Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1851-06-14

Of the country Wee they 10 be exclude
IRON the new government because lHcv ;p,vr;
ted the Institution Of slavery. Your father
and my fathers did rot thi"E: 50. They 4,
not see that it would BE- cG The best a,lvan.ar,
to the slaves OF the Southern s,t.ltcs, to G.,
tie South from al CONNECTION with the No,tI
Their views Of humanity led to no .uc!. !,
suit, and of course when the constjt,1tioo wa
framed and established and adop,ed by yo
here IN New York, and by your ancestors i
Ne" England, it contained an express prov
sion OF security to the persons who lived in tt
Southern States, OF fugitiycs .ho owed then
scr'lcc--that is to say, the fugitive. from scr
vice or labor should be restored 10 his roaste
or owner. We'll, that had been the history O
the country from its first settlement: I: wa
q matter OF common practice to return fug..
tlves, before the constitution was formed. Flu
! gltNc slaves from Virginia to Massachusetts
were restored by the people of Massachusetts,
AT that DAY there was great system Of ap
premiership at the North, and many apprentices
at the North, taking advantage Of c!rcumstsn.
ces and OF vessels sailing to the South, there.
by escaped. That led to clear, express, and
well defined provision in the constitution of
the country on the subject. Now, | know that
all OF these things are common-that they
have been stated g thousand times; but, in
these days of perpetual discomfort and m srep-
resentation, to state things 4 thousand times
IS not enough; for there are more than thou
sand persons whose conscicnces, one would
think, led them to make it duty to DENY,
m!srepresent, falsify and cover up truths. Now,
here Is the constitution, fellow-citizens, and
have taken the pains TO transcsibe 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 consequence 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 la
Dor may be due" Is there any mistake about
that? Is there any forty shilling attorney
heree No. will not disgrace my profession
by supposng 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 q particle of doubt, about the
meaning Of this provision of the constitution.
He may act as witnesses do, sometimes, on the
stand. He may wriggle and twist, and say he
can't tell | have seen many such exhibitions
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 consti-
tuition Of the United States, ard say they are
not clear and imperative. "No person." the
constitution says, "held to service or labor in
one State, under the laws thereof, escaping
into another, shall, in consequence of any law
Or regulation, therein, be discharged from any
such service or labor, but shall be delivered up
On the claim of the party to whom such SER
vice Or labor may be due.'' s5s#
4 Nhy vof, ora told XIV forf,y ~
n Massachusetts, in Ohio, in New York, in Sy- |
.acuse and elsewhere, that if colored man
zane here, he came as a freeman; that is a |
ION sequitor. If he came as a fugitive from
abor, the Constitution says he is not free |
nan, and that he shall be delivered up to his I
,wners, who are entitled to his service. Now,
gentlemen, that is the Constitution of the
United States. Gentlemen, do we, or do we
lot, mean to execute that part of the Consti-
titution as wellas the rest of it ?81f suppose
here are here members of the State Legis'a-
ure, or executive officers under the State
Government. lsupposethere are judicial ma
,istrates of New York, executive officers, as
essors, supervisors, justices Of the peace, and
onstables, before me. Allow me to say, gen
lemen, that there is not--that there cannot be,
ny one Of these officers in this assemblage, or
1seWhere, who has not, according to the form
fhis obligation, bound himself by a solemn
ath, before his God, to support the Consti-
ution. They have taken their oaths, on the
1oly Eyangelists Of Almighty God, or by up
fted hands as the case may be, or by a solemn
sservation, as is the practice in some cases.
'ut one and all Of them, there is not a man who I
olds,noris there any man who can holdanyI 4
flee in the gift Of the United States or in this
tate, oryin any ysother State, who does not be-
ONE bound, by the solemn obligation Of an
ath before God, that be will support the Con
Iitution Of the United States. Well, is lie
} tamper with that? Is he to falter7 Cen
emen, our political duties are as much mat
RS of conscience as any other duties-our sa- ,
ed domestic ties, our most endearing social ,
,lations, are no more the subjec. for conscien- ,
Gus consideration and @conscencious dis ,
large, than the duties we enter into under the !
onstitusion Of the United States. The bonds !
{ political brotherhood are the bonds which !
Sd us together from Maine to Georgia.. i
ent'emen, that is the main story of the Con-
tuition of the United States on the question !
slavery. Gentlemen, contend, and have all t
ays contended, that after the adoption Of the !
constitution, any measure Of the Government !
llcuiated to bring slave territory into the
nited States, was beyond the power of the {
onstitution, and against its provisions. That j
my opinion, and it has always been my OPT {
on. 1t Wasayery consistent, or thought to {
] 50, for the same purposein Jeferson's time, !
attach Louisiana to the United States A
eaty with France was made for latspnrpose. {
ut Jefferson's opinion ut that moment was,
at an alteration of the eConstitution~wa ne
ssary to enable it to be done. In consider
G what will not now repeat, that opinion was :
and Louisiana was admitted by law, I
ithout any provision or alteration in the Con-
tuition, At that lime, was TOO young to i
,ldany Office. or take any share in the poIiti-
affairs Of the country. Louisiana was ad. !
itted as q slave State, and became entitled to .
II representation in Congress on hesprinci- r
e Of mixed basis. FLORIDA was afterwards +
United Then, too, was out of Congress-;
/ L. - t..L Z 1 49,: !