The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-07-14

v O0h CENAIuH tJIGCT.--At au RITUAL ubuuc
Of the State society Of Cincinnati, held on In
: 4th inst, a toast was presented compamentar.
! TO the Hon. Hamilt n Fish, United States sena
tor elect for the State of New York. which eli
, cited from that gentleman an eloquent and franI
exposition Of the views held by him on the com
promise measures, and the principles that vii
guide him in the Senate Of his country. He de
clared, what indeed all who are acquainted It'll
him knew aforetime,--though some who knew
him unworthily sought to create contrary i'm
presson--tnat " in devotion to the principles O
universal freedom, of The right Of self govern
ment and of strict obedience to the laws Of the
land. in warm, devoted, ardent attachment Il
the Union OF the States, as it is and AS it has
been, he yielded to no man living" Wecory from
the Courier and Enquirer his remarks on the
compromise measures:
He had been for several years in various
public positions, and in none had he ever at
tempted to conceal his opinions upon any public
question upon which it became his duty to ex.
press them. He challenged the closest exami.
nation Of his whole life, both public and private
for any evidence of desire to evade the express
sion Of his sentiments upon any question Of
public interest, or for the slightest evidence oil
any action or sentiment to justify suspicion of
the want of respect and Difference to the laws oil
the land, or Of devotion and loyalty to the Union
and the government under which we live And
at the same time he wished the scrutiny into bis
past life to be extended so as to detect If posi-
Bile any instance in which he had manifested a
disposition TO agtate any sectional or exciting
question, whereby any parts Of the country OF
any classes Of the community might be arrayed
against others, or which might tend in any de-
gree to disturb the mutual confidence and attach
ment between all sections and all classes, which
is essential to the preservation of the govern
ment which has been transmitted to us.
| "Ho had always endeavored to avoid ard dis
countenance the unnecessary discussion Of all
sectional questions. In the high office which he
had lately held he had felt it his duty to refer to
questions then disturbed the public mnd-those
questions were then present--their decision was
to be made, and it was necessary that the voice
of the State, at the head of whose government
| he had the honor to be placed, should be heard.
| It was due to her--it was due to her sister
States--it was due to the general government
| that the views, the feelings and the determna-
| ton Of New York with regard to those most
embarrassing questions, should be declared. In
| two annual messages to the legislature, he had
end avored calmly, but truthfully and faithfully,
to present what he belived to be the sincere and
abiding conviction, upon the then pending is
sues, of the large III 1853 of the people of this
State, without reference to their party predlec-
tons. And in SO doing, he gave utterance to
his own honestly entertained views. Those
views are before the public and upon record, and
from almost the unanimous expression of the
press at the time, and from other indications of
public sentiment, he had reason to believe that
| they met general, an almost universal response
| from the people who had placed him in the po-
sition from which he had felt bound to give at.
terance to those opinions.
| I" He thanked God that he was an American
cit;zcn-a citizen of the Union of thirty one
States. He prayed that the Union may never
lose any one of its members. He was, too, a
Northern man, with all the love Of Northern men
| for universal freedom--he found in that, how
ever, nothing Inconsistent with his duty as q
member of confederacy consisting of Southern
| as well as Northern men. Strong and ardent
as were his attachments to all the cherished
principles Of the North, much as he might de.
plore the existence of human slavery, he felt
that it was an institution wholly within the
Jurisdiction Of those States which see fit to al
low it. He respected their rights to regulate
their internal policy according TO their own con-
vicions, and no act of his would interfere with
their rights. He respected, too, and would
abide by all the compromises of the Constitution,
in the spirit in which they were framed He
considered that their adoption had been essen
| tal to the formation Of the Constitution under
| which we had become Free great and happy
nation and he considered also that their faith
full observance was necessary to the perpetui,y
of that Constitution, and the preservation of the
Union which it has blessed.
"Such had ever been his sentiments When
the compromise measures of the last Congress
were under consideration, they did not meet
his approval In several particulars he thought
them liable to objection. One, particularly, he
thought open to exceptions as well on the
ground of omission as of enactment He re-
cognized the rights which tho Constitution had
guaranteed to the South, and he believed the
| South TO be entitled to the enactment Of laws
which should be efficient TO the enjoyment of
| those rights He thought that those laws (the
compromise measures) might have been made
equally effective as measure of relief and pro-
lection to the South while they might have
been deprived of some features which tend to
irriiate and excite the North, and at the same
time, by possibility, unnecessarily TO leopard the
rights of the free citizen. He thought that
without imparing any principle they might
have been improved so as to afford the country
substantial repose and to silence clamor and
opposition from any section.
aBut these measures passed into laws in the
spirit of compromise and of mutual concession.
II was not to be expected that they should em-
body, exclusively, such enactments as any one
section would have preferred. They were en-
acted, IA he believed consttutionally, and in
conformity with all the requirements and forms
necessary to secure obedience, and to demand
submission to their provisions Fin any respect.
either of them was liable to any constitutional
objection, the Constitution itself provided the
tribunal which was to adiudge the question.
lie believed that they did not, in all respects,
meet the views of the President Of the United
States, but they received his official sanction
and signature; and, in his opinion, the President
could not have done Otherwise than give that
sanction. As Pres dest of the United States,
his responsibilities were very different from
those of representative in Congress from the
Erie district.
"From the moment that the compromise
measures became laws, he Gov. FL had unhesi-
tatncly, ut all times avowed his acquescence in
them. He would not allow his private judg.
mcnt, a. to some of their provisions TO interfere