Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-02-12

leve precipitation reigns here and each mo-
menf. as IL /" rides upon the dial's point
1pointing to the clock) admonishes me that
l. too, must be precipitate. If / had time
could show--andI challenge contradiction
from any disunionist. if such there be here
that you will be infinitely more the victims OF
the unfriendly legislation of the free States.
when the Government has been destroyed.
than you are now. or ever can be, while the
Constitution eBdures and the Onion is MAIN
tanned. Thistle passage of the personal
liberty bills--I repeat, is the only thing now
actually done or performed by aay depart
ment of Government, State or Federal, of
which even disunionists can complain. I
viii endeayor. then, to state the dangers you
profess TO fear in the future.
1. You say the people of the North are OPP
posed to the execution of the fugitive slave
law.
q That the Republican party, when they
obtain control of both branches of Congress,
intend to exclude slavery from all the Terri
tories by act of Congress.
3. That the people of the North refuse to
| grant Congressional protection to slave prop
erty in the free Terri cries.
| + T. That they intend, finally, to change the
Federal Constitution, thereby to enable them
to abolish slavery in the States.
5. That the people of the free States are
| opposed to slavery.
| g. That the people of the respective sec
| tiols are not homogeneous; that they hate
each other.
z. That come Of the people of the free
States favor the social and political equality
| of the negro. -A
s. That the South is in danger of invasions.
similar to John Browns raid into Virginia.
think have fairly stated all the vaTious
| charges which the disunionists have eInbOd-
| led into this Indictment against the Govern
ment they seek to overthrow. and the people
| they would treat as enemies. Now, sir,
| frankly confess that the personal liberty bills
| do exist in some of the free States. They
are, whenever designed to evade the Consti-
| tuition or the laws passed under il. without
extenuation or excuse. But it is gratifying
to perceive. If the signs of the times are worth
| anything. that all these personal liberty bills
! which in any manner conflict with the Con =
stitutiOn, are soon to be swept from the
statute-books of the free States. And if this
! were not so. il should not be forgotten that
these laws have existed during the whole of
the last eight years of Democratic rule. and
| without so much as a threat of revolution for
| such cause; nor should it be overlooked,
that if they are unconstitutional they are SIM
ply void; and if they are passed without
violation of the Constitution, as State-rig hts
| men you have less reason to complain. l re-
peat, they will soon be repealed. Nothing
retards IL now, in my opinion, but that gene
raj repugnance which all men feel in doing
anything seemingly upon cOmpulsion." L
repeat, this Is the only act that has been
done. by State or Federal authority, upon
which disunion is justified by its advocates !:
and as L before said, the other grounds of
complaint are in reference to things you
profess to believe will hereafter occur; things
which never have happened, and which new
er could transpire il the seeding States had
continued in the Union, and your Represent
atlves had remained at their posts. | might
further remark, in regard to these personal
liberty bills, that they do not, as am assur-
ed, exist in the border free States, the States
which Immediately adjoin the slave States
Iowa. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio. Pennsylvania,
and New Jersey. Where, then, do they ex-
ist? They are found ON the statute books
only OF such far-Off States as Vermont;
State in which, L am assured, there has not
been fugitive slave for forty years; a State
as inaccessible to a slaves approach as his
escape is impossible from South Carolina.
But you say that slaves escape from the
Southern States, and are permitted to pass
through the free States and take refuge in
Canada. | grant this TO be true; and they
Will, IN all time to come, occasionally escape
from their owners. No system of laws can
guard against it. In some negroes dispo-
sitiOn to run away is inherent. 1t must be
endured, unless, perchance, you can invent
some peculiar lineament to restrain the elias
ITCHY Of their legs. CLaughter.1 1 reside
within days ride of The free States, yet l
have never known more than one slave to
make his escape from my own neighborhood
into the free States. He passed through that
part of Kentucky now represented by my
friend, (Mr. Burnett,1 and took refuge in IL
linois. He was arrested by some of the citi-
zens of that State. and taken back to his
owner. Now, L will not blame my friend
from Kentucky for permitting this fugitive
to pass through his district, nor will l counsel
disunion because his constituents did not az
rest him on his way. Fugitive slaves do pass
through the free States, and find freedom in
Canada; but have you any means of reclaim
ing them now in the British dominions :: and
will not disruption of the Union, in effect,
bring the Canada line down to the banks of
the Ohio?
But what appeals have the southern States
made to the free States to repeal these stat
utes? Is not their existence rather an iDagi-
nary than real grievance? For / am in
formed that under them no fugitive slave has
ever been liberated; nor has there been, at
any time, prosecution or fine, forfeiture or
conviction, for any alleged violation of their
provisions. Instead of seeking relief in that
spirit which would have given dignity and
effect to the appeal the whole matter has been
left to the party newspapers and politicians.
But the precipitators complain, as l have
stated, that many of the people of the free
States are hostile to the execution OF the fu-
gitive slave law. Doubtless this is so to a
great extent; but this is not the FAULT of the
Federal Government, nor of the law. Mr..
Buchanan, in his late annual message to
Congress, used this very language:
''Tbe fugitive slave law has been carried
into execution in every contested case since
the commencement of the present Admins
tration."
And it is q matter of history, that not
dozen slaves have been rescued within the
last forty years from the custody of the Off
GERS of the United States, while acting under
the authority of that law. You know the
statement L make is true, although the peo-
pie OF the South are made to believe that it
is impossible to recapture a runaway slave
without his being in almost every instance
rescued from the custody of the officers of
the law. And while every rescue is made
matter OF public notoriety, mention is rarely,
If ever made, of the instances in which the
law is enforced. We all know that fugitive
slaves are almost constantly being captured
in the free States and carried back to their
owners; but information of cases of this kind
rarely find their way into the party newspa-
pers-certainly not in those which advocate
disuniou. But mob or riot, originating
In matters of this kind, is the food upon
which secession leaders wax wroth and grow
fat. Ii the fugitive slave law is not moss we'll
executed, will it be more faithfully enforced
if you dissolve the Union? Will you then |
have any fugitive slave law whatever? 1t
cannot exist for moment beyond the life of |
that Constitution which secession seeks to |
Whether we have two or more confedera- |
cies, Missouri, Kentucky. Tennessee, and |
Maryland are to be converted into mere out |
posts. The people who know most of their |
present free-State neighbors, and with whom |
commercial intercourse must of necessity |
exist, are to have their immediate northern |