Year: 1861

: and in every case and exigency, my bes
t discretion will be exercised according t.
J circumstances actually existing, with view
and hope of peaceful solution of tht
+ national troubles and the restoration o
the fra,ernal sympathies and affections
That there are persons in one section OIL
another who seek to destroy the Union at
all events. and are glad of any pretext tc
: do it, will neither affirm or deny; but i
! there be such, need address no words tc
them. To those, however, who rely on the


Union, may speak before entering upor
so grave a matter as the destruction oI
our national fabric with all its benefits and
its hopes Would it not be best to oscer,
tain previously why we do and will hazard
so desperate a step, while there is any pos.
sibility that any of the ills you fly from
have no real existence? VIII yon, while
the certain ills you fly to, are greater than
all the real ones you fly from, risk the com.
mission of so fearful mistakeY All pro-
Tess 10 be content in the Union if all con-
stitutional rights can be maintained. Is it
true then that any right written in the
Constitution has been denied? / think not.
Happily, the human mind is so constituted,
that no party can reach to the audacity Of
doing this thing. II you can offer single
instance in which plainly written proVis


ion Of the constitution has even been de-
MED, if by the mere force of numbers, a
majority shall deprive a minority Of any
clearly written Constitutional rights, il
might, in moral point of view, justify
such decision. 1t certainly would, If
such right were vital one, but such is
not our case; all the vital rights of minor
tiles and individuals were SO plainly assured
by theorizing alternatives and legislative
guarantees aud propositions in the Const.
tuition, that controversy never arose con-
cerning them; but no organic law eau be
framed with provision specifically nppli-
cable to every question which may occur in
practical administration No foresight can
anticipate, nor any document OF reasonable
length contain express provisions for all pos
sible questions.


Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered
up by nationel or State authority The
Constitution does not expressly say. May
Congress prohibit slavery in the Terrific
riesi The Constitution does not expressly
say. Must Congress protect slavery in the
Territories 7 The Constitution does not
expressly say. From questions Of this class
spring oil our controversies, aud we divide
upon them into majoriiies and miuorities
If the majority must rule. or the govern
ment must cease, there is no other alterna-
tive for continuing the government but nc-
quiescence on the Que side or the other. II
a minority in such case will secede rather
than acquiesce, they make a precedent
which in turn will divide and ruin them.
For instance: why may not a portion Of
new eofiederacy year or two hence. arbi,
trarily secede again. precisely as portions
Of the present Union now claim TO secedc
from il? All who cherish disunion senti-
ments, are now being educated to the exact
temper Of doing this. Is these such per-
feet identity in the interests Of the States
to compose new Union, as to produce
harmony only, and prevent renewed seces-
sion? Plainly the central idea Of seces-
sion is the essence Of anarchy. A majority
held IN restraint by constitutional checks
and limitations, and always changing easily
with deliberate changes Of popular opinions
and sentiments, is the only true sovereign
Of free people. Whoever rejects It does
Of necessity hy to anarchy and despotism.
Unanimity is impossible. The will Of a
majority as q permanent arrangement is
wholly inadmissable; so that, rejecting the
majority principle, anarchy and deFpotism
in some form is all that is left do not
forget the position assumed by some that
Constitutional questions are to be decided
by the Supreme Court, nor do deny that
such decision must be binding in any case
upon the parties TO a suit as to the object
Of the suit, while they are also entitled TO
every respect and consideration in paral-
lei case, by oil other departments Of the
Government; and while il is obviously pos
sible that such decisions may be erroneous
in any given cause, still, the effect follow
ing il being limited to that particular case,
with the chance that it will be ovcrruled
and never become a precedent for other
cases, can better be borne than could the
evils Of different practice. At the same
time the candid citizen must confess that il
the government, upon vital questions Of
iecting the whole people, is to be irreroca-
bly, fixed by the decisions Of the Supreme
Court, the instant they are made in ordiua-


y litigation between parties in personal
action the people will have ceased TO be
thrir own rulers, having TO that extent
practically resigned their Government into
the hands Of that tribunal. Nor is there,
in this view, any assault upon the Court oI
Judges. 1t is duty from which they may
not shrink, TO decide cases properly brought
before them; and it is no fault OF theirs i
others seek TO turn their decisions to polit


cal purposes.


One section Of the country believes slave


ry is right, aud ought to be extended
while the other believes it is wrong, anC


ought not to be extended This is the only
substantial dispute; for the fugitive slav,
clause Of the Constitution, aud the laws fol
the suppression ol the foreign slave trade
are just as well enforced, perhaps, as tbey
eau ever be in a community where ih'
moral sense Of the people supports the Law
itself. The great body Of the people abid'
be every legal obligation in both cases
/ After the separation of the two sections