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Show 322 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY. So much for the unfairness of Mr. Sumner. If we should notice all such instances of artful design in his speech, we should have no space for his logic. To this we would now invite the attention of the reader, in order to see if it be really "impregnable.'' As we have already intimated, Mr. Sumner does not, like Ur. Seward, openly denounce the Constitution of his country. On the contrary, he professes the most profound respect for every part of that instrument, not even excepting the cl>tuse which demands the restoration of the fugitive from labor. But an examination of his argument, both historical and logical, will enable us, we trust, to estimate this profession at its real intl'insic worth. We shall begin with his argument from history. In the examination of this argument, we beg to excuse ourselves from auy further notice of all that vast array of historical proofs to show that "freedom is national and slavery sectional."* We shall consider those proofs alone * In asserting that freedom is national, Mr. Sumner may per· haps mean that it is tho duty of the National Government to exclude slavery from all its territories, and to admit no new stnto in which there nrc slaves. If this be his meaning, we should reply, that it is as foreign from the merits of tho Fugi· TilE FUOI'fiVE SLAVE LAW. 323 which relate to the real point in contl'oveJ·sy, namely, Tins Congress the power to pass a Fugitive Slave Law? Mr. Sumner argues, from the well-known sentiments of the framers of the Constitution with respect to slavery, that they intended to confer no such power on Congress. Thns, after quoting the sentiments of Gouverneur Morris, of Elbridge Gerry, of Roger Sherman, and James Madison, he adds: "In the face of these nnequi vocal statements, it is absurd to suppose that they consented unanimously to any pi'Ovision by which the National Government, the work of their own hands, could be made the most offensive instrument of slavery." Such tivo Slave Law, which he proposed to discuss, as it is from tho truth. The National Government has, indeed, no more power to exclude, thnn it has to ordain, sin very; for slavery or no slavery is o. question which belongs wholly and exclusively to the sovereign people of each Md every state or territoi-y. With our whole hearta we respond to the inspiring words of the President's Message: "If tho friends of the Constitution are to have auother struggle, its enemies could not present n. more accept.n.blo issue than that of a state, whose Constitution clearly embraces a republican form of government, being excluded from the Union. because its domestic institutions may not, in all respects, comport with tho ideM of what is wise and expedient entertained in some othel' state." |