The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1851-07-16
N o. 8 S.

A IN o.. 3 50 !.
compromise have determined to keen
this law upon the Statute Book .---
That is the7issue. It's execution ia
another thing. We all know It iis
practically repealed already. All
laws may sometimes require extraor-
dinary means to enforce them, but q
law which always requires such means
for its enforcement is not worth the
parchment it is written Oh. This is
q truth which sooner or later will
force itself upon the popular mind,
and hence the deep anxiety ana en-.
barrassment Of the Administration,
and the advocates of the compromise
in relation to this law. They know
in their hearts and conscicnces that
this law is not what every law ought :
to be, the instrument of CHEAP and
speedy justice; and hence they seek
to cover up this glaring fact, and 10
create a diversion upon the issue Of
its mere formal repeal by Congress;
and upon this issue, Itel you, they
will succeed, let Giddings rave, OF
Seward plot, or Sumner talk heroes
as he may.
Althogh | have a most perfect
conviction that this law will not be re-
pcalcd, 1 have at the same time a
very strong conviction that it NAV be
modified to suit Northern preiudices.
do not mean to say that this is GER
tain. | desire to state my positions
with exactncss and without the least
exaggeration.
The advocates Of the compromise
declared from the day Of its adoption
they would oppose the .repeai" or
"any essential notification Of the
fugitive slave law. Mark you, any
essential modification. Now, there
are several features of that law
which its supporters are ready to-
modify, for the purpose Of increasing
their strength at the North, il they
could venture to do SO; and they
Hould say they ere NOT essential
modi6cations. Or ilst tance
llSSWonla Ess Hing
ilSyisiots ttasa
i'ti,+s r q, "a
that the iugiti was tis.a iEEses
claimant, to be used In evidence II itifr4
out further proof, except as to identI-
| Y, &c. This would be a sop to
Cerberus. AS to the trial BY Jury,
| presume Mr.. Webster himself
would be willing to engraft that pro-
vision on the law, for it was provis-
ion in the bill which he himself intro
duced before leaving the Senate.
Repeal, therefore, / regard as out
of the question. Mobilization or
amendment may be attempted, but
very cautiously. a-
The abolition of slavery in the Dis
trict Of Columbia, and the repeal Of
the fugitive slave law, then, are the
only overt acts of aggression which.
in my judgment can be committed by
Congress against the South at this
time. feel the most abiding conf
dencc that neither will be done in our.
day. Our advcrsaries will take care
that the measure Of aggression shall
be just so much as will stop short Of
uniting the South. Your patience
shall be their gauge. The adyoeates
ofco-operation then must adjourn the
question of .disnnion to another day.
If the past, OF any Issue which may
be made upon the past, cannot unite
the South, then the future Of our day
will afford no measure fer resistance.
My solemn belief, therefore, is that
corporations Submission to the COM
promise. Submission to- shc past.
with no hope for the future. Nov,
in using the term submission, do
not mean to apply it in any offensive
sense whatever to our friends who
| differ from us on this occasion. Far
from it. | know they arc men who
would spurn the idea Of voluntary
submission, with all the scorn and in.
| dignation of unsullied patriotisnn r
speak to them, as I would have them
speak to me, with sincerity and res
I pcct. Unjust be allowed, therefore,
I 10 cav 10 them, yoir position drifts
! you with the inevitable certainty Of
| the Gulf Stream 10 submission. You
/ will iatify the Compromise. The
| voice OF South Carolina viii be hush
i ca. she Cannot 20 back to feed up
on the hpsks oi high sounding rcsolu.
tons, protests and remonstrances, In
two years she viii sink down into tho
attitude OF n;ssr non.rcsistance no
human power can avert this results
! What IN others might be tolerated, in
her would be derid She las gone
so far that she iItust now, sssbs "a law