Muncie Eastern Indiana Courant, January 3, 1861

In these times of secession and compromise, it is well for the people of the North to look about and determine upon some course of policy, and in so doing it is of vital importance that we should let that policy conform strictly with right and justice to all portions of the country. In view of the fact that a number of propositions are now offered to the country for the settlement of existing difficulties, it is necessary that they should be carefully examined before we commit ourselves to them. In the first place we would warn the members of the Republican party of the danger to which the party is exposed through the operation of a class of men styling themselves the conservatives.—They, with Tom. Corwin at their head are engaged in a movement which is calculated to utterly destroy the Republican party, unless we nip the thing in the bud. Under the pretext of compromise, they are attempting to commit the Republican party to a truckling pro-slavery policy, which they are offering to the people under the specious title of Conservatism. This plan is embodied in the following propositions:

The first is, a division of Territory with the South, prohibiting slavery North of a certain line, and leaving the question open South of it.

Who cannot see that this is a total backing down from the principle of opposition to the extension of slavery into Territories, which was sanctioned by every Northern State, by the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency? This policy is advocated upon the ground that it will operate against the extension of slavery. It is contended that we would secure a certain amount of Territory to freedom, and the balance would be made free by the over-powering influence of freedom in populating them. It is the old doctrine of the Missouri Compromise, and is sustained by the same argument. The question to be decided by the people is whether they are willing that we shall be sold out to this slave-driving policy. Every man is acquainted with the history of the Missouri Compromise. That was declared unconstitutional by the Democratic party, and it repealed it. Shall we take up the same measure, and commit the country to the re-enactment of the same policy? Shall we make another sacrifice of freedom, by another compromise, to be broken at the will of the South? The history of the Missouri Compromise teaches every intelligent man that compromise is useless. The interests of freedom have been sacrificed to slavery for the last forty years, for the purpose of preserving the Union. The slave power has controlled the entire administration of the Government during all that period. It demanded the Missouri Compromise for its benefit, and it destroyed it for the purpose of advancing its interests. The advancement of the institution of slavery has been, during all that time, the policy of the general Government; while the interests of freedom have been totally disregarded. The people have lately repudiated this policy. Shall we return to it for the sake of the Union? Shall we bow our necks, and humiliate our selves before the slave oligarchy of the South? Shall we allow the slave drivers to dictate to us the only terms upon which the Union can be perpetuated, when it assumes that the Government shall be administered solely and exclusively for the advancement of slavery? Shall the majority succumb to the minority and allow it to constitute itself a supreme dictator in the Government, or shall we adhere to the doctrine that the majority shall rule, and that its will, when constitutionally expressed, shall be the supreme law of the land?

The first proposition, if we can understand it, is designed to prevent the extension of territory in a southern direction, thus checking the opportunity of the slave States to extend their institution in that direction.

The second proposition is simply abandoning the doctrines of the Republican party, and endorsing the Popular Sovereignty doctrine of Stephen A. Douglas. It is supported by the same argument used in defence of the Compromise measure. It is predicated upon the hypothesis that the North will populate the territories, and convert them into Free States. It throws down the gauntlet to a perpetual strife in the Territories, between the free and slave interest[s]. It leaves all the territories subject to all the evils which Kansas has suffered by the conflict of opposing interests. The doctrine has been repudiated by every Free State, and the attempt to commit the Republican Party to its heresies will meet with universal condemnation.—Some weak-kneed & cowardly politicians may be intimidated into this policy by the threats of the South to dissolve the Union, but the majority of the people will never consent to it.

We predict that the Republican Party will not permit itself to be [s]old out to the Douglas party, by any such movement. Let the Republican party even countenance this truckling policy, and before the next five years it will be totally annihilated in every State in the Union, and upon its ruins the pro-slavery dynasty will be re-established and the reign of slavery will again be inflicted upon the country. The only safe course for the Republican party to pursue, is in the line marked out by the Chicago Platform, and any divitation [deviation?] from that course will be its death knell. We again warn the Republican Party. Those are traitors in our ranks, who are plotting against its principles and who are attempting to betray it into the hands of the enemy. Be firm: stand by the fixed principles of the party—forsake them, and all is lost. Beware of the specious coloring of conversatism. It conceals the essence of treason to our principles, and aims to strike down the antislavery element of the Republican Party. It is conceived by sore-headed politicians—men who are disloyal to the Republican Party, and if it is not scrup[ul]ously guarded against it will totally annihilate the Republican Party. The leaders expect to rally around the standard, the Douglasites, Bellites, and water gruel Republicans. They anticipate the erection of a great conservative party, basing its principles, upon a milk and water policy upon the question of slavery. They expect to drag together the odds and ends of all parties, but the chief strength will come from the Democratic party.—Routed and defeated upon its false pretenses, it will seek the most congenial home offered by the other parties. In this conservative party they can find comfortable quarters. Conservatism was its rallying cry during the late campaigns and it will readily find a place of action in the ranks of the conservatives. The future strength of such a party is easily seen. It will carry with it no moral force, having no fixed principle of action, save that of party triumph. It can never stand against the combined forces of that great party which is based upon the great principle of freedom, justice and equality.

The third proposition, in reference to the Fugitive Slave Law, in part, will meet with the approbation of all parties. It is generally conceded that the South is entitled to an efficient Fugitive law, and a law of that description, allowing the right of trial by jury, the right of appeal to the higher courts, and a fair and impartial trial of the Fugitive, would be executed in good faith by every Northern citizen. The "personal liberty bills" [of] some of the States, which are the result of the odious features of the present law would be instantly repealed. The punishment of persons for obstructing the execution of the law, would be just, but the policy of making a State pecuniar[i]ly responsible for the acts of any of its citizens, would never be consented to. He will find men to meet him, and assist him to gain his freedom, however wrong it may be in the eyes of legal enactment. If there are persons so indiscreet as to disobey the law they should be amendable [sic], but there is no justice in requiring a State to pay for the illegal acts of its citizens.