New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-01
GLArLRY 80 49, CONSTITUTION.


The South demanded that tho institution most
favored by the Constitution and especially Iour-
lshed and protected by the Laws OF tue states III
watch il had taken root. should also he protected
in the Territories of the United states not yet
organized under munlcipPl forms or erected INTO
sell-2Overnng states. They claimed That the GOV
ernment when allowed the citizen TO hold certain
species of property under the laws Oi certain states
Of the Union was bound 10 protect him IN the en-
ioyment OF that property upon It's unassigned do
main OF which he and his fellow siaVe-Own;rs were
IOlnt propuetOrs in common with the nOn-siaVe-
holding citizens of the Northern states
IL is not enough to say tnat this lam was a
speclOus one. Not Ony has ~ never Deeh larry
cred, but il IS not susce tlDIe OF Oglcal Teluta
ton if its premises axe granted. The argument
AGAINST the rghC of slavery to exist TO he defended
ana TO extend itself was always incomplete anu
unsatisfactory when ii was based upon the written
word of the Cons tuition. To hold that Instrument
sacred Ove all things else ana yet deny the slave
owners legal night to ms human CHATTER was iln
possible. Many a lover CT nDorty anu righteous
ness tried to 90 It anu failed. 10 doubt tue o1e
was sacriIeg ious To admit the other seemed little
less than sin. The Constitution was admittedly
insnired To question that was treason. n culse
too fearful TO lie uttered rested upon anyone VINO
should query its llghtest word. All that II con-
tanned was not only just and true, put tnere was
nothing of governmental justice and truth That u
did not contain II not IN the luII ear Oh eApllcIV
declaration al least IN tle lecund germ oI ct'SrE
Implication. Tired by the declaration on N men IL
rested there could he 40 slave beneath It's seg :.
Bur the person held to service or labor IN one
STATE under the laws thereof, escaping INTO an
other" could be- nothing Tut the slave leeing from
bondage toward the hope OF IreedOn Men graVey
argued that this might mean apprentices. Inc
bubble was never worthy even OF the contempt
poured upon IL. though II found 14VOr WIN minus
that no, hing but the desperation OF dilemma could
have induced to harbor IT,. In very truth the argu-
ment was all with The sl9YrhOluer When III was
once admitted that the Constitution was IntallLIe.
Standing upon thu "persOn held TO service or
labor clause, slavery was loipregnaOle. flght or
wrong the Constitution covered IL by unavoidable
Implication. Group led upon that, who should
assa it Had not the blood OF the fathers sanctl-
fed It's provisOnsi Did not Washington commend
it to our ealo care Had not every patriot whose
memory we cherished regarded 1t Is the tailsman or
our berty-the SACRED scroll on which our destiny
depCudedT go
But for this single clause in the Constitution.
slavery would have wthered before the glare OF
conscience long before even the time OF when we
write The bulwark of the Constitution was It's
moral as well its legal cover from asSault. A
thousand qurks and qnlbbies were devised &c
avoid the Potency OF this claim, when lad inc
merit unusual among political doguas, OF never
being tnctured with doubt IN the minds OF those
who put it forward. AS TO his moral right to buy
and sell and hold human beings as slaves, the
Southern man might dOubt-nlany OF them did. AS
10 his legal uoht there never any question.
The Nortbern mind conceived innumerable leas
against it, chiefly based upOn speci0us use OF the
word man. meaning IN one part of the Argument
a slave and IN another premise free man. The
ImpetuOus logic OF tie south was right when 1t
termed them all n.akeshlits and eyaslons IL the
Constitution meant anything I guaranteed, IN tue
most emphatic manner not only the rlght TO hold
slaves but TO hunt them. III III gave that privilege
in ole State 10 was right of property, which the
citizen entitled 10 carry with hlIn and exercise
in the National domain. This was not contem-
pated by the trainers OF that instrument, because
thew were affected by human conditions ana could
not foresee the future. II followed. however as
certainly and indefeasby as the right oil the mer-
chant 10 offer his wares of the tIadesman to exer-
else his calling or Of the farmer TO till the soii-ad
uniting always that the Constitution Is the COM
pete compendium of political truth; These
auibbles served only as eAcUses for feeble brains
ana tlmld cousciences. There were those who did
not stop speculate on tbe absurdltY OF pcketlng
State lines against runaway apprentices. or Who
easily overlooked the fact that benjamin FRANKLIN,
himself an abscondng apprentice, signed tine IN
strument. There were others wn0 mating be,
tween their reverence Tor the sacred cnarter and
the dictates of conscience. needed only formal
bubble TO satisfy them that their convictions OF
right did not contravene the letter or tue sPIt Vi
the Constitution From first TO last the Constltu-
ton was the Gibraltar of slavery and the reverence
felt tor that instrument was the last stronghold
which its opponents were never able To storm uhll
its advocates had thrown down its walls upon
themselves