the Wilmot proviso. This was, as is known, a measure, or _proviso_,
stipulating that slavery could not be introduced into conquered
provinces. Such was the starting point. It was sought then, in 1847, to
prevent the territorial extension of slavery. This seems to me
reasonable enough; and I am not astonished that the Lincoln platform
tends simply to return to this primitive policy. The measure passes the
House of Representatives, but is defeated in the Senate.
Notwithstanding, the American people hold firm to the principle that
slavery shall henceforth no longer be extended; it elects, in 1848, the
upright Administration of Gen. Taylor. The cause of justice seems about
to triumph, when the death of the whig President, succeeded by the
feeble Mr. Fillmore, comes to restore good fortune to the Southerners,
the _proviso_ is forgotten, and the nation, weary of resistance, ends by
adopting a series of deplorable compromises.

Beginning from this moment, the progress of the evil is rapid. Among the
compromises, the oldest and most respected, dating back to 1820, was
that which bore the name of the _Missouri Compromise_. On admitting
Missouri as a Slave State, it had been stipulated that slavery should be
no longer introduced north of the 36th degree of latitude. Of this
limit, so long accepted, the South now complains; it is no longer
willing that the development of its "peculiar institution" shall be
obstructed in any thing. Other combats, another victory. A bill
proposed by Mr. Douglas annuls the Missouri Compromise, and, based on
the principle of local sovereignties, withdraws from Congress the right
to interfere in the question of slavery.

The Wilmot proviso could not subsist in the presence of these absolute
pretensions. The liberty of slavery (pardon me this mournful and
involuntary conjunction) finds an application on the spot. At this