, 1860-05-11

ference with its security as connected with its
slaves; these arc topics connected with the time
and manner of that resistance which might cas-
lily terminate fatally, and the topics connected
with slavery itself (the slave trade for eXample)
on which the most determined difference Of Opin-
ion has manifested itself While such consider
atoms ought to warn the most upright and saga
ciotis public men Of the great danger they are in
Of being deceived by party clamor, and ought TO
terriiy such as are unscrupulous; they teRch us
that after ALL the hearts IF the nation may be
sound, and that it only needs to be confinced 6f
its prrll, that it may, by one mighty ottbutst of
patriotic enthusiasm, crush every party that has
trihed with its convictions, and oVerwhelhi every
public man that has betrayed It.
Concerning the political relations Of slavery
under the Federal Constitution, and tile rights
and duties Of the slave States IN the Union; It Is
perfectly iHimaterial whether the institution Of
negro slavery, as it exists in this country is good
or bad and all Congressional discussion On that
point is as irrelevant as It is ordinarily empty.
We 1--we under written Constitution, and have,
Tor more than Seventy years, been expounding
II; comuienling on it, aud applying It constantly
TO the business Of liIc There may be topics;
and they not uninipOrtant, upon which one gen.
Grafton has differed from another; one party from
another; One class Of STATESMEN; judges and law
yers irom another az to the true sense Of the
Constitution, and the true weight to which inter-
Pretatons Of it are entitled, whether those intet
pretations arc made by one or other departments
Of the Government. No doubt, Of late years.
the tendency Of opinion has been to attribute
far more sacredness to judicial Interpretation
than the founders Of the Republic allowed; and
therefore we witness such fierce debates as to
the true sense OF the bred Scott decision. With
all possible veneration for the Federal Constitu
ton, we are not to forget that it was made for
US, not we for il; and with all loyalty both to-
wards the national and our State Governments,
lot US remember that the highest Of all loyalty
is to society ITSELF which Is above every form il
can possibly put on. Under all forms Of society,
the all pefvadng questions afe political questions
questions which never can be permanently set
tied In free Governments, except through repre-.
sentative bodies, and then In accordance with
the public conscience. The question Of slavery,
as il relates to the nation, falls under these gem
eral considerations in q remarkable manner
Thus in the first place, slavery was almost uni
versal, and the slave States the immense major
ity, at the formation Of tue Federal Constitution;
now the slave States are in minority, their whole
population is q minority, and that minority both
Of States and people is steadily becoming rela-
lively weaker. In the second place, there has
occurred q prOdgious change in the value Of
slaves and the product Of their labor. as well as
in the state Of public opinion on the subject Of
slavery itself At the formation Of the Federal
Constitution. there was no uarlcular hostility 10
slavery in one section above another. and no
particular zeal for its extension and is perpet-
uity in any section. But at present, the great
majority in most Of the slave States jealous
desire both the extension and the perpctuity Of
slavery, and the almost unanimous ropulation Of
them ali regard Il as so completely involved in
the very fabric Of society. tlIat ID Interference
with Il from without caI, be endured, while the
=. eat mass Of The ueonle of the North consider
the institution positively evil, and an immense
marty amongst them is orvanizeJ On the conviction