Passage of the Nebraska Bill.Richmond, Virginia, Enquirer [Democratic](26 May 1854)
After a struggle such as was never before seen in
the halls of Congress, the Nebraska bill has passed
the House of Representatives by a majority of thirteen.
As the bill was modified in the House, it must
be sent back to the Senate for concurrence. In its
present shape, the bill grants all the franchises of
citizenship, as the right to vote and to hold office, to
aliens; and although Mr. Clayton will again offer his
amendment, the Senate will not accept it.
It has not been our opinion that the South would
gain any very decisive advantage by the passage of
the Nebraska bill in its present shape, but we have no
wish that the event may justify our distrust. On the
contrary, its is our earnest hope that the friends of the
measure may have abundant reason to claim the
gratitude of the South.
Against the delusion that the passage of the bill
settles the slavery controversy, and, forever excludes
abolition agitation from the halls of Congress, we
would particularly admonish the people of the South.
They must not be content with any partial triumph;
they must not throw down their arms nor abate their
vigilance in the confident expectation of peace and
security:
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