The star of the north. (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, January 10, 1856, Image 1
THE STAR OF THE NORTH. H. W. Weaver, Preprieter.] VOLUME 7. THE STAR OF THE NORTH IS PUBLISHED EVERT THURSDAY MORNINU BV R. W. Wit AVER, OFFICE—Dp stairs , in the new brick build ing, on the south si-It vf Main Steerl, third square btiow Market. TERMS s—Two Dollars per annum, if paid within six months from the time of sub scribing ; two dollars and fifty cents if not ■paid within the year. No subscription re ceived for a less period than six months; no discontinuance permitted until all arrearages are paid, unless at the option of the editor. ADVERTISEMENTS not exceeding one square will be inserted three times for One Dollar and twenty-five cents for each additional in sertion. A liberal discount will be made to those who advertise by the year. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. FtUoto Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: TREASURY. The statements made, in my last annual message, respecting the anticipated receipts mud expenditures of the Treasury, have been substantially verified. It appears ftom the report of the Secretary f the Treasury, that the receipts daring the last fiscal year ending June 30, 1855, from ll sources, were sixty-five million threo thousand nine hundred and thirty dollars; and that the public expenditures for the same period, exclusive of payments on account of the public debt, amounted to fifty-six million three hundred and sixty-fire thousand three hundred and ninety-lhref dollars. During the same period, the payment made in re demption of the public debt, including in terest and premium, amounted to nine mil lion eight hundred and forty-four thousand five hundred and twenly-eichl dollars. The balance in the Treasury at the begin ning ot the present fiscal year, July 1, 1855, ■was eighteen million nine hundred and tbirty-one thousand nine hundred and seven ty-six dollars; the receipts for the first quar ter, and the estimated receipts lot the remain ing three quarters, amount, together, to aixty-seven million nine hundred and eigh teen thousand seven hundred end thirty-four dollars; thus affording in all, as the Available resources of the cunent fisral year, ttie sum of eighty-six million eight hundred and fifty-fix thousand seven hundred and ten dollars. If, to the actual expenditures of the fiiet quarter of the current fiscal year, be added the probable expenditures for the three re maining quarters, ae estimated by the Sec retary of the Treasury; the sum total will be seventy-one million (wo hundred and twen ty-six thousand eight hundred and forty-six dollars, thereby leaving an estimated bal ance in the treasury on July 1, 1856, of fif teen million six hundred and twenty-three thousand eight hundred and sixty-lbree dot- j I are and forty-one cents. In the above estimated expenditures of the preseat fiscal year are tcluded three million I dollars to meet the last instalment of the ten ' millions provided for in tbe late treaty with ! Mexico, and seven million seven hundred , end fifty thousand dollars appropriated on account of the debt due to Texas, which two sums make an aggregate amount ol ten million seven hundred and fifty thousand , dollars, and reduce the expenditures, actual; or estimated, for ordinary objects of the j year, to the sum of sixty million four hundred ; and seventy-six thousand dollars. The amount of the public debt, at the ! commencement of the present fiscal year, wee forty million five hundred and eighty three thousand six hundred and thirty-one dollars, and, deduction being made of subse quent payments, the whole public debt of the federal government remaining at this time is leu than forty million dollars. The remnant of certain other government stocks, amounting to two hundred and forty three thousand dollars, referred to in my last message as outstanding, has since been paid. I am folly persuaded that it would be dif ficult to devise a system superior to that, by which the fiscal business ol the government is now conducted. Notwithstanding the great number of pnblic agents of collection and disbursement, it it believed that the checks and guards provided, including the require ment of monthly returns, render it scarcely possible for any considerable fraud on the part of thoae agents, or neglect involving hazard of aerioos public loss,to escape detec tion. 1 renew, however, the recommenda tion, heretofore made by me, of the enact ment of a law declaring it felony on the part of pnblic officers to insert false entries in their books of record or account, or to make false returns, and also requiring them on the ter mination of their service to deliver to their successors all books, records, and other ob jects of a pnblic nature in their custody. Derived as onr public revenue is, in chief part, from duties on imports, its magnitude affords gratifying evidence of the prosperity, not only of onr commerce, but of the other great interests upon whioh that depends. The prinoiple that all moneys not required for the current expenses of the government should remain for active employment in the hand* of the people, and the conspicuous fact that the annual revenue from all sources ex ceeds, by many millions of dollars,the amount needed for a prudent and economical admin istration of public affairs, canoot fail to sug gest the propriety of an early revision and reduction of the tariff of duties on imports.— It la new so generally eonceded that the pur pose of revenue alone oan justify the imposi tion of duties on imports, that, in re-adjusting the impost tables and schedules, which un questionably require essential modifications, a departure from the principles of the present tariff is not anticipated. BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 1856. POST OFFICE. J It will be perceived by the report of the | Postmaster General, that the gross expendi j : JS of the department lor the last fiscal year • - r u millions nine hundred and sixty- I' asand three hundred and forty-two jnd the gross receipts seven million t hundred and forty-two thousand one I bun :red and thirty-six dollars, making an ex cess of expenditure over receipts of two mil lion six hundred and twenly-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 and fifty-two dollars greater than the previous year. Much of the heavy expenditures, to whiub the Treasury is thus subjected, is to be ascribed to the large quan tity of printed matter conveyed by tbe mails, either franked, or liable to no postage by law, or to very low retes of postage compared with that ohatged on letters; and to the great cost of mail service on railtoade and by ocean steamers. The suggestions of the Postmaster General on the subject deserve the consider ation of Congresa. INTERIOR. The report of the Secretary of the Interior will engage our attontion, as well for useful suggestions it contains, as for the interest and importance of tbe subjects to whicb they refer. The aggregate amount of public land sold during the last fiscal year, located with mili tary scrip or land warrants, taken up undet grants for roads, and selected as swamp lands by States, if twenty-four million five hund red and filty-seven thousand four hundred and nine acres; of which the portion sold was fifteen million seven hundred and twen ty-nine thousand five hundred and twenty four acres, yielding in receipts the sum of eleven million four hundred and eighty-five thousand three hundred and eighty dollars. In the same period of time, eight million seven hundred and twenty-three thousand eight hundred and fifty-four acres have been surveyed ; but, in consideration of the quan tity already subject to entry, no additional tracts have been brought imo market. The peculiar relation of tbe general gov ernment to the District of Columbia renders it proper to commend to your care not only its material, but also its moral interests, in cluding education, more especially in those parts ot the district outside of the cities of Washington and Georgetown. The commissioners appointed to revise and codify the laws of the District have made tch progress in the performance of their Ukk, as to insure its completion in the lime prescribed by the act of Congress. IfTurmaliou has recently been received, that tte peace of the settlements in (he Ter ritories of Oregon and Washington is distur bed by hostilities on the part of the Indians, with indications of extensive combinations of *. hostile character among tho tribes in that quarter, the more serious in their passible ef fect by reason of the undetermined foreign inierests existing in those Territories, to which your attention has already been espe oii !y invited. Efficient measures have been t-r which, it is believed, will lestore qui et, ? d ntford protection to our citizens. In of Kansas, there havebeec acts prejudicial to good order, but as yet none have occurred under circumstances to justify the interposition of the federal Executive.— That couid only be in case of obstruction to federal law, or of organized resistance to ter ritorial law, assuming the character of insur rection, which, if it should occur, it would be my duty promptly to overcome and suppress. I cherish the hope, however, that the occur rence ol any such untoward event will be prevented by the sound sense of tha people of the Territory, who, by its organic law, possessing the right to determine their own domestic institutions, are entitled, while de porting themselves peacefully, to the free ex. ercise of that right, and must be protected in the enjoyment of it, without interference on the part of the citizens of any of the States. The southern boundary line of this Terri tory has never been surveyed or established. The rapidly extending settlamentajn that re gion, and the fact that the main ronte be tween Independence in the Stale of Missou ri, and new Mexico, is contiguous to this line, suggest the probability that embarrass | ing questions of jurisdiction may consequent ly arise. For these and other considerations, I commend the subject to your early atten tion. coaenTunoMAL THEORY or THE GOVERNMENT. I have thns passed in review the general state of the Union, including each partlculat concerns of the federal government, whether of domestio or foreign relation, as it appear ed to me desirable and useful to bring to the special notice of Congress. Unlike the great stales of Europe and Asia, and many of those of America, these U°iicd 'States are wasting tbeir strength neither in foreigu war nor domestic strife. Whatever of discontent or public dissatisfaction exists, is attributable to the imperfections of human nature, or is incident to all governments, however per fect, which human wisdom can devise. Suoh snbjects of political agitation, as occupy the publio mind, consist, to a great extent, of exaggerxlion of inevitable evils, or over zeal in social improvement, or mere imagination of grievance, having bat remote connexion with any of the constitutional functions or .duties of the federal government. To what ever extent these questions exhibit* ten dency menacing to the stability of the con stitution, or the integrity of tbe Union, and no farther, tbey demand (he consideration oi the Executive, and require to be presented by him to Congress. Before the thirteen Colonies became a confederation of independent States, they were associated only by community of traos- Aiiantic origin, by geographical position, and by the mutual tie of common depen dence on Great Britain. When that tie was sundered, they severally assumed the powers and rights of self-government. The munici pal arid social institutions of each, its laws of property and of personal relation, even its political organization, were such only as each one chose to establish, wholly without inter ference from any other. In the language of (he Declaration of Independence, each State bad "full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which inde pendent States may of right do." The sev eral colonies differed in climate, in soil, in natural productions, in religion, in systems of education, in legislation, and in the forms of political administration ; and they contin ued to differ in these respects when they voluntarily allied themselves as States to carry on the war of the revolution. The object of that war was to disenthral the United Colonies from foreign rule, which had proved to be oppressive, and to sepa rate them permanently from the mother coun try: the political result was the foundation of a federal republic of the free while men ot the colonies, constituted as they were, in distinct, and reciprocally independent, Slate governments. Aa forthe subjectraces,wheth er 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 preserved them selves and their posterity from tbe anarchy, and the ever-recurring civil wars, whioh have prevailed in other revoluli onized Euro pean colonies of America. When the confederate States found it con venient to modify the conditions of their gp sociation, by giving to the general govern ment direct access, in some respects, to the people of the Stales, instead of confining it to action on the States as such, they pioceed ed to frame the existing constitution, adher ing steadily to one guiding thought, which was, to delegate only such power as was necessary and proper to the execution of Bpecifio purposes, or, in other words, to re tain as much as consistently with those purposes, of the independent powers of the individual States. For objects of com - mon defence and security, they inttusted to the general government certain carefully-de fined functions, leaving all others as the un delegated rights of tbe separate independent sovereignties. Such is the constitutional theory of our government, the practical observance of which has carried us, and us alone, among modern republics, through nearly three gen erations of time without the cost of one drop of blood shed in civil war. With free dom and concert of action, it has enabled us to contend successfully on the batUe-fiield against foreign foes, has elevated the feeble colonies into powerful Slates, and has raised our industrial productions, and our commerce which transports them, to the level of the richest and the greatest nations of Europe. And the admirable adaptation of our politi cal institutions to their objects, combining local self-government with aggregate strength has established the practicability of a gov ernment like ours to cover a continent with confederate Stales. The Congress of the United States is, in effect, that congress of sovereignties, which good men in the Old World have sought for, but could never attain, and which imparts to America an exemption from the mutable leagues for common action, from the wars, tha mutual invasions, and vague aspirations after tti&balance of power, which convulse from limo to time the governments of Eu rope. Our co-operative action rests in the conditions of permanent confederation pre scribed by the constitution. Our balance of power is in the separate reserved rights of the States, and their equal representation in the Senate. That independent sovereignty •a every one of the Statee, with iie reserved rights of local self-government assured to each by tbeir co-equal power in tha Senate, was the fundamental condition of the con stitution. Without it the Union would never have existed. However desirous the larger Slates might be to re-organize the govern ment so as to give to their population its proportionate weight in the common conc eals, they knew it was impossible, onless they oonceded to the smaller ones authority to exercise at least a negative influenoe on all the measures of the government, whether legislative or executive, through their equal representation in the Senate. Indeed, the larger Stales themselves oould not have fail ed to perceive, that the same power was equally necessary to thent, f or the security of their own domestio interests against the aggregate force of the geaeral government. In a word, the original States wem into this permanent league on the agreed premises, of exerting tbeir common strength for the defence of tha whole, and of at) ~, parts; but of utterly excluding all capability Q f re l ciprocal aggression. Each solemnly bound itself to all (be others, neither to undertake nor permit, any encroachment upon, ot j n . termeddling with, another's reserved rtghii. Where it was deemed expedient, panten lar rights of the Slates were exprossly guar, antiedby Ike constitution; but, in all things beside, these Ihinge were guarded by the limitation of the powers granted,.and by ex presa reservation of all powers not granted, in tho compact of naioo. Thns, the great power e! taxation was limited to purposes of common defence and general welfare, excluding ebjeoia appertaining to the ioeal Truth and Eight God and onr Cohntry* legislation of the several Slates ; nd those purposes of general welfare end common defence were afterwards defined ty specific •numeration, as being matters on* of core lation between the States themeepes, or be tweon them and foreign governments, which, because of their common and general na ture, could not be left to the separate control of each State. Of the circumstances of local condition, interest, and rights, in which a portion of tbe Slates, constituting one great section of tbe Union differed from the rapt, and from another section, the moat important was the peculiarity of a larger relative colored popu lation in the southern than iq the northern States. A population of this class- held in subjec tion, existed in nearly all the Slates, but was more numerous and of rr.ore serious concern ment in the South than in the North, on ac count of natural differences of climate and production; and it was forsaen that, for the same reasons, while this population would diminish, and, sooner or later, cease to exist, in some Stales, it might increase in others. Tbe peculiar character and magnitude of this question of local rights, not in materialrela. lions only, bnt still more in social ones, caus ed it to enter into the special stipulations of the constitntion. Hence, while the general government, as well by the enumerated powers granted to it, aa by those not enumerated, and therefore refused to it, was forbidden to touch this matter in the sense of attack o: offence, it was placed under the general safeguard of the Union, in the sense of defence against either invasion or domestic violence, like all other lacal interests of the several States.— Each State expressly stipulated, as well for it self, and for each and all of its citizen!, and every citizen of each State became solemnly bouud by his allegiance to the constitution, that any person, held to service or labor in one State, escaping into another; should not, in consequence of any law or segulation therof, be discharged from such service or labor, but should be delivered up on claim of tne parly to whom such service or labor might be due by the laws of bis State. Thus, and thus only, by the reciprocal guaranty of all the rights of every State against interference on the part of another, was the present form oi government estab lished by our fathers and transmitted to us; and by no other means is it possible for it to exist. If one State ceases to respect the rights of another, and obtrusively inter meddles with its local interests,—if a por tion of the States assume to impose their in stitutions on the otners, or refuse to fulfil their obligations to them,—we are no longer united friendly States, but distracted, hostile ones, with little capaoity left of common ad vantage, but abundant means of reciprocal injury and mischief. Practically, it is immaterial whether ag gressive interference between the States, or deliberate refusal on the part of any one of them to comply with constitutional obliga tions, arise from erroneous conviction or blind prejudice: whether it be perpetrated by direction or indirection. In either case, it is full of threat and of danger to the dura bility of the Union. CONSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS WITH SLAVERV. Placed in the office of Chief Magistrate as the executive agent of the whole country, bound to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and specially enjoined by (he con stitution to give information to Congress on the stale of the Union, it would be palpable neglect of duty on my part to pass over a subject like this, which, beyond all things at the present time, vitally concerns individ ual and public secutity. It has been matter of painful regret to see Slates, conspicuous for their services in foun ding this Republic, and equally sharing its advantages, disregard their constitutional obligations to it. Although *OOBOIOOB of their inability to heal admitted and palpable social J evils of their own, and which are completely within their jurisdiction, they engage in (he 1 offensive and hopeless undertaking of re forming the domestic institutions of other States wholly beyond their control and au thority. In the vain pursuit of ends, by them entirely unattainable and which they may 00l legally attempt to compass, tbey peril the existence of the constitution, and all the countless benefits which it lias oonferred.— While the people of the southern States con fine their attention to their own affairs, not presuming officiously to intermeddle with the social institutions of lha northern States, (00 many of tbe inhabitants of the latter are permanently organised in associations to in fliot injury on lha former, by wrongful acts, which would be oause of war between foreign powers, and only fail to be such in our system; because perpetrated under cover ol the Union. It is impossible te present this subject as truth and the occasion require, without noti cing the reiterated, but groundless allegation, that the South has persistently asserted claims and obtained advantages in the practical ad ministration of the general government, to the prejudice of the North, and in which the latter has acquiesced. That ia, the States, which either promote or tolerate attacks on the rights of persons and of property in oth er States, to disguise their own injustice, pre tend or imagine, and constantly aver, that they, wboae constitutional rights are thus sys tematically assailed, are themselves the ag gie ss or s. At the present time, this imputed aggression, resting as it does, only in the rsgae, declamatory ehargea of political agi tators, resolves itielf into misapprehension, misinterpretation, of the principles and faeta of tbe political organization of the new Territories of tfck United State*. is the tioice oT history ? When the ordinance, which provided for the govern ment of tbe territory northwest of the river Ohio, and for its eventual subdivisiona into new States, was adopted in the Congress of the confederation, it is not to be supposed that the question of future relative powef, as be tween the Stetes which retained, and thoe which did not retain, a numerous colored population, escaped notice, or failed to be considered. And ye! the Concession of that vast territory to the inlei-ests and opinions of the northern States, a territory r.ow the seal of five among the largest members of the Union, was, in great measure, the act of the Slate of Virginia and of the South. When Lonisiana was acquired by the Uni ted Slatee, it was an acquisition not less to the North than to the Sonth; for while it was im portant to the country at the mouth of the river Mississippi to become the emporium of the country above it # ao also it was even more important te the new province, by rea aon of ita imperfect aeulemem, was mainly regarded as on tbe Gulf of Mexico, yet, iu fact, it extended to the opposite boundaries of the United Steles, with far greater breadth above than below, and was in territory, as in everything else, eqnaily at last an accession to the northern States. It is mere delusion and prejudice, therefore, to speak of Louis iana as an acqoisitior. in the special interest of the South. The patriotic and just men, who participa ted in the 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 of the Mississippi, in exchange for large territory, which the United States transferred to Spain on the west Bide of that river, as the entire diplomatio history of the transaction serves to demonstrate. Moreover, it was an acqui sition demanded by the commercial interests and the seenrily of the whole Union. In the meantime, the people of the United States had grown up to a proper conscious ness 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 of undue reverence lor Eu rope, and emerged from the atmosphere of those transatlantic influences which surroun ded the infant Republio, and bad begun to turn their attention to the foil and systematic developement ol the internal resources of the Union. A mong the evanescent con Iroversies of that period, the most conspicuous was the ques tion of regulation by Congress (if the social oo>ditin of the future Statue to bo founded in the territory of Louisiana. The ordinance for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio had con tained a provision, which prohibited the use of servile labor therein, subject to the condi tion of the extradition of fugitives from ser vice due in any other part of the United Slates. Subsequently to the adoption of the constitution, this provision ceased to remain as a law; for its operation as such was abso lutely superseded by the consolation. But the recollection of the fact excited the zealot social propagandism in some sections of the confederation; and, when a second State, that of Missouri, came to be formed in the territory of Louisiana, proposition was made to extend to the latter territory the restriction originally applied to the country situated be tween the rivers Ohio and Mississippi. Most questionable as was thrs proposition in all iiseonstitatlonal relations, nevertheless it reoeived the sanction of Congress, with some slight modification ot line, to save (he existing right of the intended new Slate. It was reluctantly acquiesced by the southern States as a sacrifice as to the cause of peace and of the Union, not only of the rights stip ulated by (be treaty of Louisiana, but of the principle of equality among the States guar antied by the '.constitution. It was received by the northern Slates with angry and resent ful condemnation and complaint, because it did not concede all which they had exacling -Ily demanded. Having passed throngh the forms of legislation it look its place In the statute book, standing open to repeal, like any other act of doubtful constitutionality, subject to be pronounoed null and void by the courts of law, and possessing no possible efficacy to control the rights of the Slates, whioh might thereafter be organized out of any part of (he original territory of Louis- I tana. In all thia, if any aggression there were, any innovation upon pre-existing rights, to which portion of the Union are they jnstly chargeable ? The controversy passed away with the oc casion , nothing snrviving h save the dor mant letter of the statute. But, long afterwards, when by the propo-> sed accession of the Republio of Texas, the United States were to take their next step in territorial greatness, a similar contingency occurred, and became the ocoasion for sys tantalized attempts to intervene in the do mestic affairs ol one section of the Union, in defianoe of their rights as States, and of the stipulations ol the constitution. These at tempts assumed a practical direction, rn the shape of preserving endeavors, by some of the representatives, m both houses of Con gress, to deprive the southern States of the supposed benefit of the previsions of the set authorizing the organization of the State of Missouri. Bet, the good sense of the people, and the vital foroe of the constitution, triumphed over sectional prejudice, and Ihe political error* of tbe day, and the State of Tezas returned to the Union as the was, with social institutions , which bar people had ohoien for themaelvw and with the express sgreement, by the re aunexing act, Iba't she should ba susceptible of BQbdi*isioD into a plurality of Slates. I Whatever advantage the interests of the 1 j Southern States, as such, gained by this, were fur inferior in results, as they utifolded in the progress of time, to those which sprang from previous concessions madia by the South. To every thoughtful friend of the Union,— to the true lovers of their country,—to all who longed and labored for the full success of this great experiment of republican institu tions, —it WSB Cause of grataiaiion that such an opportunity had occurred to illustrate our advancing power on this contlhem, and to furnish to the world additional assurance of the strength and stability of the constitution. Who would wish to see Florida still a Euro pean colony f Who would rejoice to hail Texas as a lone star, instead of one in the galaxy of States? Who does not appreciate the incalculable benefits of the acquisiiion ol Louisiana? And yet narrow views and sec tional purposes would inevitably have exclu ded them all from the Uuion. 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 Gaudalope Hidalgo. The great re lations of the subject had now become dis tinct and clear to the perception of the pub lic mind, which appreciated the evils of sec tional controversy upon the question of the admission of new States. In that crisis in tense solicitude pervaded the nation. But the patriotic impulses of the popular heart, guided by the admonitory advice of the Fa ther of his Country, rose superior to all the difficulties of the incorparation of a new em pire ioto the Union. In the counsels of Con gress there was manifested extreme antago nism of opinion and action between some representatives, who sought by the abusive and unconstitutional employmeut of the leg islative powers ot the government to interfere in the condition of the inchoate States, and to impose their own social theories upon the latter; and other representatives, who repel led the interposition of the general govern ment in this respect, and maintained the self-constituting rights of the States. Iu truth, the thing attempted was, inform alone, action of the general government, while in reality it was the endeavor, by abuse of legislative power, to force the ideas of internal policy, entertained in particular States, upon allied independent States. Once more the constitution and the Uuion triumph ed signally. The new Territories were or ganized without restrictions on the disputed point, and were itiua left tu judge in that par ticular for themselves; and the sense of con stitutional faith proved vigorous enough in Congress not only to accomplish this primary object, bnt also the incidental aud hardly less important one, of so amer-ding the pro visions of the statute for the extradition of fugitives from service, as to place that pub lic duty under the safe-gnard of the general government, and thus relieve tt from ob stacles raised UD by the legislation of some of the States. Vain declamation regarding the provisions of law for the extradition of fugitives from service, with occasional episodes of franlio effort to obetruot their execntion by riot and murder, continued, for a brief time, to agi tate certain localities. But the true princi ple, of leaving each Slate and Territory to regulate its own laws of labor according to its own sense of right and expediency, bad acquired fast hold of the public judgment, to such a degree, that, by common consent, it was observed in the organization of the Territory of Washington. When, more recently, it became requisite fo organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas, it was the natnrai and legitimate, if not the inevitable, consequence of previous events and legislation, that the same great and sound priuciple, which bid already been applied to Utah and New Mexico, should be applied to them; —that they should stand ex empt from the restrictions proposed in the act relative to the Stale of Missouri. These restrictions were, in the estimation of many thoughtful men, null from the be ginning, unauthorized by the constitution, contrary to the treaty stipulations for the cession of Louisiana, and inconsistent with the equality of tbe Stales. They had been stripped of all moral au- thority, by persistent efforts to procure their indirect repeal through contradictory enact ments. They had been practically abroga ted by the legislation attending the organiza tion of Utah, Naw Mexico, and Washing ton. If any vitality remained in tbem, it would have been taken away, in effect, by the new territorial acts, in the form originally proposed to the Senate at the first session of the last Congress. It was manly and ingenu ous, at well as patriotic and just; to do this directly and plainly, and thns relieve ike statute-book of an act; which might be of possible future injury, bnt of no possible fu ture benefit) aud the measure of its repeal was the final consummation and complete Noognition of tha principle, that no portion of the United States shall undertake, through assumption of the powers of (be general government, to dictate the social institutions of any other portion. The scope and effect of the language of repeal were not left in doubt. It waa de clared, in terra*, to be "the true intent and meaning of ibis act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form aed regulate their do mestic institution* in their own way, subject only to tha etfntiitotion of the United States.*' The measure could not be withstood upon its merit* alone. It was attacked with vio- [Two Dollars per Inn. 1 NUMBER 51- lence,on the false or delusive pretext, that it constituted a breach of faith. Never was objection more utterly destitdle of substantial V j justification. Whert, beiore, was it itnagin- ■ ed by sensible men, that a regulative or dec- ™ i larative statute, whether enacted ten dr forty | years ago, is irrepealable,—than an act of j Congress is above the constitution f If, in i deed, there were in the facte eny cause to i 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 to eon- ] demn it; who have constantly refused' to < complete it by needful supplementary legia- I lation ; who have spared no exertion to' dts- I prive it of moral force; who have ttiemselvee I again and again attempted ita repeat by the I enactment ot incompatible provisions; and I who, by the inevitable reactionary effect of 1 their own violence on the' subject, awaken— I ed the country to perception of the true con stitutional principle, of leaving the matter _ involved to the discretion of the'people of the respective oxistlng or incipient Slates. h is ncrr pretended that this principle, ot any other, precludes the possibility of evile in practice, disturbed at political action' it liable to be by human passions. No form of government is exempt from inconvenience*; but in this ease they are the resnh of the abuse, and not of the legitimate exercise, ot the powers reserved or conferred in the or ganisation of a Territory. They are not to by charged to the great prinoipie of popular sovereignty: on the contrary, they disappear beforj the intelligence and patriotism of the people, exerting through tl)g ballot-box thehr peaceful and silent but irresistible power. - -~- If the friends of tba constitution are to have another struggle, H* enemies cotrld not present a more acceptable issue, than thai eff a Slate, whose constitution clearly embraoea ''a republican form of government," being excluded from the Union because it* domes- , tic institutions may not in all respects com port with the ideas of what in wise and ex pedient entertained in some other State. Fresh from groundless imputations ot breach of laith against others, men will commence the agitation of this new question with in dubitable violation of an express compact between the independent sovereign power* of the United States and of the republic Of Texas, as well as of the older and equally solemn compaota, which assnre the equality of all (he States. But, deplorable as would be aticb d viola tion of compact in itself, and in all its direct consequences, that is the vefy least of the evils involved. When sectional RgiUtd*W / shall have succeeded in forcing or. tnn utvkfT ' can their pretensions fail to be met by -j ter pretensions ? Will not different States be oompelled respectively to meet extremes with extremes? And, if either extreme car ry its point, what is that so far forth bat dis solution of the Uniou? If a new Slate, formed from the territory of the United Stales, be absolutely excluded from admis sion therein, that fact of itself constitutos the disruption of union between it end other States. But the process of dissolution couhl not stop there. Would hot a sectional de cision, producing such results by a majority of votes, either northern or soutbsrc, of nee essity drive out the oppressed and aggrieved ) y minority, and place in presence of each otw. . er two irreconcileably hostile confederations? It is necessary to speak thus plainly of projects, the offspring of that sectional agi tation now prevailing in some of the Stated, which are as impracticable as tbey are un constitutional, and which, if persevered hi, must and will end calamitously, ft is either disunion and civil war, or it is mere angry, idle, aimless disturbance of public peace and tranquility. Disunion for what t If the passionate rage of fanaticism and partisan spirit did not lorce the fact npon our atten tion, it would be difficult to believe, that any _ considerable portion of the people of enlightened conntfy could have so ed themselves to a fanatical devotion supposed interests of the relatively ricans in the United States, as totally bsndon and disregard the interests of the tweciy-flve millions of Americans, —to tram ple under foot the injunctions of moral and • constitutional obligation -sand to engage in plans of vindictive hostility againsKdhU* who are associated with them in the ehjoy- - ment of the common heritage of onr nanion- _ al institutions. Nor is it bostifity against their fallow-citi zens of one section Of the Union alone. The interests, the honor, the doty, ths peace, and the prosperity of the people ol alt section* . are equally Involved and imperilled in this question. And are patriotic men in any part of the Union prepared, on stfcb en issue, thus madly to invite ell the conseqneneee of the forfeiture of their constitutional en gagements 1 It is impossible. The storm of phrensy and faction must inevitably dash it self in vein against the unshstsn rook of the constitution < I shall never doubt h. that the Union is stronger a thousand times than all the wild and chimerical aoheraesoff \ social change, which are generated, one af ter another, ia the unstable minds of vision' \ try sophists end interested agitators. 1 rely 5 , t confidently on the patriotism of the | on the dignity and self-respeot of ibe State*, on the wiedom of Congress, and above ail, on the continued gracious favor of Almighty God, to m aintain, against all enemies, wheth er at home or abroad, the sanotfty of thq f constitution and tha integrity of the Union, . . FRANKLIN TIERCE. 14 WmtmoTow, Dec, aI, 186*. V TTie Springfield (III.) Journal sayg Ant contracts for new con have been mad* in that vioinity at 32 cants in tke ear. * ,