ments that had existed, and the kind best suited to the United States, he said,

"The principles and disposition of their citizens indicate that, in this government, liberty shall reign triumphant. Such, indeed, have been the general opinions entertained since the era of independence. If those opinions and wishes have been as well founded as they have been general, the late convention have been justified in proposing to their constituents one confederate republic as the best system for a national government for the United States."'

And again he says,

"We have remarked, civil government is necessary to the perfection of society. We now remark that civil liberty is necessary to the perfection of civil government. Civil liberty is natural liberty itself, divested of only that part which, placed in the government, produces more good and happiness to the community than if it had remained in the individual. Hence it follows that civil liberty, while it resigns a part of natural liberty, retains the free and generous exercise of all the human faculties, so far as is compatible with the public welfare." 2

What civil liberty has the slave, or even the colored man, in this country? None whatever. But some may answer, the public welfare requires the slave to be kept in bondage, and the colored man to be spurned from all good society; that it is even dangerous to grant him his inalienable rights; that, to preserve the liberty for which we have suffered so much, slavery must yet be continued, the colored man must yet be under tutelage; that Elliot's Reports, vol. iii. p. 231. 2 Idem, vol. iii. p. 232.

he has yet to learn what is meant by true freedom; that, in his present state of ignorance, he is incapable of sustaining the principles of free government; and, consequently, that his, as well as the white man's, happiness is enhanced by having him continued, as it is said, in "his place,"-continued as a servant, or as a slave; and that, being incapable of attaining to a just sense of true liberty, it is necessary to keep him under the restraints which the peculiar institution of slavery affords. These are grave assertions, and perhaps should be answered with gravity; and, in doing so, we must simply refer the reader to the time when this same race was the centre and seat of civilization, long before we have any records of a white race at all; and the ruins of ancient cities, that are now found in Ethiopia, attest to their ability; and nothing but an opportunity to display their talents is probably now wanting to show their equality with any other people in fact, if the researches of antiquarians are correct, and it is true the island of Great Britain was settled by a colony from Tyre, we can trace our own descent directly to the Ethiopian.

But Mr. Wilson continues:

"In considering and developing the nature and end of the system before us, it is necessary to mention another kind of liberty, which has not yet, as far as I know, received a name. I shall distinguish it by the appellation of federal liberty. When a single government is instituted, the individuals of which it is composed surrender to it a part of their natural independence, which they before enjoyed as men. When a confeder

ate republic is instituted, the communities of which it is composed surrender to it a part of their political independence, which they before enjoyed as States. The principles which directed in the former case what part of the natural liberty ought to be given up, and what part ought to be retained—will give similar directions in the latter case. The States should resign to the national government that part, and that part only, of their political liberty which, placed in that government, will produce more good to the whole than if it had remained in the several States: while they resign this part of their political liberty, they retain the free and generous exercise of all their other faculties as States, so far as is compatible with the welfare of the general and superintending confederacy."

Speaking of the inadequacy of the Confederation to secure the objects proposed in the foregoing statements, and observing while no foreign power had been able to overpower them, yet, for the want of a government sufficiently strong to restrain the States, they were "devoid" "of national power," "of national importance," "of national credit," "of national dignity," "of national energy," so that they could not carry into execution their own resolutions, decisions, or laws,— he then goes on to say,

"Under these impressions, and with these views, was the late convention appointed; and under these impressions, and with these views, the late convention met.

"We now see the great end which they propose to accomplish. It was to frame, for the consideration of

'Elliot's Reports, vol. iii. p. 232.

their constituents, one federal and national Constitution, a Constitution that would produce the advantages of the good, and prevent the inconvenience of bad government, a Constitution whose beneficence and energy would pervade the whole Union, and bind and embrace. the interest of every part, - a Constitution that would insure peace, freedom, and happiness to the States and people of America."

Be it remarked, he does not say here that it was to the Northern or Southern States alone, or that it was to the black or white people alone; but to the people, whether white or black, within the borders of the government, without there being any distinction as to classes.

In the foregoing observations we perceive the true nature of our government; we live not under a confederated republic, under federal liberty merely, but under a government formed for the purpose of securing liberty to the States and to individuals, in order to secure the general welfare of the whole. When, therefore, the whole, or any one, of these objects are not attained, and the liberty of the individual, or of the States, is not secured, and, consequently, the welfare of the whole is not procured, then the purposes for which this Constitution, this league, this compact, this ordinance, or whatever else it may be called, is not brought about: it is diverted from its original purpose, and is no longer binding on any; and, if ever our courts decide these objects are not obtained by our Constitution, then do we believe that instrument has been made

1 Elliot's Reports, vol. iii. p. 234.

in vain, and the population of these United States and the world at large have been most egregiously deceived, and that it is time for another general convention to be holden to amend it, and cause, if human government can secure them, our most important rights to be secured, or else the hope of the world, in regard to the American Constitution, is lost forever. The books that have been written upon this subject have of late all indicated a change to be anticipated, respecting our feelings and dispositions, on the subject of reducing to and keeping a portion of our population in slavery, and which clearly indicate that this question must be settled, if we do not wish the whole intent and policy of our fathers to be frustrated; and our land, instead of being the land of the free, the virtuous, and the moral, will become the land. of the slave, the dissolute, and the weak, given over to licentiousness and to utter destruction.

Will the people of the United States sanction this perversion? will they countenance the doctrine that our community must be divided into classes, each having its "appropriate sphere " pointed out to it, and made but a machine in the body politic? This question is to be answered by the people of America; and let not the white laborer at the North foolishly imagine that, by riveting the chains on the colored man at the South, they are not fastening them on their own limbs. Let us again tell them, if they will believe us, their interest is one and inseparable with that of the slave; and, if they give their