Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1856-01-24

: or regulation thereof, be discharge
from such service OF labor, but shoul
be delivered up on claim of the pa
lty to whom such services or lab(
might be due by the laws OF h
State.
Thus, and thus only, by the reclE
rocal guaranty of all the rights {
every State against interference o
the part of another, was the presen
form of government established b,
our fathers and transmitted to us
and by no means is it possible for
to exist. If one State ceases to re
spect the rights of another, and oh
trusively intermeddles with its loca
interests,-if a portion of the State
assume to impose their institution
on the others or refuse to fulfil thei
obligations to them-we are no longe1
united friendly States, but distracted
hostile ones, with little capacity lef'
of common advantage, but abundant
means of reciprocal injury and mis-
chief.
Practically, it is immaterial whether
aggressive interference between the
States, or deliberate refusal on the
part of one of them to comply with
constitutional obligations, arise from
erroneous conviction or blind preju-
dice, whether 1T be perpetrated by
direction or indirection. In either
case, it is full of threat and danger
to the durability of the Union.
CONSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS OF SLAVERY
Placed in the office of Chief Mag
istrate as the executive agent of the
whole country, bound to take care that
the laws be executed, and especially
enjoined by the constitution to give
information to Congress on the state
of the Union, it would be palpable
neglect of duty on my part to pass
over subject like this, which, beyond
all things at the present time, vitality
concerns individual and public Sc
curity.
1t has been matter of painful re-
gret to see States, conspicuous for
their services in founding this Re
public and equally sharing its advanta-
ges, disregard their constitutional obi
cations to it. Although conscious OF
the inability to heal admittedand palpa-
BILE social evils of their own, and which
are completely within their jurisdic-
ton, they engage in the offensive and
hopeless undertaking of reforming
the domestic institutions of other
States wholly beyond their control and
authority.
In theyain pursuit of euds, by them
entirely unattainable, and which they
may not legally attempt to compass,
they peril the very existence of the
constitution, and all the countless
benefits wich it has conferred. While
the people of the Southern States
confne their attention to their own
affairs, not presuming offciously to
intermeddle with the social instltu-
tions of the Northern States, TOO
MANY of the inhabitants of the latter
are permanently organized in assocla-
tion to inflict injury on the former,
bywrongful acts, which would be cause
of war as between foreign powers,
and only fail ODE such in our system
because perpetuated under cover OF
the Union.
1t is impossible to present this sub
ject as truth and the occasion requires,
without noticing the reiterated, but
groundless allegation, that the South
has persistently asserted claims and
obtained advantages in the practical
administration Of the general COVER
ment to the prejudice of the North
and in which the latter has acqulesced
That is, the States which either pro.
mote or tolerate attacks on the
rights of persons and of property IN
other States, to disguise their OWL
injustice, pretend or imagine, and
constantly aver, that they, whose
constitutional rights are thus sys
tematically assailed, are themselve:
the aggressors. At the present time
this imputed aggression, resting a
it does, only in the vague, declama
tory charges Of political agitators, re
solves itself into misapprehension O.
misinterpretation of the principle'
and facts of the political organization
of the new Territories Of the Unite'
! States.
What is the voice of history9 Whel
the ordinance which provided for th
government of the territory north
west Of the river Ohio, and for it