The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-28
VOL. IT.


and maintaining the rights of others, they may
also remain in the Union. Now, gentlemen,
permit me to say that speak of no concessions.
Ii the South wish any concession from me, they
won't get it--not a hairs breadth OF 1t. III they
come to my house for it, they will not find il If
they do. concede nothing. But say that
will maintain for them, as will maintain for
you, to the utmost of my power, and in the face
Of all danger their rights under the Constitution,
and your rights under the Constitution. Cries
of Good Good !" &C. And God forsake me
and my children, if | ever be found to falter in
one or the other. Tremendous applause. 1t
is obvious to every one, and we all know it,
that the origin of the great disturbance which
agtates the country, is the existence of slavery
in some of the States but we must meet it;
we must consider it we must deal with it, ear
nesty honestly, and justly. From the mouth
Of the st. Johns to the confines of Florida,
there existed in the year of grace, IT'S, thr cen
colonies, of English origin planted at different
times, and coming from different parts of Eng
land, bringing with them various habits, and es-
tablishing, each for itself, institutions entirely
varient from the institutions which they left.
But they were of English origin. The English
language was theirs; ShaksReare and Milton
were theirs and the Christian religion was theirs,
| ana bn6Sc LulUgS COUSbllubcQ biicln boSCtiCi.
The aggressions of the parent State compelled
them to set up for independence. They de-
clared INDEPENDENCE, and that immortal &C pro-
nounced on the Fourth of July, l776, made
them independent. That was an act of Union
| by the United States in Congress assembled.
But this act of itself did nothing to establish
over them general government. They had ar
| ticles of confederation before to carry on the
war; They had Congress They had articles
of confederation afterward to prosecute the war.
But thus far they were Independent, each of the
other They entered into simple confederacy,
and nothing more. No State was bound BY
what ii did not itself agree to. This was the
state of things, gentlemen, at that time.
| The war went on--victory perched on the
American eagle--our independence was acknowl-
edged The States we're then united together
under confederacy of very limited powers 1t
could levy no taxes. 1t conld not enforce its
own DEGREES Ii was confederacy instead of
being united government. Experience showed
that this was insufficient and inefficient. And,
therefore, beginning as far back almost IS the
close Of the war, measures were taken for the
formation of the united governments gov
eminent in the strict sense of the term-a gov
eminent that could pass laws binding to the
citizens of all the st ties, and which could nforce
those laws by its executive powers, having them
interpreted by judicial power belonging to the
government Well, gentlemen, this led to the
formation of the Constitution of the United
States, and the cost was framed on the idea of
limited government. 1t proposed to leave,
and did leave, the different institutions OF the
several States to themselves 1t did not pro-
pose consolidation 1t, did not propose that the
laws of Virginia should be laws Of New York,
or that the Laos of New York should be the
laws of Massachusetts. II proposed only that
for certain purposes, and TO certain extent,
there should be a united government, and that
that government should have the power of exc
cutting its own laws. All the rest was left to
the several States And we now come, gentle
men, to the very point of the case. At that time
slavery existed in the Southern States, entailed
upon them in the time of the supremacy of Brit
sh laws over u.s. There il was. IL was obnoxi-
Gus to the middle States and disliked: and hon.
estly and seriously disliked, as the records of
the country will show, by the Southern States
themselves Now, how were they to. deal with
it? Were the Northern and middle States to ex-
clude from the government those States OF the
South which bad produced a Washington, a
Lawrence and other distinguished patriots sof
that part of the country? Were they to be ex-
cluded from the new government, because they
tolerated the institution of slavery Your fathers
and my fathers did not think so. They did not
see that it would be Of the best advantage to the
slaves Of the Southern States to cut off the
South from all connection with The North
Their views ofinumanity led to no.such result
aud of course, wherthe Constitution was framed
and established and adopted by you, here in
New York, and by your ancestors 10 New Eng.
land, it contained Al express provision Of securi-
~ TO persons who lived in the Southern States
TO fugiiiyes who owed them service; that is TO
say, the fugitves from service or labor should be
restored to his master, or owner.
Well, that had been the history ofthe country
from its first settlement lt<was matter OF
common practice TO return fugitives before the
constitution was formed. Fugitive slaves from
Virginia 60 Massachusetts were restored by
the people Of Massachusetts,. AT that day
there was great system of apprenticeship at
the North and many apprentices at the North,
taking advantage of circumstances, and OF YES
sells sailing to the South, thereby escaped This
led TO clear, express and well defined provi
sion in the Constitution of the country on the
subject. Now, know that all these things are
commonwealth they have been stated thousand
times; but in these days Of perpetual discon-
tent and Misrepresentation, to state things a
Thousand times is not enough; for there are
more than thousand persons whose conscien-
ces, one would think, led them to make IL a
duty, to deny, misrepresen, falsify and cover
up truths. Now, here is Che Constitution, fell
low.citizens, and | have taken the pains 10
transcrbe therefrom these words, so that he
who runs may read "No person held to
service or labor in one State under the laws
thereof escaping into another, shall in coase-
queuce of any law or regulation therein, be
discharged 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 mistake about this | will not disgrace
my profession by surprising such thing.
There Is not in or out of an attorneys office in
the county of Erie, or elsewhere, one who
could raise doubt,-or particle of doubt, about
the meaning of tits provision of the Consiitu
ton. He may act as witnesses do, sometimes,
on the stand. He may wrig@e and twist, and
say he can't tell. Ihave seen many such exhi-
billions in my time, on the part Of witnesses, to
falsify, and betray, and deny the faith. But
there is no man who can read these words Of
the Constitution of the United States, and say