Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1860-12-06


dangerous act on the part If the President |
elect before resorting to such remedy.
IL Is sad, however, that the antecedents of |
the PRESIDENT elect have been sufficient to ius- |
THY the fears OF the South that he will attempt
TO invade their constitutional rights But are |
such apprehensions of contingent danger in the |
iuture sufficient to justify the immediate des- |
Iuctl0n OF the noblest system of government
ever devised by mortals? From the very ma
ture OF his Office, and its high respons bilities,
he must necessarily be conservative. The stern
duty OF administering the vast and complicated
concerns of this Government affords in itself
guarantee that he will not attempt any viola |
ton of clear constitutional right. After all, |
he is 10 more than the chief cxl cuive officer
of the Government His province is not to
make, but TO execute, the laws and it is a re-
markable fact in our history that, notwith-
standing the repeated efforts of the anti slavery
party, no single act has ever passed Congress,
unless we may possibly except the Missouri
ComFromise, ,impairiug in the slightest degree.
the rights of the South to their property in
slaves. And it may also be observed. Judging
from preset indications, that no possibility
exists OF the passage of such an act by a ma
jority OF both Houses, either il the present or
the next Congress Surely, under these cir
cumstances, we ought to be restrained from
present action by the precept of Him who spake
as never man spoke, that 81 sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof" The day of evil may
never come, unless we shall rashly bring it
upon ourselves.
1t is alleged as one cause for immediate Sc
cession that the Southern States are denied
equal rights with the other States in the COM
mon Territories. 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 certainly 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 Terri
tories, and hold them there under the protec-
! tion of the Constitution.
So far, 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 admitted that this apprehension
| of future danger is no good reason for an imme-
date dissolution of the Union. 1t is true that
the territorial 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 aud shall be, forever prohibited in
this 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
Only three days after my Inauguration the
Supreme Court of the United States soIemnly
adjudged that this power did not exist in a ter
ritOrial legislature. Yet such has been the
factious temper Of the times that the correct
ness of this decision has been extensively i'm
pugned before the people, and the question has
given rise to angry political conflicts through
! out the country. Those who have appealed
from this Judgment OF our highest constitu-
! tional tribunal 10 popular assemblies would,
if they could, invest a territorial legislature
with power to annul the scred rights of prop
| ertY. This power Congress is expressly for
! hidden by the Federal Constitution to ex-
ercise. Every State Legislature in the
Union is forbidden by lis own constitution
| to exercise it. 1t cannot be exercised in
any State except by the people in their high
est sovereign capacity when framing or amend
ing their State constitution. In like manner,
it can only be exercised by the people of a Ter
ritoTy represented in convention of delegates
for the purpose of framing a constitution pre-
paratory to admission as 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 within their
limits. This is an act of sovereign authority,
aud not of subordinate territorial legislation
| Were it otherwise, then indeed would the
equality of the States in the Territories be de-
stroyed, and the rights of property in slaves
would depend, not upon the guarantees of the
Constitution but upon the shifting majorities
of an irresponsible territorial legislature. Such
doctrine, from its intrinsic unSoundness, can
not long influence any considerable portion of
our people, much less can it afford a good rea-
son for dissolution of the Union.
The most pal pable violations of constitution
al duty which have yet been committed consist
i'll the acts of different State legislatures to de-
feat the execution of the fugitive slave law
1t ought to be remembered, however, that for
these acts, neither Congress nor any President
can Justly be held responsible. Having been
passed in violation of the Federal Constitution
they are therefore null and void. All the
courts, both State and National, before whom
the question has arisen, have from the
| beginning declared the fugitive slave law
to be constitutional The single exception
| is that of State court in Wisconsin :;
and this has not only been reversed by the
proper appellate tribunal, but has met with
| such universal reprobation that there can be
no danger from it as a precedent. The validi-
! ty of this law has been established over and
over again by the Supreme Court of the United
States with perfect unanimity. 1t is founded
| upon an express provision of the Constitution
requiring that fugitive slaves who escape from
service in one Stats to another shall be .'deliv-
cred up to their masters. Without this pro-
vision it is well-kuown historical fact that the
Constitution itself could never have been adopt
ed by the Convention. In one form or other
under the acts of 1893 and 1885, both being
substantially the same the fugitive. slave law
has been the law of the land from the davs of
Washington 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 enact
ments of State legislatures Should he fail in
the performance of this high duty, he will then
have manifested a disregard of the Constitu-
ton and laws, to the great injury 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 at war
with every principle of justice and of Christian
charity. Let us wait for the overt act. The
fugitiveslaye law has beeeu carried into execu-
ton in every contested case since the commence
ment of the present administration though
often, it is to be regretted, with great loss and
Inconvenience to the master, and with consid-
erahla pxnenca 10 ba -.