The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-05-29


in the strict sense of the term-a government that
could pass laws binding upon the citizens OF all the
States, and which could enforce those laws by Its
executive powers, having them interpreted by Ju-
dicial power belonging 10 the government.
Well, gentlemen, this led TO the formation OF
the Constitution of the United States, and the Con-
stitution was framed on the idea OF limited gov
eminent. IL proposed to leave, and did leave the
different institutions of the several States to them
selves II did not propose consolidation. IL did
not propose that the laws Of Virginia should be the
laws of New York, or that the laws OF New York
should be the laws Of Massachusetts,. Ii proposed
only that for certain purposes, and to certain ex
tent, there should be a united government, and
that that government should have the power Of
executing its own laws. All the rest was left to
the several States. We now come, gentlemen, to
the very point of the At that time slavery
existed in the southern States, enaied upon them
in the time of the supremacy OF British laws over u.s.
There it was. WAS obno xious to the middle States,
and dsliked and honestly and sincerely disliked,
the records Of the country will show by the southern
States themselves. Now, how were they to deal with
iH Were the northern and middle States to ex-
clude from the Government those States Of the
South which reproduced a Washington, a Lau-
rens, and other distinguished patriots OF that part
of the country! Were they to be excluded from
the new government because they tolerated the in
stitution of slavery Your father and my father
did not think so. They did not see that it would
be of the least advantage to the slaves of the south
ern States to cut off the South from all connexion
with the North. Their views of humanity led to no
such result, and, of course, when the Constitution
was framed and established, and adopted by you
here in New York, and by your ancestors in New
England, il contained an express provision OF Sc
Guilty to the persons who lived in the southern
States Of fugitives who owed them service; that 10
to say, the fugitive from service labor should be
restored to his master or-owner. Well, tnat had
been the history Of the country from its rst settle
ment- II was a matter Of common practice to re-
turn fugitives before the Constitution was formed
Fugitive slaves from Virginia to Massachusetts
We resi- M6a80ChuaettS.
At that day there was great system Of apprcn-
ticeshp at the North, and many apprentices at the
North, taking advantage OF the circumstances, and
oves5es sailing to the South, thereby escaped That
led to clear express and we'll defined provision in
the Constitution OF the country on the subject
Now, know that all these things arc of commoa
information-that they have been stated a thou
sand times (; but, in these days of perpetual mis-
statement and Misrepresentation, to state things
thousand times is not enough, for there are more
than a thousand persons whose conscieDces, one
would think, led them TO make it a duty to deny,
misrepresent, falsify, and cover up truths. Now,
here il the Constitution, fellow citizens and have
taken the pains to transcfbe therefrom these
words, so that he who runs may read: 'No person
held to service labor in one State under the laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in conse-
quence of any law or regulation therein, be dis
charged from such service or labor, but shall be
delivered up on claim Of the party to whom such
service or labor may be DUE" Is there any mis-
take about that Is there any forty shilling attor
ney here-no, will not disgrace my profession
by supposing such thing. There is not in or
out of attorneys office in the county Of Erie or
elsewhere one who could raise doubt, or a parti
Gle of doubt, about the meaning Of this provision
of the Constitution. He may act as witnesses do
sometimes on the stand He may wriggle and
twist, and say he can't tell. ! have seen many
such exhibitions in my time, on the part OF wit
nesses attempting to fasify, and betray, and deny
the truth. But there is no man who can read these
words Of the Constitution of the United States and
say they are not clear and Imperative Ono per-
son." the Constitution says, I" held to service or
labor in one State under the laws thereof escaping
into another, shall, in consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged from any such
service or labor but shall be delivered up on the
claim OF the party to whom such service or labor
may be DUE
Why, you are told by forty conventions in Mas
sachusetis, in Ohio, in New York, in Syracuse,
and elsewhere, that, if colored man came here he
came a freeman; that is non se4uitsr. If he
came fugitive from labor, the Constitution says
he is not freeman, and that he shall be delivered
up 10 his owners, who are entitled to his service
Now, gentlemen, that is the Constitution of the
United States. Gentlemen, do We, or do we not,
mean to execute that Part Of the Constitution as
we'll as the rest of it? suppose there are before
here members OF Congress. l suppose there are
here members of the State Legislature, or executive
officers under the State government. suppose
there are judicial magistrates of New York, execu-
tive officers assessors, supervisors Justices of the
peace and constables, before me. Allow me to say,
gentlemen, that there Ia not-that there cannot be,
any of these officers in this assemblage else
where, who has not according to the form Of his obi
CATION bound himself by solemn oath, before his
God, to support the Constitution. They have taken
their oaths, on the holy evangests of Almighty God.
or by uplifted hands, as the case may be, or by o
solemn asseveration, Is the practice in some
cases. But one and all of them, there ia not man
who holds, nor is there any man who can hold any
office in the gift Of the United States, Of this
State or of any other State, who does not become
bound, by the solemn obligation Of an oath before
| COnAtitutiOn q
United States. Well, 10 he TO tamper with that?
Is he to falterf Gentlemen, political duties
much matters of conscience as any other duties;
our sacred domestic ties, our most endearng social
relations, the subject for conscientious
consideration and conscientious discharge, than
the duties we enter into under the Constitution of
the United States. The bonds of political brother
hood the bonds which hold US together, from
Maine to Georgia.
Now, gentlemen, that ia the plain story of the
Constitution of the United States the question
Of slavery. Gentlemen, ! contend, and have al
ways contendcd, that after the adoption OF the
Constitution, any measure of the Government cal
culated to bring slave territory into the United
States, was beyond the power Of the Constitution
and against its provisions. That IL my opinion,
aud it has always been my opinion. 1t was very
convenient, or thought to be SO, for certain pur
poses, in Jefferson's time, TO attach Louisiana to
the. United States. A treaty with France was
made for that purpose. But Jeffersons opinion at
that moment was, that alteration of the Consti-
considers tions which will not now repeat, that
opinion abandoned, end Louisiana was admit
ted by law, without any provision or alteration in
the Constitution At that time was too young to
hold any office, take any share in the political
affairs of the country Louisiana was admitted az
slave State, and became entitled TO her represen-
tation in Congress on the principle Of mixed ba-
sis. Florida was afterward admitted. Then, too,
was out Of Congress; had been in it once; but
had nothing to do with the Florida treaty, the ad
| mission Of Florida.
| My opinion reIpains unchanged that il not
in the original scope or design of the Constitution
to admit new States out of foreign territory, and
that, for one, never would consent; and no mat
ter VIVA. may be said at the Syracuse convention
or any other assemblage of insane persona, neye,
did consent that there should be foot OF slayt
territory beyond What the old thirteen States had al
the time of the formation ofthe Union. Never, never
The man can't chow his face to me and say he car
prove that ever departed from that doctrine. II,
| would sneak away. and slink away, or hire mer
| cenary press, that he might say what an aposat
| from liberty Daniel Webster has become. Laugh
ter and cheers.j He knows himself to be a hypo
critic and falsifier. Bot, gentlemen. i was in pub
lie life when the proposition to annex Texas to tn
III a..,a,