The Washington herald., 1911-07-30

| when the question Of Oregon came up.
Along the Pacific, and south of Oregon,
lay the new empire Of California, bit
| terly contended over by both sections,
but by her own self-elected State law de-
clared forever free soil. Minnesota and
the Dakotas were still unorganized, so
, there the sleeping dog might lie Of course.
To the south Of that river on which
| our voyagers presently were to take ship
lay a section comprising the Southern
States, in extent far larger than all the
Northern States, and much stronger In
legislative total power in the national
halls Of Congress. Here slavery was
maintained by laws Of the States them
selves. The great realm OF Texas, long
coveted by the South, now was Joined
| to the ranks of the slaveholding States,
by virtue of a war Of somewhat doubt
full Justice though Of undoubted success.
Above Texas, and below the line of 36
degrees 80 minutes, lay portion of
what was known as the Indian country.
where in 1920 there had been made no
prohibition of slavery by the national
government.
Above the line of So degrees 80 min
utes there thrust yp a portion Of Texas
which had no law at all. nor had 1t any
until very recent day, being known un-
der the title of No Mans Land" Yet
on to the westward, toward free Cali
fornia, lay a vast but SUI. osedly value
less region where cotton surely would
not grow, that rich country now known
as Utah. Nevada. Arizona, and New
Mexico. This region. late gained by
war with Mexico, soon to he increased
by purchase from Mexico on the south,
was still of indeterminate status. slav-
cry not being prohibited. but permitted.
by Federal action, although most OF
this territory had been free soil under
the old laws of Mexico. Moreover, as
though sardonically to complicate all
these much mingled matters. there
thrust up to the northward. out of the
permitted slavery region of the South,
the State of Missouri. quite above the
fateful line of SO degrees 80 minutes
where slavery was permitted both by
Federal and State enactment.
Men spoke even then, openly or Sc
cretly. of disunion; but in full truth,
there had as yet been no actual union.
In such confusion, what man could call
unwise a haltingtime, a compromise? :?
country of tenures so mixed. of the
ories so diverse. could scarcely have
been called a land of common govern
ment. 1t arrogated to itself. over all
its dominion, the title OF a free repub-
lie. yet by its own mutual covenant OF
national law. any owner of slaves
in the Southern States might pursue
what he called his property across
the dividing line, ana invoke, in any
Northern State the support of the State
or national officers to assist him in TAX
ing back his slaves. AS a republic we
called ourselves even then old and stable.
Yet, was there ever any country ripper for
misrule than ours? Forgetting now what
Is buried, the old arguments all forgot,
that most bloody and lamentable war all
forgot, could any mind. any imagination.
depict a situation more rife with tumult,
more ripe for war than this? And was II
not perforce an issue of compromise or
war; Of compromise, or a union never to
be consummated?
Yet into this heterogeneous region from
all Europe, itself convulsed with revolu-
ton, Europe just beginning to awaken to
the doctrine of the rights of humanity.
there pressed westward ever-increasing
thousands Of new inhabttants-in that
current year over third of million,
the largest immigration thus far known.
Most of these immigrants settled in the
free country of the North. and as the
railways were now so hurriedly crowding
westward. it was to be seen that the an
cient strife between the North and South
must grow and not lessen, for these new
comers were bitterly opposed to slavery.
Swiftly the idea national was growing
The idea democratic the idea of an act
ual self f-government-what,n now, was to
be its history?
North of the fated compromise line,
west of the admitted slave State Of Mis-
souri,, lay other rich lands ripe for the
plow, ready for Americans who had never
paid more than 81 an acre for land, or
for aliens who had never been able to
own any land at all. Kansas ana Ne
braska, names conceived but not yet |
born-what would they be? Would the |
of the last summer of 1850 |
hold the balances of power even? Could |