Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-12-13

future sufficient to justify the immediate des-
truction OF the modest syetem of government cv.
er devised b. mortals From the very nature
of his Office and its high responsibilities, he must
neces Sail.y b. conservative. The storm duty Of
the vast and complicated concerns
Of this government affords III itself guaranty
that he will not attempt any violation of a clear
constitutional right. After all, he is moro then
the chef executive officers of the government.
His province is not to make, but TO execute the
laws and it is Il remarkable fact in our his
tory that, notwithstanding, the repeated ei
fors Of the aHti,SAvery party, nosinglc act has
ever passed Congress, unless We may possible
expect the Missouri Compromise, impalring in
the slightest degree the rights Of the South to
their property in slaves. And it may also DO
observed Judging from present indications, that
no probability exists Of the passage Of sush an
act, by . majority of both house, either in tue
present OF tho next Congress- Surely, under
these circumstances, we ought to be restrained
from the present action by The prtcept OF Him
who Spake as never man spoke, that " sufficient
unto the day is the evil thel cof " The day Of
evil my never come, unless We shall rashly
bring itupon ourselvs.
IL is alleged as one cause for Immediate see
ession that the Southern States are denied
equel rights wife the other States in the COM
mon Territories. But by what authority arc
these denied Not by Congress, which has
never passed, and believe never will pass,
any act to exclude slavery from these Terrior-
les; and certainly not by the Supreme Court,
which has solcmnly decided that slaves are prop
city, and like all other property, the owners
have right to take them into the common
Territories, and hold them there under the pro-
teclions of the Constitution.
So far as Congress is concerned, the objection
is not to anything they have already done, but
to what they may do hereafter. 1t will surely
be admitted that this apprehension of future
danger is no god reason for an immediate dis
solution Of the Union, 1t is true that the Ter
ritoriaI Legislature Of Kansas on the 23l of
February, 1860, passed in great haste an act,
, over the veto of the Governor, declaring that
slavery " is and shall BE- forever prohibited in
this Territory Such an act, however. plain,
ly violating the rights of property secured by
the Constitution, will surrey be declared void
by the Judiciary whenever it Shall be present.
ed in legal form.
Only three years after my inauguration, the
Supreme Court of the United States solemuly
adjudged that this power did not exist in IL ter
ritorial Legislature. Yet such has been the fac
tious temper of the times that the correctness
OF this decision has beon extensively impugned
before the people, and the question has given
rise to angry political conaicte throughout the
country. Those no have appealed from this
Judgment Of our highest constitutional trbu-
nal to popular assemblies would, if they could,
invest territorial legislature with power to
annul the sacred rights Of property. This pow
or Congress is expressly forbidden by the tede-
raj Constitution to exercise. Every State Leg
slature in the Union is forbidden by its own
Constitution to exercise it. 1t cannot be exer
cised in any State except by the people in their
highest sovereign capacity when framing or
amending their State Constitution. In like
mannsr it can only be exercised by people of a
Territory represented in convention Of dele
gates for the purpose Of framing Consultation
preparatory to admission as State into the
Union Then and not until then, are they in
vested with power to decide the question wheth'
err slavery sha or shall not exist within their
limits. This is an act of sovereign Authority,
and not Of subordinate territorial legislation
w ere il otherwise, then indeed would the equal
ty of the States in the Territories be destroyed
and the rights Of property in slaves would de-
pend not upon the guarantees of the Constitu
tiou but upon the shifting majoritQs of an r
repressiblc Territorial Legislature, Such doc
trino, from its intrinsic unsouudness, cannot
long influence any considerable portion of our
people, much less can it afford a good reason
/ for dissolution of the Union.
The most p4lpAbe violations of constitution
al duty which have yet been committed consist
in the acts Of different State Legislatures to de-
feat the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law.
Ii oyght to be remembered, however, that for
these acts neither Congress nor any President
can testify he held rcopouSibe Having been
passed in violation Of the federal Consultation,
! they are, therefor, null and void All tic
courts both State and national, before whom
/ the question has arisen, has from the beginning
de 3larcd the Fugitive Slave LaW 20 be constta
ti)nal, The single exception is that Of State
court in Wisconsin, and this has not ouly been
reversed by the proper appellate tribunal but
has met with such universal reprobation that
there can be no danger from it as precedent
The validity of this law las been established
over and over again by the Supreme Court of
the United States with perfect impnnity. 1t
is founded upon an express provision Of the
constitution, requiring that fugitive slaves who
escape from service in one State to another shall
be delivered up to their masters. Without this
provision it is II we'll known historical fact that
the constitution itself could never have been
adopted by the Convention.
In one form or other under the acts of 1893
and 1850, both being substantially the same
the Fugitive Slave law has been the law of the
land from the days Of Washington until the
present moment. Here, then clear case is
presented, in which it will be the duty of the
next President, as it has been my own, to act
with yigor in executing the supreme law against
the conflicting enactments OF State legislatures
Should he fail III the performance Of this higl
duty, he will then have maniesleda disregard
of the constitution and laws, to the great in
jury Of the people Of nearly one half the
States Of the Union. But are we to presume
in advance that he will thus violate his duty
This would ha at war with every principe o
iagtice and OF Christian charity. Let rs wal