The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-11-23


harmony of the country upon the absorbing
question of slavery. The very men who ought
to know best the true construction Of constitu-
lions and statutes are the first to override both
by higher law interpretations, quibbling tech
nicalities and revolutionary appeals. Not
from the agricultural, not from the CONNER
cial, not from the manufacturing, not from the
capitalists, not from the mechanical classes
do our political traitors come. Seward is a
lawyer, Chase is lawyer, Wade is a lawyer,
Sumner is q lawyer, Hale is lawyer, King is
lawyer, Van Buren, is a lawyer, Butler is a
lawyer, Burr was a lawyer. Now deduct such
OF these as have most prominently aided to
build up the great abolition party--a party
which depends wholly for its success upon the
destruction Of the government, and who be-
ieves that there would be any serious and for
midable organization snch as that which has
Just elected one of their number Governor of
the great State OF Ohio? Is there one of
these men that does not know that the fugitive
slave law was made in obedience to the obl-
cations Of the constitution? Not one, aud yet
they all denounce that law as derogatory
from the rights Of human nature" and declare
that "no human power can subvert those
rights" This is revolution; it is an effort to
overthrow the government, and it is certainly
very remarkable that this effort is wholly made
by lawyers. We are compelled to infer from
these facts that while public confidence has
been more generally reposed in them as class
fhou other thou tho 1na al wnrthu nf IL
They constitute the leaders of all parties, and
direct the public administration almost exciu-
sively. In the organization Of the government
they are given possession of one of the highest
departments, that Of the judiciary. II would
be we'll if the mass of the people would con-
slider this fact, and having weighed the subject,
determine to elevate to place much larger
proportion of merchants, manufacturers and
agriculturists. Experience has shown that
in republican government something besides
mere technical ability is necessary in public
agent. The legal profession are, of all the va
rious classes of society, the least conservative
and the most reckless and presumptive. Their
interests in the peace and harmony of the coun-
try are exceedingly small. They sacrifice the
least by internal discord or external war.
Their very pursuits and occupations prepare
their minds for strife and contention, The
position of Mr.. Seward on the great theatre of
the nation is that of smart pettifogger
breeding quarrels and contentious ia a small
village.
Let us look over to the other side of the pic
ture, and regard for moment the office of
commerce and the character of the persons en-
gagged in its pursuits. As a class they are pro-
verbally honest. There is a law of trade ex-
acting the highest integrity in him who would
be successful in its occupations. 1t employs
vast capital it seeks intercourse with all the
world. 1t is government by itself, fixing its
own statutes, making its own regulations, de-
finiDg its own powers, and exacting of every
nation obedience to its commands. 1t is an
arbiter between belligerent S!ates--an interna-
tional peace offlcer-ever conservative, ever
prudent, cautious and honest. Of all the pur-
suits of man, it more accurately judges of the
rights of nations, and more honestly fullils the
obligations of life than any other. 1t is charged
by the Seward and Greeley agitators of this
country, with selfish abandonment of the
rights Of Northern freemen to the demands of
Southern shareholders. In truth, it only main
tans the political obligations of the free States
embodied in the federal compact, and refuses
to make war upon the government to crafty
the insane follies of set Of counterfeit re-
formers. Commerce is the offspring OF our po-
litical union; it is the fruit of its free trade
policy; il is maintained by the peaceful and
honest discharge of duties by all its parts.
That which shall disturb the operations Of the
federal machine will impair the operations of
commerce, both external aud Internal.
The State Of Massachusetts, at its last session.
passed an act multiplying an important provi-
sion of the constitution Of the United States
To great extent il was harmless proceeding,
because the federal courts would wholly disre-
gard it, But even this piece Of petty treason
by a sovereign State has already exerted
most balefnl influence upon the trade aud com.
MERGE of The city OF Boston. Perhaps no State
in the Union is more directly interested in
American slavery than the old Bay State. She
has heretofore supplied large portion of the
South with the proceeds of her manufacturing
establishments. Her cotton mills engaged in
working the productions of slave labor; her
shipping employed in the carrying trade
of the slave States; her capital invested, her
men employed on the distinct basis of Southern
necessities, identified her more intimately with
slavery than perhaps any other Northern State
In the face of all these facts she renounces her
obligations to the constitution because that
compact recognizes human slavery. But it is
not, in truth. the commercial and the manufac-
turing classes Of Massachusetts, that enacted
the Personal Liberty bill; it was those classes
who had nothing to lose by internal discord
and everything TO gain. 1t was the Summers.
the lawyers OF that State, the professional po-
liticians, the interested Office holders aad OK.
pectapts-the dcmagogues.
II is now full time that the great branches
of labor those interests which are wholly de-