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Show 20 are, and looks at all the circumstances and consequences of actions, is as essential to the moral direction of life , as in merely prudential concerns. Still more, there is a large class of actions, the relations of which are so complicated, and the consequences so obscure, that individual judgment is at fault, and we are bound to acquiesce in usage, especialJy if long-established, because this rcpr-:sents to us the collective experience of the race. All this is true. But it is also true, that there are grand, fundamental, moral principles, which shine with their own light, which approve themselves to the reason, conscience, and heart, and which have gathered strength and sanctity from the experience of nations and individuals through all ages. These are never to be surrendered to the urgency of the moment however pressing, or to imagined interests of individuals or states. Let these be sacrificed to hope or fear, and our foundation is gone, our anchor slipped. 'Ve have no fixtures in our own souls, nothing to rely on. No ground of faith in man is left us. Selfish, staggering policy, becomes the standard of duty, the guide of life, the law of nations. Now the question as to surrendering fugitive slaves, seems to me to fall plainly, immediately, under these great primitjve truths of morality. It has no complexity about it, no mysterious elements, no obscure consequences. To send back the slave is to treat the innocent as guilty. It is to violate a plain natural right. It is to enforce a criminal claim. It is to take the side of the strong and oppressive against the weak and poor. It is to give up an unoffending fellowcreature to a degrading bondage, and to horrible laceration. The fixed universal consequence of this act is, the severe punishment, not of the injurious, but of the injured man. On this point, my moral nature speaks strongly, and I ought to give it utterance. If I err, there are enough to refute me. My authority is nothing, where a people are against me. I ask no authority ; but simply that what I say may be calmly, impartially weighed. 21 It will be said, that the South will insist on this stipulation, because it is necessary to the support of her institutions. This necessity may be questioned, bocause, if I may judge from a rough estimate, comparatively few fugitives arc recovered from other States; and yet sl:ivery lives and thrives. But if the necessity be real then it follows that the free States are the guardians, and' essential sup(>O;ts of slavery. We are the jailors and constables of the institution; and yet, we are told, that we sustain no relation to slavery, that it is in no degree our concern ! I know it will be asked, what ought to be done, if the constitution bind us to an unlawful act. I reply ; the individual, convinced of the unlawfulness, can have no difficulty. He must abstain from what he deems wrong. As to the community, should it ever come to the same conviction, it must take counsel from circumstances and from its wisest minds, as to the course, by which its peace and prosperity and the interest of the whole land may be reconciled with duty. Happily, the constitution may be amended, and this power is never so needed, as when the conscience of the citizen comes in co11ision with the government. I trust, that an amendment, reaching the present case, and demanded, not by the passions, but by the deliberate moral judgment of a large portion of the community, will not fail. I appeal to the generosity and honor of the South, and would ask, whether we, with our views of slavery, ourrht to be required to give it active support ? I would o ask whether, in the present state of opinion in the civilized world, a slave country ought not to protect its own institution, without looking for aid to others ? I would ask, too, whether a citizen, who views the government which he sustains~ as pledged to wrong, deserves reproach for laboring to bnng It mto harmony with truth and rectitude ? Does not the constitution, in making provision for its own amendment, imply the possibility of defect, and warrant |