Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-02-27
Gsr 9alIp sPg.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY II. 1853.



Court. and the part of.ths Presidents Message in
which that decision is sustained, was one Of the
most able ana eloquent ever made BY the distin-
Ruished senator from the Granite State. Mr..
Hale arraigned the Supreme Court in indignant
glow ng, and truthful style, for descending from
its high Junction. to the political arena, and af-
6rming, in the face Of the sublime enuniciations
Of freedom contained in the sayings and acts Of
the founders of the government. as put upon re-
cord in the immortal Declaration of l776, and
other documents and instruments since, from
which Mr.. Hale made frequent quotations in snip
port of his position that the right to hold and
traffic in slaves was universally practieed upon
at the time Of the adoy tion of the constitution,
and is Incorporated in that instrument. On the
contrary, Mr.. Hale rightfully maintained that
the Constitution is an instrument of freedom, and
II correctly construed, secures personal liberty to
all under its exclusive Jurisdiction, of whatever
color or race.
Mr.. Hale, toward the close of his speech, quo
ted the following celebrated passage from the
infamous .'opinion' of Chief Justice Taney
which casts such severe reprOach upon the dis
tinguished patriots of the Revolution:
"The Declaration of Independence proceeds to
say:
we hold these truths to be self-evdent. That
all men are created equal; that they are endowed
BY their Creator with certain inalienabe rights /;
that among them is life liberty and the pursuit
of happiness that to secure these rights gov.
ernments are instituted deriving their just pow
ers from the consent of the governed
The general words above quoted would seem to
embrace the whole human family and ii they
were used in a similar instrument at this day,
would be so understood. But it is too clear for
dispute, that the ens!aved African not
intended to be included, and formed no part of
the people who framed and adopted this Declare.
ton"
Upon this diabolical sentiment, uttered as the
opinion of the Supreme Court of the United
States, Mr. Hale concludeshis speech in the fol-
lowing magnificent style, as eloquent as truthful;
"Sir the men who framed the Declaration of
lndependence-the men who fought the battles
OF liberty-and the men who wrote our Constitu-
tion-anderstood the meaning Of language quite
as well as the Supreme Court. and, if were put
on oath, should say little better. They knew
the circumstances in which they were called to
live and to act; they knew that the experiment
which had been made from the beginning of time
up to that day, Of free government had been
failure they knew that every effort and every at
tempt oppressed man had made had failed and
they fet that to them, at that time, and that day,
was committed, by the Arbiter of national desti-
ny, the great question solve Tor themselves, for
their posterity, for all coming time, the great
problem whether man capable of free gov
eminent. They went into that contest fully un.
Outstanding the nature of the strife by which their
position was to be maintained fully sensible of
the character Of the contest upon which they had
entered They went into it, as has been well said
on another occasion, poor in everything but faith
and courage They were without arms, without
wealth, without even a name amongst the nations
OF the earth, rebel provinces; but they were
strong in their reliance on the Most High and
they went, taking their lives, their fortunes and
their honors in their hand. They threw them.
selves into the worlds Thermopyle of that day,
and they declared that they held certain truths
to be seIf-evident, and that among these truths
was, that all men were entitled to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. Whyi Not be-
cause it was written in the musty folios of specu-
lati1g philosophers /; not because it was found in
the writings of patriots of other days not be-
cause the old British Commoners had brought
King Charles TO the block not because their old
Puritan ancestry, on the battlefield of Naseby
and Of Marston Moor, had written in their own
blood, on their own countrys soil, their determi-
nation to be free. No, sir, of all these; but
they said that man was entitled to be free, be-
cause he was endowed by his Creator with that
right. They stopped nothing short of the throne
of eternity. They ignored all human reasons, all
human platforms, and all human authority, and
with unclouded eye fixed their gaze upon the eter-
nal throne, and laid the foundation OF the institu
tions which they mere to build upon the eternal
justice Of God.
That, sir, is what the revolutionary fathers did
and when the contest was over, when the dust
and blood Of battle had disappeared, and victory
stood upon the flagstaff of their banner, these
old men issued Declaration to the world 1t
was issued in 1888, the very year the war was
over. Let it be remembered say they, finally,
that it has ever been the pride and boast of
America, that the rights for which she contend
ed were the rights Of human nature They
commended for no class or condition. They con-
tended for humanity. No matter, in the language
OF the Irish orator, what complexion, incompat-
BILE with liberty, an Indian or African sun may
have burned upon him, when he stands erect in
the image of his Maker, man, they say, the faith.
ers ofthe Revolution, There stands one for whom
we have fought; there stands man who was in-
VOWED in the great issues which led to the Revo-
lutionary war, and which we have vindieated with
our blood They continue further;
II justice, good faith. honor, gratitude, and
all the other qualities which enoble the character
Of nation, and fulfil the ends of government, be
the fruits of our establishments, the cause Of lib
erty will acquire dignity and lustre which it has
never yet enjoyed, and an example will be set
which cannot but have the most favorable influ-
ence on the rights of mankind
This is The idea; true to their principles, true
to the avowals Of public sentiment gth which
they went into that contest. Pesne camefn 1888
and in 1884 Thomas Jefferson, the immortal au-
thor Of that immortal Declaration, began his la
bors in the Continental Congress, moving that all
thelterrltory we then owned, and all the territory
that we might thereafter acquire should be forey.
er free from what he considered the contamlna.
ting and blighting influences of human slavery.
Those who are la60ring with me in this great
contest may take courage from the perseverance
with which Jefferson adhered to his policy. In
l7S3-o4-S5 and 49, the measure failed but fin.
allyi IN 1851 il partially succeeded and the ordi-
nance was passed prohibiting slavery from all the
territory which we then owned. Yet, sir in the
view OF all this history written as with sun
beam upon the very walls Of the room in which
this tribunal now assembl they stand up in 1857
TO declare 20 the world that the slave trade and
slavery were so universally recognized and ac-
knowledged, that nobody questioned the right
tuDess OF the traffic. and nobody supposed il
capable OF being questioned. Not content with
oyerturnins the whole line Of judicial authority
TO be found IN every nation Of Europe and in
every State Of this Union, aud of their own SOL
emn recorded decisions, they go on to make the
avowsl and then 20 further, and undertake to
tear from that chaplet which adorns the brows Of
the men OF the Revolution the proudest and fair
estof their ornaments; aud that was the sinceri-
~ Of the professions which they made in regard
TO the rights Of human natufe 1t is true, the
court IN their charity undertake to throw the
mantle Of ignorance over these men, and say
they did not understand what they meant. Sir,
they did understand it, and the country under
stood Il. There was jealousy on the subject of
liberty and slavery, at that time, Of which we are
little prepared TO judge at the present day. 4tis
found beaming out on the pages Of the writings
of all these men.
II the opinions Of tie Supreme Court are true.
they put these men in the worst position Of any
men who are 70 be found on the pages Of our his-
tory. II the opinion Of the Supreme Cont no
true, It makes the immortal authors Of the Dec.
laration Of Independence liars before God. and
N..-...4t.. ~fa.. A.. ..osid. r.. A.