Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1850-11-08

to deprive the President Of some olhi> powers, and
10 take from him some Of his Responsibilities. The
president has right 10 dives, himself u ooaStitu-
toual powers, any mere than he has right to take
from either branch Of Congress Its Just powers. 1t
Is his duty tospreserve The constitution in all It's yigor
and | ask you whether Mr.. Fillmore did right in
signing this bill, because it passed by Congress
Our opponents sometimes uuntiugly assert, that
we are governed BY higher law, than the Con-
SttuiIon, and are told, sometimes, that there Is
no higher law. Bat itseenIS that the wings found
higher law than the Constitution, and they find it in
the creed of the wing party. [Cheers For, against
the PLAIN direction Of the constitution, which every
man IN this house can understand, they attempt
10 shield the President by wrongful Interpretation
of that document, BY nierpolatng into the instru-
ment, the creed of the wing party.
Having fixed the responsibility where the consti-
tuition fixes it, making the duty of the President,
To reject all laws of an important character which
he disapproyes-all that are unjust and oppressive
IN their character, | ask you whether the whig
party, so long they sustain Willard Fillmore, are
not responsible for that law. Yes yes j
will not stop here, in my attempt to show the
responsibility of the wing party for the fugitive slave
law BY what means was the bill passed The
administration did much 1t came with its power
and patronage, Its favors and It's rewards, and it
bent men to its will. That was one cause of the
passage of the bill. But, beyond that, were there
not others, lying still deeper: How happens it that
a congress, elected as majority elected, upon
the most sacred pledges of adherence to the cause
OF Freedom, should disregard all those pledges and
abandon those principles, to the profession of which
50 many were indebted for the seats they occupied
My friends, the process gradual. When we
met, and for time afterwards the friends of free
dom were strong They felt that majority of rep
resentatives had been elected, who would see that
no law was enacted, which would inhict greater
hardshlps upon the victim of oppression. How was
that state of things changed? BY influences from
abroad And, now, undertake to fix upon the
wings, responsibility, not only for what that party
has done In the enactment and justification of that
law, but will show, that the wings of Massachu-
sets were accessory before the fact to the commits
sion oftnls enormous crime Loud plauditsl Caught
IN the very act, as many of them were-accessor 5
alter the fact, the party has been-to the leading
wings of Massachusetts also belongs the dishonor
OF having been accessory before the fact-of hay
counselled and procured it.
Did not Daniel Webster on the 9TH of March Ia in
a speech whichwas published and read by all the peo-
pie, declare his purpose to vote for the law, which
with some amendments, has been enacted And
was not that speech hailed, with satisfaction and de-
light, by hundreds and thousands of the Wings of
Massachusetts In Boston, the seat of their STRENGTH
and power, an address to Mr. Webster was prepar d
and signed by many hundreds of the whrs in which
the understanding and touched the conscience of the
nation And who were the signers of that address,
lhey We're the men who had the right if anv had
such right, to speak for the Wing party of Massa-
chusettS and that address went into the other States
OF the Union, as the voice of the Wings of Massa
chusetts. Among the names affixed TO it. are those
OF many who had been distinguished by the
Shest honors OF the party. There were legislators
who had served in both houses Of Congress, and men
known in every honorable department in life. Vet
such men, with a subseryiency of spirit not often
manifested by American citizens, acknowledged that
hey had been acting IN ignorance of their constitu
tonal duties, and thanked Mr. Webster for recalling
them to a sense of their duties. In the language of
some of the Wing papers each of the sgners of Thai
address was representative man. ndicotin .,,a
expressing the sentiments of a ''class." Near tho
head OF that list ofnames, the name of the
candidate for Congress from the Wing strong hold
the designated successor of him of unenvable fame
Samuel A: Eliot. [Hear hear j And he having
declared his concurrence with MIR Webster in tbo
passage of fugitive slave bill (which did NOT nroydo
and did not contemplate, at that time, trial bv iurv
Is to be sent to Washington, doubtless to see that
the law is sustained in Congress- And tha mon
whom the Wings of Suffolk designate to renresant
them IN the Legislature, who are they? Numbers
OF them are slgners of that address. OF such. too
are they who are selected to be the active and eff
Gent managers of their State Conventions
BY such proceedings, and by similar measures SGT on
loot by leading wings in New York and PHILADELPHIA
the impression Tas created and dfused throuoh the
country, that the whg party in the Northern States
would to great extent sustain MIR. Webster and the
measures he advocated. Especially was it sought TO ner
suade members of Congress from the Free States. that
sentiment was sprngine up,which would uphold thcmin
the abandonment OF their principles and in Welding to
the unreasonable demands of the save-hodne portion
the country
By such MEANS many were induced to believe that Il
dos
lous to lreemen; many induced to leave thei,
post, through fear of Fictitious public sentiment
through tear OF the leaders of the people, MANY who
we're AFRAID TO give the assent of their names were in
uced to leave their Seats and allow others to pass the
fugitive slave bill. [''Shame Shame !''1
Wen my friends, was the whig party responsible for
'h's ACT ask yyu whether the proposition is not
maintained luy' J"ty' that that party of freedom as
calls ltseli, was eacherous freedom-urned its
back npon freedom-lef the field of conAict-and al
lowed the enemy to carry the dav. Tss4ear Hear l,1
MY friends, TO this hour when has the whig party Of
Massachusetts repudiated any ofthese measure When
mas u declared IT'S repugnance to the sentneuts pub
shed as the voice of the leaders of that Marty in the
letters addressed to Mr. Webster At anv convocat;oo
OF the wings of Boston, has the vote of Mr. Eliot bcen
condemned, or has he received the slightest censurc
from his party! AT any public meeting ofwbigs in Mas
sachusetts has the conduct of Webster in turning his
back upon freedom been condemned No where has
the thing been done. Quite the reverse of this has
been the action of the wing party in this State Al
their late Convention in this Hall, by the unanimous
concurrence OF all the members ofthat Convention they
renewed the expression of confidence and trust IN te
President and his distinguished Cabinet at the head Of
which stands Daniel Webster
But, my friends, hold that the responsibility which
attached to the President cannot be shaken off by
he wing party, and that every act of party charac-
ter IN relation to this subject shows that The nartv
either iorthe BILL certainly not actively opposed toit
And It seems to me, and ask if is not your opinion
that, II the President had no power to veto bin Of