//• .m A CONSTITUTIONAL MANUAL FOR THE IN WHICH IS BXAMINKD THE QUESTION OF NEGRO SLAVERY IN CONNEXION WITH THE OONSTITUTIOH OF THE UNITED STATES. BY A NORTHERN MAN, WITH AMERICAN PRINCIPLES. PROVIDENCE: A. CRAWFORD GREENE & BROTHER, PRINTERS. 185G. / s ^ A CONSTITUTIONAL MANUAL. •" " //■ ye seek to shake off your allegiance to Rome, ye Germans, ice will bring things to sucA a pass, that ye shall unsheath the sword of eaterminaliun against each otfie-; and pensn in your own blood."— The Pope's Nuncio to the Ge/7nans.— D'Acbigne. Camb ridge Hk\d Quarters, ? '■ July 17th, 1775. ^ General Order. — The General has great > reason to be displeased with the neghgence and inattention of the guard who have been placed as sentinels on the outposts^ — men whose character he is not acquainted with. He therefore orders that for the future, none but NATIVES OF THIS COUNTRY be placed on guard as sentinels on the outposts. This order to be considered a st.\nding one, and the offi- cers to pay obedience to it on their part. (Signed) FOX, Adjt. of the Day. Countersigned Exeter, ) Pay-roll, Dorchester. ^ Such was the order issued by the Father of his country in the days that "tried men's souls : " — and it was to'be a standing order ! Do you hear that Americans ? It was to be a standing order ! No hy- pocritical whining about the wtues of " adopt «nics---l)ut resteo? 1777, and a circular letter sent to the several states " requesting them respectively to au- thorize their delegates in congress to subscribe to the same in behalf of the Stiites." Jealoas however of their individual rights, the states M'ere slow to act : but finally " in 1778 it was r.itified by all the states except Delaware and Maryland and eventually by 1 )elaware in 1779 and by Maryland the Ist of March, 1781,when the confederated government superceded the revolutionary government." Under the " confederation " each state was to "retain every power, right and jurisdiction, not expressly delegatetl to congress." Most of the powers (if poM'ers they may be called) dele- gated by the States to Congress required for their exercise the assent of nine, and others that of the whole thirteen states. The Confederated like the Revolutionary governmeni, grew out of the exigencies of the times and was only adapted to tliem. It was rather an alliance than a union and depended almost entirely upon the spontaneous patriot- ism of the states and people to give the least force to its decrees. Congress (says an emi- nent writer of the times,) " possessed no pow- er to levy any tax, to enforce any law, to se- cure any right, to regidate any trade, or. even I the poor perogative of commanding means to pay its own minister at a foreign court. . They could contract debts, but they were without means to discharge them. They could pledge the public thith ; but they Mere incapable of redeeming it. They could enter into treaties ; . but every State in the Union might disobey tliem with impunity. They could contract al- liances ; but could not command men and mon- ey to give them vigor. In short, all powers which did not execute themselves, were at the mercy of the >States, and might be trampled upon by all with impunitj'." Another leading writer says : " By this po- litical compact the United States in Congress liave exclusive power for the following purpo- ses, without being able to execute one of them. They may make and conclude trea- ties ; but can only recommend tlie observance of them. They may appoint ambassadors ; but cannot defray even tue expenses of their tables. They may borrow money in their own name, on the faith of the Union ; but cannot pay a dollar. They may coin money ; but cannot purchase an ounce of bullion. — They may make war, and determine what number of troops are necessary, but cannot raise a single soldier. In short, they may de- clare every thing, bid do nothing." About the time that the Confederated Government went into operation, Virginia and New- York had made cessions of cer- tain territories to the federal government, — and at later periods, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Connecticut and Georgia had follow- ed their example. Among the powers dele- gated by the States to the confederation gov- ernment, ( " this shadow without the sub- stance," as it was designated by Washington) was that of disposing of the Western Territo- ry, m xdrtuc of which authority, on the 13th of July, 1787, Congress passed an act or ordi- nance, (as Congressional acts were then term- ed,) " for the government of the territory N. West of the Ohio.'" In this ordinance is contained what is desig- nated " articles of compact between the origi- nal States, and the j)eople and States in the said territory," and it is enacted that these shall "forever remain imalterable, imless by common consent." Whatever right a Con- gress of the Confederation might have had to conclude a comjxict in Ijchalf both of the orig- inal States and the people of the national ter- ritory, it seems difficult to conceive by what authority it could compel States not yet in ex- istence to become, or be made j^arties to such a compact. In this compact it is agreed by Congress and the States yet to be created, (not less than three nor more than five,) that " there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said district, otherwise than in punish- ment of crimes whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted." It is also agreed be- tween the contracting parties, viz. : between the old thirteen States and the three or five States not yet in existence, that " whenever any of the said Stiites shall have sixty thous- andyVfc inhabitants tlicrein, such State shall be admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United Sttitcs, on an equal fooling with the original States in all respects whatever ; and shall lie at liberty to form a jjcrmanent Constitution aiul State (iovernment : Provid- ed tile Constitution and (iovernmont so to be " formed, shall be llepul)lican, and in conformi- ty to the princijilcs conUiined in these arti- cles." It seems hard to exjjlain the seeming con- tradictions and incongruities contained in this act — but it is unnecessary to attempt to re- concile them, as the axithority by whidi they were created ceased to exist before any of the new States that were said to liave entered in- to the agreement were called into ln-lng. "A list of cases (says a nervous writer, quo- ted by Story,) in which Congress has been forced or betrayed by the defects of the con- federation, into violations of their chartered authorities, would not a little surprise those who have paid no attention to the subject." Speaking of the territories, and in reference to the ordinance of '87, the same writer says, " Congress has assumed the administration oi this stock. They have begun to render it productive. Congress has undertaken to do more; they have proceeded to form new States, to erect temporary governments, to ap])oint officers for them, and to prescribe the conditions on which new States shall be ad- mitted into the confederacy. All this has been done without the least color of constitu- tional authority." The presence of a common danger which had hitherto impelled the States to sustain in a degree the general government, being remo- vcfl by a treaty of peace with Great Britain, the confederation began to cioimble like a rojie of sand, or rather " was apparently exjiiring from mere debihty," when, after consultiition with other States, and stimulated perhaps by an alarming insurrection in Massachusetts, the delegation in Congress from New- York, in ac- cordance with the instructions from the legis- lature of that State, moved a resolution, re- commending to the several States to tike measures to revise and amend the Federal Constitution, so as to make it adequate " to the exigencies of the government and the pro- tection of the Union." This resolution was passed, and on the I7th of September, 1787, delegates from twelve States assembled in Convention and adopted the plan of our pre- sent Constitution, and directed it to be com- municated to Congress. Congress having re- ceived the report of the Convention, unani- mously resolved, " that the said report, with the resolution and letter accompanying the same, be transmitted to the several legisla- tures, in order to be submitted to a conven- tion of delegates chosen in each State by the people thereof, in conformity with the resolves of the convention, made and ])rovided in that case." Conventions were accordingly held in the twelve States, and the Constitution being ratific>d by eleven of tlunn, and Presidential Fkctors, Senators and Kepresentatives having been chosen in accordance with its jjrovisions, Congress assembled mider the new form of government on the 4th of March, 1785). A quorum however was not formed until the Gth of April, when it was found that Gkokgk AN'ashington, — " first in war, first in jieace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," — was nnanimonsly elected I'resident of the U- nitod States of America. When, oh wlien, will the ])eriod again amve in tiie history of oui" counttry, wlien tlic virtues of otie man, and V the msdom and patriotism of a ichole people, will unite in producing such another result ! In November, 1789, the Constitution was ratified by the people of North Carolina, and in May, 1790, by those of Rhode Island,which completed the union of all the thirteen States. Hitherto the shiftmg, unstable foundations of the general government of the Colonies and States, had been somewhat after the Per- sian's idea of the foimdations of the world, which they used to allege reposed on the back of a great elephant, which in turn stood on the back of a huge tortoise, which again was sustained on the back of chaos, or something quite as indefinite. Thus the confederacy September, 1786, by five other States. Shay^s rebeUion also admonished the framers of the Constitution that there were dangers as well as inconveniences attending the absence of an effective Central Government. Thus, with Charybdis on the one hand, and Scvlla on the other, the fathers of the Constitution sought to steer a middle course, and thus avoid cast- ing the Ship of State on either danger. But like skilful and experienced pilots, the more imminent the peril, the more resolute and decided were they in their course, and the iirmer they grasped the helm. The Constitution is no milk and water con- -i — — - - — — - — ^^^^^^j cern. In its proAdsions, feeble and vas- rested on the legislatures of the colonies or cillating " may," but seldom appears ; Mhilst States mid the revolutionary government,— bold and imperative " shall," avows its deter- which last mentioned, rested mainly upon mination in every section, almost in every ironblous times. sentence. Unlike either of these apologies for a gov- The Constitution contains ample prorision ernment, the Constitutional government rests | to enforce all the acts that can be enacted in on the suffrages of the whole people, of all | accordance with itself,— so long as the mem- the States, as declared in their primary as- ] bers of the government it constitutes remain semblies. Whatever may be its fate, its framers cer- tainly did not intend that it should, like its predecessor, " expire from mere debility." The powers conferred by the constitution on the Federal government are few indeed, and in- true to their oaths of office. In the discharge of their official duties it was never mtended that they should be amenable to any other tribunal than that of the laws. The Constitution provides that the Presi- dent shall be voted for by Electors chosen by tended to operate in general rather as a shield \ the people. But when once elected to that than a sword, but then they are absolute as far a.s they go. They are carefully, nicely de- fined, but then ample powers are conferred to carry them into effect No one can study that remarkable produc- tion without feeling sensible that there were high station, it was never intended that he should 1)0 kept in leading strings by his Hec- tors, or be held in any degree responsible to them for his public acts. The same instrument prorides that Sena- tors shall be elected bv the leg-islatures of the *' giants in tlwse days ." — giants in intellect— States ; but it is not intended by the spirit of giants in political experience and sagacity— j 'the Constitution that the authority or super^ * '''" '■"" "'^" -1--1' vision of the legislature shall extend ^arf^^r than the j)erformance of this elective duty, any more than in the case of Electors of Pre sident. The Constitution also prorides that the members of the lower house of Congress shall be elected by " the people of the several States ; " but when thus elected, these are no longer amenable to the people of the respec- tive States for their acts, but to the people of the United States, whose servants they are. The two houses of Congress and the Presi- dent constitute in tact the Federal govern^ ment. In these reside the whole legislative and executive power of the United Stiites of America. iJuring their term of office, every individual that com])ose these departments, fi-om the moment they take the oath to sup- port the Constitution, become members of a government of limited powers, but yet as complete in itself, and as independent of the respective States in the exercise of its powers, as is the Emperor of Russia. These are bound by their oaths of office to discharge giants in public virtue. The men who fram ed the Constitution of the United States seem- I ed to be well av/are of what they were about. They had just escaped from the iron rule of a powerful, consolidated, and to them and theirs, despotic government. They did not mean to place the liberties of the people, or the re- spective sovereign rights cf the States in jeo- pardy by instituting one of the same character on their own soil. On the other hand, the dear-bought experience of those great men of the Revolution, had tiught them that there were many inconveniences and dangers to be apprehended from the other extreme. In the absence cf a Federal government, with appro- priate powers to conduct the leading national concerns, common alUve to all of the sovereign States that composed the confederated Re- public, many diHiculties and dangers were ra- pidly accumulating. Among others, the ne- cessity of some general law in relation to the levying of duties on imports had been discuss- ed first in the legislature of Virginia, and sub- sequently in a convention held at Annapolis in 8 their official duties solely with a Aiew to pro- mote, not the local good of the respective \ States, but the " general welfare of the Unit- I ed States." } The Constitution comcm])latcs that a Rc])- , resentative in Congress elected by the pcojjle of Massachusetts, shall consider himself no i more responsible to his electors than he is to the people of Mississippi. In fact everj- \ member of Congress, whether Senator or Re- ' presentixtive, is elected by the whole people of the United States. In choosing these, the legislatm-e and people of the respective States exercise a power not their ow7i, but one that is delegated to them by the whole people of I the United States, as set forth in the form {)rescribed in the Constitution. "When the e- [ ectors of a State choose a representative of their own local legislature, they exercise a right belonging to the people of the States respectively ; but should they at the same time cast their votes for the election of 3 member of Congress, they then exercise a right belonging to the people of the United States. As used in the Constitution, th-e term "The United States of .America ^' is not intended to be understood as a phrase, but as one word. It is not used to convey to the mind the idea of a confederacy of States, but of one nation. It is simply one loord of many sj'llables. The doctrine of " instruction " that has ob- tained permanence and ascendancy in many States of the Union, is heretical in its charac- ter, and calculated to confound and mystifj- the line of demarcation that divides Federal and Stiite Rights, and M'hich should ever be kept clear and well defined, for the safety (5f both. No individual or party influence, nor seeming case of expediency, should ever tempt either the Federal or State Governments to trespass over this line. Like wary navigators in charge of costly freights, both liud better give a wider berth than is absolutely requisite to the dangerous reef, than risk collission by approaching it too near. Whatever ])o\vers Congress under the con- federation may have really jjossesscd ui regard to legislating for the territories of the Union, it is certain tliat they ex])ired when that form of government was superseded by tlie present Constitution. 'J'he latter hdierited nothing from it« defunct jjredccessor. Its framers liad no intention that it sliould. They luid al- ready cxj)erienced enough of the blessings of liereditury government, and liated its very name. All tJie jjowcrs i)Ossessed by Congress under that instrument, m relation to tiie ter- ritories or any otlier matter, as before said, are distinctly defined within itself. Congress neither possesses nor can derive ])ower from anv other source than that conferred on it bv the Constitution. Any thing contained in the ordmance of 1787, not consistent va\h the provisions of the Constitution, became null and void the moment the new government went into effect. Accordingl}- we find Congi-css as early as August 7, 1789, engaged in passing an act entitled, "An act to provide for the govern- ment of the territory North "West of the O- hio," the first clause of which reads thus : "JiTiereas, in order that the ordinance of the United States in Congress assembled, for the government of the territory North West of the river Ohio, may continue to have full effect, it is requisite that certain provisions should be made, so as to adapt the same to the present Constitution of the United States, Be it enacted," &e. Now unless the stream can rise higher than its source. Congress had no power to give va- lichty to any of the enactments of this ordi- nance of '87, that it had not constitutional powers to enact itself. The confederated fonn of government was established by the legisla- tures of the individual States. Voting in Con- gress was by States, not by indiAidual mem- bers. The constitutional fonn of government was instituted by the people of the States. It follows that if the Constitution confers no po- wer on its Congress to prohibit domestic sla- very in Sfcitcs to be admitted into the Union from the North West territory, that body could ha^•e had no rightful authority to per- petuate or give vahdity to any act to the same effect, that may have been passed under the confederation, even su])posing that its Con- gress possessed competent powers to pass such an act. 'i'his makes a clean sweep of all the prospective congressional legislation that took place on the subject of negro slavery in the North West territory, at least so far as it is not m accordance M'ith our ])resent Consti- tution. All the sovereign rights that the States of this Union eve)- have possessed, are not and cannot be in the least imjvaired or di- minished (without an amendment rf the Con- stitution.) excepting so far as thcf have sur- rendered a jjortion of these to the Federal go- vernment for the " general welfare " of all the j States — all the rights or ])owers thus conferr- I ed, being ex])licitly defined and determined in ' the articles of tlie Constitutio;'. 1 That the right to r lain or abolish the insti- j tution of slavery rem ined solely with the old tliirteen States respecti\cly at the period I Mhen the C(>nstitution M'as fonned, no one I will question.- ,- As before said, many of the Northern States I \ were slave-holding States at the jjeriod of the / , j adoj)tion oftheConstitution. Most or all of tliem I soon abolished tlieinstitution : whether from principle or expediency it is unnecessary to k \ examine, as it Anil not be denied that all or any of these have the constitutional power to establish the same Avithin their own borders at any time M'ithout hindrance or restraint from the federal government. No act of Congress could prevent this. Congress has .no constitutional right to prevent it. Con- gress would have as good right to enact that the people of Ilhode Island should not raise Indian corn, as that they should not keej) ne- gro slaves. What Congress has no right to dictate to Rhode Island, it has no right to dic- tate to any other- State of this Union. There are other public evils of even greater magnitude than negro slavery, that no l)ranch of the Federal government has any right to interpose Its authority to prevent, in the wea- j kest State or territory of this Union. Among 1 these are : religious liberty, freedom of speech j and of the press. I In s])itc of Congress, the people of the I State* of Massachusetts may go back if they please to the days when their Endieotts, and WInthrops, administered colonial laws for drowning witches and hanging Quakers ; — whilst those of Maryland, might with equal impunity re-enact the boasted code, given to them by that great apostle oiTeligious liberty. Lord Baltimore, by which Universalists and Unitarians were to be punished with death. — Now, whilst but a baj'e majority of the States of the Union have abohshed by law the insti- tution of Negro Slavery, all but one have In- serted provisions in their Constitutions, as- serting, and establishing the InaHenable rights of conscience, and perfect rcUgious freedom. But notwithstanding the almost entire unani- mity accorded by the respective States on this momentous question, the legislature of Louis- iana may proceed at any time to enact laws for the Imprisonment of Bible readers, as Is now done In Italy, or to toTture and l)urn the same class of heretics, as was fomierly done in every Catholic country where the successor of the fisherman held sway. Startling as It may seem to some. Congress, nor any branch of the Federal government, has any authority to interfere Mith this sovereign right of a State of this Union, as the Pope's emissaries were no doubt well aware of, through whoso Influ- ence, religious lll^erty was left an open ques- tion In the Constitution of Louisiana, to be more accurately defined when Poperj' became more positively dominant within the borders of that State," than it was when that Instru- ment was ratified. Over the District of Columbia, and "all places purchased by the consent of the legis- latures of the States, in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arse- nals, dock-yards, and other needful build- ings," the Constitution clearly empowers Con- gress " to exercise legislation In all case whatsoever," with the exception that " Con" gress shall make no law respecting an estab" llshment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or tlic right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the govcTument for a redress of grievances."' That through executive usurpation and despot- Ism, the freedom of speech, and of the press, is not only abridged, but almost annihllated,- in many of these "places," Is notorious ; but Congress has no powers to legislate at all on these questions, for any State, district, terri- tory, or place, in this Union, under any cir- cumstances whatever. But in the District of Columbia, and in all those " places " ceded to the General govern- ment. Congress may either establish, or abol- ish, the institution of negro slavery, as cir- cumstances and expediency may dictate. — Congress may, if It jileases, within the letter of the Constitution, enact that none but negro slaves shall be employed on the public works In Charlestown, In j\Iassachusetts ; and Con- gress may on the other hand forliid the em- ployment of Slave labor on those at Charles- ton, In South CaroUna. iVll this Congress may do should It see fit to outrage public o- plnlon, by adhering to the letter of the Con- stitution, Irrespective of its spirit. Over the l)istrict of Columbia, and " all places " purchased by the General govern- ment, for the public purposes designated in the Constitution, that instrument constitutes Congress the sole law-making power. Over all these Congress " exercises exclusive legis- lation, in all cases whatsoever." Now mark the difterence between the lan- guage here used, and that employed by the same men, when they came to define the pow- ers it Is meant to confer on Congress, In rela- tion to the territory belonging to the United States, but not appropriated to national pur- poses. *' The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property be- longing to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any jjartlcular State." But the manifest diff"erence of the wording here used, in contradistinction to that adopted in the first mentioned clause of the Constitu- tion, is not greater than Is the nature of the powers intended to be conferred. The one clause of the Constitution relates solely to Ju- risdiction, the other solely Xo property. In one instance. Congress Is empowered to gov- esn people, In the other Congress is merely authorized to hold and to sell, or " dispose '' 10 of propedy. In the one instance, Confrress ; provision is made in the Constitution, for the i s " to exercise exclusive legislation in all ca- i exercise of any civil authority in the territories, ses whitsover " over certain " districts and ', — it does not follow that necessiti/ " the plea places"; in the other. Congress is to make; of Tyrants," justifies any such assumption by all " nee'dful rules and regulations" necessary 1 either branch of the Federal government, — for to enable it to dispose of the " territory or \ the Constitution expressly declares, that other properUj belonging to the United i " The enumeration in the Constitution, of States." ' certain righ's, shall not be construed to deny This clause of the Constitution does not, 1 or disj)arage others retained by the people" nor was it ever meant, to constitute Congress ! And again — " The powers not delegated to the leo-islature of the territories alluded to ; ! the United States by the Constitution, nor neithe°r does it confer on that body any power 1 prohibited by it to_ the States, are reserved to to make any law, rule, or regulation, that is the States respectively or to the people." not " need/id," to enable it to protect, and There is no distinction here made between dispose, of the public property. | the people of the territories, and those of the States ; they are m both cases, alike left to in- stitute their own governments, and to execute their own laws ; with the exception that the would not haVe been uf.ed to connect the two 1 judicial authorities of the Federal government nouns. The use of that adjective, proves | is not recognised in the Constitution as claim- conclusivelv that the character 'of the two ar- j ing jurisdiction over the people of the territo- If the framers of this clause of the Consti tution had not been treating " territory | solely as " property," the word " other " tides is the same. Otherwise, the expression would be as absurd as if it had been said,— Congress shall have power to regulate terri- tories or other caitle ; or that Congress shall have power to regulate property or other ter- ritory. Whilst the Constitution clearly and empha- tically provides for the government of the district and " places " set apart for the uses of the Feder d government, it would seem that either designedly, or through inadvert- ries in any event, whatever. It would seem that the pco])le of the terri- tories, equally with those of the States, are presumed by the Constitution to be endowed by their Creator (as the signers of 'TO suppos- ed our foreiathers to be) with certain "inalien- able rights," which neither the States, nor the United States, has any just authority to de- ])rive them of; among which is the right to in- stitute their own government, " in sucli form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect ance, no provision is made in that insti-ument , their safety and happiness." for the exercise of either legislative or judicial Whilst a territory is the property of the authority over the people inhabiting the " lev- United States, Congress has the Constitutioiral rttorles 'of the United States" Neither is | right, no doubt, to defend it from invasion, or there any authority conferred on the Presi- 1 depredation, if needs be, by cmjjloying the mi- dent, or Senate, to appoint a Governor, or ci- litary and naval force of the whole nation; but ther officer, over the same, unless it can be when Congress has transferred the i'oe of the shown that the appointment of such an officer same, to other parties, it has no farther juris- is " needful " for the protection of the public diction over it or its occupants. These purcha- property, and the enforcing of such '• needful sers of the territory have then a right to insti- rules and re"-ulations," as Congress may make I tute such a form of government as they sup- for the disposal of the same. As chief execu I pose will best promote "their safety and happi- tivc officer and commander-in-chief, of the ness ; " and it is only in the event tliat these milirary and naval forces of the United States, I do apply and are admitted into this Union as a the rresldent may, in cither emergency, con- | State, that the Constitution confers on the Ge- stitidionatty subject a "territory of the Unit- j neval government any right to interfere or ex- ed States " to martial law, but no authority, 1 crcisc any control over their concerns, either by letter, spirit, or implication, can be It is true, that it b^omes the duty of the adduced from the Constitution, for the ap- Federal government, to restrain and prevent jjointment of a permanent governor over the any invayion of such a territory, similar to that the people of the same, either by the Presi- now attemiited liy citizens of Missouri in Kan- dent or either house of Congress. sas, the same as it is the duty of the government It is true thatthe Constitution docs not pro- to restrain the bands of desperadoes that are hibit the President, with the advice of tiie Sen- occasionally organizing in this country, for the ate, from ajjpointing a governor over the peo- purpose of invading aud making war on the pie of a territory of tile United States; nor government of Cuba, — of Nicaragua, or that of does it pr()hil)it him from ajipointing a governor any other foreign country, over the peojjle of a State ; but neither is any Ihit admitting that the Ordinance and com- such power oonferred on the I 'resident, in the p(tct of 1787, as passed by the Congress of onC case more than in the other, liecause no tlie Confederated and ratified by that of the iV Constitutional government does possess the binding force of Constitutional law on all the parties declared by the act of Congress to be concerned, viz: the States respectively forming the Union, — the people of the North Western territories, — and the new States not yet, but to be established in them ; the provisions of that Ordinance do not apply to the territories since acquired by the United States ! There is notli- ing in the Constitution that authorizes the ac- quisition of new territory, by the General gov- ernment ! " New States may be admitted by the Congress," but no where do we find, that, JVew Territory " may be admitted or acquir- ed. It does not seem that the fraraers of the Constitution, ever contemplated or provided for such an event At the period the Consti- tution was made, and finally ratified and adopt- ed, after the most stormy opposition and ran- corous debates, both in the National and State conventions, the leading minds of the country were exceedingly fearful that the formation of a National government for the States then ex- isting would not be accomplished— and the framers of the Constitution in the then ex- hausted and feeble condition of the country, seemed to have little thought of adding to the public domain by purchase — much less by conquesl. But giving to this clause of the Constitution even the most latitudinarian sense contend- ed for by any, and then the true meaning of the word " needful " limits the power of Con- gress not only in making rules and regulations,^ but in enacting laws for the territories. If the term be viewed abstractedly, to be defined by the arbitrary will of C^ongress, an interjjre- tation may be given it, that will sujipose all laws relating to the territories " needful " that the majority of Congress may deem expedient. If northern influences should predominate in that body, at one period, it might be deemed expedient and needful to make a " rule, or regulation," (for these are not dignified in the Constitution by the name of laws,) forbidding the institution of slavery in the territories, Avhilst at another period, through a predomi- nance of southern influences in Congress, it might be voted that it was expedient and need- fid that the people of the territories should be compelled by the General government to a- dopt the institution of negro slavery. 15ut if the word " needful " be interpreted in unison with the spirit of the Constitution and with the spirit of the State institutions,. the Constitution is intended to shield and pro- tect, then Congress should not make any " rule ©r regulation" in any territory of the United States, with intent to promote the introduction of any peculiar state or sectional institution, or the hindrance or exclusion of those of any oth- .er State, or section of the Union, presuming these to be alike Constitutional. It cannot b^ shown that any such "rule or regulation' would be " needful." It is true the sovereign State of Massachu- setts, might assert on th e floor of Congress that it is " needful " that the Georgia j^lanter should not introduce his slave s into any terri- torv belonging to the United States north of 36 deg. 30 min. The sovereign state of Georgia might also assert Avith equal Constitutional propriety that it is " needful " that the Massachusetts far- mer should not introduce the raising of Indian corn into the territory, south of the same line. It might be argued pro and con with equal propriety, that the introduction of the one v/ould tend to promote the ascendancy of what are called southern institutions, in the territo- ry, and that those peculiar to the North, would be fostered by the introduction of the other. Abhorrent as the sentiment appears to the northern mind, as before stated, the Constitu- tion of the United States regards both these questions as standing on the same foundation. No right to interfere in relation to either has been conferred on the General government. If the territory of Kansas or any one of those lying farther North & West in wjjfich the prin- ciple of the Missouri compromise is still in force were to apply for admission into the Union to morrow, Congress has only the sarr^e right to compel the citizens of the new State to agree not to keep negro slaves, that it has to com- pel them not to raise Indian corn. K it has then we h .ve practically two National Consti- tutions, the one applying to the old, and the other to the new States of the Union. This no one will admit. Every State of this Union is equally sovereign, and bear the precise re- lation to the general Government, and to each other respectively, whether they came into the Union in 1787, or in the year 1855. l)ut supjiosing that Congress really has the right, and should enact that the people of Kan- sas, or of any other territory applying for ad- mission, should not permit the institution of slavery in the new State ; what an anamolous species of legislation it would be ! — For argu- ment's sake we may grant that during the dis- cussion of the bill whilst the territory is in a transition state (as it were) Congress wia?/ have the Constitutional right to dictate as a needjid regulation that slavery shall not be permitted to exist within its borders. But when the law is enacted, when the territory has passed by act of Congress into a sovereign state, by what authority can it enforce the fulfilment of any such rule ? The moment the President's signature is attached to the act, the territory springs at once into a sovereign State, inves- ted with all the rights and powers of the old 12 thirteen, and as independent of Congress and the Federal government, in regard to the question of negro slavery, as is the kingdom of Great Britain. What an anamolous species of legislation 1 what children's play, for Con- gress'thus to enact a law, which neither it, or iinv branch of the Federal government has any right, or authority, to enforce. I repeat that if Congress has the constitu- tional right to dictate to a new State om clause of its Constitution, it has as good right to dictate two, Jive, ten, or the whole. _ It would thus have tlie jjower of eontroUing through their respective fundamental codes, the domestic concerns of every new State ad- mitted into the Union. Starting at the point of time when the constitutional government commenced, Congress would thus have been clothed with competent powers l^y that instru- ment to consolidate (practically) under pne central government, every foot of this Union, with the exception of the old thirteen States. "With this right conceded, all else required of the Federal government by the Constitution, is, that the outside form of the State govern- ments shall be republican ; nothing more: — substantially they would be mere ])rovinces, or departments,' of a consolidated republic, the sovereifji powers of which would be con- centrated in Washington. How preposter- ous to suppose that such was the intention of the far-seeing men who framed the Constitu- tion — men who for seven long weary years had been expending their treasure and their blood to free their country fi-om despotic rule, and Tid it of a list of crying grievances, the very first of which, as enumerated in the declara- tion, they had pledged •' their lives, their for- tmies and their sacred honors,'' to maintain, they M-ere now about conferring the power on the" Federal government to inliict anew. If this was their intention, what a sudden change nnist have come over their sjjirits and the spirits of the people who ratified their do- ings. Hitherto so jealous had been the same people of consolidated power, so tenacious had they \)een of the individual rights of the colonies and the States, that both the " Revolutionary trovcrnnicnt originating from the one, and the r^onfe deration instituted by the other, possess- ed scarcely a seml)lance of sovereign ])o\ver, but depended'idmost wholly on the voluntary ac- cord and action of the people and States, to give their decrees or rather declarations, the least ])raclical force. And now if the case sup-. ])osed is true, we behold these same men pla- cing a power in the hands of Congress that would enable them to comiiel every new State admitted into the Union to become a vassal of the (General government. Atid how i.-, it alleged that this enormous power is conferred on Congress ? "New States maij be admitted by the Congress into this Union." This little sentence contains it all. That's the Trojan horse from the entrails of which this power has emanated. Congress may admit new States: — and what is a State ? a State in the sense the term was meant by the framers of the Constitution to imply. Cer- tainly not a State organized after tlie fashion of an Italian, a German, or any other foreign State ? but an American State I Precisely such a thing as one of the old thi7ieen : nei- ther more, nor less ! Clothed with every sov- ereign power that each and all individually possess, in everi/ respect, and beai-ing in everi/ respect the same relation to the Federal gov- ernment. This was such a State as the framers of the Constitution meant to create. Congress has no right to admit and other. Xo other could in reality become a member of this Union. — If deprived of the least sovereign right possess- ed by its sister States, it could not come in as as an equal. It would not be equal. The attempt of Congress to dict;\te a Constitution or any clause contained in it, to any State ap- plying for admission into this Union, farther than to make It compatilde with the provis- ions of the Constitution of the United States, is an act of sheer usurpation, and should be so regarded by every American ])atriot. Every new State that is admitted into this , Union, is obligated by the simple act of admis- sion to conform in tverij respect to the re- quirements of the Constitution of the United I States. To be convinced of the truth of this ; we need only to turn to an act of Congress and observe the form of such admission. 'Jake that for instance by which Vermont became a State of this Union, aj;proved February 18th, ' 1791. "^^n act for the admission of the Stale oj Vermont into this Union — I The State of Vermont having petitioned Congress to be admitted a member of the : United States, Be it enacted hj the Senate and House of Representatives oftfie United States of America in Congress assembled, and it is herehj enacted and declared, that on the fourth day of March, One Thousand Seven I lundrcd Ninety One, the said State, by the name and style of 'The Stiite of Vermont' shall be re- ceived and admitted into this Union, as a new and entire member of the United States of America." What admirable simplicity I Here we be- hold a new State admitted to tjike her place In this Union " as a new and entire member " by virtue of an act that scarce exceeds in length the ticket wliich entitles a ))a.ssenger to enter a railroad car. But the act was lengthy e- nough ! And why ? Because the St;\te of i Vermont did not look to Congress to Iciirn 13 what were either her obligations or her rights as a member of the Union, but to the Consti- tution of the United States of America. The Constitution imposes negative as M'ell as positive duties on Congress, and if a new State applying for admission into the Union, should even offer to surrender an}- of the sovereign powers retained by the old Thir- teen, Congress would have no more right to accept of such a surrender than it would to compel it. The one Avould be an assum])tion of power scarcely less dangerous to the rights and liberties of the people and the States, than the other : for frequently what undis- guised force cannot compel, intrigue and arti- fice may induce. ] Strictly speaking it is unnecessary that Con- gress should know what the Constitution of any proposed State contains. No member or officer of the Federal government obligates himself to maintain the Constitution of any particular State, when he takes his oath of office ; whilst evei'Jj member of the respective Stale legisla- tures, and all State executive and judicial offi- cers are obhgated by their oath or aiiirmation of office to support the Constitution of the United States. Every new State coniing into this Union is bound to observe and to obey the requirements of the Constitution of " the United St;ites of America," whatever may be the character of its own fundamental law, and however re])ug- nant may be any of its provisions to the laws of the United States. The Federal govern- ment has the light, and is clothed M'ith power to compel the overt action of a State, whatever its Constiturional laws may be, to conform in everyj respect to the Constitutional laws of the the United States. It has the right and means, to exact this, and it has no right to require more. When the State of Missouri came into the Union, the Constitution that had been framed by its citizens, contained a clause, prohibiting the immigration of free jjcople of colour into that State. This caused a long and angry de- bate in Congress, which was finally brought to a close by the adojition of a compromise resolution, introduced by Mr. Clay, simply c- nacting that the authorities ef the State of Missoiu'i, by solemn ad, should dcclire that if there was any thing contained in their State Constitution incompatiljlo with the Constitu- tion of the United States, it should not be en- forced. As a pi'ccautionary, conciliatory mea- sure, it Mas wise in Congress thus to antici- pate, and disarm, by jieaceable legislation, what might otherwise require force to re- move. But such legislation was not strictly necessary. A decision of the Supreme Court would have been equally obligatory on the State of Missouri as its own ad. Congress has no more rigbt to compel a State applyingfor admission into tlie llnion, to surrender any sovereign right of an inde- pendent State, not -mong those enumerated as being surrendered by tlie States to the Federal Government in the Constitution, than a State has the rigbt to demand admis- sion into the Union, and retain any one that is. Congress would have had no more right to have required of the State of Louis- iana, when it tipplicd for admission into the Union, that its citizens should first insert a clause in its Constitution, prohibiting the institution of Slavery, than Louisiana would have had to demaud to be admitted, with a clause in the same instrument, denying the right of Congress to levy duties on foreign goods imported into New Orleans. If there is power deposited any where, (except by amendment of the (Jonstitution) competent to deprive any State applying for admission into this Union, of any of the sov- ereign rights possessed by the old thirteen, it resides with the States respectively, or with the people of the States, for it is clearly defined in the Constitution, that '" The powers not delegated to the United 1 States by the Constitution, nor prohibited I by it to the States, are resery erf to the Slates \ respedivelv, or to the people.'" '] From whence then does Congress derive its power to deprive either a State or the people, of any civil, political, or char- tered right, not enumerated in the Constitu- tion ! Who conferred such a right upon 'that body? Do we find it among those " delegated to the United States, in the Constitution?" Do we find it among such as are " prohibited by it to the States?"— ! Clearly not ! Can it be extorted by impli- cation from that part of the Constitution, that confers on Congress the right "To make all laws wliich shall he necessary and proper for carrying into execution all powers ves- ted by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any departmmt or office thereof." Is there a wily casuist in all the Jesuit colleges that curse the earth, who can extract such a power by inference from this clause ? St. Ligouri, though he might distil poison from the"^ sermon on the mount, and extract divine authority, for the commis- l sion of the greatest crimcs,from every page of ' the New Testament, Avould himself tm-n from such an attempt in despair ! ! Can such a power be drawn by implication ' from the mode of expression adopted in the clause in the Constitution before referred to, conferring on Congress the power of admitting new States? Because "new States man be : admitted by Congress," does it follo^y that I Congress "may " require the people of them, 14 to surrender to the Federal government, sov- s tliis Union, should certainly be clothed witTi ereign rights not delegated to the Federal gov- ' discrelionary authority to meet such cases as ernment in the Constitution or prohibited by i these. it to the States ? Did the fathers of this re- j We hear much about the Missouri Com- public of sovereign States, indeed mean to in- , promise, much about the solemnity with stitute a union composed of a medley of this which it was ratified ; and how base and character? did they mean to place a power dishonorable the South has behaved, in re- in the hands of the Federal government that ' gard to its repeal. That its repeal was in- would thus enable them to degrade, to humil- [ judicious and inexpedient, I will readily iate any portion of the people of this country ?; grant. Further, I feel that the name of that would put it in the power of a delegate i Douglass, the Northern demagogue, the from one of the old thirteen States to rise in i tool of the Jesuit priesthood, (though per- his seat on the floor of Congress, and re- haps unwittingly,) should go down to pos- mind a fellow member that he came not there terity allied with those of Arnold and Burr, as his peer, — that he was not his equal ; — ' for the prominent part he took in its re- that he was the representative of the people i peal. I grant that the moral ofiect of the of a State, who had purchased its admission ' Missouri Compromise was good, eminently into the Union by the surrender of a part of good ; but that it hud any binding legal the sovereign rights that belonged to it, and force, farther than what the voluntary ac- which were retained by the people of the I quiesence of the people gave it, cannot be State which he /liffwc^ represented ? That in I maintained. It was simply a legislative fact he came not there as an untrammelled . act, to make the most of it, which, if Con- representative chosen by the people of a' sove- gress wat competent to pass, it certainly reign Stivte of the Union — but as the vassal I had as good a right to repeal, delegate of a fief of the Federal government ! i I say we hear much of the solemnities Can any one suppose that such was the in- | attending the passage of the act. So we tention of the framers of the Constitution or do of the solemn rigmarole accompanying of the peo])le M'ho ratified it ? : the edicts of the Emperor of China. These The woid|''may" may have been used because 1 neither add to nor diminish the force of the the liamcrs of the articles of the Constitution, law. It was enacted at a period when it is did not intend by the adoption of a more em- probable the Western boundary of ^lissou- phatic or affirmative mode of expression, to ^ ri vsachcd as far into tne wilderness as any encourage the jjeople of a new State, to come pa.iti^ ipator in the decree supposed this U- thundering at the doors of Congress, with a nion ot ' tates ever would extend, and be- positive demand for admission. The fathers fore the immeuse new additional territory of the Constitution, were sensible and well had been pui based, and plundered, from bred men, and the word used was just the one our weaker neighbors l)y the cupidity and such would be apt to adoj)t under the cu'- violence of lx)th Nortliern and Southern in- cumstances. fluenees. The generation that then lived Besides this, the Constitution permits the have passed away, and their successors are receiving of foreign States into the Union (as in neither legally or politically bound to sus' the instance of Texas) ])rovIded they conform tain the law under existing circumstances to its requisitions, and it would luive been highly injudicious, and impolitic, to have com- pelled the admission of sucli in all cases mere- ly because they did com])ly with tlie terms laid down in the Constitution. The whole of the twenty odd ])rovinces of Mexico, miglit for mstiince, rcsjjectively ;M'])ly for admission into this Union. They might all com])ly with the provisions of our National Constitution; and yet wliilst each of them retained on their stat- ute books, laws proliihiting tlie free exercise of religion, it might be higlily impolitic, and in- expedient, to admit them as States of the Un- ion, to say nothing of the inconvenience that might l)e -experienced hi Congress, iissrmbled, by tlie admission into its halls of an huiulred or Wo of the North resisted not the acqui- sition of Louisiana, and are equally guilty with the South in assisting to plunder our sister liejaildie of an immense territory ; — and although it is characteristic, and natu- ral, still it ill l)ccomes us to fall out with our brother iliicvcs in relation to the divis- ion of the ]ilunder. If we meant to bo honest in our endea- vors to stay the extension of negro slavery, we sliould' have resisted the acquisition of territory liv the Union as strenuously as wo are now contending for its sectional pos- session, and success would tlien most pro- bably have cn)wned our efforts. But we were too much blinded by eoveoutness to more half breed Indian members, each with discern the scorpion that lay concealed in an hiterpretcratliis elliow, to du])licate sneecli- the tempting fruit ; we grasped it, reckless es of which one edition would probably be es- of the future, and we must abide the conse- teemed (piile sufiicient. The body, to wliicli queiices. power is delegated to admit new' Slates into ; However sinful negro slavery may be, how- 15 ever hateful in our eyes, however much Ave of the North may desire the overthrow of the institution, — the Constitution places no weapons in our hands to assist us in accom- plishing its destruction. The framci-s of that instrument never intended to do any such thing. They ])robably supposed that the in- stitution Avould in no great period of time die out, (as it were) and become extinct in North America. Events in the early history of our republic seemed to indicate such a result : — commencing at the North, State followed State in letting the captive go free. Already was Ma- son and Dixon's line reached in the emu- lating race. — ^Already M^ere the great States of Virginia and Kentucky, (the very strongholds of slavery,) preparing to follow suit, sure to be simultaneously imitated bv Delaware and Maryland ; when in an evil hour foreign fa- natics Avith more zeal than brains, found their way to our shores, and aided in their insane mission by too many Americans, sought to hasten the action of the people of the slave holding states by heaping insult and abuse on their heads. The natural consequences follow- ed. Men whose sires did not quail before the armies of Britain, were not to be driven by the taunts of such incendiaries, even in the di- rection of their own bent. From that time State emancipation of the slave has ceased. Day by day the breach between the South and the North has been gradually widening, until now it has reached a stage that seriously threatens the dissolution of the Union. — From this fate it is my solemn conviction that noth- ing will save us, but the formation of an A- merican party, based on principles so national in their character as to enable it to spread it- self over and embrace the whole Union. It should have but two planks in its platform, viz. Americans MUST rale America. Onr Union must he preserved. I believe the first of these is entirely essen- tial to' the existence of the last. As before remarked, the prescience of Wash- ington enabled him to foresee, that the great- est dangers that awaited the institutions of the people, he sacrificed so much to establish, would emanate from two sources, viz. foreign influence and sectional divisions. In his last address to his countrymen, he dwelt on these two points with even beseeching earnestness. " Against the Aviles (says he) of foreign influ- ence, I conjure you to believe me fellow citi- zens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and cxjjerience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government." Where do we find a parallel for language like this in all the various communications and ad- dresses of Washington ? On this momentous subject big Avith the future fate of America, when appealing for the last time to his fellow countr)'men, his spirit seemed as it Avere melt- ed within him, and breathed forth in Avords of affectionate solicitude and parental tender- ness. He Avhose word Avas never doubted, even stoops to plead like one of little account, that he may more forcibly impress on the minds of his people the momentous dangers he sees in the futm-e aAvaiting them from the exercise oi foreign influence. •' I CONJURE YOU (says he) to beheve me felloAv citizens." Who can resist such an appeal as this ? What American can turn a deaf ear to such a Avarning from such a source ? Scarcely less eloquent is his language Avhen interceding with his countrymen to maintain inviolable the union of the States. " The uni- ty of government (says he) which constitutes you one government is also noAv dear to you. It is justly so ; for it is a main pillar in the ed- ifice of j'our real independece ; the support of your tranquillity at home ; your peace abroad ; of your safety ; of your jn-osperity of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, that from difterent causes and from diflerent quarters, much pains Avill be taken, many artifices employed, to Aveaken in your minds the conviction of this truth ; as this is the point in your political fortress a- gainst Avhich the batteries of internal and exter- nal enemies Avill be most constantly and active- ly (though often covertly and insidiously) di- rected ; it is of infinite moment that )ou should properly estimate the IMMENSE VALUE of your national union to your collective and individual happiness ; that you sbould cherish a cordial, habitual and immoveable attachment to it ; accustoming yourself to think and to speak of it as a palladium of your political safety and prosperity ; Avatching for its preser- A'atio'n Avith jealous anxiety ; discountenancing WHATEVER MAY SUGGEST EVEN A SUSPICION that it can in any event be aban- doned ; AND INDIGNANTLY FROWN- ING UPON THE FIRST DAWNING OF EVERY ATTEMPT TO ALIENIATE any PORTION OF OUR COUNTRY FROM THE REST, OB TO enfeeble tue sacri^d ties avhich now link TOGETHER THE VARIOUS PARTS." Here is a lecture on the VALUE OF THE UNION, fi-om a source Avorth listening to, and Avorth hearing too ; one that contains mora sound sense, more real virtue, more true pat- riotism, than all the lectures that Avere ever delivered by Anti and Proslavery dema- gogues and fanatics on both sides of Mason and Dixon's line. Will Americans indeed re- gard such an ajipeal from Washington, or Avill they take counsel of traitors, Avho are " cov- ertly AND INSIDIOUSLY directing their batte- ries against the PALLADIUM of their POLI- TICAL SAFETY." The operation of either of the causes refer- 16 ?ecl to, presented itself to the clear, strong and deeply experienced mind of Washington, as being sufficient of itself to work destruction to the country. What then must be our criti- cal position now that it is assailed by both at once and in their very woi st form ? That both temporal and spiritual European despots have systematically conspired and lea- gued together to overthrow the government and institutions of the United States, I think that there can be no doubt left in the mind of any disinterested man of sense who will prop- erly investigate the subject. That hundreds, and even thousands of the secret order of monks called Jesuits, have been chspatched to this country to produce by their " iusidious artifices," that result is equally certain. That these have jilanted themselves either openly or insidiousby (in disguise) in every part of this Union is also true ; and that through the Con- fessional of the llomish Church these have the means of obtaining a more thorough know- ledge of the secret springs of action, that ope- rate in both political and social life, than any other class of men in the States must be felt by all thinking men. Who then can estimate the immense influ- ences such a body of shreM'd, educated, expe- ' rienccd and utterly unprincipled and unscru- pulous men, may exert for evil on the institu- : tions of our country, especially when we con- sider that they are regularly organized, and thoroughly disciplined, under the positive and absolute direction of one head. What the men composing the secret " So- ciety of Jesus " are capable of accomplishing ; what they have attempted ; and what they have performed ; let the history of ]uu-ope for the last three centuries inform us. When last in this country, that friend of Washington and of manldnd. La Fayette, on more than one occasion seriously warned Americans a- gainst the machinations of the Jesuit priests of Home; — no man knew them better than he. ])uring his smourn here. La Fayette re- iterated his warnmg (which has become a motto) to Mr. Van Pelt of New York, and ad- ded that "the Jesuit Priests were TiiKMdST crafty, dana Fayette at a diimer jxirty, in the ])resence of Mr. Charles l*ahner of llieh- mond, Virginia ; " These Romish jtrityls (said he) are dangerous men, and xcill destroy the liberties of America if they can.'' Lut it is tmnecessary to rehearse testimony regarding the character of the Jesuits. There is not a countrv on earth in wliich tliey have not at some time or other j)lanted themselves ; scarce- ly one in which they have not sown disseiition and civil war ; and hardly one from which, they have not been expelled, for their abomi- nable crimes. The editor of the La Siecle a lloman Catholic paper pubHshed in Paris, thus closes some remarks addressed to the Jesuits now in France. "Your name (says theLaSiecle) is not religion, for religion is peace in the State, whilst wherever you set your feet we find nothing but cUscord. No poiver, no peo- ple, has been able to live loithin the reach of your breath, witlutut being poisoned and vom- iting you back." Such is the character of the men, (as pro- claimed by their o^\ti co-religionists) that the despots of Europe have foisted in our midst, to sow discord among the people and the States, and to accomplish the destruction of our Union. And will Americans indeed continue to slumber when such a foe is actively at work among us ? will they disregard the warning of Washington ; — of La Fayette ; — and of the bitter experience of the world ? The thousands of devoted spies which these foes of liberty have insinuated into every nook and corner, nay into almost every family in our land, has enabled them to discover each point where our institutions are vulnerable. They know too jirecisely their own strength. TheV can count it at the polls almost as exact- ly before as after an election. They can esti- liiate almost to a fraction when and where they hold the balance of power between the sectional and other tactions that they them- selves by craft and artifice know so mcU how to " covertly " create. They know the charac- ter of the "leading politicians of all parties. They know who to ally themselves with. — They know that from the circumstance that the "democratic party has been almost uniform- ly in power in the general government, that a" vast number of men attached to that jiarty have grown up by profession, office seekers and office holders, 'i'hcse are the men for the Jesuits. These are the men whose " poverty if not their wills" will consent to any comj)!!- ances, men to the existence of Mhom the emol- uments of office are almost as necessary as is the air they breathe. And office and public mo- nnj the tempter in the form of a Jesuit IMsh- op, will consent that these men shall have on condition that a creature and instrument of ' tlieir own shall be installed Chief l-'xecutivc officer and Commander iu chief of the Army and Xavy of the United States. The bargain to accomplish this result is already struck! The Presidential cam])aign is already organized and commenced by the Jesuit jjrlesthood and their allies, the old line democrats. The for- ! nier wait l)ut the moment when victory j declares for them, to precijjitate the civil war upon us, that they have been for years sccrct- Iv fomenting. 1^ Would it not be well for the zealous op- *pon en ts of negro slavery at the North, to cause a moment and examine to what point their laliMtrs are tending ? Have these so far improved in the least the condition of the slave ' Does his manacles hang more loose- \j upon him? or is the prospect of his free- dom brought nearer to vievr, than it was a quarter of a century ago ? On the contra- ry, is it not evident that tiie intorference of the North, so far, has tended greatly to in- crease the hardships of the slave, and to •cause his fetters to be more firmly rivetted ? Is it not clear that the effect of such ill- timed and officious meddling, has been to stay the public measures that were in pro- gress for the emancipation of the blacks in the three great States of Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky? to palsy the ef- forts of the more liberal iind philanthropic «:lass of citizens in those States? and to wrest pulitical power from their hands, and to place it with those of an opposite char- Hcter ? to take fower in fact from the friends of the slave, and to confirm it in the keep- ing of his oppressors? When faction runs high in a State, it has frequently been the policy of unprincipled rulers, to provoke an attack from abroad, that the opposing parties may be forced by the pres-^nce of a common enemy, to forego their internal strife, and unite for defence Ugainst the external foe. Thus, has not the effect of external interference in the question of slavery, been, to unite all par- ties at the South, and to compel them to re- gard the institution no longer as one of mere expediency, but of political right? Like the man in the fable, who under the mild influence of Phoobus, was gradually loosening the folds of his cloak, and prepar Did their fathers before them, when men- aced by the seried legions of Britain, stop to estimate the consequence ? Do wo not instinctively feci that as Americans, danger and death, even to extermination, can hart no terrors for such men, when the freedom their ancestors assisted to win, and the rights they mutually pledged themselves to each other to maintain with their "lives, the'n- fortunes, and their sacred honor," are believed to be in peril? Should we not, then, nicely examine the ground on which we stand in relation to our brethren of the South, and ascertain to a fraction its true position, ere we permit ourselves to be seduced into the terrible vor- tex of civil strife? Let us seriously ask ourselves, who com- menced the measures or line of conduct that has produced the fearful estrangement of the two great divisions of our Union! For on him who applies the_^r.<;^ spark, mainly rests the responsibility of the subsequent conflagration. How came the question of negro slavery to be involved with our na- tional politics? How came, it to be made a political question at alH. Is it necessary that it should have eve): bsen so treated ! — Or does it follow, because slavery was moBt- ly located in the So;athern States, that the people of those States should necessarily Sidt- vocate or de.sire its extension? When we reflect that Virginia, the largest and at that time the most populous State in the Union. ceded of her own accord ,^most of the crown lands embraced within ber charter limits, to the general government in trust, to be dispos- ed of, and the proceeds divided among the in- dividual confederated States pro rata, as they had contributed to (he expenses of the war, and quietly acquiesced in the provisions ing to cast it from him, but which he again of the ordinance of 1787, for its government, grasped firmly about him, when the fierce blasts of Boreas sought by violence to has- ten its fall, so was the institution of slavery gradually loosening its hold on the people of the South, until the ill-judged interfer- ence of the North incited them to fasten it anew. Is there any thing in the present aspect of affairs that leads us to suppose that, the it really would not seem that Virginian* were at that period very desirous of extend- ing the peculiar institution ! When, again, the same State, in conjunotion with Mary- land, ceded the District of Columbia to the national g()vernment without requir'ng any guarantee that slavery shoulcJ be retained therein, at least so long as it should contin- ue to exist in the two Stat-.s fiom which it South will back out of the position that was taken, it certainly doea not look as i\ they occupy, unless it can be clearly demon strated that they stand on unconstitutional ground ? Do we believe that fifteen States of this Union, and those the largest in terri- tory, inhabited bv a high spirited and reso- lute race of mei^will stop to calculate their physical strength, or the probabilities of the event of a conflict with the North, when ihey really believe that their honor, and their political and social rights are at stake? either of these States had any serious ap- prehension that tho quesdion of negro sla- very was destined to assume a sectional character of so rabid a type as to imperii the Union ! What,, then, let us- ask, has caused it to assume this aspect ? Is there anything ic the system itself, abstractedly, that lead* those who practice it, to wish for itsoxtpo- sioa? On the conArary, if assured that kb!cen ing, be right, or wrong. This leads them to one-e recorded by that Court, involving a Con- placo the law as it is called, let it come from stitutional principle, — that such a decision be- what source it will, in the place f)f conscience, j comes as binding as is the clause itself, of the and to feel justifieted and Avorking in their harness, 'they will create innumerable foctipns at the North", through the excesses of which, and the innumerable outrages and assasinations that they themselves vc\\\ cause to be commit- tedl by their secret tools, a "reign of terror' j will be established, and in the prophetic, warn- Ino- language of Washington, as expressed in his ferewell address already repeatedly quoted from by "the alternate domination of one fac- tion over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissentions, which in different ages and countries has perjjctratcd the most horrid enormities," and by "the dis- orders and miseries that result, gradually in- cline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual," and "sooner or later" thus enable "the chief of some prevailmg faction (the Komish most probably) more able or more fortunate than his competitors," to "turn this dispositionto the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty" and by a coup^ d'etat such ;V5 under the direction of the Jesuit priesthood elevated J.ouis Napoleon to the throne of France, ]3lacc a crown on the head of a Jesuit directed Emperor of North America, and thus not only sUunp the farewell warning of Wash- ington with the impress of inspiration, — ^but also verify the clearly exprersed prediction of his most cherished friend, Lafayette, so often repeated and so earnestly dwelt upon by him when conversing Anth Americans, " II' •rilE LIBERTIKS OF AMliJilCA AUE EVER DE- STIIOYED IT WUX BE BY ROMISH PRIESTS !" I am well aware that raany_ readers will treat these ill expressed forebodings, as little better than the ravings of a maniac, but nev- ertheless I am constrained to place them on record, from a conviction that long and earnest study and observation, has impressed on my mind, that, as improbable as it niay seem to most readers, something very similar to what is ])rognosticated will be the fate of our country u^;i.ESS, not only a majority, but a LARGE majority of Native' Americans, both North and South will consent to forego their senseless and fruitless animosity on the sub- ject of slavery and unite in the cause of their comm.on country and of mankind, and firmly resolve that neither the "batteries nor macli- inations of either internal or external enemies, however cavertly and insiduously directed," shall prevail with their consent to " alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or enfeeble the sacred tics that now bind together the various parts." jMore jjarticularly would I plead with my fellow citizens of liiy native State, that they should one and all arise as one man, and with- hold from mischief as in a grip of iron, the trai- tors, demagogues, fluiatics and misguided men, who are laboring to infuse into our minds the spirit of discord, and under the color of freeing a portion of the people of this Union from an unfortunate bondage, that we all lament, but wliich we cannot constitutionally prevent, are urging us to the adoption of violent and un- christian measm-es that can scarcely fail in the end if persevered in, 1o subject us all to a bondage even more galling to the spirits of American freeman tha'n is that of negro slave- ry to the African race. Let us refiect that the very houses in which some of us reside were reared by our forefathers Math the price of iVfrica's children torn ruthlessly from their country and thcii' homes, and that if the roof trees of some of these were gifted with a tongue to speak they "could a t;ile unfold" of murders and outrages enacted on our fellow men "whose lightest word would harrow up the soul" and pah the foulest wrongs that are now inflicted on the hapless race in any State of this Union. " If yc seek to shake off your allegiance U> Rome, ye Germans ! (and why not ye Araerir 26 cans, as well?) we will briko things to SUCH A PASS, that ye shall unsheath the sword of extenmnatlon against each other, and per- ish in your own blood! " The Pope's Nun- cio to the Germans. — D\fluhigne. Whether the South is, or is not responsi- ble for the origen of the Nebraska and Kan- sas bill, it is certain that it could not have been caused without the aid of Northern votes, and on these should the responsibility of its passage rest ; for how can we reasonably ex- pect that Southern members should vote against a bill that affirmed a constitutional dogma, that they had always contended for, when it was introduced into Congress by a Northern man, and sustained by Northern votes. There were probably as many Northern members of Congress who voted for the pas- sage of the Nebraska bill as there were Avho voted for the Missouri compromise. Both bills were mainly carried by Southern votes ; with members of that section one was regard- ed as a question of expediency, the other of principle. Ha^•ing asserted this principle in the j)assage of the Nebraska bill the South seemed content, and disposed to permit things to take their natural course. Had the North prudently adhered to the same line of conduct, all might jet have been well. In that case emigration to Kanzas, like true "charity," would not have been " strained." A com- munity would have there established them- selves, unquestionably mostly from the North- ern states, and quickly formed themselves into a body ])olitic, as did the little communities that first emigrated to this country from Eu- rope. Like these, too, if left undisturbed by the general government, they Avould have in- stituted all laws and regulations necessary and proper for the government of their infant State. Over these neither the respective State Governments, nor the Federal Gov- ernment ought to exercise any control, so long as they did not hinder the latter in " dis- posing" of the territor)-, or land, (as the term was formerly used to imply) belonging to the United States, nor trespass on the same. There is nothing in the Constitution of the United States, that goes to prohibit any class of persons, whatever, from purchasing land of the Government. AVhen once put in market, this is open to all who have money to buy •with, whether Cln-istian or Jew, — whether Turk or I'agan, slaveholder or non-slave- holder. When a jjurchaser ])resents himself at the land office, he is not to be queried with whether he has one wife, or foul-, whether he intends to imj)rove his new domain with slaves, or free labor, whether he worships God, or Mammon ; — but simj>ly whetluT he has the money to buy with. The disposal of all other qnestions is left with the settlers themselves : and whatever a majority of these ordain in respect to any of those things^ the minority must acquiesce in. Such were the germs of the thirteen little colonial governments, that eventually expand- ed into states, and out of wh'eh oiu- Union was formed ; — and it is precisely such states as these, that the Constitution contemplates shall be added to this Union ; states in which the people themselves, " Do okd-ALX and es- TAiiLiSH " their own laws. That is the great principle that Americans contended for in the war of the revolution, and that is the great principle that is most prominently set forth in the preamble of the Constitution, and recog- nized in every sentence that follows it. • Whatever person establishes himself on territory or land purchased of the United States, must depend solely on the laws he finds there already w>ititutcd, or which he may himself, assist in ordai)ii)ig after his ar- rival, for the protection of all goods, chattels, and things he may claim as his own, whether these be houses or merchandise, men, or ani- mals. For on the broad and distinct princi- ple, which the Declaration of our Independ- ence emphatically puts forth, and whicli is recognized in the preamble to the Constitu- tion, it is the inalienable right of the people to institute tlieir owai government, " in such form as to them shall seem most likely to ef- fect their sai'cty and happiness." Over the people of these territories, the United States has no constitutional right to exercise any jurisdiction whatever, neither has it anv right to require of them the surrender of fugitives from justice, or from service,^ except by especial treaty, as in the case of foreign nations. As before said, it is only where the ])eople of the territory apply to be admitted into the Union as a State, and are received, that the laws of the United States can be legally extended over them. Neither is the General Government author- ised to comjiel the people of a territory to apply for admission as a State. The Consti- tution says that Congress niaij admit new states, it does not say that it ului/l. J5y jjarity of reasoning then, a State ituiij apjily for ad- mission, but nothing in the Constitution either asserts or imjilies that it aliall. The idea -of coercion is alike foreign to the fundamental j pnnci])les on which the govermnent of the I United States is founded, and to the views en- tert;iined on the subject by the framcrs of the Constitution and of our forefathers. As no coercion to induce states formed out of the territory of the United States is con- templated in the Constitution, so neither is it needed. Whoever will study minutely the 2' progress of events in this favored land, can- not fail to perceive that they have ever been controlled, and guided in one direction, doubt- less for some good purpose, by the spirit of un- erring wisdom. The great wave of emigra- tion that sets to our shores, bearing on its bo- som the crudities of Europe, finds its level befo.e it reaches the territories. The hardy pioneers of the wilderness, are ever of the Yankee breed, with whom the formation of a government based on tha ])rinciples of the Stars and Stripes is an insurmountable in- stinct of nature. Drop a dozen of such men in the midst of a howling wilderness, and they will scarcely feel themselves on their feet, be- fore we shall find them assembled in town meeting, and engaged in digesting a plan of government. And who does not know, that such men are better qualified to institute a practical form of government, based upon the " inahenable rights of man," not only for the government of a score of individuals, but of as many millions, than are all the learned savans of Europe. To attempt to force a state so formed, into the Union, would be like attempting to drive by violence a man into his own house, or to attempt to exclude it would be tantamount to compelling him against his will, to stay outside of his own door. In either case he would be sure to rebel. The attempt by Northern men, to prema- turely force into Kansas a body of emigrants for the purpose of carrying into effect a " fore- gone political conclusion," is factious in its character, and utterly at variance with the sentiments of compromise, and conciliation, that held sw^ay in the breasts of Washington and the other great men who with him framed the articles of the Constitution. Whilst no explanation or apology , whatever can atone for the atrocious invasion of that territory by the border ruffians of the State of Missouri, it is too evident that such an event is but a legitimate consequeuce of the course pursued by the class of men at the North referred to, who seem gifted by nature with " all rnanner of sense except common sense." A glance at almost any Northern journal, will reveal to us the fact, that the conductors of the " Emi- grant Aid Society " in all their movements, seem' to have regarded the slave-holding States, in the light of a letha* gic monster, on whose very back they might heaj) coals of fire with impunity. Neither did the peo])le of the South manifest much disposition to op- pose the Northern movement alluded to, un- til they had been goaded to madness, by a constant, ever flowing stream of abuse, poured upon tiieir heads by the Northern press and by the reiterated boasts that were made in its Y.idely circulated columns, that the plans of the North in regard to excluding slavery from Kansas would certainly succeed, in spite of all that could be done by the South to pre- vent it. Thus insulted, taunted and as it were spit upon, the " letliar