Litchfield enquirer., 1860-12-13

of clear constitutional right. A fter al, h : is more than the chief executive officer 70 I the government. His province is notz t .4 make but to execute the laws; and it is ' remarkable fact in eur history that, not '1 withstanding the repeated efforts of the ant slavery party, no single act has ever passed Congress, unless we may possibly except tn, Missouri Compromise, inpairing in the slight
 est degree the rights of 4the Southt to tlei I tprcperty in slaves Andit may. also he ob tseryed. judging from present indications, tba j no probahiIit y exists ofsthespassage of sucl
 an act, by 2 majority of fsboth houses, eithel llD the present or the next Congress Sure fly, under these circumstances, we ought tt
 be restrained froa present action by tn,
 precept of Him Who 'spake as never, mar fspoke, that sufficient unto the day is thu Eeyil thereof !" The day of evil may neyel
 eome, unless iwesshall rashlys bring it npor
 ourselves. .sass f.. .a.,a,s s .,..,. '
 sECEssIoNaATa PRESENT UNDESIRABLE.
 It is ailegedas one cause for, immediate Isecession thatsthe Southern States are, denied equal rights with other States in tie com l mon Territories, But by what authority
 are these denied? Not by Congress, which
 has never passed, and beIievessnever 1 will pass, any act to exclude slavery from
 these Territories; and certainly mot by the Supreme Court. which has asoiemnly decided that slaves are property, and, like. all other property, their owners have q right to take ] them iuto the common territories, and hold them there under the protection ofthe con l stltItiOn. #@''t@D& 9f 54 Eas Rsk w ai. g So far then, as4 Congress is concerned, the objection is not to anything they have already done, ,1but what they. may do here after It will surely be admitted that this apprehension of future danger is no good reason for an immediate dissolution of the Union. It is true that the Territorial Leg |islature of Kansas, on the 23d of February, lS6u, passed ingreat haste an. act, over the veto of tie Governor declaring that slavery "is, and shall be, forever prohibited in this 1 Territory" Such an act, however, plainly violating the rights of property secured by the constitution. will surely be declared void by the Judiciary whenever it shall be
 presented in legal form ..a. a
 POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY UNCONSTITUTIONAL. .s r. Duly three days after my inauguration. the Su preme Court Of the United Statesso emuiy adjudged that this power did not ex- ist iii 8 terri orial legislature Yet, such
 has been the factious temper of the times, that .the. correctness of this decision has been extensively mrugued before the people, and the question las given riso@to angry poiiti- cal conflicts throughout the country Those wl:o have appealed fronn this judgment of our highest eomstitutiopai .tsibnual to popu- lar assemblies would, iii tl!ey, could, invest q territorial legislature with power to anunl the
 sacred rights of property. This power Con-
 gross is expressly Forbidden hy the federal
 constitution to exercise. Every State Leg isature in the Union is sorbidden by it's own
 constitution tosexercise 1t. It cannot be cx-
 erciset! ill a.sy State except by the people in | their highest sovereign capacity when 'fram-
 ing or amending their State constitutien.--
 in like manner, it can only be exereisedsby
 people of territory represented in a con
 vention of delegates for tie purpose of fram-
 ing constitution preparatory to admission as a State utos,the Union. Then, and not
 until then, are they invested with power to decide the question whether slavery shall or shall not exist within their limits. This act is an act of sovereign authority. and not. of subordinate Territorial legislation. Were lit otherwise, then indeed would the equality 1 of the States in the Territories be destroyed
 and the rights of property in slaves would depend, not upon the guarantees ofthe COD
 stituton, but upon the shifting majorites of an irrepressibles Territoriala Legislature 5z
 Such doctrine, from it's intrinsic unsouhd- ness, cannot. long iqfueuee any considerable portion of our people, much less can it afford good reason for q dissolution of the Union. | s'fass PERSONAL LIBERTY BILLS. -" '
 The most papahle violations of constitu-
 tional duty which have yet been committed,
 consist in the acts of different State Legis- laturcs to defeat the execution of Fugitive Slave Law. It ought to be remembered, however, that for these acts neither Con- gress nor any President can justly be held
 responsible Having been passed in viola I ton of the federal constitution, they are, ] therefore, null and void. All the courts, both State and National, before whom the
 question has arisen, has from the beginning
 declared the Fugitive Slave Law to be con
 stitutional. The single exception is that of Ia State Court in Wisconsin, and this has
 not only been reversed by the proper'a appel
 late tribunal, but has met with such univer-
 sal reproduction that there can be no danger from it ss a precedent. The validity of this law has been established over and over
 again by the Supreme Court of the United
 States with perfect impunity. It is founded
 upon an express provision of the Constitu-
 tion, requiring that Fugitive Slaves who es-
 cape from service in one State to another,
 shall be delivered up to their nasters.-
 Without this provision it is well known
 historical fact that the constitution itself
 could never have been adopted by a Conven,
 tiou. In one form or other under the acts
 of 1793 and 1850, both being substantially
 the same, the Fugitive Slave Law has been
 the law of the land from the days of Wash ington, 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 vigor in executing
 this supreme law against the conflicting en
 actments of State legislatures Should he fail in the performance of this high duty he
 will then have manifested disregard of the Constitution and laws, to the great injury O the people of nearly one-half of the States O the Union. But are we to presume in ad
 vance that he will thus violate his duty?- This would be at war with every principl of justice and of Christian charity. Let u --l wait for the overt act. The Fugitive SlaV Law has been carried into execution in eve " contested case since the commencement