The Missouri Compromise

Through (he the influence of circuinstances, the 8uperioriiy of nnturnl talents, or the vigorous exercisc of ordinary powers, sonie persons are enaoled vety Inrgely to benefit or to injure their fellow-men. The well being of thuusands. and someiimesof millions. is permanently afleeted bv tho chaiacter of a single individual. The consciousness of possessing this extensivo and eommanding infiuence over others, is usually pleasing to ts possessor. independently of the manncr in whicli it may be exerciscd. The boy délighta in the perlect obedience of hts horse or ol his dog, and the man rejoices that he can cotninand armies, or legislate for etates or empires. When superior powers are con secrated to tho service of virtue, and the adv.inceiuent of human happiness, tln-y tend Inrgely to augment the highest rewafd which God lias bestowed on the virtuous man- the memory of ihe good which he lias done, and that he has endeavored to do. He who lives asman should live. h permitied to look back on a continued series ot" acts designed for the benefit of his race. and where his aclion could not reach their c.-ise, on unceasing wishes for their welfare; while the hope of nccomplishing still rnorc for degtnded and Eliip■vrecked humanity urges him to renewed excrtions. to be ever aucceed by the saine reward the recolleciion of generóos deeds accomplislicd or attomptcd.the love of the vininus, and the smiles ol approving Heaven.But f the remembnnee of good occomplished or intended for the vicious or ihe sufiering be iliu8cheering to the human lieart, whnt must be kis refiections, who through his long ufe, has ] steadily uscd his superior influence and talents for ' augmeming the siun if humnn misery. for ' tend:ng ignorance, ;ind vice. and crime, and at ' the same time throwing every obstacle in the way ; f that philanthropliy and patriotism which scuks ;o enhghten. elévate and improve. What must be j his rcflections.whose unhallowed nmbition has led him to Tasten even upon future generations. in addition to t!)eir other illa, the sorest curse wlnch has afflictcd human na tür e, remcililcss and ] 'lopehss bon-lage? h n,ay be thought thnt if individuals óf this chároctér have appeared in the gïiüe of humonitvyhey have been sl.unned by the virtuous and pure-minded w th the same abhorrence which they would manifest to a representa ivo of ihe infernal regions, who had been sent for'.h firom the great prison-housc of wor that he might fit men for a residence there, by blightiñg in their initiatory state on earth, wliatever gemis of lovt-linessor excellence might not be m unisón with the wretched condition and malignan t feelings of fallen epirits. But experience teaches us a difl'eient lesson. Such individuils, usnnlly receive the reverence, we might nlso say the adoration o( the mnss of men. includinga very large proportion of the thinking and the good. - Regardless of the inferna! yract'ces they advocate, the fact that they aie utterly recreant to the noblost principies of virtue is forgotien amidst excited feelings, angry controversy, and splcndid exhibitions of inteHoctual power. These reflections have occurred to us from reading nn account of the course of Mr. Clay in reference to the admission of Missouri into the Union. A brief, and we suppose a correct ' marv of his ngency in thnt transaction mny be found in the pllowing extract from the Albany Patriot."In the winter of 1818-19 this question was first agitited in Consrress. Ilere is the provisión in the anide of adinission. which caused the srrentest commotion, and which jmssed the H mse. wns rrjec;ed by the Scnate, adhered to by thé House, and finnlly compromised nwny fhy one of those irirks of fiaucl hy which Mr.'Clny has since sisnalized iiis nnme, more than once; ' ' A 1 1 children of slaves horn in sai 1 State, after the ndmission there-if into the Union, sliall he (ree. biu may be held io sevice un'il the age nf twenty-ñve eais: and the funhcr introduetion of slavery or involuntar.y tervitudé is prohihited, exceptfor the punsliment of crimes whereof the party phall hnve been duly convicierl." Snch was the proposition which Mr.Clay Iobóred .i long and so ardently to overeóme. He claims the honor, the giory of tlcfeating jt; nnd no onc at all familiar wih tfte historv of those times can now believe that Missouri could have ever hoen ndmitterl into the Union as a siave State, exrept throushhis inte'rventfon. Savshis biographer. Geo. Prentice - "So prrat wns his exci temen t,se intense ihe interrst he feit. and so q.rrernitting hs hodilv exenion. thnt he hnibecn freqn-ntlv healrd to sny, thnt his henlth, nnd in all pro!;.b; hty his jre wb'uld have been liiít. had th" ndmission of Missouri been dcferred a forinicht loncur." He labored hard. and he won the Efoal. Let his be all the infamy! This restriciion was compromised away, and ihe North nareed to adtnit another slavc State into the Union." Any one can see. froni this statement, tu.nl had it rot been for Mr Clay's exertions. Missouri loould han e been admitted as a Frcc Stale; and conseqnèntly, all the evils of Slavery which have resul ted in thnt State, and which may accrue ilironuh all coming time, are as justlv ch.nrgeable to Mr. Clay. rs they would have been had he alone establishcd slavery theif, vri thout the conci'rrence of others. He desira.' its estabüsment - he lafiored for it - he achi vzil it: and on him resis the nrs?oxstniLiTY of the resulis, Let us consider, for a moment, what are some of these rcsults.1. Missouri embrnces a fenile terrilcry ofCO,. 000 square miles, eqml to eight Smtes as Inrge as Massachnsetts, and wher. ;is denscly settled. it will contain rmorc than five millions of inhnhi. mn:s. Our first charge is. iliat through all this large domain, jMr. Clny h.is extended the hlighting rurse of Perjt'ual Sljivcryl 2. The number of Slaves in Missouri in 1840 was 48.491, they having incrensed 23.8G0 in the preceding ten yenrs. Had it not heen (or Mr. Clny's cxetlions. there would hnvo been at this time scarcely a slavo in the State. Through liis Tgency somc fifty thousand slaves are now on the soil of Missouri. 3. Through this '"undnmríntal principie of the State Consiitution. adupted through Mr. Clay's asrency, niany thousands of innocent children have been seized in helpless inlancy, nnd made lites for Ufe. Evo1 y man whohosajust sensc rf thc vaiue of liberty. woull prefcr to seo his posierity consigned to ihc crave, radiar ihan to interminable 6lavery. 'Liberty or Death' is the patriot's choice; and it rnay wcll be questioned whether it bo the grcater crime to depnve n free man of Liberty or of Lifo. For eighteen huntlred ycars, the mcmory of 5Ierod, King of Judea, has becn reprobalcd by unnumbercd millions of every tribe, nnd pcople, and nation who have rond the Gospel of Matthew, because heslew two hundred children ofBethfohem inthcyears olfantile nnocency, merely to eratify his inordinate mnbition, How much leas nfamy should nttacli to Ais memory, who from no higher motive, has reduced to hopeless scrvitude thousands ofheples9 children. thereby degrading their condiiion, augnienting their nntura! portion of sorrowand misery.and darkoning their prospects for lime nnd eternity? And must there not be a great obtuseness cf moral feeling in his bosom, who cancalmly reflcct upon suchan nct, nnd rejoice nnd even boastthat he has npplied himself to this infernal task with an energy and zenl which had well nigh cost him his life? That he displnyed, in this aflTair cansummnte addres?. industry and talent, we shall notnow question; bu: we affirm that it was taler.t and industry. bestowed to accomplish a result calculated to thwnri the best interesis of man, a result reprobuted by cvery philanthrophic heart, a rcsuh exprcsslyforbidden by the direct inspirntion of God, and the tcachings of Chrisiianity, and one ihat as appears to us. none could fully understand and approbate, unless his feelings were akin to thoseof the beins who have forover renounced all fcllowship with that which is lovely and good. Yet the biographers of Mr. Clay would represent this nefarious transaction as onet!iat eminently displays his patriotism, and ihey would cali upon the American Poople to make him President over a Union which theyalleged thai he preserved by thus insidiously defeating the resolute efïbrts of" tho iriends of Liberty for its wider extensión.