The whole Territorial question being thus settled upon the principle of
popular sovereignty - a principle as ancient as free government itself
- everything of a practical nature has been decided. No other question
remains for adjustment, because all agree that under the Constitution
slavery in the States is beyond the reach of any human power except
that of the respective States themselves wherein it exists. May we not,
then, hope that the long agitation on this subject is approaching its
end, and that the geographical parties to which it has given birth, so
much dreaded by the Father of his Country, will speedily become
extinct? Most happy will it be for the country when the public mind
shall be diverted from this question to others of more pressing and
practical importance. Throughout the whole progress of this agitation,
which has scarcely known any intermission for more than twenty years,
whilst it has been productive of no positive good to any human being it
has been the prolific source of great evils to the master, to the
slave, and to the whole country. It has alienated and estranged the
people of the sister States from each other, and has even seriously
endangered the very existence of the Union. Nor has the danger yet
entirely ceased. Under our system there is a remedy for all mere
political evils in the sound sense and sober judgment of the people.
Time is a great corrective. Political subjects which but a few years
ago excited and exasperated the public mind have passed away and are
now nearly forgotten. But this question of domestic slavery is of far
graver importance than any mere political question, because should the
agitation continue it may eventually endanger the personal safety of a
large portion of our countrymen where the institution exists. In that
event no form of government, however admirable in itself and however
productive of material benefits, can compensate for the loss of peace
and domestic security around the family altar. Let every Union-loving