CONCILIATION' BY GAG-LAW. 367 That the meaning of all this was- | pulse, if not a common origin, with "In the hope of winning back the the foregoing: seceded States, and of retaining the trade, custom, and profits, which we have hitherto derived from the slaveholders, we hereby solemnly pledge ourselves never more to say or do, nor let our neighbors say or do, aught calculated to displease said slaveholders or offend the Slave Power," was 6 "CONCERT HALL, December 11, 1860. "DEAR SIR:-I have been officially informed that, in the event of G. W. Čurtis lecturing in this Hall on Thursday evening next, a riot is anticipated. Under these circumstances, I cannot permit the Hall to be used on that occasion. Respectfully, "THOMAS A. ANDREWS. "J. W. WHITE, Esq.' promptly demonstrated. Mr. George "OFFICE OF THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF "Very respectfully, etc. "ALEXANDER HENRY, Mayor. "JAMES W. WHITE, Esq., Chairman." The following letter from the owner of the Hall betrays a common im So the Lincoln city of Philadelphia, like a good many other Northern cities, made her bid for slaveholding forbearance and patronage— no one observing, nor even hinting, that the North had rights and grievances, as well as the South-that "sectional" aspirations, aggressions, encroachments, were not confined to Free States; and that, in the conciliation so generally and earnestly commended, the Slave Power might fairly be asked to accord some consideration, some respect, if not to make some concession, to that generous, loving spirit, which recognizes a brother in the most repulsive form of Humanity, which keenly feels that wrong and degradation to any necessarily involve reproach and peril to all, and will rest content with nothing short of Universal Justice and Impartial Freedom. XXIV. 'CONCILIATION' IN CONGRESS. THE XXXVIth Congress reconvened for its second and last session on Monday, December 3, 1860, and President Buchanan transmitted his fourth and last Annual Message next day. After briefly stating therein that the year then closing had been one of general health, ample harvests, and commercial prosperity, he plunged into the great political controversy of the day after this fashion : "Why is it, then, that discontent now so extensively prevails, and the Union of the States, which is the source of all these blessings, is threatened with destruction? The long-continued and intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question of Slavery in the Southern States has at length produced its natural effects. The different sections of the Union are now arrayed against each other; and the time has arrived, so much dreaded by the Father of his Country, when hostile geographical parties have been formed. I have long foreseen, and often forewarned my countrymen of the now impending danger. This does not proceed solely from the claims on the part of Congress or the Territorial Legislatures to exclude Slavery from the territories, nor from the efforts of different States to defeat the execution of the Fugitive Slave law. "All or any of these evils might have been endured by the South without danger to the Union (as others have been), in the hope that time and reflection might apply the remedy. The immediate peril arises, not so much from these causes, as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation of the Slavery question throughout the North for the last quarter of a century has at length produced its malign influence on the slaves, and inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence, a sense of security no longer exists around the family altar. This feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensions of servile insurrection. Many a matron throughout the South retires at night in dread of what may befall herself and her children before the morning. Should this apprehension of domestic danger, whether real or imaginary, extend and intensify itself until it shall pervade the masses of the Southern people, then disunion will become inevitable. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and has been implanted in the heart of man by his Creator for the wisest purpose; and no political union, however fraught with blessings and benefits in all other respects, can long continue, if the necessary consequence be to render the homes and the firesides of nearly half the parties to it habitually and hopelessly insecure. Sooner or later, the bonds of such a Union must be severed. It is my conviction that this fatal period has not yet arrived; and my prayer to God is, that He would preserve the Constitution and the Union throughout all generations. "But let us take warning in time, and remove the cause of danger. It cannot be de nied that, for five-and-twenty years, the agitation at the North against Slavery in the South has been incessant. In 1835, picto rial handbills and inflammatory appeals were circulated extensively throughout the South, of a character to excite the passions of the slaves; and, in the language of Gen. Jackson, 'to stimulate them to insurrection, and produce all the horrors of a servile war.' This agitation has ever since been continued by the public press, by the proceedings of State and County Conventions, and by Abolition sermons and lectures. The time of Congress has been occupied in violent speeches on this never-ending subject; and appeals, in pamphlet and other forms, indorsed by distinguished names, have been sent forth from this central point, and spread broadcast over the Union. "How easy would it be for the American people to settle the Slavery question forever, and to restore peace and harmony to this distracted country! "They, and they alone, can do it. All that is necessary to accomplish the object, and all for which the Slave States have ever contended, is, to be let alone, and permitted to manage their domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign States, they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the Slavery existing among them. For this, the people of the North are not more responsible, and have no more right to interfere, than with similar institutions in Russia or in Brazil. Upon their good sense and patriotic forbearance, I confess I greatly rely." How a sane man could talk in this way, in full view of the Texas, Nebraska, and Kansas struggles of the last few years, and of the persistent efforts to acquire Cuba, and "regenerate” Central America in the interest of the Slave Power, is one of the problems reserved for solution in some future and higher existence. To expose its inconsistency with notorious facts were a waste of time and effort; to lose temper over it were even a graver mistake: the proper, fittest frame of mind wherein to contemplate it is one of silent wonder. Mr. Buchanan proceeded to argue that the election of Mr. Lincoln "does not of itself afford just cause for dissolving the Union;" that "from the very nature of his office, and its high responsibilities, he must necessarily be conservative;" that MR. BUCHANAN REPUDIATES 'COERCION.' 369 What, in the mean time, is the responsibility and true position of the Executive? the country, 'to take care that the laws be He is bound by solemn oath, before God and faithfully executed;' and from this obligation he cannot be absolved by any human power. no single act has ever passed Con- | each State, and is binding upon the gress, unless we may possibly except people thereof; that the people of the Missouri Compromise, impair- States aggrieved or oppressed by ing, in the slightest degree, the rights Federal power have the right of revoof the South in their property in lutionary resistance, but no otherslaves; that no such act could be and yet, if any State should see fit to passed, in the present or in the next secede from and defy the Union, Congress; that the Dred Scott deci- there is no help for it! Let us hear sion had covered all the ground con- Mr. Buchanan more fully on this tended for by the Slave States, ren- point: dering null and void a recent act of the Legislature of Kansas, abolishing Slavery in that Territory; that all acts of State Legislatures intended to defeat the execution of the Fugi-But what, if the performance of this duty, tive Slave law were nullities, the Supreme Court having so decided and sustained that law at every point; nevertheless, the States that have passed such acts ought, and should be urged, to repeal them; that, should they not be repealed, "the injured States" "would be justified in revolutionary resistance to the Government of the Union" (for unfaithfulness to constitutional obligations by those whom that Government could not control); that there is no reserved or constitutional right of State Secession from the Union, which was clearly intended to be perpetual; that the Federal Government is required, and the States expressly forbidden, to do many things essential to the idea of sovereignty; that the Federal Government "has precisely the same right to exercise its power for the people of all these States, in the enumerated cases, that each one of them possesses over subjects not delegated to the United States;" that the Federal Constitution is a part of the Constitution of 1 1 The Ordinance of 1787, reäffirmed under the Constitution in 1789, is thus clearly affirmed by Mr. Buchanan to be not in derogation of 'South in whole or in part, has been rendered impracticable by events over which he could present moment, is the case throughout the have exercised no control? Such, at the State of South Carolina, so far as the laws of the United States to secure the administraciary are concerned. All the Federal officers tion of justice by means of the Federal Judiwithin its limits, through whose agency alone have already resigned. We no longer have these laws can be carried into execution, a District Judge, a District Attorney, or a Marshal, in South Carolina. In fact, the ment necessary for the distribution of remewhole machinery of the Federal Governdial justice among the people has been demolished, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace it. "The only acts of Congress on the statutebook, bearing upon this subject, are those of 28th February, 1795, and 3d March, 1807. These authorize the President, after he shall have ascertained that the Marshal, with his posse comitatus, is unable to execute civil or criminal process in any particular case, to call out the militia and employ the Army vice, having first, by Proclamation, comand Navy to aid him in performing this sermanded the insurgents to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within a limited time.' This duty cannot, no judicial authority exists to issue process, by possibility, be performed in a State where and where there is no Marshal to execute it; and where, even if there were such an officer, the entire population would constitute one solid combination to resist him." But why cannot the President apern Rights.' This, be it remembered, as well as the Missouri Compromise itself, had the hearty support of the entire South. point a new District Judge, a new | therefore—at least, so far as the Pre Marshal, to replace those who have resigned? If no one of the vicinage will or dare accept these trusts, why not fill them from loyal States? If these shall be resisted, will it not be at the proper peril of the insurgents? If the Federal Government can be driven out of a State, and compelled to stay out, by the cheap process of bullying two or three Federal officers into resigning, and bullying others out of daring to take their places, is ours a real government at all? sident was concerned-a simple nullity. He could know South Carolina only as one of the States composing our Union, whose citizens were consequently citizens of the United States, and bound to uphold their Constitution and obey their laws. If any or many of those citizens chose to break and defy those laws, it was his simple and imperative duty to cause them to be faithfully executed, at whatever inconvenience or peril to the law-breakers. No President had The President, proceeding, set ever suggested or imagined that the forth the main issue as follows: "The question, fairly stated, is: Has the Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coërce into submission a State which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from the confederacy? If answered in the affirmative, it must be on the principle that the power has been conferred upon Congress to declare and to make war against a State. After much serious reflec tion, I have arrived at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Congress, or to any other department of the Federal Government. It is manifest, upon an inspection of the Constitution, that this is not among the specific and enumerated powers granted to Congress: and it is equally apparent that its exercise is not necessary and proper for carrying into execution' any one of these powers. 2 The contrast between this logic and that of Gen. Jackson in like circumstances has already been noted. But it is difficult to realize that such transparent sophistry can have deceived even its author. The President had already truly stated that "The Executive has no authority to decide what shall be the relations between the Federal Government and South Carolina. He has been invested with no such discretion. He possesses no power to change the relations heretofore existing between them; much less to acknowledge the independence of that State." The act of Secession, so called, was 2 See pages 94-100. 3 Federal Constitution, Art. II., § 3. opposition of any State to the Fugitive Slave law, for example, could absolve him from the duty of enforcing that law. This is the President's duty in the premises, and the whole of it, to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." The Constitution and laws being, by express provision, "the supreme law of the land; ** anything in the Consti tution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding," the real question was not-'Has the Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coërce a State?' but 'Has any State a reserved, inherent power to coërce the Union into acquiescence in the overthrow of the Federal Constitution, the subversion of the laws, and the destruction of our Nationality?' The President is bound to know no legitimate power within the Union acting in hostility to the Constitution and laws he has solemnly sworn to uphold and enforce. Whoever and whatever stands in the way of such enforcement, he can regard only as law-breakers, insurgents, and traitors. 4 Ibid. Art. VI., § 2. See also Webster's Reply to Hayne, pages 86-8. J. S BLACK AGAINST COERCION.' 371 Of course, having decided not to | Buchanan's Attorney-General, susperform his sworn duty, the President taining and elaborating the Presi proceeded to lecture the people whom dent's most fatal errors. After sethe thus betrayed on the duty of ting forth, in a most grudging and buying off the banded traitors by technical fashion, the occasions in new concessions and guarantees; say- which the President is authorized to ing: use force in support of the violated laws of the land, Mr. Black proceeds as follows: "The fact is, that our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war. If it cannot live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish. Congress possess many means of preserving it by conciliation; but the sword was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force." But, if it cannot be 'cemented,' can it be uncemented, dissolved, and destroyed, 'by the blood of its citizens, shed in civil war?' If it can, then is it the most stupendous mockery and sham which ever duped and deluded mankind. His panacea for the ills experienced or imminently impending was an "explanatory amendment" of the Constitution, which should operate as a "final settlement" of the true construction of the Federal pact on three special points: "1. An express recognition of the right of property in slaves in the States where it now exists or may hereafter exist. "2. The duty of protecting this right in all the common territories throughout their territorial existence, and until they shall be admitted as States into the Union, with or without Slavery, as their Constitution may prescribe. "3. A like recognition of the right of the master to have his slave, who has escaped from one State to another, restored and 'delivered up' to him, and of the validity of the Fugitive Slave law enacted for this purpose, together with a declaration that all State laws impairing or defeating this right are violations of the Constitution, and are consequently null and void.” Behind this pitiable exhibition was an elaborate opinion' from Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, Mr. against the United States should become so “But what if the feeling in any State universal that the Federal officers themselves (including Judges, District Attorneys, and Marshals) would be reached by the same influence, and resign their places? Of course, the first step would be to appoint to serve. others in their stead, if others could be got But, in such event, it is more than probable that great difficulty would be conceive how it might become altogether found in filling the offices. We can easily impossible. We are, therefore, obliged to consider what can be done in case we have no Courts to issue judicial process, and no ministerial officers to execute it. In that event, troops would certainly be out of place, and their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the Courts and Marshals, there must be Courts and Marshals to be aided. Without the exercise of these functions, which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command. Under such circumstances, to send a military force into any State, with orders to act against the people, would be simply making war upon them." That is to say: A little rebellion may be legally and constitutionally repressed; but a great one cannot be. 'If we have no Courts' where they them; and, if we have no ministeare needed, we should constitute rial officers,' we should appoint them. The President is expressly clothed with the requisite power, and has no right to refrain from exercising it. If no man now living in South Carolina dare serve as District Judge or Marshal, then one should be sent thither who has no repugnance and 5 Dated November 20, 1860. |