that liberty for which they had so long panted, and left upon record an instrument, though defective in some points, yet, if its doctrines should be carried out, would produce the revolution so much desired; that it is only by departing from these instructions we find ourselves embarrassed by such conflicting interest; and that a return to those few fundamental principles of right and good government will alone make us a happy and prosperous people; that it was wicked men, who from the first attempted to establish this system against the remonstrances of the good; and that, by their persevering endeavors, joined, perhaps, with the honest fear of some, they came near preventing a union of the States; and, if not now checked in their mad career, they will make this land a land of darkness and of the shadow of death, a land where no goodness dwells, where crime, bloodshed, and all iniquity may prevail, where the brute takes possession of the man, and a state of society as much worse than that which existed before its present inhabitants took possession of the soil as can be well conceived, and which is fitting and preparing for it an early destruction, instead of making it, as it might be made, a paradise on earth, where the bounties of Providence are so luxuriantly produced, that we have but to sow, and the seed puts forth her fruit.

Is it, then, too late to bring back the thoughts from their erratic wanderings? to do away the attempt to make lords and masters, and, per consequence, to degrade a portion of our fellow-men

to the level with the brute, or make him subservient only to pamper our lusts and passions? We trust that it is not so; we trust there is yet virtue enough in the land to save it from a degradation so low and so contrary to the aspirations of those who have preceded us. Is it too late to appeal to the right reason of our southern friends, and urge them to stop, and either let the general government take the matter in hand, and do, as we think we have proved they have the power of doing, whatever they may think best in extirpating the system, it being an evil of so great magnitude, or else let the courts decide, and say that every individual who whips or maltreats another, be that other called either bond or free, is liable to be prosecuted for an assault and battery, and, if any one restrains another against his consent, his freedom may be obtained by a writ of habeas corpus? For we think we have proved the propositions we proposed, to wit:

1. That, whatever may have been the inducement which caused the Constitution of this country to be formed, whether it was, as Mr. Ames stated in a speech delivered in the congress of 1789, that it had "been often justly remarked, that the Constitution under which we deliberate originated in commercial necessity," or whatever else may have been the cause with some, the people determined that their individual rights. should not be invaded, and that no constitution should be formed that put the liberty of the individual in danger. In fact, they took for granted

the principles of the Declaration of Independence; but the necessities of the country were such, both with regard to its internal and external wants, it was thought necessary to form a more perfect únion, the better to secure the rights and liberties of each and all. In order to effect these objects, it was found necessary for the States to surrender, in the last resort, the liberty of the individual to the care of the general government, that, when the States could not or would not protect him, then the general government, with its ample abilities and powers, could step in and do it; and that, while this general government was empowered to secure the general welfare, it was prevented, not only in the body of the Constitution, but more particularly in the amendments, from interfering with certain rights; believing, as we suppose they must have believed, it would never be for the general welfare that the particular rights enumerated, with others not so, should be encroached upon; and, whatever compromises there may have been on other subjects, no compromise was made involving the liberty of the individual.

2. That the subject of slavery was fully commented upon, and the Constitution was formed with the full understanding of its nature, and the people of that day did not and would not, in any shape, give their sanction to the system; but, owing to the strong opposition made by South Carolina and Georgia, and by their earnest solicitations, congress consented that, for twenty years, they would not put a stop to the introduction of any one whom

the States might think fit to introduce; or, if you will, they would not put a stop to the slave-trade, though they would not pollute the parchment on which it was written by writing on it such a sentence while all the other provisions of the Constitution might have gone into immediate action, such as liberty of speech, of the press; the peaceably assembling together of the people, to consult on any subject concerning their welfare, without excepting the colored man; the petitioning of congress; the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects; nor be held to answer for any capital or other infamous crime, without first presentment of a grand jury; nor be excessively fined, nor have any cruel or unusual punishment inflicted; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, &c.: so that, if the colored population, in their individual capacity, had sought redress for their individual grievances, they could have obtained them, if the courts had done their duty from that time to the present. But, if the combination against the rights of any individual or individuals should, at any time, become of such magnitude as to require the interposition of congress, then,

3. Congress had power conferred on them by the people to restore those rights, not only in the preamble to the Constitution, but in the amendments, where many of our inalienable rights are specially enumerated; the preamble being the only authentic account we have, stating for what purposes the Constitution was formed; and the

different articles and sections show how these particular and special purposes are to be carried into effect; and if any individual or any of the States should make use of any thing in these articles or sections to allow práctices inconsistent with the object and intent for which the union was said to. be expressly designed; or should, in violation of any of them, infringe on these rights, to prevent, if possible, a physical interference by the government, then,

4. The United States Court was established for the purpose of deciding, in all cases that might be brought before it, when the rights and liberties of the State, or the inalienable rights of the individual of the States, might be called in question. That they were to be the tribunal in the last resort, and their decisions were to be backed by all the civil and military power of the country, if their decisions were not conformed to in a peaceable manner; and the result was, and is, that each and every individual in the country could, and can, look to the general government of the United States for the preservation of his inalienable rights, instead of, as he had done under the Confederation, to the State governments; and that this constitutes the distinctive character between the Union and the Confederacy, the States, as was alledged, being incompetent, or unwilling, in their confederate capacity, to shield the individual in the different States either from external or internal foes. Shays's rebellion in Massachusetts, the whisky rebellion in Pennsylvania, the non-com