Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-04-05
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| IL
should be abolished, and its place supplied by
an hereditary monarchy. This latter might
be done, and yet the great object for which
the government was established be MAIN
tanned. But here the great object for which
the government was formed Is not changed,
| but reversed. The particular manner in
| which the agents of a government are to be re-
lated to each other, and to the people, is of far
! less consequence than the principle by which
| all their action is to be directed. An insure
ance company is formed to protect buildings
from loss by fire. 1t establishes its laws and
elects its officers. But if its object be reversed,
and it devotes itself to setting buildings on
fire, it were vain to tell me that they elected
| their President in the same manner, or that
the clerks and the President were not permit
| ted to interfere with the duties of each other.
| Nor, were | an original member of such
company, could !, by any cry of union, be
| persuaded to be party to their transactions.
should say, the object being changed the as
| ISOLATION is dissolved, and l Will be a partaker
in none ofyour vallainy. Now cannot but con-
slider this measure as of precisely this charac-
ter. We united to form government on the
! principle OF the declaration of Independence,
| and the preamble of the constitution, namely,
| to establish justice and secure the blessings of
! liberty, to illustrate to the world the truth
that all men are endowed, by their Creator,
with an inalienable right to life, liberty, and
| the pursuit of happiness This bill reverses
| this principle, and makes this government de-
| clare that men are not endowed with these
| rights, and that our obi ect is not to establish
| justice, or secure the blessings of liberty, but
to extend slavery over our whole domain, and
transmit it to our children, as their heritage
forever. The force ofsuch revolution is to
dissolve the government itself, for when tho
essential element of compact is reversed, ev-
cry contracting party is released from his OBJ
legations IN respect to it. |, therefore, protest
against this bill as revolutionary, and giving
just cause for a dissolution of the Union.
Third, As citizen of free State protest
against the passage Of this bill.
This seems to me only one ora series OF nea-
sures Of which the obvious intention is to rem
der the whole legislation of this country sub
servient to the interests of the slaveholding
States, securing, at all hazards, a. majority in
the Senate.
These measures 1t is painful to specify. I
pretend not to enumerate them all, but will
mention only few Of the most important.
The purchase of Louisiana, though not made
for this object, gave the first bias in this direc-
ton. 1t was made withot constitutional au-
thority, and furnishes an illustration of the
mischief resulting from the violation Of a prin-
ciple for the sake of an immediate advantage,
Then came the Missouri Compromise. Here,
for the sake of peace and the preservation>of
the Union, as it was said, the essential princi-
pie on which the government was founded was
held in allegiance, and this territory, acquired
from France, was divided, part being con-
ceded to slavery and the rest irrevocably devo-
ted to liberty. 1t has always been said that
even this concession was procured by corrup-
ton. "We wanted" said John Randolph,
''sixteen dough-faces and we got them; we
could have got sixteen more had we wanted
| Them" Then came the admission of Texas
| This was done not only without constitution
al authority, but, as | think, in opposition to
constitutional enactment. By this act an i'm
mense tract prepared for slavery was admitted
to the Union. The lamented DIR. Claiming,
than whom truer friend of the Union never
lived, declared in his letters ON 1.-THE duty of
the Free States that if ever this was done,
the Nothern States were bound at once to sep
arate themselves from the confederacy. Next
came the compromise of 1850. In this instan-
ce the free States We're grossly insulted, and
nothing could have carried the measure but
the influence of great statesman, who, by his
conduct in this case, has left stain on his
reputation which his even former brilliant SER
| vices can never erase. A short time before
! Florida had applied for admission to the
upon her to the latest time. When aues-
ton was made about receiving State with
slavery SO irrevocably interviewer into its con-
stitution, it was Indignantly replied that with
this matter Congress had nothing to do and
that the Union would be dissolved if the slave
character of the constitution of State which
presented itself was madp an objection to its
reception. The next State which presen-
ted itself was California, with free consti-
tuition. The reception of this State gave rise
to an angry debate of six months, and she
was admitted bya compromise. The remark
able terms of the compromise were-lst, that
California should be admitted into the Union,
and, on the other hand, that four new slave
States should be formed out Of Texas; that a
more stringent and reckless law should oblige
the free States to deliver up fugitive slaves.
and, on the other hand, that the slave trade.
which on the high seas is piracy, should not
be carried on in the district of Columbia.
Then came the measure which we are now
considering. The territory covered by this
bill is, In part, the same as was by the Missou-
ri compromise solemnly consecrated to free
dom. twas so considered by Southern men.
The measure was carried by Southern votes.
1t was considered that in yielding to slavery
the territory South of SO 80, the North made a
great concession for the sake of union. 1t is
now proposed to nullify this solemn compact,
and devote to slavery territory out of which
some fifteen or twenty new States may event.
ually be formed. When these States are or
gained and added to those formed out of Tex
as, the character of the Senate is irreyocablv
fixed. The legislation of the nation is forever
Southern, and Southern legislation is always
subservient to the peculiar Institution Of the
South.
When this has been done, this country at
home viii present singular spectacle. The
Shareholders in the United States are said not
to exceed 100000, call them half million.
We have then half million of men govern
ing, in fact, thirty or forty millions. An insti-
tuition unknown to the constitution will be
seen annulling and subverting constitution
itself; an institution by which labor is render
ed degrading and despicable, legislating for
men who respect themselves the more for earn
ing their own bread. How long union Of
such character can continue may be easily
foreseen. The question ceases to be whether
black men are forever to be slaves, but r-heth-
er the sons of the Puritans are to become
slaves themselves.
Nor is this all. This change in the princi-
pie underlying the constitution changes our
relations to the whole civilized world. The
great question which is henceforth to agitate
the nations is the question of human rights.
1t has been the glory Of this country thus far
to stand forth everywhere in defence Of hui
man liberty, It is the position which we have
taken on this question that has given us our
influence AMONG natinns and faruhf d.,,.,,t