The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1856-07-09

diplomatic dispute. never adjusted, and which
afterwards created much OF that bad feeling
that subsequently, prepared iorth warofl 1919.
In the treaty Of Client, Clay and John Quinn /
cey Adams negotiators, there was special
compact on The part Of Great Britain, that
the slaves she took from US alter the treaty
Of peace was signed, should be paid for by her,
as property ;and though she long resisted and
quibhled under the treaty, YET in 1920, John
Quincy Adams, under whose flag these Re-
publican gentlemen sometimes pretend to
sail, claimed payment for these slaves, and,
through the arbitration OF the Emperor Of
Russia, Great Britain paid to our southern
coun,rymen 81, 100000 Tor slave properly. !.
These historical acts should be known by
the people: for though the American party
G. aims no, that man should be pro-slavery
or MISUNDERSTANDING these questions for
all men under the Constitution to act on as
they please--ye,, when our candidate is at.
tackled aud denounced as pro-slayery man,
his friends feel it necessary to proclaim these
historical truths, and TO challenge an inves-
tigation OF them, ant! comparison Of Them
with his administration. applause.
But MIR. Fillmore, when President Of the
United States, il is specified, was uniaithful
aud disloyal to the North, in having signed
the Fugitive Slave Law--that horrible law!
1t is true-true, that he signed il. There il
! is, on the statute book, with his name affixed
to it. There it is written. and it cannot be
unwritten, and could not deny the fact, il
l would. No man can tear Oft, nor tear out
from the compact of the Constitution, the
obligation to deliver up fugitive slaves, or
the fact that Willard Fillmore complied with
Ii it. This compact in high quarters has been
pronounced, Gan atrocious bargain, "a com
pact with helP'-and it may be, or it may
not be, pause not now to inquire but il is
a contract, compact, he had sworn 10 fulfil.
George Washington made it. Ben. Frank.
lin made it. Rufus King put it there, and
Roger Sherman, and Alexander Hamilton
men immortal in civil life, in the toga
and in arms-men Of God us well as men
Of earth. If their bargain was " atrocious. :
il it was "a compact with hell" we can.
not take part Of il, and rcpudiate the rest.
There It is, bargain, contract, the mos
solemn that sovereign States ever made, and
we must take all or none. (Applause.) But
the bargain. am told, NAV be endured. but
not that law. The bargain is to deliver
lup fugitive slaves on claim. The law ex-
ecutes the bargain, but, il is added. executes
il too vigorously ! shall not stop hear To
ask, il there is any thing in the law as rigor-
Gus as in the compact 10 deliver up on claim,
mere claim, as all ! strive for, in these re-
marks, is TO defend my own cuuntryman, that
eminent citizen ofmy own State. What we
have to do here. is TO inquire il, in his posi-.
ton as President. he did right, or did wrong.
IL will he recolected that Fillmore was made
President by the instrumentality Of the Wing
party, Of which party il was a cardinal prin
Pile, that when laws were fairly enacted BY
the representatives Of the people, it was the
duty Of the Wing President not to exercise
the one man power Of preceding admins
trations. but whatsoever might be his opinions
his own feelings, after ascertaininy that The
law was constitutional, to sign il, and thu, lei
the voices Of the pcnple be expressed through
their representatives. This Was the course
OF Fillmore. The Fugitive Slave Law wa.
pessed. lie consulted the Constitution. lie
read the history Of his country. lie stu
died land this is within my own personal
knowledse) the opiulons Of Judge Mclean
Justice Story and Others, in the celebrated
. case Of Prisg Is. the Commonwealth %
| Pennsylvania, anil then, after cosulting III,
. Attorney General, he affixed his name &
| that act, as Constitutional act, enacted by
. Congress, about the expedIeDcy Of the detail,
nf men which might reasonably differ. though
there could be 10 reasonable dnubt u is C0nsti
tutionaIity. In 50 doing he but followed 10 the
footsteps Of the illustrlDus father of his c0un,
try. ongress IN l195, George Washington
J approving, provided for the delivery Of ingi'
tive slaves BY law, in principle and sub
stance. the very law u 1850. The provisions
the penalties, the general contemplation oil
the act are as like, as like can well be. The &C
Ut 1898 worked well enough. and satisfacto,
rily enough, for forty or fifty years.-ant
there was no outcry against II until the Norll
( ran into Notification under the lead OF sec.
| tionalism aud AboliIionism. When Abuli,
, tionisIn 10 some Of our States began u null
| ify the provisions Of the Washington act ia
Furnishing Justices of the Peace, aud State
officers. who executed the Law, Congress fell
bound 10 substitute 10 their stead, Federal Of
! iicers, Federal Commissioners, and in its sub
stitution, is the only difference in principle
between the Washington act Of i7g5, aud III,
act Of 1850. Let Be call your attention 60 III,
men, the class men. that enacted the Rugitiy,
Act Of l795. IL passed the Senate of tn
United states unanimously, the whole Norti
I az well as the whole SUuh saying "aye.
. There were IN that Senate, Northern men Of a
/" stiIfback bone sas any ia this our day. New
Hampshire spoke 10 the yDices ul ohm I.ang,lUl
, aud Paine wingair; Massachusetts ~ Geury,
Cabot and Caleb Strong; connec i:at IN lie
Roger sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, sabsc
! qlently Chief Justice OF tie United States
, Vermont, 10 Bradley aud Robinson; New
4 York, ~ Rufus King; Pennsylvania, 10 Ro
bert Morris; New Jersey, 10 John Rather
! ford and Philemon Dickinson. The Ilous,
!, OF Representatives passed The act, ayes 4s
4 noes 3--lr0m the North ave, &c. aud fran