w :r;c,~.*rig.; (Continued from second page) thority to exercise 'at least a negative influence on all the measures of the government, wheth er legislative or executive, through their equal representation' in the Senate. Indeed, the larger States themselves could not have failed to preeeise that the same power was e qUally'necessary to them for the security of their own domestic interests against the ag iregate force of the general government. In a word, the original States went into a perma nent league on agreed premises, of exerting their common strength for the defence of the whole, and of all its parts; but of utterly ex cluding all capability of reciprocal aggression. Each solemnly bound itself to all others, not to, undertake nor permit an encroachment up. one or intermeddling with, another's reserved rights. When it was deemed expedient, particular rights Were expressly guarantied by the con stitution ; but, in all things beside, these rights were guarded by the limitation of the powers granted, in the compact of union.— Thus the greater power of taxation was limi ted to purposes of common defence and gen eral welfare, excluding objects appertaining to the local legislation of the several States ; and those purposes of the general wellfare, and comon defence were afterwards defined by specific enumeration, as being matters of only corelation between the States themselves, or between them and foreign governments, which because of their common and general nature, could not be left to the separate con trol of each State. Of the circumstances of local condition, in terest and rights, in which a portion of the States, constituting one• groat section of the Union differed from the rest, and from anoth- er section, the most important was the pecu liarity of a larger relative colored population In the southern than in the northern States. A population of this class, held in subjec tion, existed in nearly all the States, but was more nutiterous and of more serious concern tnen't in the South than in the North, on ac ,, coi tit of natural differences of climate and *), iductioa ; and it was forseen that, for the same reasons, while this population would di minish, and, sooner or later, cease to exist in some states, it might increase in others. The particular character and magnitude of this question of local rights, not in material rela tions only, but still more in social ones,caus ed it tb enter into the special stiff ulations of the constitution. Hence while the general government, ns well by the enumerated powers granted to it, as by those not enumerated, and therefore refus ed to it, was forbidden to touch this matter in the sense of attack or offence, it was placed under the general safeguard of the Union, in the cense of defettee against either invasion or domestic violence; like all other local inter ests of the several States. Each State ex pressly stipulated, as well for itself as for each and all of its citizens, and every citizen of each Staff bee tme solemnly bound by his al legiance to the constitution, that any person held to service or labor in one SU te, escaping into another, should not,-in consequence of any law or regal tione thereof, be discharged from such service or labor, but should be de livered up on claim of the party to whom exch service or labor might be due by the laws of his State. Thus, and thus only, by the reciprocal guar, / anty of all the rights of every State against interference on the part of another, was the was the present form of government estab lished by our fathers and , transmitted to us ; and by no other means is it possible for it to exist. if one State ceases to respect the rights of another, and obtrusively intermed .Jles with its local interests,—if a portion of ,he States . asst me to impose their institutions in the others, or refuse to fulfil their obliga ions to them,—we are no longer united, friend' v States, but distracted, hostile ones: with I ttle capacity left of common advantage,- but bundant means of reciprocal injury andtmis hief. Practically, it is immateriar'whother ag 7 ressive interference between the States, or cliberate refusal on the part of any one •of tem to comply with constitutional obligations •ise from erroneous conviction or blind prej lice, whether it be perpetuated by direction. • indirection. In either case, it is full of rent and of danger to the durability of the uion. CONSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS OF SLAVER) Placed in the office of Chief. Magistrate as s executive agent of the ; whole country, and to take care that the laws be faithfully ecuted, and specially enjoined by the con tytion to give information to Cungresa 'on ijtateof the Union, it would be palpable sleet of duty on my part to pass aver a alib i like this, which, beyond all things at the •F en t time, vitally concerns individual and die security. F. t has been a matter of painful regret to see les, conspicuous fur their seryiees iu found• this Republic, and equally blowing, ita ad I.: , g ,i, s ,„ ( lisregaril their constitutional oldi• to it. Although consoious of tlmir in heal admitted sand palpable civu, au.l irLielt are completely =I MEM within their jurisdiction, they engage in the offensive and hopeless undertaking of reform ing the domestic institutions, of other States wholly beyond their control and authority. In the vain pursuit . of ends, by them entirely un attainable, and which they may not legally at tempt to compass, they peril the very exist epee of the ,constitution, and all the countless benefits which. it haii conferred. While the people of the southern States confine their at tention of their own affairs, not presuming officiously to intermeddle With the social insti tutions of northern States, too many of the inhabitants of the latter are permanently organized in associations to inflict injury on 'the former, by wrongful acts, which would be cause of war as between foreign powers; and only fail to be such in our system, because perpetrated under cover of the Union. It is impossible,to present this subject as truth and the occasion require, without uoti cing the reiterated, but groundless allegation, that the South bus persistently asserted claims and obtained advantages in the practical ad ministration of the general government, to the prejudice of the North, and in which the latter has acquiesced. That is, the States, which either promote or tolerate attacks on the rights of persons and of property in other States, to disguise their own injustice, pretend or imag ine,' and constantly aver, that they,' whose constitutional rights ate thus systematically assailed,. are themselves the aggressors. At the present time, this imputed aggression, rest ing, as it does, only in the vague, declamatory charges of political agitators, resolves itself into misapprehension, or misinterpretation, of the principles and facts of the political organ ization of the new Territotics of the United States, What is the voice of history ? When the ordinance which provide for the government of the Territory northwest of the river Ohio, id for its eventual sub-division into ❑ew States, was adopted in the Congress of the confederation, it is not to be supposed that the question of future relative power, as be tween the States which retained, and thoSe vliich did not retain, a numerous colored pop- escaped notice, or failed to be consid ered. And yet the concession, of that vast territory to the interests and opinions of the Northern States, a territory now the seat of tive among the largest members of the Union, was, in a great measure, the act of the state of Virginia and of the South. When Louisiana was acquired by the United States, it wan au acquisition not less to the North than to to the South; for while it was important to the country ut the mouth of the river Mississippi to become the emporium of the country above it, so also it was even more important to the whole Union to have that em- porium; and although the •now province, by reason of its imperfect settlement, was mainly regardedas on the Gulf of Mexico, in fact it extended to ale opposite boundaries of the United States, with far•greater breadth above than below, and was in territory, as in every- thing else, equally at least an accession to the northern States'. It is mere delusion, there- fore, to speak of Louisiana as acquisition in the special interest of the South. The patriotic and just men who participat ed in that act, were influenced; by motives far above sectional jealousies. It was in truth the great event, which, by completing fur us the possession of the valley or the Nlississippi, with commercial access to the Gulf of lexico nparted unity and strength to the whole con .12 aeration and attnehe'l together by indissolu ble ties the East ❑nd West, as well as the North nut! the South s to Florida, that was but a transfer by ,fprtin to Ihe United States of territory on the east side of the river 'Mississippi, in exchange or large territory, which the United States ransferred to Spain on the west side of that iver, as the entire diplopiatie history of the ransaction serves to demonstrate. Moreover it was an acquisition demanded by the corn• mercial interests and the security of the whole MEI In the meantime, the people of The _United States had grown up to a proper consciousness of their strength, and in a brief contest with France, and in a second serious war with ()rent Britain, they had shaken off all which Feinain ed of undue reverence•for Europe, and emer ged from the atmosphere of those transatlantic influences which surround the infant repub lic, and had begun to turn their attention to the full and systetnitticalevelopement of the internal resources of the Union. Among the evanescent controversies of that ieriod, the niost Conspicuous was the question if regulation by Congress of the'social condi ion of the future States to be fouilded in, the erriiorY of LoUisiana. The ordinance for the government of the territory north-west of the river Ohio, had contained a prevision, wkich prohibited the use of servile labor thereß), subject to the con• ditl(l of thu extradition of fugitives from ser vice Atte in any other part of the United States. Subsequently to the adoptipn of the CollAiti• lion., this .provision ecaseno remain as it law; for its opt.ration as such was absolutely super-. settod by the e,m , ,titution. But the rceollec. Cum of the Let txelte , l thc ze.,l (1 soe;al pre- ,'~~lxtl~u~ ~~~x ; ~. pagandism in somcsectipt , :isfi l f VI, confedera tion; and when a ieCOnd Stae; dot of Missou ri came to be formed in the territory of Lou- , Warta, proposition was made , to extend to the latter territory the restriction originally applied to the country situated between the rivers Ohio and Mississippi. Most questionable as was this proposition in all its constitutional relations, nevertheless it received the sanction of Congress, with some slight modifications of line, to save the existing rights of the intended new State. It was reluctantly acquiesced by Southern States as a sacrifice to the cause of peace and of the Union, not only of the rights stipulated by the treaty of Louisiana, but of the principle of equality among the States guaranteed by the constitution. It was received by the northern States with angry and resentful condemnation and complaint, because it did not concede all which they had exactingly demanded. Having passed through the forms of legislation, it , took its place in the statute book, standing open to repeal, like any other act of doubtful constitutionality,, subject to be pronounced null and void by the courts of law, and pos sessing no possible efficacy to control the rights of the States, which might thereafter • be organized out of any part of the original territory of Louisiana. In all this, if any aggression there were, any innovation upon pro-existing rights, to which portion of the Union are they justly chargeable ?, This controversy passed away with the oc carion, nothing surviving it save the dermas otter of the statute But, long afterwards, when, by the propos ed accession of the Republic of Texas, the United States were to take their next step in territorial greatness, a similar contingency occurred, and' became the occasion for sys tematized attempts to interi,:ene in the domes- c affairs of one section u n i . the Union, in de fiance of their rights ale States, and of the stipulations of the constitution. These at tempts assumed a practical direction, in the shapo.)of persevering endeavors, by some of, thy representatives in both houses of Congress, to deprive the Southern States of the suppos• ed benefit of the provisions of the act au thorizing the organization of the State of Missouri. But, the good sense of the people, and the vital force of the constitution, triumphed CIP e r sectional prejudice, and the political errors of the day, and the State of Texas returned to the Union as she was, with social institutions which her people had chosen for themselves, and with express agreement, by the re-anex log act, that she should be susceptible of subdivision into a plurality of States. Whatever advantage the people of the Southern States, as such, gained by this, were far inferior in results, as they unfolded in the progress of fi r ma, to those which sprang from previous concessions made by the South. To every thoughtful friend of the Union,— to the true lovers of their country,—to all who longed and labored for the full success of this greih experiment of republican institu it was cause of gratulation that such an op portunity occurred to illustrate our advancing power' on this continent, and to furnish to the world additional assurance of the strength and stability of the constitution.. Who would wish to see Florida still a European colony ? Who does not appreciate the incalculable benefits of the acquisition of Louisiana? And yet nar row views and sectional purposes would inevitably have excluded them all from the Union But another struggle on the -same point ensued, when our victorious army returned from Mexico, and it devolved on Congress to provide for the territories acquired by the treaty of Guadaiupe Hidalgo. The great relations of the subject had now Lecome distinct and clear to the perception of the public mind, which appreciated the evils of sectional c(ntrovers) upon the question of the admission of new States. In that crisis intense solicitude pervaded the nation. But the patriotic impulses_ of .11e_ popular heart, guided by the admonitory advice of the Father of his country, rose superior to 01 the diffi culties of the incorporation of a new o ppire into the Union. In the counsels of Congres+ there was maul fested extreme antagonism of opinion and action between some repreS\a . tatives, who sought by the abusive and m constitutional employment of the legislative powers of We go(.'erinnent to interfere in the condition of the inchoate States, Mid to impose their own social theories upon the latter; and Mho' representatives, who repelled the interposition of the general government in this respect, and maintained the self constituting rights of the Stales. In truth, the thing attempted wits, in forni alone, action of the - general government, while in reality it was the en deavor, by abuse of legislative power, to force thwideas of internal policy entertained in particular .States, upon allied independent dates, Once mere the ContAllotion ond the Uoion tritunploA t , ignolly. The now Tortitorhs , without restrictious diF ituty,l roiti6t, 'tool w r,,thus left ti) jtolgo in VW.1 3 410- tnat•partiettlerfor ,thernselves; and tbeisonse of constitutional faith proved vigorous enough in Congress not only to accomplish this jpri tnary object, but alto the incidental and hard ly less important one, 'of so amenditig the pro visions of the statute„ for the extradition f fugitives from service', as to place that public duty under the sategutird 'of the' general gov• ernment, and thus relieve it from obstacles raised up by the legislation of , some of the States. Vain declamation regarding the provisions of law for the extradition of fugitives from ser vice, with occasional episodes of frantic effort to obstruct their execution by 'riot and mur der, continued, for a brief time, to agitate certain localities. But the true principle, of leaving each state and Territory to regulate its own laws of labor according to its Own sense of right and expediency, had acquired fast bold of the public judgement, to such a degree that, by common consent, it was ob served in the organization of the Territory of ‘Vashingtori When, more recently, it became requisite to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kan sas, it was the natural and legitimate, if not the inevitable consequence of previous events and legislation, that the same great and sound principle, which had alieady been applied to Utah and New Mexico„ should be applied to them;—that they should stand exempt from the restrictions proposed in the act relative to the State of Missouri. These restrictions were in the estimation of many thoughtfUl men, null, from the beginning unauthorized by the constitution, contrary to treaty stipulations for the cession of Louild ana, and inconsistent with the equality of the .`,;tates They have been stripped of all:mOral nu hority, by persistent efforts to procure their tindirect repeal through contradictory enact ments. They had been practically abrogated by the legislation attending the organization of Utah, Now Mexico, and Washington. If any vitality remained in them, it would have been taken away, in effect, by the new ter ritorial acts, in the form originally proposed to the Senate at the first session of the lust Congress. It was manly and ingenuous, as well as ptrtriotic and just, to du this directly and plainly, and thus relieve the statute•book of an act, which might be of possible future injury, but of no possible future benefit ; and the measure of its repeal was the final con summation and complete recognition of the principle, that no pokmof.,..therUnited States shall undertake, through assumption of the powers of the general government, to •dictate the social institutions of any other portion. The scope and effect of the language of re peal were not left in doubt. It was declared in terms, to be "the great intent uud meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institu tions in their own way, subject only to the constitution of the United States." The measure could not be withstood upot its.inerits alone. It was attacked with vio• (once, on the false and delusive pretext, tha it constituted a breaoh of faith. Never was objection more utterly destitute of substan tial justification. When, before, was it iin- agined by sensible wen, that a regulative or declarative statute, whether enacted tea or forty years ago, is irrepealable- 7 —that an act of Congress is above the constitution? If indeed there were in the facts any cause to impute bad faith, it would attach to those only, who have never ceased from the time o; ho enactment of the restrictive provision ~ ,t o he present day to ,denounce and to condemn it; who have constantly refused to complete it by tit edful suppletnentary legislation; who hit‘e spared no exertion to deprive it of moral force; who have themselves again and again at,emPietLJts i repeal by the enactment cf iocomprehensNle provisions; and who, by the inevitable reactionary effect of their own violence on the subject, awakened the country to a perception of the true constitutional prin ciple, of leaving the matter involved to the discretion of the people of the respective existing or incipient'States. It is not pretended that this principle, r any ether precludes the possibility of evils in practice, disturbed as political action is to be by bunion passions. No form of government is exempt from inconveniences; but in this c Ise they are the result of the abuse, and not or the legitimate exerek of the powers re• El erred or conferreiTin the organization of a Territory. They are not to be charged to' the great principle of popular sovreignty ; on the contrary, they disappear before the intelli gence and patriotism of the people, exerting through the ballot b their peaceful and si lent but irresistal • power. If the friend.• another struggle its enemies , could not' pre cut 'it more acceptable .. )s4ie than that of a State whose istitulion dearly em braces "a republican form of government,' . heini; excluded from the Union because its Jo- nit.stip institutions nuty not in all respktt• cotnintrt with the idol: , or what, wh't. and exp..!diettt utttrtaint.,l. the constitution ard . to have Fresh from groundless imputations of breneh of faith against . otliere, Men will commence the ‘ agitation of this new question with indubitable violation of an express Corripttot . betieen the independent sovereign powers of the United States and of the Republic of wellas solemn of the older and equally sole co l pacts, ~i w hich assure the equality of all the States. But' deplorable as would be such n violation of compact in itself,. and in all its direct con sequences, that is the very least of the evils involved. When sectional agitators shall have succeeded in forcing on this issuei-Rcan their pretentious fail to be met by counter preten tious? Will notdifferent States be compel led respectively to tneT, extremes with ex tremes ? And, if either extreme carryi s point what is thecae far forth but dissolution of the Union ? If a new State, formed from the ter ritory of the United States, be absoltitely e eluded from admission therein, that fact of itself constitutes the disruption of union be tween it and the other States. But the pro= cess of dissolution' could not stop there. Would not a sectional decision, producing such result by a majority of votes, eitLer Northern or Southern, of necessity drive out the oppresaed and aggrieved minority„ and place in presence of each other two irrecon• cileably hostile confederations? Is is necessary to speak thus plainly of pro jects, the offspring of that sectional agitation now prevailing in some of the States, which are as impracticable as they are unconstitu-- tional, and which, if persevered in, must and will en I calamitously. It is either distinion and civil war, or it is mere angry, idle, aim less disturbance of public peace and tranquili ty. Disunion for what? If the passionate rage of fanaticism and partisan spirit did not force the fact upon our attention, it would be difficult to believe, that any considerable pot don of the people of this enlightened country could have so- surrendered themselves to a fanatical devotion to the supposed interests of the relatively few ~ Afeicans • in the Unite l States, as totally io abandon and disregard the interests of the twenty five million of Americans,—to trample under foot the in— junctions of moral and constitutional obliga tion, and to engage in plans of vindictive 'hostility against those who are associated with them in the enjoyment of the common her! t age.iif our national institutions. Nor is it hostility against their fellow citi zens of one section of the Union alone. The interests; the honor, the duty, the peace, and the prosperity of the people of all sections are equally involved and imperilled in this ques— tion. Are patriotic men iu any part of the Union prepared, on such an issue, thus madly to invite all the consequences of the forfeiture of their constitutional engagements? It le impossible, The storm of phrenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself iu vain against the unshaken rock of the constitution. ,I shall never doubt it. I know - that the Union is stronger a thousand times than all the wild and chimerical schemes of social change, whiph are generated, one after another,. in the unstable mind. 4 of visionary sophists4and In terbisted agitators. I rely oonfidentlit on the patriotism of the people, on the digirity &rid self respect of the States, on the wisdom of Congress, and above all, on 'the continued gracious favor of Almighty God, to maintain, against all enemies, whether at home or abroad, the sanctity of the constitution and the integrity of the Union. FRANKLIN PIERCE Washington, Deo. 31, 185 C). "IR EN(' II TRUSSES, Weighingless than ounces, li,, the cure of I fernia or It uptnro aysnon ledgedby the highest medical authotitles of Phil incomparably superior to any other in use.— Sulli•rerb a ill be gratified to learn that the occasion now Idlers tu , procure not only the highest and most easy, but as Itunblr a Truss. as :Inv other. in lieu eqt the rum brow 311,1 uncomfortable article usually sold. There it: no dif lenity attending the fitting, and ti lien the pad is locat ed it will retain Its position without change. Person. , at a distance unable to call on the subscriber, rent have thiiTruss sent t. any address, by remitting live &dint h Kir the - single rius.in-fir ten for the ith measure round the hips, and stating side affected. It a ill lie eichanged to suit it' not fitting, by returning at once, unsoiled. For sale only by the Importer. cAhim 11. NELDLE r s., .Corner Twelfth and- llace.strrets,-Philadelpithr I,tio Ls, requiring the itenetit of )lechanical Sup porters, owing to the tterangonoit of the Internal Or gans. inducing hilling of the Womb. Vocal. l'ulittotqtry:` DY , 'lwpt le, Nervous 111111 Sphial Weakness, are inf4tned that 11 I,llllll'lllla and experienced !Any will he to air tondance at the Rooms, (set apart for their exeluSlv• acct No. 114 TIVELk"III ,St., Ist door below flare. July 2tl, jI vr( 'I 1 1 , '‘..; I \l HS r'-301.11•1 DoNNELLYonanullivtarer and inventor of SAFE TV VATENTSQL'AIIE UPRI WIT WOOD BON MA TeDES No. Intl No: th FOURTH Street tabovo liace) I'll I LABEL- Pit lA. Matches I n beeome au ind:spensable at tido in housekeeping, tho subscriber eller /I !../ eat sacrifice of time and monoy, is enablen le offer to the l'ublic an ar ticle at once eon:1401:g Utility and Cheapness. The in ventor knowing the Winger apprehended on 'aeruunt el: the Ililtisey Manner in Idr/eh Matehi/ are generally parked in paper, bar/ by the :tin of New Steam Machinery of his own invon lion. succeeded lii get ling up a tiAFETY P.CTENT SQ CA Ill.:. I.; l'illO lIT \VOttln BOX: this box le far preferable, in as much that it oeeliples lio Thole m o m has the old round NSotol le/N. /WO , elli:linS :it least '!'‘VO 111110re/1 per Cent more ...tlitt ches. w Well to Shippers , is considerable advanta:4e; it is entirely newlntml secure a4alust moisture and spontaneous o eidendit.m. dispels all dangeren transportai ion hy 'itemiser I::.iirOad, Steam• hoist or any other mode of Conveyance. P •,, • thou Matches are . 1131 . hed so that 1111(5 gross or more may he shil.p,el Co 'ally part i,r the Vt to hi u tth porf o rt • 'Fay. They are tlmmost desirable at tide' Mi. lime C. , l'tunl.t l " ll . and the Southern itild We/tern 1111111:rt L II It have over been invented. O , L U, S and SII I l'I'1:1Z., will do well to call an examine for thcmselvet,. . 1:9a1,,e in:itelleq. are \VA ILA NTED to bo superipi ICI 11113'01111 ; f 11( . 11!ttlZtorOoliereil to the I.llWk. ' .1 .li!N 10.; Nitl til FOURTH I'hilad.*l 4. t i executed 111
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