Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1850-11-30

ings 10 nave their own way IN prostaing that law ana SUD-
shutting tor all laws they happen TO dislike undefned
higher law, Of which every iso be his own exPouDd-
er, and to act as judge, jury, and sxecutioner?
Sentiments that have gone forth from this ball. from any
place meeting in Massachusetts, adverse to the Union
the supremacy Of law, should be allowed unebuked to
form one Jo OF the public opinion of this Commonwealth and
should be met with snequivoca expression of the friends
OF the Union, who by the Union the t0hoL Union,
anu by the laws we the ohok laws
And here to-day for purpose calmly and
utey giving that expression citizens of thiry-one
United States and lovers of the Unon wi hou distinction
Of party. This alone is sufficient reason for the call that
has brought together this large assemblsge.
It be said that the Wing party the party Union and
that alone preserve it, that the Democratic party is the
party Of Union, and that only uphold much the bet
for the country Then the Union will be safe whichever
great parties have The aim and end 10 view preserving
the Union, they will have strength when both unite
gether IN that sacred purpose, and they will present inn
pregnable barrier in section and in State against
the encroachmen Of those who may seek undermine the
constitution divide the Union into sectional conflicting,
geographical parties But the other hand if Democratic
sectional party or Wing sectional party, an exclusively
sectional Southern sectional Northern party should pre-
dominate, hold the balance Of power the Union
who would guaranty its endurance for single session Of
Congress,
If the legacy of Washington his counymen had
meaning and purpose, now home to us in his solemn
warning to indignantly frown upon The first dawnng Of
every attempt TO ALLEVIATE portion of country
the rest or 70 esebk the sacred Ties ohich bind ogehey
Who that loves bis country can conceal from his Judgment
the conviction that there has upon only the
dawning OF this attempt but its progress almost to the m
dian, and il Is suffered to reach the point Of lis poca
cumnaion before its Decline that decline only happen
with the decline and fall Of the American republic
was TO give strength to these States make us one
people that Washington left bis retirement in l7S7, when
he was chosen delegate om Virginia the Convention
form the constitution, and in his language that
sion, he reluctantly consented serve, order
averng the consequences Of that contemplate figure which
the American communities about to make in the annals
Of mankind, with their SEPARATE independent jealous State
sovereignties.
The question comes home to US to-day whether by acqui-
in that the best wisdom Of Congress has
devised to quiet and settle the Union, shall lend aid
to avert the like catastrophe, which happen tho
constitution Of fathers framed by the best the
y ever saw, lost to to freedom and to the world by
the sectional divisions that have already strained it its
most tension
Mr. President singular fact that we are here to-day
celebrating upon issue which threatens the Union and
endanges the supremacy of its laws, that had place in
the deliberations the apprehensions of the wise who
formed and adopted the constitution.
The fourth article of the constitution which provides
the delivery of fugtives from labor, scarcely discussed
the Convention, and adopted by the unanimous Of
every State, and without dissenting from the North
In the Massachusetts, Convention Of 1885, upon whose ac
ton then depended the ratification Of the constitution by tho
requisite number of States not word uttered by the
most jealous opponents Of the constitution against that pro-
vision The whole and only discussion touching slavery
ed upon the provision permitting the importation Of slaves for
twenty years. much repugnsnt than that
called to permit to be enforced and the enumeration
Of slaves in the representation
And yet when all considered, the Appreciation
of the wisest that lived among Judge Dana
said: From survey Of every part Of the constitution,
think the best that the wisdom Of could devise - and
the Rev. Mr. Backus, apostle of that day and generation
declared that such door opened for The establish
Of righteous government and for securing equal liberty
never before offered to any people upon EARTH
It instructive too to recall the fact that the only
could meet and make that constitution, the dent-s
ground upon which the friends Of the Union Of oil yrties
now agree to stand viz intervention with " domestic
of each State and full recognition the only sale
republican doctrine Of free povernmep. Viz the right Of
every free State to establish its o~h form OF government
provided be republican, sD1 to regulate Its own modes OF
labor and all its intasna concerns.
As single instance, permit to quote the language
MAJOR General Heath, the Massachusetts Convention,
who had fought bravey for the liberties he knew well how
to preserve Upon this question Of slavery, he said
" II we rahfy the constitution shall do any thing by
act keep the blacks in slavery shall become the par
takers Of other mems SINS think neither of them Each
State sovereign and independent to certain degree and
they have right and will regulate their internal affairs
themselves appears proper and shall refuse
drink or be united with hosewho do not think just
we do Surely not"
Now. if extreme the South claim more than is in
the constitution for their peculiar institution Of slavery, and
another at the North deny and resist what plain
in the constitution, in order to susen their peculiar
tuition Of sboltonsm where shall the ends Of union take
tneH stand put ON the mlddle goun0 ne broad platform OF
the rights Of the States in their domestic relations and good
faith in carrying out the pledges Of the constitution and the
laws made to enforce them.
Allow remark point for it is only one thai
intend touch upon in the provisions Of the fugitive law
which some Of our fellow citizens have avowed this bal. Is
to be treated like the stamp act and to be enforced in
Massachusetts,.
II that any thing it means just what fathers
meant when they resisted the stamp act and threw the ten
overboard-ReuolUton II Is revolution it is Il
is revolution puts down government and by organic
law frames another That is the only American theory Of
the higher law that rebellion but sacred right Of The
people, If il only resists law and obstructs its officers whe
seeks organic form Of government in the collected
will Of the people, is treason, rebellion mobsm, and
chy, and he who risks il must risk hanging for it.
is the higher law of Daniel Shays in the rebellion Of
1886, who with thirteen ws his back for debt assembled
armed mob stop the courts and sent bis message the
judges Of the Supreme Court then about to hold their
in Springfield, ordering them not open their court,
indict the rebels The judges of that day answered.
the judges Of this day, and the commissioners too, if
need be, Of one of them,) would like
message from the modern higher law party, "ey ,ootd
faithfully execute the z,cs Of the country agreeaby to their
oaths"
But the point which would refer in the fugitive b7
and the most insisted repugnant to New England
feeling that it calls upon the citizens aid the saveaksr
in capturing the fugitive. do understand it. No
called upon be called upon unless there 10
sstance to the execution Of process Of law f citizen
resists the law, no other citizen except the officer with h
will be called lift finger Now suppose the
officer resisted the prisoner rescued the court invaded h
witnesses assaulted the magistrate driven from bis seat and
you called sustain the supremacy of the law or the
desposm Of the mob. Which side will you take law oq