The present violent opposition has sprung up in
modern times. From whom does this clamor come? Why, look at the
proceedings of the antislavery conventions; look at their resolutions.
Do you find among those persons who oppose this Fugitive Slave Law any
admission whatever, that any law ought to be passed to carry into effect
the solemn stipulations of the Constitution? Tell me any such case; tell
me if any resolution was adopted by the convention at Syracuse favorable
to the carrying out of the Constitution. Not one! The fact is,
Gentlemen, they oppose the constitutional provision; they oppose the
whole! Not a man of them admits that there ought to be any law on the
subject. They deny, altogether, that the provisions of the Constitution
ought to be carried into effect. Look at the proceedings of the
antislavery conventions in Ohio, Massachusetts, and at Syracuse, in the
State of New York. What do they say? "That, so help them God, no colored
man shall be sent from the State of New York back to his master in
Virginia!" Do not they say that? And, to the fulfilment of that they
"pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." Their
sacred honor! They pledge their sacred honor to violate the
Constitution; they pledge their sacred honor to commit treason against
the laws of their country!
I have already stated, Gentlemen, what your observation of these things
must have taught you. I will only recur to the subject for a moment, for
the purpose of persuading you, as public men and private men, as good
men and patriotic men, that you ought, to the extent of your ability and
influence, to see to it that such laws are established and maintained as
shall keep you, and the South, and the West, and all the country,
together, on the terms of the Constitution.
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