New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-05-26

satisfactory to the people of the North,
whom it attempts to propitlate, than are the
speeches and course of conduct on which
it is designed to put new and more pleas
ing face.
Mr.. Webster speaks of himself as having
suffered abuse and misrepresentation for
following his convictions of duty. But had
it even been worse than this, had the fate
of John Rogers awaited him, had the fires
of physical martyrdom cracked menace in
his ears, he would have done the same
To our apprehension, the taste of this IS
doubtful Other statesmen have been
somewhat abused and libeled, not for de-
serting, but for remaining true to the stand
ard to which their earlier allegiance had
been sworn; but from them we have had
no complaint, no defense, no protestatlons'
We cannot but think there is more dignity,
more evidence of a good conscience, and of
the permanent approval Of a mans own
Judgment, in the one case than in the other.
Moral courage, devotion, heroism, the ele
ments Of martyr, are good to have, but not
to talk of. The man in whose nature these
constituents truly mingle, does not stand
for two hours in drenching shower assey-
Grating that they are his
Mr.. Webster's argument is intended to
make out three points. First that fugitive
slaves must be sent back under the Consti
tuition; second that if the demands of Tex
as on New Mexico had not been acquiesced
in or bought off there would have been civil
war and third, that the fugitive slave law
is a good law. Let us look for a moment at
his propositions on the first and third of
these heads, the second being at present
comparatively unimportant, as to the first
he says:
why YOU are told by forty conventions IN MasSa-
Chusets IN ONO, IN Newf OTS, IN Syracuse and else
where that # a colored man came here, no came as
a freeman that is a non Seqtatlr II he came as
fugitive from labor, the Constitution says ne Is not
freeman. and that he shall be delivered up to ms
owners, who are entitled 10 his service. Now, gen.
tlemcn that Is the Constitution Of the United States.
Gentlemen, dove or do we not, mean to execute thaI
part OF the Constitution as well as the rest OF 1t "
We suspect that the mass of intelligent
men who read this speech, will set Mr..
Webster down as guilty of q sophism In
stating the position of the forty conventions.
What those conventions say, and Mr.. Web
ster, if he were not pleading a cause with his
own ambition for client, would say it with
them, is that every man living in 4 free State
is prina facie a free man, and that It Is only
after due process and conclusive proof that
he can be held otherwise. What shall be
that process and that proof, the Constitution
does not define any more than It defines the
mode of legal proceeding in other cases but
ii does set up guarantees in favor of liberty;
It's spirit is all in favor of liberty; 1t provides
the trial by jury and the habeas corpus all in
the interest of liberty and no law framed to
execute It's provision for the return OF iugl-
tlyeS, can be in accordance with II or valid,
which does not surround the natural and
legal presumption that the party reclaimed
Is indeed, a freeman with all the safeguards
known and possible to our Judicial system
There NAV haze been conventions which
have gone further than this, which have de-
clared the Constitutional provision annulled
by the natural right of every man to his own
freedom, and have said that As far as
they were concerned, they would main
tain the latter against the former. But
we have vet TO hear of a convention re-
presenting any political party or pos
seSSed of much influence, which has
taken such position. Certainly no con-
ventious but those of the ultra, nom
resistance, non-votIng Abolitionists have
done it. Why should Mr. Webster reply TO
theml Why should he take the trouble TO
confute their arguments and repel their
heated and exaggerated epithetsl It can
not be because they make the laws or de-
eide the elections of the Free States.
Would he have Us suppose that Messrs.
Garrison, Pilsbury and Foster are gifted
with some secret power, that there is a might
in their words and an Importance in their
actions which other men do not suspect
Ii So. what IS It Let us understand what
give them such consequence. Or is 1t
more convenient to meet them than those
who discuss the question on practical and
Constitutional grounds
This brings US 10 what Mr.. Webster SAWS
OF the Fugitive Slave Law. l, is is fol-
lows:
IWss II Congress when the law was proposed 7
was for proper law hal. indeed, proposed a dif.
fereri law was Of opinion ihaf 4 summary t-iaI
by Slry might be had. which would saasty The IRE
Judcs OF the people bu; lo the Senate and wen: 10