The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-03-08

ticipation. l can now see, when the precedent
is pleaded to justify further departure from the
ancient system, abundant reasons TO regret that
! the precedent was ever established.
You tell me- in the next place, that there is
| danger Of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. that the State
Governments will nullify the laws of the Federal
| Government. This is always the ready plea for
| Federal usurpations. 1t is the same ground
| which the British Government assumed towards
| British subjects in the American Colonies, when
| it transported them beyond seas, to be tried for
pretended offences. ! proclaim in your ears
here, and proclaim before my countrymen, that
| there is no necessity and no shadow of necessity
for this great and fearful change From every
| tribunal in any State Of this Union which rem
ders a final judgment that can affect the rights
| of any public officer of the United States there
| is an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United
| States, reserved to him by the Constitution and
| laws of the United States and that high tribunal
can, merely by its mandate, annul that Judgment,
and discharge the party from all its consequent
| ces. This, and this alone was the security which
your forefathers established to prevent the evils
and dangers of INSTRUMENTATION by the State au-
| thorities. l proclaim, further, that when the
Constitution of the United States was submitted
to the People in the several States to be adopted
by them, the chief objection which was urged
| against it, the objection which was urged with
| the most zeal, the most energy, and the most
effect was, that the liberties of the citizen would
be brought into jeopardy by the extended power
| of the Federal Judiciary. So strenuously was
this objection urged, that the Constitution was
not adopted until it was demonstrated by Hamil-
| ton, Jay, and Madison, in the Pederast, that the
| State jurisdiction, which you are now about to
| strike down, was left to the States and could
| never be wrested from them without an act Of
Congress, which there was reason to presume
would ever be passed.
| Sir, this is an important transaction. | warn
| you that it is transaction too important to be
| suddenly projected, and carried out with unusual
| and unseemly rapidity 1t is a transaction that
will be reviewed freely boldly, and through long
| years to como. You would have done well TO
have given week, or day, or at least one
hour, to prepare ourselves with arguments to dis
suade you from your purpose and to stay your
hands. Suffer me to say, with all Difference, that
you would have done well if you had allowed
yourselves time to consider more deliberately the
| necessity for measure so bold, and the conss-
| quences which must follow it,
| repeat sir, that there is no necessity for this
act In every case which is intended to be reach
| ed by it, the mandate of the Supreme Court of
the United States annuls the judgment of the
| State Court which has mistaken its own powers,
| or encroached upon the Federal authority; and
| the State itself, with all its dignity and pride
| falls humbled and abased at the foot Of central
| and imperial power. | habitually contemplate
| everything connected with the development of
the resources and with the extension and ag-
| grandizement and glory of this my country with
an enthusiasm which | am sure do not always
find burning in the hearts of all with whom 1t is
my duty to act in her Councils. But, sir, shudder
| when Il think that this development, this extern
| sion, this ACKNOWLEDGMENT, and this accumula-
| ton Of glory, are going on firmly steadily, and
crushingly, at the expense OF these noble, indie
! pendent States that the majestic dome, while it
Il
| er and higher, is pressing into crumbling frag-
ments the pillars which constitute it's true and
just support
| Sir, we have had, on this occasion, as we al
ways have on painful occasions of this kind, pa
| thetic illusions to the safety of this Federal
| Union. And these illusions have been address
cd to me- although l have hitherto been content
| to be silent listener to this debate. What do
| you think must be the feelings of man, himself
a Representative of three millions, one-eighth of
your whole people-a Representative OF one-si1th
| of all the freemen in the Republic Represent
| alive of even larger proportion of the whole
wealth of the country Representative of your
whole Concentrated Commerce-when he finds
| himself surrounded by mon who think that a
community 80 numerous and so intelligent, and
| enjoying such wealth and cherishing such inter
ests, so far habitually blinded by passion as
| to be disloyal to the Union on which all their
| safety depends? Sir, / almost forget my GUS
| tomary federation, when | see around me men
who know how the interests and affections of
| their own homes cluster and entwine themselves
with every fibre of their own hearts, and who yet
seem to forget that those interests and affections
are the offspring of humanity ITSELF and therefore
| common to all men, and suppose that it is trea-
| son against the country to protest against the
oppression of any one of its many and various
| masses and races.
| warn you, Senators, that you are saving this
| Union at fearful cost. This is Republican
Government--the first and only one that has
ever been widely and permanently successful.
Every man in this country, every man in Chris
tendon, who knows anything Of the philosophy
| of Government knows that this Republic has
been thus successful, only by reason Of the stabi-
| ity strength, and greatness, of the individual
States. You are saving the Union Of those States,
| by sappng and undermining the columns on
| which it rests. You reply to all this, that there
| is newly developed necessity for this act OF
Federal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. There is no such new
| necessity whatever The Courts of the several
| States have exercised their concurrent jurisdic-
ton over officers and agents Of the United States
for period of sixty years, in cases which involv-
ed life, liberty, property, commerce, peace, and
| war subject to supervision by the supreme tribu-
| nal of the Union, and while individual rights
have been maintained, the public peace has been
everywhere preserved, and the public safety has
never received wound. During all that time,
there has never been an agent or apologist OF the
| Federal power, so apprahensive for the public
| safety as to propose the measure which is now
| before us. There has never been time when
| such proposition would have been received with
favor There have indeed been discontents, but
| they have been local and transient. Such dis
| contents incident to free society everywhere
| and they APE inevitable here. 1t is through the
working Of such dscontents, that free communi-
ties acting by constitutional restraints, and within
constitutional Courts, work out the reformation
of errors the correction Of abuses, and the
advancement Of society. All that has happened
is change Of the scene of these discontcnts, re-
sulting from change in the geographical direc-
ton which the action of the Federal Government
takes. Heretofore the murmurs of discomfort
came from the South Now, the breeze which
bears them sets in from the North. When the
wind blew from a Southern quarter the rights Of
the citizen were not safe without the Interpret
ton of the State tribunals. Now, when it comes
from opposite point of the compass, a Senator
from Connecticut Mr.. ToUosyl requires Congress.
to prohibit that interpostiOn, and TO arm the
Federal Government with new and portentou,
power.
Mr.. President, all this trouble arises out Of the
Fugitive Slave Law. The transaction in which
we are engaged is by no means the 6rst act Of
a new drama. You began here, in 1893, to ex-
tend into the free States, by the exercise of the
Federal power, the war of races-the war of the
master against the slave. The Fugitive Slavs
Law which was then passed, became obsolete
Though no great Inconvenience was sustained
the pride of the slaveholding power was wounded
| In 1850, you paesed q new Fugitive Slave Law
and connected it with measures designed to eI-
tend the Territorial jurisdiction of the United
States over new regions without inhibiting Sla-
very. You were told at that time, distinctly
as you are told Knight that your new law could