Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1850-10-09
EUGITIvE SLAVE BILL.

The law recently passed for the surrender OF iu-
s,ye slaves, is now in full operation, and its efhca-
cy has already been fully confirmed in numerous in-
stances. Quite number Of these fng''es nave oeen
promptly surrendered, on application, TO their mas
,srs and are now returning to the South. There is
something truly cheering in this triumph OF law over
The Dreudices and mistaken sympathies of indivldu-
.,s and communities; and with our brethren of the
Virginia Press generally, we record it to The homo;
Of those Northern authorities under whose juisdc-
ton il has been achieved. We are disposed to hail
II a, return to better principles and better spirit
On the part of the law abiding portion Of the nom
slarehold;ug population Of the North, and would re-
ioice in it as pledge of devotion to Constitutional
obligations, and Of determination to fulfil them, so
long as their existence is recognized. There is all
the more merit in these acts Of fidelity to long con-
sscrated compact from the peculiar nature of the
ease. and The many obstacles that may be expected
to presen! themselves. When the path of duty is one
of pleasure, little effort is required to pursue IT. but
when il becomes rugged with difficulties and dan
gers, and runs counter to our own inclinaons and
sympathes serner resolution and ollier virtue are
necessary for the task We have never doubted the
obligation to surrender fugitive slaves, sufficient
proof of ownership, TO their masters. We have re-
garded recognition of that obligation as absolutely
and properly essential to the peace and perpetuy Of
the Union. But we have never forgotten that its full
6llment must in the nature of things, be painful to
those who are strangers to our institutions.
Il should excite no surprise, that in many places
a. the North strong feeling has been manifested
and very inaammatory appeals made against the op-
Grafton of the law. !; has been too long the habit
of certain Southern communities to talk of law, if
it were so much waste paper and to regard the Con-
siitution as rope of sand for us to wonder at such
exhibitions Of spirit of INSTRUMENTATION among the
fanatics at the North. These are but the natural
sbutons of Goiled and disappointed party. The
poor deuded victims of their mock hilanhrophy
are about to be restored, by the strong arm of the
law, to their families and friends, to their abandoned
wives and children, and to milder and more con-
genial climate, where the bitter fruits of voluntary
idleness will never again, perhaps, be encountered
and endured what wonder then, that fierce fana-
cism should rage and gnash its teeth in view Of such
change! What wonder that sentimental charity
should weep at the departure of those wretches who
were at once the deities and the victims OF It's shrine
So long as the authorities and the more virIuous
classes Of the people at the North with u.s. there
can be nothing to fear. Whenever they shall change
their relations to this question, and manifest wish
10 recede from their Constitutional obligations, it will
be time for them 10 talk, not of coercing the South,
but of leaving the Union. On their shoulders must
rest the solemn responsibity-the onus abscedendf
the most painful of all dues-that of oVerwh'lm-
ing and running the nobest political structure ever
reared among men. 1t is there tina! we have always
wished this responsibility to rest; and we congratu-
late the South tina. the alternative of dissou9onmus
hereafter belong to those who, though rather forget
full of the rights secured by the Union, have the deep
est interest in its preservation.