The republic., 1851-09-11

ent day the law of the land, which is the only
sufficient index to the will of the people.
But il seems that we are destined to have
the people. 1.-The proclamation" n"-says the
Union newspaper in this behalf-"r rests on
principle which condemns all aid, no matter
under what circumstances proffered by our
citizens TO people struggling for freedom"
The proclamation recites the provisions of the
LG'c Of 1918 IN the Dery loOrds of the IalD It.
self. But the lGIc is not approved by the Union.
Like the PARKERs, and GARRIsoNs, and
PHILLIPsEs of Massachusetts,, our contem-
porary thinks that laws not 10 his liking are
not to be enforced or respected. Laws that
suit him he is pleased to have executed at the
point of the sword. Laws that are not to his
taste he desires permission for himself and
other people to violate with impunity. Now,
whatever the Union has to say against the pro-
clamaiion, it says against the law; for in the
proclamation the LAW speaks through the
voice of the PRESIDENT. If the statute is a
harsh one, let the people repeal it, If it goes
too far, let it be modified or curtailed in its op-
Grafton; but while it remains the law, in the
name of Reason and Liberty, let it be main
taned And let US not see men calling out for
the application of .'higher law" to the ques-
ton of CUBA, at the very moment that they are
denouncing the Abolitionists for seeking to ap-
ply "hlgher law" to the internal affairs of
the Southern States. The man who assails
the Administration for procaiming its intention
to execute the law of 1918, or for its efforts to
execute that law, because it is the peoples IS
will constitutonally expressed, is no better than
the Abolitionist who denounces the Administra-
tion for exerting all its constitutional powers
in the execution of the Fugitive Slave law
The ''sympathzers" who embarked at New
Orleans TO invade CUBA, because they were not
satisfied with her internal condition, were not
one whit more reasonable, or more sensible, or
more patriotic, because they were no more ODE
dient to the laws of their country, than the men
who got together on Boston Common or in the
Boston Temple, 10 sympathize together over
SHADRACK and SIMS, and pass resolutions
the law. 1t is useless to deceive ourselves
in this matter. or to attempt to deceive
others. The same morbid sentiment-the
same diseased craving for exctement-the
same restless spirit Of intermeddlng with mat
teIs that are none of theirs-the same insubordi-
nation to the laws of the land which stimulate
SUMNER, and SEwALL, and GARRISON in their
phillippics against the constitutional and legal
provisions contemplating the surrender of fugi-
tive slaves, urged on the unfortunate young
men who, in violation of the principles of
WAsHINGToN, the advice of WASHINGTON, and
the express, positive, MISUNDERSTOOD statutes
of their country, embarked in an enterprise
which the law of the world denounces as an
expedition Of robbery and plunder.
Whether or not the law of 1918 is sufficiently
liberal to "sympathizers," we are not prepared
to say. The fact that the prominent and sub
stantial provisions of it, like those of the Fugi-
tive Slave law, have been for more than fifty
years on the statute book would afford very
strong implication that the American people are
well content withit. 1t affords also, reasonable
presumption that it is wise and salutary law.
At all events, until the people change it, the
PRESIDENT is sworn to see it executed, and
must do SO; the "higher-law" newspapers, the
speculntors in Cuban scrip, and the fabricators
of Cuban telegraphic dispatches, to the con-
trary notwithstanding.