BY GEO. W. BOWWAY NEW SERIES. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. Fellow-Citizen* of the Seattle, and House oj Jlejtreseiilafiveti : (Concluded from last week.) ARM V. • ~ The army, during the past year, has been ac tively engaged in defending the Indian frontier, the state of the service permitting but few and small jarrisons in our permanent fi M titrations. The additional regiments authorized at the last session of Congress have been recruited and or ganized, and a large portion of the troops have already been sent to the field. All the duties which devolve on the military establishment have been satisfactorily performed and the dan gers and privations incident to the character of the service required of our troops, have furnish ed additional evidence of their courage, Zealand capacity to meet any requisition which their Country may make upon them. For the details of the military operations, the distribution of the troops, and additional provisions required for the military service, I refer to the report of the Secretary of War and the accompanying documents. Experience, gathered from events which have transpired since my last anual message, has hut served to confirm the opinion then ex pressed of the propriety of making provision, by a retired iist, for disabled officers, and for in creased compensation fir the officers, re stained on the list for active service. All the reasons which existed, when those measures were recommended on former occasions, con tinue without modification, except so far us cir cumstances have given to some of them addi tional force. The recomnvndations, heretofore made for a partial reorganization of the armv, are also re newed. Ihe thorough elementarv education given to those officers who commence their ser vice with the grade of cadet, qualifies them, to a considerable extent, to perform the duties of ev ery arm of the service ; hut to give the highest efficacy to artillery, requires the practice and special study of many years : and it is not, there tore, believed to he advisable to maintain, in time of peace, a larger force of that arm than can be usually employed in the duties appertain ing to the service of field and siege artillery. riie duties of tiie sta.'l in all its various bran ches belong to the movemen's of troops and the etficiency of an armv in flm field would materi ally depend upon the ability with which those duties are discharged. It is trot, as in (lie case of t lie artillery, a speciality, hot requires, also, ' an intimate knowledge of it)** diiliegrif an officer otthe line, and it is not doubted that, to com plete the education of an officer for either tlm lipe or the General staff, it is desirable that he ShalPßaVe seeeerf jrj (>qp_ -JtV I ft. l' was [ecnmmended on a former occasion that the duties of the staff should he mainly |erformed by details from the line; and, with conviction of the advantages which would result from such a change, it is'again presented for the considera ti >n of Congress. NAVV. Tile report of the Secretary of (lie Navy, here with submitted exhibits in full (lie naval ope rations of tlie past year, together with the pres ent condition of the service, and_it makes sug gestions of further legislation, Jo which your •attention is invited. The construction of (he six steam frigates, for which appropriations were made by the last Congress, has proceeded in tlw most satisfactory manner, and with such expedition, as to war rant the belief that they will fie ready for ser vice eariv in the coming spring. Important as •this addition toour naval force is, if stiii remains inadequate to the contingent exigencies of the •protection of the extensive sea coast and vast •commercial interests of the United States. In view oftliM fact, and ofthe acknowledged wis dom of the policy of a gradual and systematic •increase idV.i'.e navy,an appropriation is recom mended lirribe construction of s:\ steam sloops •01-wer. In regard "to the steps taken in execution of the act of Congress to promote the efficiency of the navy, it is unnecessary for me to say more than to express entire concurrence in the obser vations on thaisubject presented by (lie Secre tary in his report. POST-OFFICE. It will bepenceived bv the report ofthe Post ma.-ler General, that the gross expenditure of 'the department for the last fiscal year was nine mil lion nine hundred and sixty-eight thousand three hnndred .end forty-two dollars, and the gross receipts seven million three hundred and forty-two thousand one hundred and thiity-six dollars, making an excess of expenditure over receipts of two million six hundred and twenty six thousand two hundred and six dollars: and that the cost of mail transportation during that year was six hundred and seventy-four thousand nine hundred arid (fifty-two dollars greater than the previous y-ar. Much of the heavy expen ditures to which flu* Treasury is thus subjected, is to be ascribed in fifee large quantity of printed matter conveyed by the mails either franked, or liable to no postage by law, or to very low rates of postage compared with that charged on letters: and to the great cost of mail service on railroads and bv ocean steamers. The sugges tions of the Postmaster General on the subject deserve the consideration of Congress. INTERIOR. The report of the Secretary of the interior Mill engage your attention, as well for the use ful suggestions it contains, as for the interest and importance of the subjects to which they refer. The aggregate amount of public lands sold during the last fiscal year, located with military scrip or land warrants, taken up under grants for roads, and selected as swamp lands by States, is twenty-four million five hundred and fifty seven thousand four hundred and nine acres; ol the portion sold was fifteen million seven hundred and twenty-nine thousand five hun- —. ...- ... ..u rjumm I ■ •*■' II'H *< - jiILBIUL,'.t *U-H ■ I '!■■ 1 dred and t wenty-fbur acres, yielding in receipt the sum of eleven million four hundred am eighty-five thousand three hundred and eight i dollars, fn the same period of time, eight mil" lion seven hundred.and twenty-three thousand eight hundred and filty-lour acres have bee; surveyed j hut, in consideration of (he quantity already subject to entry, no additional tract have been brought into market. The peculiar relation of the general govern ment to the I).strict of Columbia renders it pro per to commend to your care not only its mate rial, but also its moral interests, including ed ucation, more especially in those parts of tin district outside of the cities of Washington and Georgetown. Ihe commissioners appointed to revise and codify tne laws of the district have made such progress in the performance of their task, as to insure its completion in the tune prescribed by the act ol Congress. Information has recently been received, that the peace of the settlements in the Territories of Oregon and W ashinglon is disturbed hv hos tilities on the part of the Indians, with indica tions ol extensive combinations of a hostile character among the tribes in that quarter, the mote serious in their possible effect by reason of the undetermined foreign interests existing in those 1 erritories,to which vonr attention has already been especially invited. Efficient mea sures have been taken, which, it is believed, wnl restore quiet, and afioid protection to our citizens. In the Territory of Kansas there have been acts prejudicial to good order, hut as yet none have occurred under circumstances to justify tlie interposition of the Federal Executive.— I hat could only be in case of obstruction to fed eral law, or of organized resistance to territori al law, assuming I lie character of insurrection, which, if it should occur, it would be my duty promptly to overcome and suppress. I cherish the hope, however, that the occurrence ol any such untoward event will be prevented by the sound sense :>l the people of the Territo ry, who, by its organic law, |assessing the right to determine their own domestic institutions, are entitled, while deporting themselves peace hilly, to the free exercise of" that right, and must be protected in the enjoyment of it, with aut interference on the part ol the citizens of any of the States. The southern boundary line of the Territory has never been surveyed and established. The rapidly' extending settlements in that region, ind the fact that the main route between Inde- I [vndeiice, in the Sfate of Missouri, and New I Me xico, is contiguous to this line, suggest the probability that embarrassing questions of juris iic'iort may consequently arise. For these md other considerations, I commend the sub roXSTfTCTIOXAt. THEORY OF THE GOVERNMENT. I have thus passed in review the general j date ol the Fnion, including such particular Smcerns ol the Federal government, whether if domestic or foreign relation, as it appeared to ne desirable and useful to bring to the special j not.ice oi Congress, i nlike the gr--at States of Europe and Asia, and many of those of Ameri :a. these Foiled States are wasting their strength ! neither in foreign war nor domestic strife.— ; Whatever of discontent or public dissatisfaction •xists, is attributable tit the imp-rfections of hu man nature, or is incident to all governments, liowever perfect, which human wisdom can de- i vise. Such subjects of political agitation, as ic.cupy the public mind, consist to a great ex-, etit ot exaggeration ol inevitable evils, or over j zeal in social improvement, or mere imagina tion of grievances, having hut remote contiec- j tion with any of the constitutional functions or i duties of the Federal government. To what ever extent these questions exhibit a tendency j menacing to the stability of the Constitution or j lite integrity of the Union, and no farther, they j demand the Consideration of the Executive, and require to be presented by him to Con- , gress. Before the Thirteen Colonies became a con-j fedeiation of Independent States, they were as- j sociated only by community of transatlantic or igin, hv geographical position, and by the mu tual tie of common dependence on Great Britain. . When that tie was sundered, they severally as sumed the powers and rights ot absolute sell ; government. The municipal and social insti- i lotions of each, its laws of property and of per- • sonal relation, even its political organization, were such only as each one chose to establish, \ wholly without interference from any other.— . In the language ot the Declaration of liuUpen- j deuce, each State had "full power to levy war, j conclude p-ace, Contract alliances, establish ; commerce, and to do all other acts, and things ' which independent Stat--* may of right do."—; The several colonies differed in climate, in soil, j in natural productions, in religion, in systems j of education, in legislation, and the forms of po- j hticai administration : and they continued to dif fer in these respects when they voluntarily al-: lied themselves as States to curry on the war of the revolution. The object of that war to disenthral the Foi led Colonies from foreign rule, which had prov ed to be oppressive, and to seperate them per manently front the mother country : the politi cal result was a foundation of a federal repub lic of the free White men ofthe colonies, consti tuted, as they were, in distinct, and reciprocal ly independent Stale Governments. As for the subject races, whether Indian or African, the wise and brave statesmen of that day, being engaged in no extravagant scheme of social change, left them as they were, and thus served themselves and their posterity from anarchy, and the ever-recurring civil wars, which have prevailed in other revolutionized European colonies of America. When the confederated Statesit con venient to modify the conditjAs of their asso ciation, by giving to the general government direct access in some respects, to the people of the States, instead of confining it to action on the States as such, they proceeded to frame the ; J existing constitution, adhering steadily to 01 ! | guiding thought which was, to delegate on such power as was necessary and proper to ti execution of specific purposes, or, in otlx words, to retain as much as possible, consisted ly with those purposes, ot the independent pov ersof the individual States. For objects of con innn delence and security, they intrusted I ■ the general government certain carefully delii ed Junctions, leaving all others as the undeh gated rights of the sepeiate Independent sovei | eighties. Stiuh is the constitutional theory of our go\ eminent, the practical observance of which he carried us, and us alone, among modern re put lies, throng!) nearly three generations of ti.'in without the cost ol one drop ot blood shed j ci\ il war. V\ ill) freedom and concert of actios; it has enabled us to contend successfully o j the battle field against foreign foes, has eieva I ted the leehie colonies into powerful Slates, an ■ has raised our industrial productions and ou commerce which transports them, to the lev< ol the richest and the great'-A nations o; Ku rope. And the admirable adaptation of our pf litical institutions to their objects, combinifcj j local self government with aggregate strength, has established the practicability of a go"v*s, ment like ours to cover a continent with vfn, federate States. i() The Congaessofthe United Slates is, in eia'j e that Congress of sovereignties, which in the Ch! World have sought lor, but cAKd never obtain, ami w huh imparts to America Is, exemption from the mutable leagues for cut mon act on from the wars, the mutual invasiofce and vague aspirations alter the balance of pal er, which convulse fioni time to time the ers of Europe. Our co-operative action restsfl the conditions of permanent confederation scribed by the constitution. Our balanceJi/ power is in the sepeiate reserved rights of tin- Stales, and their equal representation in the Senate. f hat independent sovereignty in ev ery one of the States, with its reservv.f rights o local self-government assured to each bv tltei co-equal power in the Senate, was the" lund;- mental condition of the constitution. IVitt.pit it the Union would never have existed. HoV ewr desirous the larger Stales might he to orgatiize the government so as to give to thdr population its proportionate weight in the com mon councils, they knew it uus impossible, unless they conceded to the smaller ones au thority to exercise at least a negative influence on all the measures of the government, wheth er legislative or executive, through their equal representation in the Senate. Indeed, the States themselves could not have failed to per ceive, that the power was equally necessary to them, tor the security of their own domestic interests against the aggregate force of the g-'A States went into this "permanent league' on the agteed promises, of exerting their common strength for the defence of the whole, and of all its parts : but of utterly excluding all capability of reciprocal aggression. Each solend v bound itself to ail the others, neither to undertake, nor permit, any encroachment upon, or intermed dling with, another's reserved rights. Where it was deemed expedient, particular rights of the States were expressly guaranteed hv the constitution: lint, i:i all things beside, these rights were gtiaided hv the limitation of the powers granted, and by express reservation of all powers not granted, in the compact ol union. Thus, the great power of taxation was limited to purpos-*s of common defence and gen eral welfare excluding objects appertaining to tin* local legislation of the several States; and'those purposes ol general welfare and cor.i iTiori defence were afterwards defined by speci fic enumeration, as being matters only ol'core iation between the States themselves, or be tween them and foreign governments, which, because of their common and general natuie, could not b>- iell to the seperate control of each State. Of the circumstances o( local condition inter est, and rights, in which a portion of the S to*s, constituting one great section ol the Uni'env fered from the rest, and from another s- as the most important was the pecuiiai itv 01 the ger relative colored population in the soi)rh jo than in the northern States. A population of this class held in subjection, existed in nearly all the States, but was more numerous and of more serious concernment in the South than in the North, on account of na tural differences of climate and pioductioo; and it w as foreseen that, for the same reasons, while this population would diminish, and, sooner or later, cease to exist 111 some States, it might in crease in others. The peculiar character and magnitude ol this question of local rights, not in material relations only, but still more in social ones, caused it to enter into the special stipula tions of the constitution. Her.ce, while the general government, as vvil hv tile enumerated powers granted to it, as by those not enumerated, and therefore refused to it, was forbidden to touch this matter, in the sense of attack or offence, it was placed under the gen eral safeguard of the Union, in the sense of de fence against either invasion or domestic vio lence, like all other local interests of the sever al States. Each States expressly stipulated, as well for each and all of its citizens, and every citizen of each State, became solemnly bound by his allegiance to the constitution, that any per son, held to service or labor in one State, escap ing into another should not, in consequence of av law or regulation thereof, he discharged from such service or labor, but should be deliv ered up on claim of the party to whom such gt i vice or labor might.be due by the law ol his State. Thus, and thus only, by the reciprocal guar anty of all the rights of every State against inter ference on the part of another, was the present form of government established by our fathers, and transmitted to us; and bv no other means is ft possible lu/iUo exist. 1 f one State ceases to respect the of another, and obtrusively intermeddles 'with its loco! interests if i po. Freedom of light and Opinion. BEDFORD, PA. FEY MORNING, JAN. 25, 1850. eon ot the States assume to impose their msti- | yitiuiis on the others, or refuse to lultili tiieir ' ©ligations to them—we are no longer united ; riendly States, but distracted, hostile ones with -ttle capacity tell ot coinmon advantage, but a -undant means ot recipocal injury and mis- 1 -hief. o Practically, it is immaterial whether aggres- | ive interference between the Slates,or ileliber- j He refusal on the part of any one ot tbem to ; -omply with constitutional obligations, arise' roin erroneous ecu viclion or blind prejudice, whether it be perpetrated by direction 01 indi rection. In either case, it is lull ot threat and tl danger to the durability ot the Union. . Placed in the ollice ot Cbiel Magistrate as the executive agent ot the whole country, bound to pike care that tile laws be faithfully executed, mid especially enjoined by the constitution to five inlonnation to Congress on ttie state ot the Union, it would be palpable neglect o! duty on ■my part to pass over a subject like tins, which, beyond all things at the present time, vitally concerns individual and public security. It has been matter ol painful regret to see i States, conspicuous for their services in found lag this .Republic, and equally sharing its ad-: vantages, disregard their constitutional obliga- , pus. to it. Although conscious ol their ina fii>v to heal admitted and palpable social evils i tiiei - own, and which are completely within j jheir jji istliction, they engage in the oflensive •I hepeiess undertaking of reforming the do-| ,'slic institutions of other States wholly beyond . feir control and authority. In the vain pur-; iit of en-is, by them entirely unattainable, ift d which liter may not legally attempt to w'pipus-, they peril the very existence of the j pr ostitution, and all tin* countless benefits j rfllich it has conferred. While the people ol file southern States confine their attention to j their own atfuii s, not presuming officiously to: intermeddle with the social institutions ot the. northern States, too'many of the inhabitants of the latt.-r are pennantly organized in associa- | tions to inflict injury on the former, by wrong ful acts, which would be cause of war as be tween foreign poweis, and only fail to be such in our system, because perpetrated under cover of the i nion. It is impossible to present this subject as truth and the occasion require, without noticing the j reiterated, but groundless, allegation, that the South ha presistently asseruMfclairns and obtain ed advantages in (.he of the general government, to the prejudice of the North, and in vvhiclf the latter has acquiesced. Thai is, the States, which either promote or tol erate attacks on the rights of persons and ol propelty in other States, to disguise their injustice, pretend or imagine, and constantly Thus' are the"maeive?tfi£ aggressors. At the present time, this imputed aggression, resting as it does, only in the vague declamatory charges of political agitators, re solves ilseii into misapprehension, or misinter pretation, of the principles and facts of the po litical organization of the new Territories of the United States. What is the voice of history ? When the ordinance, which provided lor the government ol the territory northwest of the river Ohio, and for its eventual subdivision into new States, was adopted in the Congress of the confedera tion, it is not to be supposed that the question of future relative power, as between the States which retained, and those which did not retain, a numerous colored population, escaped notice, or failed to he considered. And yt the con cession of that vast territory to the interests and opinions of the northern States, a territory nou the seal of five among the largest members of the Union, was, in great measure, the act of the State of Virginia and oi the South. When Louisiana was acquired hy the United States, it was an acquisition not less to the North than to the South: tor while it was im portant to the country at the mouth of the river Mississippi to become the emporium of the coun try above it, so also it was even more important to the whole Union to have that emporium : and although the new province, by reason of its im perfect settlement, was mainly regarded as on the Cull of Mexico, yet, in fact, it extended to the opposite boundaries oi the I nited States, with far greater breadth above than below, and was in territory, as in everything else, equally at least an accession to the northern States. It is mere delusion and prejudice, therefore, to speak ot Louisiana as acquisition in the special interest of the South. The patriotic and just men who participated in that act were influenced by motives far above all sectional jealousies. It was in truth the great event, which, by completing for us the possession of the valley ol the Mississippi, with commercial access to the Gull of Mexico, im parted unity and strength to the whole confed eration, and attached togetliei by indissoluble ties the East and the West, as well as the North and the South. As to Florida, that was but the transfer by Spain to the United States of territory on the east side of the river Mississippi, in exchange for large territory, which the United States trans ferred to Spain on the west side ol that river, as the entire diplomatic, history of the transac tion serves to demonstrate. Moreover, it was an acquisition demanded by the commercial in terests and the security of the whole Union. In the* meantime the people of the United States had grown up to a proper consciousness of their strength, and in a brief contest with France, and in a second serious war with Great Britain, they had shaken off all which remained ol undue reverence for Europe, and emerged from the atmosphere of those trains-Atlantic in fluences which surrounded the infant republic, and bad begun to turn their attention to the full and systematic development ol the internal re sources of the 1 nion. A mom* the evanescent controversies of that period the most conspicuous was the question of regulation bv Congress ol the social condition ol the future States to be founded in the territory >f -Louisiana. The ordinance for the government of the ter itorv northwest ot the river Ohio had contain ed a provision, which prohibited the use ofser , i!e labor therein, subject to the condition of the 'xtraditiorts ol fugitives from service due in any it tier part of the United States. Subsequently o the adoptn n ol the constitution, this provis on ceased to remain as a law ; for its operation ts such was absolutely superceded by the consti ution. But the recollection ofthefact excited he zeal of social pronagnndism in some sections >f the confederation : and, when a second State hat of Missouri, came to be formed in the terri ory of Louisiana, proposition was made to ex end to the latter territory the restriction origin j 11V applied to the country situated between [he rivers Ohio and Mississippi. Most questionable as was this proposition in ill its constituitonaJ relations, nevertheless it received the sanction of Congress, with some slight modification of line, to save the existing rights ofthe intended new State. It was reluc tantly acquiesced in by southern States as a sac rifice to the cause of peace and of the Union, not only of the rights stipulated by the treaty :>f Louisiana, but of the principle of equal ity among the States guarantied by the consti tution. it was received by the northern States with angry and resentful condemnation and complaint, because it did not concede all which thev had exac'inglv demanded. Having pass ed through tiie forms of legislation, it look its place in the statute book, standing open to re peal like any other act of doubtful constitution alitv, subject to be pronounced null and void bv the courts of law, and possessing no possible eiiicacy to control the riglitsof the States which might thereafter be organized out of any part ol the original territory of Louisiana. In all this, if anv aggression there were, any innovation upon pre-existing rights, to which portion of the Union are they justly chargea ble ? This controversy passed away with the oc casion, nothing surviving it save the dormant letter of the statute. But, long afterwards, when, by the proposed accession of the republic of Texas, the United States were to take their next step in territorial greatness, a similar contingency occurred, and became the occasion for systematized attempts to intervene in the domestic affairs of one sec tion of the Union, in defiance of their rightsas States, and ofthe stipulations ofthe constitution. These attempts assumed a practical direction, in the shape of persevering endeavors by some of the representatives in hot If houses of Congress to deprive the southern States of the supposed J*etn lit of the provisions of the act authorizing The organization of the State ot Missouri. . IV JV'fld. -SfißSe, o!.t hf, peopiea%! the sectional prejudice, and the political errors of the day, and the State of Texas returned to the Union as she was, with social institutions which her people had chosen for themselves, and with express agreement, hv the re-annexing act, that she should be susceptible of subdivision into a plurality of States. Whatever advantage the interests of the Southern States, as such, gained by this, were far inferior in results, as they unfolded in the progress of time, to those which sprang from Jires ious concessions made by the South. To every thoughtful friend ofthe I nion—to the true lovers of their country —to all who longed and labored lor the full success of this great experiment of republican institutions—it was cause ofgratulation that sue!) an opportuni ty had occurred to illustrate our advancing pow er on this continent, and to furnish to the world additional assurance ol the strength and stabili ty ofthe constitution. Who would wish to see Florida still a European colony"? Who would rejoice to hail Texas as a lone star, instead ot one in the galaxy of States ? Who does not appreciate the incalculable benefits of the ac quisition of Louisiana And yet narrow views and sectional purposes would inevitably have excluded then, all from the Union. But another struggle on the same point en sued, when our victorious armies returned from Mexico, and it devolved on Congress to provide for the territories acquired by the treaty of Gua dalupe Hidalgo. The great relations of the sub ject had now become distinct and clear to the perception ol the public mind which apprecia ted the evils of sectional controversy upon the question of the admission of new States. In that crisis intense solicitude pervaded the na tion. But the patriotic impulses of the popular heart, guided by the admonitory advice of the Father of his country, rose superior to all the difficulties of the incorporation of a new empire into the Union. In the counsels of Congress there was manifested extreme antagonism ot opinion and action between some representa tives, who sought by the abusive and unconsti tutional employment of the legislative powers of the government to interfere in the condition of the inchoate States, and to impose their own social theories upon the latter; and other rep resentatives who repelled the interposition of the general government in this respect, and inantained the self constituting rights of the States. In truth, the thing attempted was, in form alone, action of the general government, while in reality it was the endeavor, by abuse of legislative f>ower, to force the ideas of inter nal policy entertained in particular States upon allied independent States. Once more the con stitution and the Union triumphed signally.— The new Territories were organized without restrictions on the disputed point, and were thus left to judge in that particular lor themselves; and the sense of constitutional faith proved vig orous enough in Congress not only to accomplish this primary object, but also the incidental and hardiv less important one of so amending the provisions ot the statute for the extradition of fugitives from service, as to place that public duty under the safeguard of the general gov ernment, and thus relieve it from obstacles raised up by the iegs-lation of some ofthe States. Vain declamation regarding the provisions ol TERUS, 83 PER YEAR. VOL XXIV, NO. 22. aw for the extradition of fugitives from service A'itli occasional episodes ol frantic effort to ob~ truct their execution fry riot and murder, cort irnied, for a brief time, to agitate certain local tes. But the true principle, of leaving each state and Territory to regulate its own laws of abor according to its own sense of right and •xpediency, had acquired fast hold of the pub ic judgment, to such a degree, that, by common :onsent it was observed in the organization of he Territory of Washington. When, more recently, it become requisite to irganize the Territories of Nebraska and Kan as, it was the natural and legitimate, if not the nevitable, consequence of previous events and egislation, that the same great and sound prin :iple, which had already been applied to Utah ind .New Mexico,'should be applied to them:— hat they should #arvd exempt from the restric ions proposed in the act relatrve to the State of Missouri. • These restrictions were, in the estimation of nany thoughtful men, null from the beginning, mautherized by the constitution, contrary to he treaty stipulations for the cession of Louis ana, and inconsistent with the equality of these -tates. They had been stripped of all moral authori y, by persistent etlbrts to procure their indirect repeal through contradictory enactments. They tad been practically abrogated by the legislation ittending the organization of Utah, New Mexi :o and Washington. II any vitality remained in them, it would have been taken away, in ef fect, by the new territorial acts, in the lbrm srigtnally proposed to the Senate at the first session of the last Congress. It was manly and ingenuous, as well as patriotic and just, to do tins directly, ant! plainly and thus relieve the statute-book of an act, which might be of possi ble future injury, hut ol no possible future bee elit: and the measuie of its repeal was the final consummation and complete recognition of the principle, that no portion ol the United States shall undertake, through assumption ofthe pow ers of the general government, trxiictatc the so cial institutions of any other portion. The scope and effect cl the language of re peal were not left in doubt. It was declared, in term*, to be 'tbetiue intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Terri tory or Stale, nor to exclude it therelrom, but to U'**e the peeple thereof perfectly free fo ioim and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the constitution ol the United States." The measure could not he withstood upon its merits alone. It was attacked with violenceon the false, or delusive pretext, that it constituted a breach of faith. Never was objection more utterly destitute of substantial justification.— When, before, was it imagined by sensible men .1".: .... clatnle. uhftlier enacted ten or forty years ago, is lrrepeaiaoie; that an act of Congress is above the constitution? If, indeed, there were in the facts any cause to impute bad faith, it would attach to those only who have never ceased, from the time of the enactment of the restrictive provision to the present day, to denounce and condemn it: who have constantly refused to complete it by need lu! supplementary legislation; who have spared no exertion to deprive it of moral force; who have themselves again and again attempted its repeal by the enactment of incompatible piovi sions: and who, by the inevitable reactionary ef fect ol their own violonce on the subject, awa kened ttie country to perception of the true constituiional principle of leaving the matter involved to the discretion of the people of the respective existing or incipient States. It is not pretended that this principle, of any other, precludes the possibility of evil in prac tice, disturbed as political action is liable to be by human passions. No term of government is exempt from inconveninces; but in this case they are the result ofthe abuse and not of legiti mate -xercise, of the powers reserved or con fered in the organization nf a Territory. They are not to charged to the great principle of pop ular sovereignty: on the contrary, they disap pear before the intelligence and patriotism of the people, exerting thiough the hai!ol-box their peaceful and silent but irresistible power. Iflhe friends of the constitution are to have another struggle, its enemies could not present a more acceptable issue than that of a State, whose constitution clearly embraces "a repub lican form of government," being excluded { from the Union because its domestic institutions , may not iu all respects comport with the ideas of what is wise and expedient entertained in some other State. Fresh from groundless im putations of breach ol faith against others, inen will commence the agitation of this new ques tion with indubitable violation of an express compact between tlie independent sovereign (lowers oil he United States and of the republic of Texas, as well as ofthe older and equally solemn compacts, which assure the equality of all the Stales. But, deplorable as would be snch a violation of compact in itself, and in all its direct conse quences, that is the very irast ofthe evils in volved. When sectional agitators shall have succeeded in forcing on this issue, can their pretensions fail to be met by counter preten sions? Will not different States be compelled respectively, to meet extremes with extremes 1 And, if either extreme cariy its point, what is that so far forth but dissolution ol the Union ? If a new Stale, formed from the territory of the United States, be absolutely excluded from ad mission therein, that fact of itself constitutes the disruption of Union between it and the other States. But the process of dissolution could not stop there. Would not a sectional decision, producing such result by a majority ol votes, either northern or Southern, ol necessity drive out (lie oppressed and aggrieved minority, and place in presence of each other two irreconcil ably hostile confederations ? It is necessary to speak thus plainly of pro jects, the offspring of that sectional agitation now prevailing in some of the States- which are as impracticable us they are unconstitutional,
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