SELECTIONS FROM THE SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF PROMINENT MEN IN THE UNITED STATES, ON THE SUBJECT OF ABOLITION AND AGITATION, AND IN FAVOR OF THE COMPROMISE MEASURES OF THE LAST SESSION OF CONGRESS, ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, BY THE UNION SAFETY COMMITTEE. NEW-YORK: PRINTED BY J. P. WRIGHT, 74 FULTON STREET. 1851. Fellow-Citizens of the State of New-York: By a resolution of the UNION SAFETY COMMITTEE, the undersigned were appointed a Special Committee to disseminate Union sentiments through this State, by means of the public. press and the circulation of public documents. We accordingly ask leave, respectfully, but earnestly, to invite your attention to the sentiments and views, the arguments and advice contained in the following extracts from the speeches and writings of some of the leading public men and prominent citizens of our country, without distinction of party, on the allimportant subject that has so long occupied the public mind. You will find, in this summary, allusions to important facts which may have escaped attention. You will read the legal opinions of eminent professional men; and you will perceive the apprehension and anxiety entertained by statesmen long trained in the councils of the nation; nor has it been thought inappropriate to add a voice from the pulpit. The dangerous excitement upon the subject of Slavery, which fanaticism originated, and which a species of infatuation has extended far and wide, still threatens the peace and safety of our Union. To such an alarming extent have misrepresentation and delusion spread throughout our land, that the fraternal ties which link together our happy confederacy appear no longer to possess their magic charm to maintain the constitution in its integrity, and uphold the union of these States. We know that the great body of the people in every State are devotedly attached to the Union; yet we cannot close our eyes to the fact, that the people of our State have permitted their honest judgment to be misled and their generous sympathies to become enlisted, by specious appeals to their feelings against the system of Slavery that has existed in the Southern States since the formation of our government. · Slavery, as you know, was introduced among us by accident, and existed in this State, and in almost every other State, at the formation of our original compact. When our constitution was framed, the system of Slavery was recognized, and the rights appertaining thereto defined and established; and the conventions of each State promised and agreed to abide by these terms with hardly a dissenting voice. Without this recognition our Union could not have been formed;-unless it be acknowledged and continued, that Union cannot be preserved. You will not therefore consider it right or just to interfere with vested interests and chartered rights. You surely cannot desire, by so doing, to incur the awful risk of severing this confederacy, which the patriots who achieved our independence established, after so much labor, anxiety, and toil: on which Providence has so long vouchsafed its choicest blessings: and which, if once destroyed—and no power but ourselves can accomplish its destruction can never again be reinstated or restored. Yet you are aware that the spirit of Abolition requires that Slavery shall be abolished, and its votaries endeavor to seduce the slaves from their allegiance, while they call on you to give them aid and protection, although our constitution provides that fugitives from service shall be returned to their owners. Those whom you have been accustomed to consider as teachers and leaders have designated this article of the constitution in language that we do not desire to repeat. You have also been told-so, at least, it is reported that it is in violation of divine law that a fugitive slave should be surrendered, and that Slavery has no constitutional guarantee that may not be released, and which ought not to be released, for that conscience interposes a higher law than the constitution. Are you disposed to think thus lightly of our bond of union? Do the citizens of this State really believe that they have a right to judge for themselves what part of the national compact they will observe and abide by; and what portion they may evade or reject? Is this doctrine reconcileable with the dictates of good faith? with the principles of public law? that no man has yet appeared, capable of suggesting any practical plan or remedy for the evil of Slavery; the efforts of fanaticism therefore can have no object in view but the forcible abduction of the property of others, and the creation of strife and discord between citizens of the different portions of our Union. Are you willing then to break the bonds of our confe Is it in accordance You must bear in mind |