The Cloven Foot!New Haven, Connecticut, Register [Democratic](1 February 1854)
For the last six months the Palladium has affected
to be fearful that the Administration was about to
abandon the principles of the Compromise of 1850,
and signalize itself by an adoration of Free Soilism!
and it has given two or three war dances and whoops
to get up an early panic among the early friends of that
measure, without success. It now shows the cloven
foot, in its attacks on Mr. Douglas' bill, which, in
organizing a territorial government for Nebraska,
leaves the question of slavery to be settled by the
people, whenever Nebraska shall become a State --
according to the spirit, if not the letter of the
very compromise measure of 1850, which it was
so fearful the Administration would not adhere to! --
This proves what we have always asserted, that the
eleventh hour admiration of the Palladium for the
Compromise measures, was a hollow pretence; for
were it not so, we would not now find it objecting
To the application of the principle to Nebraska. The
Compromise of 1850 is well understood to be a "finality" --
superceding all previous action, and designed
to stop all agitation of the slavery question,
in or out of Congress. Well, Nebraska comes up
for a territorial government, and Mr. Douglas very
wisely, justly, and in accordance with the principles
of the Compromise, and to prevent agitation, proposes
to leave that question to the people of that
territory to settle by themselves. The following are
the sections having reference to it: --
That in order to avoid all misconstruction, it is
hereby declared to be the true intent and meaning
of this act, as far as the question of slavery is
concerned, to carry into practical operation the following
propositions and principles established by the
compromise measures of 1850, to wit:
First -- That all questions pertaining to slavery in
the territories and new states to be formed therefrom,
are to be left to the decision of the people residing
therein, through appropriate representatives.
Second -- That all cases involving the title of
slaves and questions of personal freedom, are
referred to the adjudication of the local tribunals, with
the right to appeal to the supreme court of the United
States.
Third -- That the provisions of the constitution and
laws of the United States in respect to fugitives from
service, are to be carried into faithful execution in all
the organized territories, the same as in the states.
This leaves the subject where it belongs -- where
it ought always to have been placed; and had it been
pursued from the outset, we should long ago have
had a "finality," and not a "reprieve," which Mr.
Jefferson says was all we got by the Missouri
Compromise of 1820. Would the Palladium have had
Mr. Douglas engraft the Wilmot Proviso on his bill?
or a section legalizing slavery? that would have
been a flagrant violation of the Compromise measures!
He therefore leaves the question of slavery
to those only whom it interests, the people of the
territory. Judge Douglas was one of the earliest
and firmest friends of the compromise measures;
a gentleman whose integrity no one can doubt; and
whose regard for the union and the welfare of these
United States has been proved by his public life, --
and the tongue of whig slander is not potent enough
to sully his character, or defeat his measure.
Speaking of this new crusade, the Boston Post well
remarks --
The desperate attempts made by the freesoilers,
abolitionists, and the freesoil portion of the whig
party, to forestall public opinion, and array it in
opposition to the organization of the Nebraska territory
upon the democratic principle of allowing the
inhabitants of all territories and states to form their
local laws in such manner as they themselves may
deem best for their own welfare, so long as these
laws do not conflict with the constitution of the United
States, will blaze like prairie grass on fire for a
short time, consume a quantity of political stubble,
and then be extinguished by the patriotism, justice,
and good sense of the people of the United States.
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