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V. 52 IN AEVANUU. No. 24 SAMUEL FULTON, PUBLISHER uch service or labor, but shall be POLITICAL. led under [ owe the honothis oc- us suppose "C oapER, tiou of six months. intake Jr your I am pre^ nd will not be odious, that it can’t bcexecuted | body else. They assume th I executed, to mal- in t wd these than born. jew. equally agitating coun- mblage of my fellow- bor invesi ^’T^™ no ^- , ;'!>■• oi/heni '/ ince was here T in? 1. •0 de ¬ b 1 nnd^e passed for the restoration of fugitive slaves' j walks of profeksioi For siu! hope 'twill not debouched. RAnd in free States, back to their owners in the ir no lo be, ecuted, not by any fact that it can’t be $1.00 25 A liberal discount made to those who advertise by the year. Sixteen lines, or less, make a square. dwavs been said by those 1 Ifo apt’ Iple of Ippea.r- . ^al oa- ^ most urge number of th! Ti not regret that U I find myself in the r One square, first insertion, “ “ each subsequent insertion a&lr the respect they hg ifested . A L^rhsme. Nevertbclcss-neverlf young pot’Ll V bodes of Each longed against some tyrant foe bis blood to pour out free, To add a single leaflet to the old Palmetto tree ; '• Side by side,” without a groan we’d welcome danger, toil, Living, would live to her alone, when dead would deck her soil Oh, Carolina, so small, so brave, so free, No other land beuealh the sun is half so dear to me. HON. DANIEL WEBSTER'S ECH AT ALBANY, NEW YOBK.t body by' it: I habtYtp Lud wrong or inp :: : > hold that iangmtg^/N'jt -Alas, these castles in the air, these visions of renown, To me are naught but things that were, hopes lost like suus gone down; In distant lauds I'm doomed to roam, with strangers live and die, Still, still, Carolina is my home, the apple of my eye. Oh, Carolina, so small, so brave, so free. No oilier laud Lirrevitt’R' 1 ^ dear to me.' .Di ca; c Lot.g; Spirit Levels; a oUijUHaine edge tools; Spear &. fO Rowland’s cross-cut and ^sorted from 3d, "to 40d.; .t Tacks and Brads, from 3 Wadesboroug#, C,, Saturday, June 141851 and hope—for the preservation of p and the institutions of the country. u talk of amendm^ Umi, law, that they You talk of at- y ih€»ig.at. fod/ Mid th whi#h, in its .nature, must always be subject to consideration,.and thatis theTughive Mave law of I ISAO, passed at thessame session of Congress, tatioh ' Allow me to advert very shortly to what 1 cen ts to- ‘ ’’^ l ^ ground of that law, Yuu know, and I (Continuing toaddress Mr. Spencer.) The reso lution itself, unacted on, is not treason—it only ict, Chat we have that amount of la- [ shoul a, in slock yielding no prolit., which, I vlie m i executed. That A I who don’t mean it . TERMS OF ADVERTISING. of the government, not in any one case, but ui if they resolve to resist the law. line greatest, most commena' tty, without, dLrinetioiLof party! I coAide’ occasion as somewhat august. 1 know t^tai ^j 030 ^ 1; U now listen to me there are smT ; ■ : the best, tiie most pat: ClY.^oot cxjiyu.Ql.LCed p-QbliG^an/ha ex pi,.^ .here was anotiier sub- and equally irritating, Ta duty HR AYA'-.; ■ - : V Lw. South, insisted that they had » y’gkt 10 ^ f ’”'' 1 thought they infixed justly. -'K was n° coaces Mom—vielding mothing-—gives upTtolhing. W hen —^A ' '" ■U 1 "’ c uA^U for one.M^y?^^ delivered up, upon claim of the party to whom such service, or labor shall be due. Uh .that / m' and Ley sav( J1 ‘ d set ; '- -'' ' Axes ; If we were in . system we propose. U , h possession of data by which we «g u ‘ sorp i us Adopted all cases -I , _ . y i whoever may be attempted to be made the sub- ht ject of it, and carry that purpose into effect by nd resolve that they will oppose a law State ol the Union. ] find V n orn out tract of land, and commenced fur ilizing Ji, and last Reason he^l-jd, wo are informed seventy-five bushels of con, -„ the premises re- I.h(y\.s«?-xyi H ire .re ,—mu-w income ot the two Vol. IV. MhbNOST11 CAROLINA ARGUS, IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY, BY SOW! IW®0S 9 PROPRIETOR. Samuel Fulton and Orin Scoville, EDITORS. huniinb rnc5 to sleep that if the controversy with Texas had not been amicably adjusted; there must have men civil war and bloodshed ; and to the contemplation of such a prospect it was not a farthing’s conse quence to me on which standard victory should perch. In such a contest we take it,for grant* ed that no opposition could arise to theauihority of the United States that would not be suppress ed. But what of that? I did not -are for the military consequences of things—looked to the civil and political state of things, and I inquired what would be the condition of the country, if, in this - -noted stale of io gs--i v it.o. o" -i tended, but not generally pervading feeling at the South, war should break out and bloodshed should come in that extreme of the Union? That was enough for me: And if the chances had been one in a thousand that such would have been the result, 1 should still have felt that would have been the result, I should still have felt that that one thousandth chance should be guarded against without dissent-’-nowhere objected to, North oi South—considered as a matter of absolute rigl . - .- , . raid justice io the Southern States-conciirred in r^ung the np P .K»W ot the « n mm everywhere, bv every State that-adopted the that, sny .s treason. A.Mnow ' weff " i nnno- and stamping with emphasis.) You know it well, constitution ; and we look in \am loi anj oppo , y ( ' silion, from Massachusetts to Georgia. Ilion, this being the case---this being the provision of the constitution, soon after Congress, had organi zed,jn General Washington’s time, it was found necessary to pass a law to carry that provision of the constitution into effect. Such a law was pre- oreiore-mM 1 esteem it rreuticommc? extra- . rerer-to ^' reung men city M Albany ; and it is niy lust duty lliess to horses, ft a mouc re •-""“« " t 0{ produce I these young men of the city of 2u gin e- duced by which the same ““Ube ! ' '' r ' ”’ ised one -re - number of I towards me. and the teams after the same ratio; then we , under cultivation in our t0 tm th,,, acres requires one man and - ^ ^ ,. 0 ^ 0 amount we would have : j d be i„ t ro- finrses. If a mode of taimin D produce Three Dollars if not paid until after the expiration of b. months. ITT No paper discontinued until all arrearages are paid, unless at the option of the Editor. SA' All letters addressed to the Editor must be post- paid. From the Marion (S. C.) Star. THE PALMETTO STATE. Air—“ 0, Susannah, don't you cry for me.” When last we met, my dearest friends, our souls were light and free, Having cast aside all selfish ends, and bid dull care to flee 5 Each helped to rear his name aloft, in this, our native land, ith buoyant hearts at danger scoffed, nor feared stern fate’s command. CHORUS. Oh. Carolina, so small, so brave, so free, would have 40,000 horses to sell, and if we were to allow their worth per head to be $30, we could sell $1,200,000 worth of horses. On this item we are loosing the interest of the money invested in them, and besides this, tl eir keeping which in one year, if we allow the keeping of each horse per head to be worth §20, would amount to §872,000 and say nothing about the interest of the money expended for feed, and the expense of care necessary to be bestowed. If we assume that of the 40,000 surplus hands 10,- 000 of them are servants, and that they are worth four hundred dollars pei hand, we could sell them for.§4,000,000. The cost of keeping them and the interest of money invested, is also an other draft from our pockets, which in one year would amount to the nice sum of four hundred thousand dollars, if we allow'd to be worth §20 per hand a year to eloathe and feed them. But this amount is not half the cost of eloathing and feeding a servant, winch every man who keeps them, knows, and if we were to add the actual cost, it would double the sum named. But we have yet 30,000 men of that surplus help to dis pose of, and if we allow that each man besides feeding and cloathing himself, could earn §25 per annum, then we are loosing on. their labor each year §750,000; for, if their labor can be dispensed with in the department of business in wnicb they are now engaged, they could seek other employments and the amount they would i object, or your purpose, mjseli whatever may properly belojme, as a token ot personal and political regipm you to me. But I know you, young liTellbany,. it is not I, but the cause—it is not I^ bur own generous attachments to your counit is not 1, but the constitution of the Uniowch has bound your -ancestors and mine, and ; us, for Y 1 ' 1 : lila " bull a rentin';,-. It.js tlj se that- hau lauugfii, you iiure to day, Let tesilour re- 8’'? towards one who, to the best ofcumW alreii;. Ire; res ire ret dot cause before coun- T- (Ubeers.) Go on, young menUbany ! Go 0!1 -} ul!,! g men of tire United Sin Early :,i, i- k ’lev ret' prop nod support-reliance "' ' ' : ■- [iboriy I chemistry, oi . . . V mind I gentlemen, passing from those measures which ward to ' eve now accomplished and settled. California is i in the Union, and can’t be got out; the Texas life ri j boundary is settled, and can’t be. disturbed ; be pro- Utah and New Mexico are teridirees, under pro- sh ill I vision of bitv, aecoidire to accustomed usage in by any reasonable sacrifice ; because, gentlemen, sanguine as I am for the future prosperity of the eotuslry—strongly as I believe now, after what has passed, andttpreully after those measures, that it is likely to bold together—I yet believe firmly that this Union, once broken, is utterly in capable, according to all human experience; of being reunited—of being u constructed, by any ; art, or effort,, or skill ot min Then, is ingenuous,, generous, just. It look a Jong life of honor or dishonor—an: by tiie blessings of God, that it shall honor, ot usefulness, and success’ in fissions and pursuits of life ; and tl close—when closed it must be—with to tiie gratitude of the country. Go ] uphold ilie institutions toJ 0 ^ic 11 yoid ton are manly, fearless, aold. Yd ilimgLut to do wrong—dread nothing lound i areanf to patriotism and to j 'Ll- Uenilcmeh, I certainly had no f -$ ttTi 1 wing in rech an assemblage -t pared and passed. It was prepared by a gentle- man from a Northern State. It is said it .was drawn by Mr. Cabot of Massachusetts. It was supported by him and by Mr. Goodhue, and Ar. Sedgwick of Massachusetts, and generally by all the free States. There was not a tenth vole against it. It went into ope-ation, and, for a time, it satisfied the just rights and expectations of everybody. That law provided that its pro visions should be carried into effect mainly by Stale magistrates, justices of the peace, judges of State courts, sheriffs of State counties, and other organs of State authority. So things went on, without loud complaints from any quarter, until some fifteen years ago, when some of the States—the free Stales- thought it proper for them to pass laws prohibit ing their own magistrates and officers from exe cuting this law of Congress, under heavy penal ties, and refusing to the U. S. authorities the use of their prisons for the detention of persons ar rested as fugitive slaves—that is to say, as far I as the State could go. Those of them to which I re f er _- r jpt all, but several—nullified tiie law of ’93 entirely. They said-—“ not execute it. No runaway shall be restored.” Thus the law be came a’dead loiter—an entire dead letter. But manifests a treasonable purpose proclaimed-— and it is proclaimed that it will be carried out in all cases—and. is carried into effect, by force of arms or numbers, in any one case, that consti tutes a case looking to war against the Union ; and, if it were necessary, 1 might cite in illustra tion the case of John Shays, who suffered death in Washington’s time, for being concerned in the whiskey insurrection of that day. (There is prob ¬ sachusetts, and the whiskey insurrection in Penn sylvania.) Now, various are the arguments, and various the efforts, to denounce this law, to op pose its execution; to keep it up as a question of agitation, and they are as various ‘as the varied, ingenuity of man, and the various aspect of such questions when they come before the public. And a common thing it is to say that the law is produce, any body can see that whateiar tliat j the ct .ncome might be, it would be so’much gain to 1 are- the people, and the Stale. pita!- I hat b eds in our State may be made to ire; 1 powei duce in ilic manner we have slated, w- ’ ’ Fences at hand.—A cerlain .,,Nh.uin'J“'eeiding in the suburbs of our ^ blue, .some three years here was the constitutional compact—here was the stipulation, as solemn as words could form it, and which every member of Congress, every of- I W very much appra-J in the Nor j Tier of the State government from MiArara i-ranraraira Iirgrara-.i;. n^ ..^....A u A T u :v and open under this state of things, in 18a0, 1 vvas oi ^ MT Uh he eyes. Lol rroHve nolii.ng ite. ; ^ upon on w mete ii W-feir re^ Now m aticnicn.'thii. gne-raT of the prnpmty of ; table, just-* : i.uit nuevk-oa A d^y-Yuve Slave Inivfir the ennctmeut of som - tira coiralitugonM firarara suciuta iA uucAiouAiaT must biefnel. Its i the Southern btates they were entHe-l ui, enemies "ill not let it See ft or .■slumber. They j and what it was intended •oi^inany. they mmm. will - "ive aciiher sleep to,their eyes or slumber ‘ receive—that i s a .air right to recover thet ag io iM eye Iris,” so long a. they can agitate it , lives from service .rom th..- Erayys uno ".ire ) ^Y^peopt ? v-ith them a topic-n had fled. 1 was of ^3 tl f • . "v raobnun, desirable tdpic-^md all know; who LT'e much excellence in polUjcM gjiians, that for parij men and party times thc;^ ma dly anything o de- S reel in. g expedient; just,vtiAlapropeNrewsiiuISA I / 1 i'll 1 I turn out to be true. They wish th it it shall not beexecuted, and, therefore, announce to., ; man kind that it can’t be executed. WheA public men—your conductors of newspapers-thus dem with' the subject, they deal unfairly-'with it. Those who have'types at command, have a per fect rio-lit to express their opinions; but 1 doubt their right to express opinions, as fuels ; I doubt whether they havea right Io say, not as matter of opinion but of fact, imil this particular law is so odious here and elsewhere that it cannot be e .ecuted. That only proves Unit they are of opinion that it o/’a not, that they bo^e it May not be ex. cu’e > W go That ffng’b. I'doW lind any of'L^^seripiiun of th? public piAs who ?ay vU wisbjit w>M^.o'u^ They do notjjCsY, “ see if is imhe. al ou/ny- al a They brill”’ to ■»•»■> •« C!”^* on ’ ^ """ lovedme here; Those times u^in m^ roll oroniU, hot I „o joys ^11 see Cast die.1, when mirth ^ wft abound, a lu> S ei-.>,.- hought on me. - f Oh. Carolina, so small, so brave, so free, No other land beneath the sun is half so dear tome. May honors cluster round your heads, success crown all Carola Eve you when you're dead, os Move her and you; And may the old Palmetto Flag fax-ver wove on lugh. And all her sons desire alone beneath its folds to die. Oh, Carolina, so small, so brave, so free, No other land beneath the sun is half so dear to me. distinguished for talent, and virtue, We’ll throw our With the stripes banners to the breeze, from Unions tow- and stars on distant seas, which rights the freeman's wrongs: The freedom of our notion proud, we’ll march in arms to save, Till victories on the distant shore shall echo back on wave. Oh, Carolina, why do you think to hull? The woman once for doing so turned Io a lump of salt. AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Written for The Argus. AGRICULTURE. We have noticed the advantage of sseeding lands relative to their preservation from washing, and in this and in our following articles we are to show the other benefits to be derived. If the rule we have noticed were to be adopt ed, it will readily be seen, that in the proportion .as lands grow richer, in that ratio will a less quantity of land produce the desired amount re quired by the farmer, for market and home con sumption. At the present time the average amount of corn and wheat produced from an acre in our State, would not vary far from two barrels .or ten bushels. If then we desire to raise one thousand bushels per year, we would plant or sow 100 acres. This amount planted to corn would require say 4 hands and 3 horses; but if the lands were rich and capable of producing ten barrels per acre, then to raise the same amount of grain would only require twenty acres, or one fifth of the territory now employed ; which, so far as the labor necessary to produce the crop is required, would of course be in the same degree less, with the number of acres cultivated. The advantages to the farmer in this instance is much every way. He saves seed, he saves in the wear and tear of farming utensils, such as hoes, plows, harness, Ac. He saves! team work, and in the cost of its keeping, he - jes in the wear of his lands, and >« hand ’ a ° r ’ and finally, he saves his m’oney apd the ‘ IKeies °h ff which is invest ed in all Lh^ -urplus appendage which be now employs. Sina which -•U-r the present system^over n^ WOB ^ _ evidence of what w:e have been staling, and shows that less land may be made, to produce the amounts we only obtain from large territories, and at a great cost. We have now considered the benefits to be de rived from seeding lands in the matter of raising crops, and we have no hesitation in guaranteeing every position we have assumed, and every result to which we have arrived, if the means proposed, are adopted strictly. But there are still other benefits to be derived, the first ol which we will notice is, that we shall be able to furnish our own markets with bay. It is a humiliating fact that our seaboard cities, and our inland towns located on navigable water courses, are now, and have been for years past, and we know not how long, importing the article of hay from the Northern States in large quantities, and from ports from 12 to 1500 miles distant. The precise amount of the cost of this article to the citizens of our State better advantages than \ve that there is no doubt but that the amount imported will reach annually to $100,000! One half of this is profit to the producer and transporter, and consequently, we Another draft on the farmer under the present* system is, that he is compelled to keep his stock on the commons, or, in other words, on the long patent right, or no right at all, system of rearing stock we shall not attempt to fully demonstrate, as it would take the mathematical genius of Ar chimides to give a solution, and then the immen sity of the result could not be comprehended by a mind less intelligent. In our next we shall endeavor to show the ad vantages to be secured in raising stock, the mode of keeping, &c., Ac. If we desire to be good, practical Farmers re marks a writer in the Rural New-Yorker, we must Study /Agriculture ; and there are a few inquiry. A farmer may understand, as his fath er did, the every day principles of farming op erations well enough to make a living for himself; but there is much more ahead which may be reached by a proper exertion. He must note every principle, and watch the effects of every new system and endeavor to follow all the most profitable modes in every department of hus bandry. LARGE CASTING. The propeller of the United Sates steamer San Jacinto was cast at the works of Messrs. Merrick A Son, on Friday. This is the largest propeller ever made in this country of brass, and probably the largest brass casting. Twenty thousand pounds of copper and tin were melted down in two hours and a half from one furnace, and the nett weight of the propeller is estimated at 16,- 000 pounds. The time occupied in filling the mould was 1 minute and 55 seconds, The whole operation was successfully performed, and thera is every reason to expect a successful casting. The dimensions are as follows: Diameter, 14 feet 6 inches: length, 4 feet; greatest width of' blades, 5/ feet 9 inches; area of the surface of the four blades, 108 square feet; pilch of pro peller, 40 feet, expanding to 45 feet. Philadelphia Ledger. The poultry of the United States is valued in the statistics at 820,000,000—the State of New Y’ork having over two millions invested in it. In the egg trade the city of New Y’ork expends near ly a million and a haff of dollars annually. and eminence. 1 1 cuo.w-citizens, before such an assemblage and on suca an invitali.jp 1 feel bound to.guard’every sentiment and everyiwypression— to speak with precision such sentiments as I ad vance, and to'be careful in all that I say, that I may not be misapprehended nor misrepresented. I am requested, fellow-citizens by those who In vited me hither, without distinction of party, to signify my sentiments on the state of public af- mim»m tins country, and the interests in ques tion which are beforcus. 'This proves, gentle men, that, in the opinion of those who invited me here, there are questions sometimes arising which range above all party, and all the infl^Qcus;and considerations, and interest's of party. (It proves more. Il proves that in their judgment, at whose request 1 now stand before you, this is a time in which public affairs do rise in importance above the range of party, and draw to them an interest paramount to all porty considerations..- If that be not so, I am here without object, and you are listening to me for no purpose whatever Then, gentlemen, what is the condition of pubic affairs, which makes it necessary—proper—for men to meet and confer together on the stat^ of the country? What are the questions vhich are uniting honest, well-meaning persons tc lay par ty aside—to meet and confer for the geipral pub lic weal ? 1 shall, of course, fellow-citizens, not enter at any length into many of thesequestions —nor into any lengthened discussion oithe state of public affairs—but shall endeavor! to state what that.condition is—what, these quetioos are. —and to pronounce a conscientious judgment of' my own upon the whole. The last Coniress, fel low-citizens, passed laws called gdjustnent mea sures, or settlement measures—laws inended to put an end to certain internal and dometic con- troversies which existed in the county. laws were passed by the * constitutiona of both houses of Congress. They" rec The majority ived the constitvtional approbation of the Presided. They are the laws of the land. To some, r all of indeed, to all of them—at that tne there existed warm and violent opposition.- them passed without opposition. Go None of ernment was established in each of the Territorie of New Mexico and Utah, but not without opposition. The boundary of Texas was provided t|be set tled by compromise by that State, but ot with out determined and violent opposition! These laws are all passed ; and as they havehow be come, from the nature of the, case, irrebealable, it is not necessary that I should detain tou with discussing their merits or demerits. Niverthe- less, gentlemen, I desire on this, and on ill pub lic occasions, in the most emphatic and char man ner to declare that 1 hold some of tbes| laws— and especially that which provided fol the ad justment of the controversy with Texas-Ltd have been essential to the preservation of’tile public peace. I will not now argue that point] nor lay before you the circumstances which existed at that time at any length—the peculiar situation of things in so many of the Southern Slates, or the fact that many of those Slates had adopted measures for the separation of the Union—the fact that Texas was preparing to assert her rights to territory which New Mexico thought was het’s by rig-lit, and that fiundreds and thousands of men, tired of the ordinary pursuits of private life, were ready to rise and unite in any enterprise that might open to them, even at the lisk of a direct conflict with the authority of this govern ment. I say, therefore, without going into the argument with any details, that in March of 1850, when I found it my duty to address Congress on these important topics, it was my conscientious belief—still unshaken-—erer since ivr'limirel— slabr States?' I am ready to say that, because I only A-pu.it the words of the constitution itself, am*'I am not afraid of beieg considered a plagR arist, nor a feeble imitator of other men’s lan guage and sentiments, when I repeat and an nounce to every part of the country—to you, here, ;md at all times—the language of the con stitution of my country. [Loud cheers;] Gentle men, before the revolution, slavery existed in the Southern Slates, and find existed there for more than.a bundled years. We of the North were not guilty of its introduction. That generation of men, even in the South, were not-guilty of it. It had been introduced according to the policy of the mother country, before there was any inde pendence in the United Slates—indeed, before i jects, both of which were accorrq i First, it was to make the law more the fugitive than the law of 1793 favorable fcJ .. It did so, sist it. gentlemen, men’s opinions have so i subject, and properly—the world has come to so much jusler sentiment—that we can hardly believe that which is certainly true— that at the peace of Utrecht, in 1718, the Eng lish government insisted on compensation from the Spanish government for having violated a contract by which the Spanish government had established the unqualified and exclusive privi lege to the British government ofimporting slaves into her West India colonies! That was not then repugnant to public sentiment, but it is now. 1 allude to it to show that the introduction of slave ry into the Southern States is not to be visited upon the generation that achieved the indepen dence of this country. On the contrary, all the eminent men of that day regretted it. And you, my Young friends of Albany, if you will take the pains to go back to the debates of the period from the meeting' of the first Congress, in 177-1—I mean the Congress of the Confederation—to the adoption of the present constitution, and the en actment of the first law under the existing consti tution—anybody who will make that necessary research, will find that Southern men and South ern States, as represented in Congress, lamented the existence of slavery in far more earnest and emphatic terms than the Northern ; for, though it did exist in the Northern States, it was a feeble taper, just going out—soon to end—and nothing was feared from it; whilst leading men of the South—of Virginia and the Carolinas-felt and acknowledged that it was a moral and political evil; that it retarded the arm of the free man, kept back the progress and success of free labor, and said with truth—and all history verifies the observation, “ that, if the shores of the Chesa peake had been made as free to free labor as the shores of the North River, New York might have, been great, but Virginia would have been great also.’' That was the sentiment. Now, under this state of things, gentlemen, when the constitution was framed, its framers, and the people who adopted it. came to a clear, express, unquestion able stipulation and compact. There had been an ancient practice for many years, for a centurv, for aught 1 know, according to which fugitives from service, whether apprentices at the North or slaves at the South, that fugitives should be restored. Massachusetts had restored fugitive slaves to Virginia long before the adoption of the constitution; and it is well known that, in the States here, the centre where slavery existed, they were restored. And it was held that any man could pursue his slave and lake him where ver he could find him. Underthis state of tilings, it was expressly stipulated, in the plainest lan guage, and there it stands ; sophistry cannot gloss it ; it cannot be erased from the page of the con stitution ; there it stands, that persons held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escap ng into another, shall not, in con sequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis- because it called for a record, undor seal, from a Court in the State from which the fugitive might ' be said to have come, proving and ascertaining j that he was a fugitive so that nothing should be i left, when pursued into a free State, but to pro duce the proof of his identity. Next, it secur ed a higher tribunal. It placed the power in more responsible hands. The Judges of the Su preme and District Courts of the United States,, and learned persons appointed by them as com-' missioners, were to see to the execution of the law. Therefore it was a more favorable law, in all respects, to the fugitive, than the law passed under Gen. Washington’s administration, in ’93. Now, let me say that this law has been discuss ed, considered and adjudged in a great many of the tribunals of the country. It has been the subject of discussion before Judges of the Su preme Court of the United States—the subject of discussion before' Courts the most respectable in the States. Every where—on all occasions— and by all judges, it has been holden to be, and pronounced to be, a constitutional law. So say Judges Nelson, Woodberry, and all the rest pf the judges, as far as I know. So says the unan imous opinion of Massachusetts herself, express ed by as good a court as ever sat in Massachu setts—unanimously and without hesitation--and so says every body, eminent for learning, and constitutional law, and good judgment, without obstruction, without opposition, without inter mixture of dissent of judicial opinion any where. And I hope I may be indulged on this occasion, gentlemen, partly on account of a high personal regard, and partly of the excellence and ability of the production, to refer you all to a recent very short opinion of Mr. Prentice, the District Judge of Vermont. (Applause.) True, the case before him did not turn so much on. the question of the constitutionality of tins law as Ilie unconstitutionality, and illegality, and utter inadmissibility of private men and political bodies setting up their notions above it,—on the idea of the higher law that exists some where between us and the third heavens; I never knew exactly where. (Cries of “good,” and laughter.) All judicial opinions are in favor of this law. You can’t lind a man in the profession in New Y'ork, whose income reaches thirty pounds a year, who will stake his professional reputation on an opin ion against it. If he does, his reputation is not. worth thirty pounds, (Renewed laughter.) And yet this law is opposed—violently opposed--not by bringing this question into court. These lov ers of human liberty, these friends of the slave, the fugitive slaves don’t put their hands in their pockets and draw funds to conduct law suits, and try the question, they are not in that habit much. (Laughter.) That is not the way they show their devotion to liberty of any kind. But they meet and pass resolutions—they resolve that the law is oppressive, unjust, and should not be executed at any rate, under circumstances. It-has been said in the Stale of New York, Massachusetts and Ohio, over and over again, that the law shall not be executed. That was the language of a convention in Worcester, in Mass.; in Svracuse, New York, and elsewhere. And for this they pledged their lives, and their fortunes, and their sacred honor! (Laughter) Now, gentlemen, these proceedings, I say it upon my professional reputation, are distinctly treasonable. And the act of taking away Shadrach from the public au thorities in Boston, and sending him off, was an act of clear treason. I speak this in the hearing ol men who are lawyers—I speak it out to the county, I say it everywhere, on my professional “ Let it remain as obnoxior much* the sooner itwill dis; by Jie- whole community^ and be detested am ashamed to -a y ihat such sentiments have been avowed bv there in Massachusetts who ought to be utterly ---utterly ashamed to utter such opinions. . For, what do they mean? TMy mean to make the law obnoxious, so obn-ttimis that it shall not be executed. Incy suggest no othsr law.yiiey op pose all amendment, oppose doing anythino’ that’ shall make it less diMisteful. What do they mean ? They mean, and they know it, thatthere shall not exist any law whatever for carrying into effect this provision of the constitution of the country. Ihey wish to strike out—to annuy. it. Ihey oppose it in every possible form short of personal resistance; and to do this, they say the now a topic, and for mercy’s uake don’t amend the horrible law of 1850. [Laughter.] Then again.they say, “ We ar- for an ciertiM agitation and discuus;on of this question—the people can’t be bound by it. Evury member of Congress has the right to move the r mc J of this as* well as member must act according to his own discretion. No doubt he has a right to-morrow, if- Con gress were in session, to move a repeal of the slavclaw; but this takes it with another. He has just as much right to move to tear down the capitbl, until one ill nut be left on another—just as much right to move to dis band the army, and to throw the ordinance and arms into tue sea. He has just as much righit to move that all the ships of war of the UZS. shall be- collected and burned any of these things. an illumination He may do cent, wise, a real friend of the country, or ad verse to it? That is all. And a greater ques tion lies behind--will the people support him in it? Is it the result of the' good sense of the Northern, people that the question shall have nei- ther rest nor quiet,.but shall be constantly kept up as a topic of agitation ? 1 shall not decide it for them, but leave them to do so. Now, gen tlemen, tills is a serious question—whether"the Constitution can be maintained in part and not in wholg?—whether those interested in the pre servation of one part of it, finding their interests in that particular secured, are not likely enough,- according to all experience of human feelino; to discard that portion introduced not for their ben efit but for the beinfit of others ? That is the que. - lion. . For on-j I confess, I don’t see any reason able prospect of maint; ining the Constitution of the United States we maintain it as a whole — impartially, honorably, patriotically. Gentlemen, I am detaining you -too long, but allow me a few words on another subject. The Constitution of the United States con sists in a series of mutual agreements and compromises ; one thing being yielded by the South, another by the North. The general mind having been brom Well, who does not her, the whole were Had the North no particular interest in that? Had the North no interest ? Was nothing y the North? Gendeme- sens of a great commer and bring abundance of 1 shores. You know that thi you arc proud citi- 1 State. You know ver the whole world, iches to your own sis the result of the commercial policy of the United States ; but how reputation. It was . treason, and nothing else-- South was never a that is to say, if men get together, and combine ‘ plantation Stales w- r whose benefit ? The lercial country. The er commercial. Their
North Carolina Argus (Wadesboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 14, 1851, edition 1
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