Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1857-10-29

-RsDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1857.
as patriots is to understand clearly that by
all its antecedents, your country is conse-
Grated to the cause of freedom; that it was
discovered when the great principle Of hu-
man liberty was about to be organized into
human institutions; that it was settled by
men who were exiled by reason of their
loyalty to that principle; that it separated
politically from its mother country because
that principle had been assailed; and that
it had began it's peculiar existence by for
mally declaring it's faith in human freedom
and equality and, therefore, that whatever
in its government or policy tends to limit
dr destroy that freedom and equality is anti,
American and unpatriotic, because America
and liberty are inseparable ideas"
This is plausible enough, but shameless
falsehood lies couched under this ''much
fair speech" "Whatever in our govern
ment or policy tends to limit or destroy that
freedom and equality is anti-American and
because America and liberty
are inseparable IDEAS" The ssfreedom and
equality" to the destruction Of which Mr..
Curtis alludes iss un-American and un-
patriotic" are the freedom and equality of
the black race. The context shows that
this is what he means-every line of his ad-
dress shows it-and we must do him the
justice to say that he is not at any pains to
conceal it. Now, Mr.: Curtis very well
knew when he wrote this fine paragraph
that African slavery existed in this country
long previous to the revolution; that it ex-
listed here when the constitution was form
ed; that it was recognised by that instru-
ment as an existing institution, and the
right of the master to reclaim his fugitive
expressly provided for. He knew, too, very
well that the Union could have been formed
on no other terms, and must die whenever
they cease to be observed Here, then,
within the very bosom of the expressed
thought of the land-in the very inner
sanctuary Of the temple, where the Ameri-
can idea is enshrined, if it be enshrined at
at all, is the recognition of doctrine which
Mr.. Curtis tells us is un-Amcrican and
uapatriotic" We begin to see where he
and we differ. The idea to which he ex-
horts men to be loyal, he does not seek in
tie letter of the constitution nor in its
spirit. He ignores tae-eiid-- -proposii1ief,
which lies at the foundation of our institu-
tions, and is, indeed, the American idea,
+" that the will of the majority shall govern. s"
But the measure of patriotism with him, is
loyalty to an abstract and impracticable
theory Of universal equality; and in SO far
as the constitution and the majority Of the
nation are at war with that theory, just in
$50 far are they un-American and wrong.
No honest man will do any deed Of which a
patriot need be ashamed. The supreme
law of the land, inas1nuch as it differs from
Mr.. Curtis's theory, and conflicts with his
Judgment, is unpatriotic. The conclusion
follows that it must be disobeyed; and so he
tells his Dartmouth hearers.
'.You are not to suppose that law is,
under all circumstances, to be obeyed; you
would be poor children Of seven years arm.
ed disobedience to laws if you believed that
A civilized and intelligent society obeys the
law. When the law begins to grind, thai
community changes it, if it makes its owl
laws, Or protests if it does not. If profess
is of no avail, and the law still grinds, the
community changes the lawmakers, a
whatever cost of time and money and blood. ;
And, again, after alluding to the law re-
quiring the return of fugitives, he tells us
''Such laws God and man require of you
to disobey, for upon a people who, under
any pretence, could yield to them there il
no tyranny SO terrible that it might not be
imposed"
Thinking it possible that some of bis
hearers might be disposed to covet the hon
ors of martyrdom, he gives them prece-
dent to cheer them on: :: =
..When good men are sent to jail for re.
fusing to do wrong, if there be any public
conscience there will soon be change
James Ii sent the bishops to the tower, but
to put them in the tower was not to put
them in the wrong, and after little while
the people of England drove Jane II across
the sea-" -
1t is common trick of the abolition par
ty to represent the government at Washing
ton as a hostile government, and to seek anal
ogies between the workings of our law and the
tyrannous graspings Of kingly power in other
times and in other lands Butthey forget, or
wilfully shut their eyes to the fact that this is
ga government of laws and not of men !"
that if ruler exceeds his power, he is pun
ished for the usurpation; and that if he
don't exceed it, he does but execute the
will Of that majority which, while the
American idea" lasts, must govern. But
let us hear Mr.. Curtis once more:
''Will you obey under the plea that it is
law, and that you have no right to judge
the law, but must try and alter it by-and-
by? By-and-by? But God is God to-day,
and to-day child is born to you; he is un-
der two years old; to-day the thirsty wretch
falls parched and painting at your feet to-
day the CAPTIVE from those Indians red as