Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1851-12-10


which, os specimen of architecture, Is so uni
versaIly admired. Keeping these objects IN view
leonclnded TO make the addition by wings, detaeh-
ed from the present building, yet connected with
Il by corridors This mode Of enlargement viii
leave the present Capitol uniniured, and afford
great advantages for ventilation and tho admission
of light, and win enable the work to progress
without interrupting the deliberations Congress
/ To carry this plan into effect, have appointed
an experienced and competent architect The
corner stone was laid the 4th Of July last with
/ suitable ceremonies, since which time the work
has advanced with commendable rapidity, and
the foundations Of both wings are now nearly
complete.
! again commend to your favorable regard the
interests of the District of Columbia, and deem it
only necessary TO remind you, that although its
| inhabitants have voice in the choice of repre-
sentatves in Congress, they are not the less emit
tied to just and liberal consideration in your le-
gislation. Ny opinions on this subject were more
fully expressed in my last annual communica-
! ton.
Other subjects were brought to the attention of
Congress in my last annual message, TO which
would respectfully refer. But there was one Of
more than ordinary interest to which again In
vite your special attention. / allude to the re-
commentator for the appointment Of commits
sion to settle private claims against the United
States Justice TO individuals well as to the
Government imperatively demands that some more
convenient and expeditions mode than an appeal
TO Congress should be adopted.
! 1t is deeply to be regretted that in several in
stances officers of the Government, in attempting
to execute the law for the return of fugives from
labor, have been openly resisted and their efforts
| frustrated and defeated by lawless and violent
mobs; that in case such resistance resulted in
the death of estimabe citizen, and in others Sc
rious injury ensued to those officers and to indi-
viduals who were using their endeavors to sustain
the laws. Prosecutions have been instituted
against the aedged offenders, so far as they could
be identified, and are still pending. have regar-
ded 1t as my duty in these cases, TO give all aid,
legally in my power, to tho enforcement OF the
| laws, and shall continue TO do so wherever ana
whenever their execution may be resisted.
The act of Congress for the return of fugtives
| from labor, is one required and demanded by the
express words of the constitution.
The constitution declares, "That no person held
to labor service in one State, underline laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in conSe-
! quence of any law regulation therein, be dis
charged from such service or labor, but shall be
delivered up on claim of the party 10 whom such
service or labor may be due" This constitution
al provision is equally obligatory upon the Legis-
lative, the Executive and Judicial Departments of
| the Government, and upon every citizen of the
United States.
Congress, however, must of necessity, first act
upon the subject, by prescribing the proceedings
necessary TO ascertain that the person Is fugi-
tive, and the means to be used for his restoration
to the claimant. This was done by an act passed
during the first term of President Washington,
which was amended by that enacted by the last
Congress, and 1t now remains for the Executive
and Judicial Departments to take caro- that these
laws be faithfully executed. This injunction of
the constitution is as peremptOry and as binding
as any other; it stands exactly on the Same foun-
dation as that clause which provides for the re-
turn of fugitives from justice, or that which de-
ciares that no bill of attainder or CT post tdcto law
shall be passed, or that which provides for an
equality of taxation, according TO the census,
the clause declaring that all the duties shall DO
uniform throughout the United States, or the i'm
portant provision that tho trial of all crimes shall
be by jury. These several articles and clauses of
the constitution, all resting on tho same authori-
ty, must stand or fall together. Some objections
have been urged against the details Of the net for
the return of fugitives from labor; but it is
thy of remark that the main opposition is aimed
against the constitution itself, and proceeds from
persons and classes of persons, many of whom
declare their wish to see that constitution over
turned. They avow their hostility TO any law
which shall give full and practical effect to this
I requirement of the constitution. Fortunately,
the number of these persons is comparatively
small, and is believed TO be daily diminishing, but
the issue which they present is one which invOl-
yes the supremacy and even the existence of the
Constitution.
Cases have heretofore arisen in which individu-
ais have denied the binding authority of acts of
Congress, and even States have proposed 10 null
lily such acts upon the ground that the constitu-
ton was the supreme law of the land, and that
those acts of Congress were rcpugnant to that in
stTument, but notification was now aimed, not
so much against particular laws as being incon-
/ sstcnt with the constitution, against the con-
stution itself: and il is not to he disguised that
a spirit exists aud has been actively ut work to
rend asunder this Union, which is our cherished
Inheritance from our revolutionary fathers.
In my last annual message, stated that con-
| sdered the series of measures, which had been
adopted at the previous session, in reference to the
agitation growing out of the Territorial and sla-
very questions, n final settlement in principle
and substance of the dangerous and exciting sub
jects which they embraced; and recommended
adherence to the adjustment established by those
measures, until time and experience should de-
monstrate the necessity of further legislation to
guard against evasion or abuse. was not indu-
ced to make this recommendation because
thought those measures perfect, for no human le-
gislation can be perfect. Wide differences and
jarrng opinions can only be reconcied by yield
ing something all sides, and this result had
been reached after an angry conflict Of many
months, in which one part of the country was ar
rayed against another, and violent CONFUSION
seemed TO be imminent. Looking at the interests
of the whole country, felt ii TO be my duty TO
seize upon this compromise as the best that could
be obtained amid conflicting interests, and to in
sis upon it a final settlement, TO DO adhered 10
byal who value the peace and welfare Of the coun-
try. A year has now elapsed since that recon-
mendation was made. To that recommendation
l still adhere, and 1 congratulate you and the
country upon the general acqulescence IN these
measures Of peace, which has been exhibited in all
parts of the Republic. And not only is there
this general acquiescence in these measures, but
the spirit of cancellation which has been manifes-
ted in regard TO them in all parts of the country,
has removed doubts and uncertainties In the minds
of thousands of good men, concerning the dura-
bility Of our popular institutions and given re-
newed assurance that our Liberty and our Union
may subsst together for the benefit Of this and all
succeeding generations,
WILLARD FILLMORE.
WAsHrSGroS, Dec. 9, 1851.