of citizens in arms,
and placed the Republic upon enduring
foundations at Appomattox. Webster S
1th of March speech aroused and en-
bittered the anti-slavery feeling as
nothing before had done. This supreme
intelligence had made Massachusetts
first and most honored among American
commonwealthS by his immortal apOs-
trophe to her, when, with infinite maj
esty and pathos, he called the attention
of the Senators and the people to her
proud position. Now, tempted by the
prize of the Presidency, he said to her:
Massachusetts must conquer her pref
udices." They have been created by
the din and roar and rub-a-dub of
Abolition press and Abolition lecturers
beaten every month and every day and
every hour" More in sorrow than in
anger-but with impressive dignity
Massachusetts answered: What you
contemptuously term prejudices are the
eternal principles of righteousness and
justice, taught and enforced by none so
eloquently and ably as by yourself.
Massachusetts reveres your past and
mournS your present" The convention
of 1852 met to nominate a President.
Webster's speech had been of incalcula-
BILE service to the South in carrying it's
measures through Congress, but it had
destroyed his advisability with the
North. He was defeated, and the great
est statesman of the century died OF
disappointment and modification. Web
sters recusancy aroused the colleges
and the pulpitS and gave tremendous
impetus to the anti-slavery party. His
example, illustrating SO conspicuously
that the Northern man who lost pOpu-
larity at home by service to slavery
would be rejected by the slave power
for available recruits, opened the eyes
of the most morally dense ambitious to
the merciless and heartless purposes Of
the oligarchy.
The war with Mexico had added an
enormous area of territory to the ma
tional domain. From it new States were
to be soon created by constantly in
c.easing immigration and settlement.
The North. absorbed in diversified in
dustries and material development, paid
little heed to the future but the South,
recognizing the growing hostility to its
institutions, formed the plan of a per-
manent balance of power. This was to
be accomplished by admitting no free
State, unless one which recognized Slav-
cry came in at the same time. Then.
with the Senate equally divided between
free and slave States, slavery would be
1af
To accomplish this the Missouri COM
promise must be repealed. 1t is diff
cult for us at this distance to realize the
reverence with which this compact was
regarded 1t was in the popular mind
and imagination the sacred guarantee
Of the Union, and the dedication Of the
new territory to free institutions, free
labor and free States. 1t had been
placed with the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and the Constitution of the
United States among the inviolable char
ters and agreements upon which rested
the peace and perpetuity Of the repub-
lie. Every great and honored name of
a generation of the most distinguished
statemen Of both parties was commit
ted to its maintenance. No politician
could hope to retain Northern support
W llO IdNoTGu llS Tepedi nOlO
favo- unless he labored for it's abro-
cation. The Northern leader who car
rled through the repeal, and it could
only be carried by a Northern leader,
had the fate of Webster and scores of
lesser men before him. He would be re-
pudiated by one side and abandoned as
no longer useful by the other. The South
grew daily more threatening and the
North more sensitive. To the man who
could bridge this chasm and fool the
North as Ii had been so often success
fully hoodwinked before, and satisfy
the alert and clear-purposed South, the
Presidency was certain Stephen A.
Douglas, a statesman of infinite re-
sources. courage and ambition, under
took the task. The North might be ca
joled by promises and an apparently
fair prospect for freedom-the South
cared nothing for phrases or pleadings,
so long as its object was secured This
skillful necromancer sought by an art
fll juggle Of wards to satisfy beth sides.
He adroitly put the Abolitionists of the
North and the fire-eaters of the South
in the category of disunionists, and
then bid for that conservative support
hich always controls in great crises.
we have outgrown the line of 36 de-
grees 30 minutes" he cried. "Tha ex-
pansion and limitless possibilities of our
country have made this limit obsolete.
The government of the States which
will come into the Union from the new
territory and the continental career
which is our destiny. must be settled
upon broad and enduring principle.
Let the people of all sections go as they
list with their property, whether chat
tells or slaves, into the Territories. and
wren the period OF Statehood arrives
they can decide by ballot whether they
VIII recognize or exclude slavery, or
they may determine the question in the
Territorial Legislatures. This leaves
the matter with the people, and recog-
nizes the very basis of poular govern
ment." Under the name of sauatter
sovereignty this remedy captivated the
public mind. and Douglas became the
central figure in American politics.
Governments are mainly the result of
successive compromises. But there are
questions which cannot be compro-
missed Whenever truth has formed a
compact with a lie. the lie has secured
all the advantages. Honesty can be
tainted and destroyed by fraud. but
cannot work with it. Lord Mansfelo's
famous decision. rendered four years
before our Declaration Of independence
that the state Of slavery is Of such a
nature that it is incapable of being in
troduced on any reasoning, moral or
political, but only positive law, it is
so odious that nothing can be suffered
to support il but positive law" revealed
the moral sense and enlightened judg-
ment of the world. 1t rang through
all the colonies of Great Britain, and
found sententious expression IN the
words OF the Declaration Of Independ-