Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1860-12-07

pCCh lONSioOu W ehN Pi'PSh "PPNiAS "
bunal, but has met with such universal
Reproductions that there can be no danger
from it as precedent The validity Of
this law has been established over and
over again by the Supreme Court of the
United States with perfect impunity. 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 a well known historical fact that the
constitution itself could never have been
adopted by the Convention.
I'm one form or other under the acts
of 1893 and 1850, both being substan-
TALLY the same, the Fugitive Slave law
has been the law of the land from the
days of Washington until the present
moment. Here, then, a clear case is pre-
scented, in which it will be the duty of the
next President, as it has been my own, to
act with vigor in executing the supreme
law against the conflicting enactments of
State Legislatures. Should he fail in the
performance of his high duty, he will then
have manifested disregard of the Con-
stitution and laws, to the great injury 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 I?
This would be at war with every princi-
pie of justice and of Christian charity
Let us wait for the overt act. The fugi-
tive slave law has been carried into exc
cution in every contested case since the
commencement of the present administra-
ton; though often, it is to be regretted,
with great loss and inconvenience to the
master, and with considerable expense to
the government Let us trust that the
State Legislatures will repeal their uncon-
stitutional and obnoxious enactments.
Unless this shall be done without unnec-
essary delay, it is impossible for any hui
man power to save the Union.
"The Southern States, standing on the
basis of the constitution, have a right to
demand this act of justice from the States
of the North. Should it be refused, then
the constitution, to which all the States
are parties, will have been virtually vio-
lated by one portion of them in a provis-
ion essential to the domestic security and
happiness of the remainder. In that
event, the injured States, after having first
used all peaceful and constitutional means
to obtain redress, would be justified in
revolutionary resistance to the government
of the Union"
The President then goes into lengthy
of the constitutional right of
secession, treating the matter very much
as he would argue such question in court,
making such an argument as any common
lawyer is capable Of producing, and after
admitting that the seeding States have
the right to resist the General Govern
ment, and stating that such resistance may
or may not be justifable revolution, he
arrives at the following very extraordinary
result:
What in the meantime, is the respon-
sibility and true position of the Execu-
tive? He is bound by solemn oath before
God and the country to take care that
the laws be faithfully executed" and
from this obligation he cannot be absolved
by any human power But what if the
performance of this duty, in whole or in
part, has been rendered inpracticable by
events over which he could have exercised
no control? Such, at the present moment,
is the case throughout the State of South
Carolina, so far as the laws of the United
States to secure the administration of JUS
lice by means of the Federal Judiciary
IRE concerned. All the federal officers
within it's limits, through whose agency
llone these laws can be carried into exc
,ution, have already resigned. We no
longer have District Judge, District
Attorney, or Marshal in South Carolina.
In fact, the whole machinery of the Fed
sral Government, necessary for the dis
tribution of remedial justice among the
oeople has been demolished and II would