, 1854-08-26
Shall the Fugitive Slave Law
be Renenledl

Delng ol our country perhaps as much, u
not more, than any single one that has
been agitated since the adoption Of the
federal constitution and the answer given
to it, by the prompt execution and main
tenance of the law, or by its violent over
throw and repeal, will tend to the preser-
vation Of the Union and the blessings of
our institutions, or most certainly will re-
suit in the separation Of the North and the
South and in the violent destruction Of the
constitution. "A
At the organization of our government
slavery existed in all the Southern States,
and in some Of the States of the North it
had also a feeble existence. A little re-
search will show us that at that period It
was lamented in much more emphatic terms
by the Southern than by the Northern
men who formed the great body Of Ameri-
can statesmen Of that day
The constitution, in all its beautiful per-
fection, the production Of superior wisdom,
provided in the 4th article that No per-
son held in service or labor in one State,
under the laws thereof, escaping into an
other, shall, in consequence Of any law or
regulation therein, lie discharged from
such service or labor, but shall be delivered
up on claim Of the party to whom such ser
vice or labor may be DUE"
The trainers of the constitution, and the
people who adopted it, came to an unques-
tionable stipulation and compact COM
pact not however new to them, for it had
been the practice for near century before,
for Massachusetts to surrender to Virginia
fugitive slaves, and for Virginia to restore
to Massachusetts runaway apprentices. In
Gen. Washington's administration, Con-
gress passed a law, which was sanctioned
By the Father Of his country, to carry into
effect this provision of the constitution
That law was drawn up by Mr.. Cabot, Of
Massachusetts,, and was supported by him
and by Mr.. Sedgwick and Mr.. Goodhue,
all eminent men Of Massachusetts, and also
by nearly oil the members Of the Northern
States. 1t went into operation, and for a
time served well the just purpose for which
it was intended. But it provided that its
enactments should be carried into effect
by State officers and when the fanaticism
Of abolition prevailed SO a few years ago
in some Of the Northern States, and when
the Legislatures Of those States became so
reasonably recreant to the constitution
and the country, and so lost to justice, ito
patriotism and to our great national COM
pact, they passed laws prohibiting, under
heavy penalties, their own magistrates and
other officers from executing the law Of
Congress thus the act Of 1893 was defeat
ed in its purpose rendered completely
null and void.
That law from that time remained q
dead letter, and the South suffered in her
rights until the present fugitive slave law
was passed in 1850 as one of the compro-
mise measures, and which Mr. Clay justly
said, in his last great speech upon the arena
of his fame, was the only boon the South
received under the compromise. The law
of 1850 is o better and more favorable one
to the slave than that of 1898, and as its
execution is given to the tribunals Of the
United States, its enforcement cannot be
defeated by State legislation. After hav-
ing been discussed and well considered in
many of the courts Of the country, it has
been decided constitutional, and the only
hope now Of its enemies is treason 10 the
law by mob violation Of it, or treason to the
South by its repeal. The repeal Of it
against the consent Of the South would be
violation Of the compromise Of 1850, as
we'll as Of the constitution. Itwas agreed
by the North, in consideration Of what the
South was willing to concede, and did con-
cede, that the fugitive slave bill should be-
come law, that opposition to it should be
withdrawn in the north and its execution
should DO enforced but now, after the
north having obtained all they wished, 1t
IS proposed that they repeal the only part
Of the compromise that Is Of any value to
the South, and which they most solemnly
pledge themselves to sustain and adhere to.
There is now in the North strong par
ty who pledge themselves to vote for no
man to office who is not in favor Of the re-
peal of this law, and who combine all their
influence to accomplish this end. What
can be the object Of these menl Can it
be to perpetuate the blessings Of free gov
ernment ? to uphold the constitution and
sustain the Union to defend and keep un-
sullied our republican institutions in all
their strength and purityl Is it to benefit
the slave in his bonds, or to obtain bis le-
Il