Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-07-20

R;ll nv which the Missouri compromise was
.,.,s,s.,sa the almost universal opinion of the |
peonle Of the Free States, SO far as we are |
able 10 ascertain it, is, that whatever conpro-
,n;seu, agreements, or understanding, may |
have heretofore existed between the North ana
the South, outside of the Constitution, IN re-
latien to the subject of slavery, the North are
d absolved BY that Act from any further obAsa-
t;on thereto. The South, having derived all
the benefit stipulated for in that compromise
while the other part remained to be tuihlled'
acontemptuously tear the contract to pieces
and fling the fragments in our taces' Win
this example before us, and with the fact
standing unquestoned, that all the slavery
comDronises have been forced upon the North,
against the opinions and wishes of a great !
is majority Of the people and their representa- Z
tives, it will not be claimed, we trust by
any one, that they now have the slightest I
binding force upon US. m aaF gT
led Being thus absolyed, then, from all oohga-
lions, thus imposed or implied. we are thrown
back on the Constitution, as understood ana
explained by its founders. We are to look TO
that. and that alone, to find the extent OF our
political obligations in relation to slavery, re-
Numbering the well established principle, that
4 all grants or concessions. adverse to Liberty or
Right, are to be strictly and rigidly construed
Z and that every power; right, or concession
not specifically granted, or NOMINATED on the
bond" shall be withheld-that all disputable
eases shan be construed in favor Of Freedom
and Right, and if the "pound Of flesh be
required, it shall not be permitted. under tha'
claim. to take Stone drop Of blood In that
great instrument, the Charter of our Llber-
ties. which as its preamble declares, was or
dained q to establish justice, and secure the
blessings Of Liberty no obligation is i'm
posed, from beginning to end, to do anything
to defend, protect, OF sustain, the institution
fslavery; but the whole tenor OF 1t is IN the
opposite direction. M bx
81 The only provision, which, by any reason
able stretch of construction, imposes any such
obligation, is that in relation to iugitiyes from
labor, ana THIS, Why ies zsS-----s
to act It restrains the states, IN dIreet
from the passage Of any Law, by which those
VINO are 46lu u e6INACC VI 4uOOA Og bAO 10 o
of other States, escaping thereto, shall be
discharged from such service, and adds, that
that they shall be delivered up, on the claim
. of the party to whom such service or labor
5 may be due. Here is the length and breadth
of everything there is in the Constitution,
which can be claimed to be in favor Of the in
sttution of slavery, and, to us, it appears that,
in its proper and most natural and obvious
construction, this requires no Legislation on
the part Of Congress, or the States, but gives
to claimants the benefit of the same legal ia
cilities for the reclamation of fugitiyes, that
citizen of the State would have for the re-
clamation of a fugitive apprentice, soithia the
) same Slate. At any rate, it neither requires
nor sanctions an act which so grossly violates
the Constitution, in some Of its most sacred
and vital provisions, as the Fugitive Slave
+ Law. ae9r,l.
In accordance with these principles was the
action of the Fathers of the Republic. They
rightly considered Freedom the rule, and
Slavery the exception. On the very year that
the Constitution was adopted, the Congress Of
the Confederation, acting as the Representa-
tives of the States in their sovereign capacity,
dedicated, by an irrepeaIable ordinance, ALL
the territory then belonging to the Unions to
Freedom, and prohibited, forever, the intro
duction Of slavery therein. They established
no compromise line, but sancti6ed the whole
s to LIBERTY. The new government, on its
D inauguration, confirmed their action. This,
then, was the establishment Of great py1nci-
plein our government. so far as they could es-
e tablish it. that there should be NO SLAVE TER
o RrroRY, and NO MORE SLAVE STATES. The men
Of that day did not anticipate the acquisition of
y more territory, either by conquest or purchase,
or they doubtless would have made the same
provision for that Contingency ~ ea
Happy would It have been for the Union
: had the successors of these brave, true and
wise men, possessed the same love of
Liberty and the same devotion to principle
But they gradually gave way to the pressure
Of the slave power, and abandoned the course
s. thus wisely marked out for them. To this
backsliding we owe unnumbered evils even
to the convulsing of the Union to its centre.
and, unless the retrograde action can be re-
yersed, the days of the Republic must shortly
be numbered The great mass of the COM
munity appear to feel and realize the truth of
this, and are ready for such measures as will
replace the government on its original and only
proper basis.
The great contest is between Liberty and
Slavery. They are the antagonist powers that
war ia our system and the circumstances of