Democratic banner., 1851-01-13

imposed by the Constitution on avery gooG
citizen to conform to its provisions without
cavil or evasion. In insisting upon the rigit
execution of that law, and its continuance
in full force on the statute book, the people
of the slaveholding States assert only plain
constitutional right, guaranteed to them
when they entered the Union, and of whict
they cannot be deprived as long as the Con-
.stitution and the Union stand. Hence all
assaults upon that laval efforts to pre-
vent it's execution-sll movements to de-
.privs the South of its benefits, whether die.
tated BY morbid sympathy with the fugitive
slave, or BY hostility to the system Of do.
mestic slavery as it exists-are aimed d.
rectly at the Constitution. aud consequent.
ly the perpetuity of the Union. But may
we not hope that the recent opposition tc
that law, exhibited in some Northern States
will receive no important aid from the mass
les? However silent the people of those
States were for a time, when duty required
them to rebuke promptly the spirit of f.
|nsticism and rebellion raging in their midst
a reaction appears to have commenced
and to a considerable extent, the rejecting
and patriotic manifest a determination to
observe the farewell Injunction of Wash.
ington, BY 'frowning Indignantly upon the
first dawning of This attempt to ALLEVIATE
one portion of our country from the rest
and to enfeeble the sacred ties which now
link together the various parts"
To the patriotism of the North, the whole
country turns at this time, to ascertain
whether the Earring elements of discord are
to be hushed. No sacrifice of honor, oil
duty, or interest, is asked, but merely ODE.
Idience to, and enforcement OF, the mos
sacred obligations which the highest form'
of law can impose. We have a right tc
expect this, and to ask that the spirit of in
justice, INSTRUMENTATION, and disunion shall
be quelled in the North as we'll as in the
South, and that the cause of hostility shall
speedily and efeetually eradicated by the
cessation of all further agitation on the sub.
ject. We have a right to expect that, ami
mated by kindred sentiments of devotion to
the Union, the people of the North will re
prees fanaticism, roll back the rising tide Of
dissolution-uphold the constitution end
laws, and declare with the potent voice Of
the popular will, that "the Union must and
shall be preserved" If this is done, the
storm will pass, and the Union emerge. un-
impaired, from all the dangers in which it
has been plunged. Nc State will rejoice
at such a result with more sincerity and Joy
Missouri
The agitation Of the slavery question in
the South has assumed q much more i'm
character then can be ascribed to
it elsewhere. 1t has put to the test the
moral force and strength of our Union, and
forced the public mind to consider the i'm
portance Of its preservation, and to review
tx the attention upon the causes which
induced the fathers Of the revolution to en-
ter into that compact or agreement, which
resulted in its formation.
After our declaration Of independence,
the necessity for q league or confederation
OF the States was so apparent, that the
States, in their sovereign capacity, adopt
ed the articles Of confederation, which were
supposed to possess all the elements necess-
airy to carry out and perpetuste the princi-
Piles of self-government, they had declared
It their intention to set up.
II was sooR ascertainsd that the articles
Of confederation, in the working of the sys-
tenn, constituted but a mere league between
the States, formed, it is true, for'a common
purpose. but each State having the right to
Judge for itself-not BY its members in the
Congress of the C~onfsdsracy, but in its
separate organization-of the propriety Of
any measure intended for the common bsns-
fit of all; and by the refusal of one State,
or a combination of two or more States, the
most important act Of the Congress Of the
C~onfederacy, could in effect be nullifed.-
It soon became epparant that our system of
government was but the reproduction Of
one Of those petty leagues which had been
often formed in the Old World but to per-
ish.
PREMIUMS AT PLANTERS
TAI w A EIJnIJCE CT TOIIIC