Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1860-12-15

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sufficient to justify the immediate destruc
ton of the noblest system of Government
ever devised by mortais. From the very
mature of his office and its high response
biltles, he must necessarily be conservative
! The stern duty of administering the vas
and complicated councils of this Govern
j ment affords in itself guarantee that be
will not attempt any violation of a cleal
il Constitutional right.
!, After all he is no more than the Chic
Executive officer of the government Hi.
lproyince is not to make, but to execute til
laws, and it is remarkable fact that in ON
history that Notwithstanding the repeated
efforts of the anti-slavery party, no single
act has ever passed Congress, unless We
may possibly except the Missouri Compro-
mise, impairing in the slightest degree the
,irights Of the South to their property in
slaves. And it may also be observed,
ljuaging from present indications, that no
probability exists of the passage of such
Jan act by majority Of both Houses either
i'm the present or the next Congress. Sure
+ y under these circumstances, we ought TO
be restrained from present action by The
lprecept of Him who spake as never man
'Ispake, that " sufficient unto the day is the
EVIL thereof" The day Of evil may never
come, unless we shall rashly bring it upon
ourselves. It is alleged as one cause for
immediate secession that the Southern
States are denied equal rights with the 9TH
erStates in the common tel ritories. But by
what authority are these denied Not by
Congress, which has never passed, and /
believe never will pass, any act to exclude
slavery from these territories; and certain
| " not by the Supreme Court, which has
solemnly decided that slaves are property,
and like all other property, their owners
have right to take them into the common
territories and hold them there under the
protection of the Constitution. SO far,
then as Congress is concerned, the objec-
ton is not to anything they have already
done, but to what they may do hereafter.
1t will surely be admitted that this appre-
NhSlbion OF future danger is no good reason
fofan immediate dissolution of the Union.
1t is true that The Territarial Legislature
of Kansas, on the .23d 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 the Ter
lritory Such an act, however, plainly yio-
lated the rights of property secured by the
Constitution. and viii surely be declared
void by the judiciary whenever it shall be
presented in legal form. Only three days
latter my inauguration, the Supreme Court
of the United States solemnly adjudged
that this power did not exist in a Territorial
Legislature. Yet suc.l has been the fac
tions temper Of the times, that the correct
ness of this decision has been extensively
ilnpugned before the people, and heques-
ton has given rise to angry political con-
fiict throughout the country. Those who
have Appealed FROM. sLis INDIGNANT Of our-
Ahighest constitutional tribunal to popular
assemblies, would, if they could, invest
Territorial Legislatures with power to an
nul the sacred rights of property. This
power Congress is expressly forbidden by
the Federal Constitution to exercise. Ev-
erv State Legislature in the Union is for
hidden by its own Constitution to exercise
Iii. 1t cannot be exercised in any State,
except by the people in their highest SOY
ereign capacity, when framing OF amend
ing their State Constitution. In Ike man
ner it can only be exercised by the people
Of the Territory represented in conyen-
ton Of delegates for the purpose Of franz
ing a constitution, preparatory to admission
as q State into the Union. Then, and not
until then, are they invested W i power to
decide the question whether slavery shall or
shall not exist within 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 Territories be destroyed,
and the rights of property in slaves would
depend, not upon the guarantees OF the
i Constitution, but upon the shifting major
.lities Of an irresponsible Territorial Legisla-
.ttnre. Such doctrine, from its intrinsic
lunsoundness, cannot long influence any
portion of our. people, much less can 1t
afford good reason fora dissolution OF the
/ Union.
II The most palpable violations Of Constltu-
tional duty which have yet been committed
consist in acts Of different State Legislatures
to defeat the execution Of the Fugitive Slave
Law. It ought to be remembered, howey-
! er. that for these acts neither Congress MOI
any President can justly be held response
Ilble: having been passed in violation Of the
Fedsral Constitution, they are, therefore
null and void. All the Courts, both STATE
and National, before whom the question
! lii J arisen, have frcm the beginning de
Iclared the Fugitive Slave Law to be con
! lstitutional. The single exception IS that 2
a State Court Of Wisconsin, and this ha'
mot only been reversed by the proper ap
! lpelIate tribunal, but has met with such unI
flversal reprobation that there can be n'
aanrer from it as a precedent. The valid
l;tv If this law has been established Owe
land over again BY the Supreme Court Q
The United States, with perfect unanlmlty
] 1T i founded upon an express provision Q
tho Constitution, requiring that fugius'
J slaves who escape from service m one oaai'
I to another shall be delivered up 70 'ilel
5smasters. Without this provision, i =
j ,v..l i,nown historical fact that the Constl