The republic., 1851-04-12
A.ol,t,o. A1r.,rs In Boston.

at Wesfchester.
Aboiition Affairs In Boston.
Our latest newspaper advices from Boston
are to the morning Of Thursday. They show
the existence on the day previous of no little
excitement in the city. The alleged fugitive
Sims was at that time under guard in the court
house; our telegraPhic dispatches in another
column furnish all the information in our pos
session at the time of going to press in regard
to his case. The supposed election of Mr..
ALLEN, the Free-sol candidate for Congress in
the Worcester district; the abandonment of the
Democratic party by MI. RAsroUL; the pro-
ceedings Of the Temple meeting on the subject
Of the Fugitive Slave law, joined with the va
rious applications to the Judiciary in this con-
nexion, has tended to disturb the ordinary tran
quillity Of Boston. But there seems to have
been manifested on the part of the city author
tiles, the marshal and the Federal officers and
the citizens at large, determination to uphold
the laws ''at all hazards and to the last ex-
tremity."
1t cannot, however, be concealed that feel
ing exists in Massachusetts,, the indulgence of
which to any great extent by the north
ern States cannot fail to be fatal to the
Union. 1t is evident that the hostility to the
Fugitive Slave law is not an hostility to the
law, but to the provisions Of the Constitution.
True enough it is that some of the details of
the late law are assailed with great acrimony
and violence but such details are identical
with those which existed in the law of 1893.
They have been sanctioned by the practice and
the judicial decisions of more than half cen
tury. The grievance most complained of is
that the fugitive slave should be surrendered at
all; not that he should be surrendered at a
particular time, or in particular manner, but
that there should be any arrest Of fugitive
slave on free soil. 1t would seem that, until
the provision of the Constitution is abrogated,
we are to expect no rest or peace in Massa-
chusetts. To this end the harangues Of all
the Free-soil and Abolition speakers are d.
rected aiming not at the Objectionable features
of the late law, bat at the primary provision Of
the Constitution ITSELF
We suppose that no intelligent man, who
has watched affairs in the different sections OF
the country for the last two or three years,
can doubt that it is the settled purpose Of
the South to insist upon the faithful exc
cution of that clause of the Constitution
to which we have alluded. They are de-
termined to test the good faith of the
northern States in this regard. If this good
faith is violated there is an end Of the consid
Grafton for which they entered into the Union;
and they will at once seek to devise means fol
dissolving the Union on account Of this failure
Of consideration. There are two classes Of
Disunionists. There are men among the north
ern abolitionists and the southern ultras who
openly and loudly denounce the Union, declare
that it has utterly failed to answer the purposes
for which it was designed, and who believe OF
pretend to believe that the rights and interests
Of both sections would be best preserved under
a separate organization. Mr.. RHErT and his
friends form one portion Of this party; Mr.
CHASE and his friends form another portion
But there is still another class Of Disunionists
composed of men who pretend to entertain .
patriotic reverence for the Union, both North
and South; who proclaim doctrines and pursue
policy which can only terminate in the catas-
tropbe Of dissolution. The invective, sarcasm,
and vituperation in which the latter class Of
Disunionists perpetually indulge, cannot fail tc
bring about state of feeling that must seek its
natural outlet in revolution. Men may claim
to be WHIcs, OF friends Of the Union, who de-
nounce the Administration for its adherence TO
the Compromise, and who can find no language
strong enough to express their adherence Of
the Fugitive Slave law but we apprehend
that no Administration and no Union can stand
if il is once distinctly understood that opposi
tion to the Fugitive Slave law means opposition
to the Constitution Of the United States.
II would seem that the fanaticism of abolition
is about to spread over Massachusetts, and t
carry every thing before it. Fortunately, WI
have the experience Of the past to justify us II
saying that the fanaticisms of Massachu
setts are not the fanaticisms of the Union
This is not the first time that the Buck
rSoHAMs, and QUIFcYs, and RANroULs have
distinguished themselves by a blind and
bitter opposition to the views of large
majority Of the Union. They denounced tht
embargo and the last war with Great Britain a,
violently as they now abuse the Fugitive
Slave law. They then found the same auxilia-
ries in the pulpit and the press. They rsved
as wildly, they declaimed as loudly, they or
ganized the rural districts" as effectually in
1903 and 1912, as in 1850; but the calm good
sense and diffusive patriotism of the American