Peace being again declared to exist, things seemed to move quietly along until the winters of 1853-'54, when, to everybody's surprise, (I mean in the North,) one Stephen A. Douglas, desiring to become President of the United States, set himself at work to find out whether there was not something more which the South might have granted her to enhance her interests. Stephen, being a man of great industry and perseverance, searched carefully and thoroughly, and at last he found a restriction on the extension of the institution of slavery north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude. With great earnestness, and a show of fairness, he entered into the task of removing this restriction. He was soon made acquainted with the fact that this restriction was but a part of a solemn compact, and that the party for whose benefit the restriction was established, had paid for it a large price, and a disinheritance at this time would be gross injustice toward the party aggrieved. Even some of the Southern Senators labored hard to dissuade Stephen from his purpose, on this account, but then Stephen was desirous of becoming President, and not being excessively burthened with a high sense of justice, he was inexorable in his undertaking, and pressed it with vigor and energy. Southern statesmen espoused the cause with their usual unanimity, and again declared that unless the restriction was removed this Union would be dissolved. All will remember how reluctant the people of the free States were to grant this demand; but, as in former times, we loved our country, and when its very existence was threatened we were desirous of avoiding the great calamity; hence, the restriction was removed, and the famous Kansas and Nebraska Act became a law.