The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-12-13

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of the South to their properly in slaves
And it may also be observed. judging from
present indications, that no probability exI
| lists Of the passage Of such an act by a ma
jority of both Houses either in the presen,
or the next Congress. Surely under thest
circumstances we ought to be restrained
from. present action by the precept Of Hin
who spake as never man spake, that, 'sufii
cient unto the day is the evil thereof The
! day of evil may never come unless we shal
rashly bring it upon ourselves. IT is alleged
as one cause OF immediate secession that the
Southern States are denied equal rights with
the other States in the common Territories
But by what authority are these denied p
Not by Congress, which has never passed
and I believe never win pass. any act to ex
clude slavery from these territories; and
certainly not by the Supreme Court which
has solemnly decided that slaves are proper
ty, and. like all other property, the owners
have right to take them into the common
territories and hold the under the protection
OF the Constitution Sofsr then 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 admit.
ted that this apprehension Of future danger
Is no good reason for an Immediate dissolu
ton of the Union. gsH $50,
It is true that the Territorial Legislature
of Kansas, on the 23d of February, 1860
passed in great haste an act, over the veto o.
the Governor, declaring that slavery is. and
shall be forever prohibited in the Territory
Such an act, however, plainly violating the
rights # property secured by the Constitu.
,ion, will surely be declared void by the Ju
dietary whenever it shall be presented in .
legal form Only three days after my inau
guration, the Supreme Court of the United
States solemnly adjudged that this power
did not exist in Territorial Legislature. ~
Yet such has been the captious temper o
the times, that the correctness of this decis.
ion has been extensively impugned before
the people, and the question has given rise
to angry political conflict throughout the
country. Those who have appealed from
this Judgment Of our highes' Constitutional
tribunal to popular assemblies. would, ifthey
could, invest Terri Legislatures with
power to annul the sacred rights of property
This power Congress is expressly forbidden
by the federal Constitution to exercise Eve.
ry State Legislature in the Union is forbid
den by its own Constitution to exercise it.
1t cannot be exercised in any State, except
by the people in their highest sovereign ca
pacity, when framing or amending their
State Constitution. In like manner, it can
only be exercised by the people of the Terri
tory represented in Convention of delegates
for the purpose Of framing constitution,
nrefatory to admission as a State into the
Union Then, and not until then, are they
invested with power to decide the question
whether slavery shall or shall not exist with
in their limits This is an act of sovereign
authority, and not of subordinate territorial
legislation Were it otherwise, then indeed
would the equality of the States in the Terri.
tories be destroyed, and the rights Of prop.
erty in slaves would depend not upon the
guarantees of the Constitution, but upon the
shifting maiorities Of an irrepressible terri.
torial legislature. Such doctrine, from its
intrinsic unsoundneSs, cannot long influence
anv portion of our people much less can it
afford a good reason for dissolution of the
Union The most palpable violations Of con
stitutional duty which have vet been COM
mitted consist in the acts OF different State
Legislatures to defeat the execution Of the
Fugitive Slave Law. 1t ought to be re-
mernhered, however, that for these acts nei-
ther Congress nor any President can lie j 81
lv held responsible, having been passed in
violation of the Federal Constitution, they
are therefore null and VOID. AL the Courts
both State ard National, before whom the
question has arisen, have from the begin
ming declared the Fugitive Slave Law to be
constitutional The single exception is that
Of the State Court in Wisconsin, and this has
L., loo h,yt tla
late tribunal, but has met with such un:ver-
sal reprobation that there can be no danger
fr IN it as precedent The validity of this
law has bee,, established over and overaga'n n
by the Supreme Court of the United States
with perfect unanimity. 1t is founded upon
an express provision of the Constitution, re-
Guiring that FUGITIVE slaves who escape from
service in one State to another. shall be de-
livered up to their masters. Without this
provision, it is a well. known historical fact
that the Constitution itsolfcould never have
been adopted by the Convention. In one
form or another under the acts Of 1893 or
1850, both being substantially the same, the
Fugitive Slave Law has been the law Of the
land from the days Of Washington to the
present moment Here, then, clear case
is presented in which it win be the duty OIL
the next President, as il has been my own,
to act with vigor in executing this supreme
law against the conflicting enactments OF
Sta'e Legislatures. Should he fail in the
performance Of this high duty. he will then
have manifested disregard of the Con I'll.
tuition and laws, to the great injury Of the
of the people of nearly one half Of the States
of the Union. But are we to presume in
advance that he will thus violate his duty :
This would be Mt war with every principle
ofjustice-of Christian charity. Let us wait
for the overt act. s
| The Fugitive Slave Law has been carried
into execution in every contested case since
the commencement Of the present admins
tration, though often, il is 10 be regretted
with great loss and inconvenience to ths
master, and with considerable expense to the
Government.
| Let US trust that the State Legislatures viii
repeal their unconstitutional 4 obnoxious en-
actnents unless this shall be done without
unnecessary delay. it is impossible for any
human power to save the Union. The
Southern States, standing on the basis Of ths
Constitution, have right to demand this act
of Justice from the States Of the North -
Should it be refused them, the Constitution
to which AL the States are parties, will have
been wilfMlly violated BY one portion Of them
in provision essential to the domestic Sc
cnrity and happiness Of the remainder II
that evcnt the injured States, after having
first used all peaceful and constitutions
means 10 obtain redress, would be iustifie{
in revolutionary resistance to the gover,mea
Of the Union. ,as Y - gfas97g ifs tsssil
have purposly confined my remarks {,
revolutionary resistance, because il has beer
tcl 4 ,r;th;, f.,a Ia ~ c,.,, ,,aar, 49,