Were it simply a bad measure we might speak of it calmly. But as an act of deliberate bad faith, impelled by sordid motives and threatening calamitous results, we must treat it as we do other gigantic perfidies. The conflagration it threatens is not to be put out with rosewater.
Original passage & context
"Were it simply a bad measure, we might speak of it calmly and measuredly; but as an act of deliberate and bad faith, impelled by the most sordid motives and threatening the most calamitous results, we must treat it as we do other gigantic perfidies and crimes. [...] The conflagration it threatens is not to be extinguished by jets of rosewater."
Written as an answer to critics of the paper's own tone — the Tribune is defending its language, not describing the bill. The question in the headline is asked literally: whether the Compromise of 1850 was understood at the time to repeal the Missouri line, or whether that reading was invented afterwards.
Read it in the original — Furman Secession Era Editorials transcription ↗