St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1861-03-07


: cause, Is ohserfally to one section as to
another. . % -. ~ ia '. = Is Il
There 10 much controversy about the
delivering mp of fugitives from service or
labor. The clause l now read is as plain:
ly written in the Constitution as any other
Of ito provisions: mo person held to scrv-
Ice or labor in one State. under the laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall in con.
sequence Of any law or regulation therein,
.be discharged from such service or labor
but shall be delivered up on claim Of the
party to whom such service or labor may
be due" 1t was intended by those who
made it for the retaining Of what We call
fugitive slaves, and the intention Of the
lawg1ver is the law. All members Of Con.
: gress swear their support to the whole con-
.stitution, to this provision IS much as to
any other mission, then, that slaves. who
escape comes within the terms of this
clause, shall be delivered up. Their oaths
are unanimous Now if they would make
the effort in good temper, could they not,
With nearly equal unanimity, frame and
psss Law by means Of which to keep good
their unanimous oath. There is some dif-
ference of opinion whether this clause
should be enforced by National or State
authority, but surely that difference is not
. very material one. If the slave is to be
surrendered, it can lie Of but little conse-
quence to him OK to others by which au-
thority it is done, and should any one in
any case be content that his oath shall be
unkcpt for q merely unsubstantial contro-
versy as to hsw it shall be k pit? Again
in any law upon this subject, ought not all
the safeguards Of liberty known in civil
lied and human juris-pru aence to be in
troduced so tnat freeman may not be IN
any case surrendered AS slave, and might
it not be we'll at the same time to provide
BY law for the enforcement of that clause
in the Constitution which guarantees that
tho citizens of each State shall b. entitled
to all the privileges and immunities of Cit
liens in the several States? l take the
official oath to-doy with no mental rcserva-
tions and with no purpose to construc the
CONSTITUTE or laws by any hypocritical
rules, and while I do not choose now to
specify particularly acts Of Congress US
proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it
will be much safer for all, both in olcial
and private relations, to conform to an /
abide by all those acts which stand unre-
pealed, than to violate any Of them, trust
ing to find impunity in having them held
to be unconstitutional.
1t is seventy-two years since the first in-
auguration of President under our pres
ent constitution. During that period fit:
teen different and greatly distinguished
citizens have in succession administered
the executive branch of the government.
They have conducted it through many
perils, and general with great success; yet
with all this scope for precedent, l now
enter upon tho same task for the brief con-
stitutional term Of four years, under great
and peculiar difficulties. Disruption Of the
Federal Union. heretofore only menaced,
is now form,dably attempted. I hold that,
in contemplation Of universal law and If the
constitution the union Of these States is
perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not
expressed in the fundamental law of all
National Governments. It's safe to assert
that Government proper never had proyi*
ion in its organic law for its own termina-
ton. Continue to execute all the express
provisions of our National Constitution and
the Union will endure for ever, it bein :
impossible to destroy it except by some &C.
ton not provided for in the instrument it.
self
Again, if the United States he not gov
eminent proper, but an association OF States
in the nature Of contract merely, eau it, az
:aoontEaet, bepeaceably uamade by less than
Ill the parties who made it? One party to a
contract may violate it, and break it, so to
speak, but docs it not require all to lawful
~ rcscind it. Descending from these gen.
eral principles we find the proposition that
in legal contemplation the Union is erpet-
nal, is confirmed by the history of the I'm
ion itself. The Union is much older than
the Constitution. 1t was formed, in fact,
by the articles of association in l774. 1t
was matured and continued by the Decara.
2ion Of Independence in l776. Itwas fur.
Their matured and the faith of all the old
thirteen States expressly plighted, and en-.
gagged that it should be perpetual.
BY the article Of confederation in 1888
and finally in 1871, on Of the declared ob-
jects for ordaining and establishing the Con-
stitutiou was to form more perfect Union.
Now ifsecessiop by one or by part only OF
the States be lawfully possible, the Unio,
u loss perfect than before, the Constitution
having lost the vital element of perpctuity.
It follows then from these views, that no
State upon it's own mere motion can lawful
ly 90 out Of the Union that resolves and
ordinances to that effect are legally void,
and that acts Of violence within any States
or State against the authority of the United
States, are insurrec.ionary or revolutionary