CONSTITUTIONAL MEETING.

The Citizens of Boston and its vicinity, who reverence the Constitution of the United States; who wish to discountenance a spirit of disobedience to the laws of the land, and refer all questions arising under those laws to the proper tribunals; who would regard with disfavor all further popular agitation of subjects which endanger the peace and harmony of the Union, and who deem the preservation of the Union the paramount duty of every citizen, are requested to meet and express their sentiments on the present posture of public affairs, in Faneuil Hall, Nov. 26, 1850, at 4 o'clock, P.M.

The above call having been published in the newspapers, and posted up in the Merchants' Reading Room for some days, received the signatures of about five thousand citizens of Massachusetts, and the Meeting was convened agreeably to the request therein expressed.

At a few minutes before four o'clock, the Committee of Arrangements came in, and were received with loud cheers. At four o'clock precisely, THOMAS B. CURTIS, Esq., mounted the rostrum, and said

Friends of the Union-friends of the Constitution: I am desired by the Committee of Arrangements to ask you to come to order, and to present for your sanction the following order of organization of this great meeting:

For President.

JOHN C. WARREN;

a name dear in the annals of the Revolution, and connected with the history of Bunker Hill.

For Vice-Presidents.

DAVID HENSHAW, of Leicester,
NATHAN APPLETON, of Boston,
CALEB EDDY, of Boston,

H. A. S. DEARBORN, of Roxbury,
JOHN T. HEARD, of Boston,
GEORGE G. SMITH, of Boston,
ALFRED GREENOUGH, of Boston,
SAMUEL LAWRENCE, of Boston.

For Secretaries.

CHARLES J. HENDEE, of Roxbury,
A. W. THAXTER, JR., of Boston,
GEORGE R. SAMPSON, of Boston,
JOSEPH SMITH, of South Boston,
IVERS J. AUSTIN, of Boston,

THOS. J. WHITTEMORE, of Cambridge.

The meeting having been thus organized, the venerable Dr. WARREN rose and spoke as follows.

THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

It is not without reluctance that I appear before this great assembly to take part in the political proceedings of my fellowcountrymen. Having from an early period of life devoted myself to professional duties, I have not entered actively into the politics of the day; but I have never ceased to feel the deepest interest in the security and prosperity of our common country, and have ever considered, that, when these were in danger, it was my duty, as well as that of every good citizen, to devote mind and body to their protection and preservation. Such a crisis seems now to have arrived. The Union and, consequently, the existence of this nation, are menaced, and, unless there is a great and general effort in their support, we may soon behold the mighty fabric of our government trembling over our heads, and threatening by its fall to crush the prosperity which we have so long and happily enjoyed.

It has been my lot to have lived during a period when there

was no Constitution and no Union; when there was no commerce, no manufactures, little of agriculture, or of any of the arts calculated to make a powerful and happy people. It was a period when there was no sound currency, no confidence between man and man, no harmony in the action of the different states. It was a period when men's hands were turned against their neighbors, when the courts were beset with armed men, when law and justice were trampled under foot, when our best towns and villages were threatened with pillage, fire, and the sword; when the soil was pulluted with the blood of its own citizens. I remember the unorganized little band of fathers of families, who, in that emergency, issued from this place, feebly provided with arms or with the other means calculated to put down a daring and desperate rebellion. What a dark moment was this! What dreadful forboding arose in the minds of those who had been expending their labor, their treasure, and their blood for the safety of an unhappy country!

But in the midst of this gloom a ray of light showed itself. A Constitution was proposed, and, after a cautious investigation, and careful adaptation to the varied interests of the country, was adopted as a bond of everlasting union. Under this Constitution a new order of things has arisen. Commerce and agriculture have revived. Manufactures have everywhere grown up. Education, literature, and science, have been diffused in all our cities and towns. The highest prosperity has pervaded the nation, and presented to the wondering eyes of Europe the spectacle of a federal republic, free without licentiousness, and rich without luxury.

Now, let me ask, is there any one desirous of returning to the disunion of 1786? Is there any one who is willing to trifle with, to spurn at, or to go behind this Constitution? If there is, I cannot go with him. I go for the whole CONSTITUTION and the whole UNION, as the best security for the liberties of the people. FOR THESE I STAND HERE; and if I am not ready to exert every faculty which I possess to uphold and maintain them, I shall be false to the blood which runs in my veins, false to the ancestors from whom I am descended, and false to every sentiment of my own heart. I stand, then, at all hazards, for the Constitution and the Union, one and indissoluble, now and forever.

DR. WARREN's speech excited great applause.

THE RESOLUTIONS.

W. W. GREENOUGH, Esq., was now introduced, and said"Fellow citizens-I have been requested to present for the con

sideration of this meeting the following resolutions, prepared by the Committee of Arrangements".

Resolved, That the preservation of the Constitution and the Union is the paramount duty of all citizens;-that the blessings which have flowed from them in times past, which the whole country is now enjoying under them, and which we firmly believe posterity will derive from them hereafter, are incalculable; and that they vastly transcend in importance all other political objects and considerations whatever.

Resolved, That it would be folly to deny that there has been, and still is, danger to the existence of the Union, when there is prevalent so much of a spirit of disunion, constantly weakening its strength and alienating the minds of one part of the people of the United States from another; and that if this feeling be not checked and restrained, and do not give way to a spirit of conciliation and of patriotic devotion to the general good of the whole country, we cannot expect a long continuance of the political tie which has hitherto made us one people; but must rather look to see groups of rival neighbouring republics, whose existence will be a state of perpetual conflict and open war.

Resolved, That all the provisions of the Constitution of the United Statesthe supreme law of the land-are equally binding upon every citizen, and upon every State in the Union;-that ALL laws passed by Congress, in pursuance of the Constitution, are equally binding on all the citizens, and no man is at liberty to resist or disobey any one constitutional act of Congress, any more than another; and that we do not desire or intend to claim the benefit of any one of the powers or advantages of the Constitution-and to refuse, or seem to refuse, to perform any part of its duties, or to submit to any part of its obligations.

Resolved, That the adjustment of the measures which disturbed the action of Congress for nearly ten months of its last session ought to be carried out by the people of the United States in good faith, in all the substantial provisions; because, although we may differ with each other about the details of those measures, yet, in our judgment, a renewed popular agitation of any of the main questions then settled, would be fraught with new and extreme dangers to the peace and harmony of the country, which this adjustment has happily restored. Resolved, That every species and form of resistance to the execution of a regularly enacted law, except by peaceable appeal to the regular action of the judicial tribunals upon the question of its constitutionality-an appeal which ought never to be opposed or impeded-is mischievous, and subversive of the first principles of social order, and tends to anarchy and bloodshed.

Resolved, That men, who, directly or indirectly, instigate or encourage those who are or may be the subjects of legal process, to offer violent resistance to the officers of the law, deserve the reprehension of an indignant community, and the severest punishment which its laws have provided for their offence; and that we have entire confidence that any combination or attempt to fix such a blot upon the fair fame of our State or City, will be promptly rebuked and punished by an independent and impartial judiciary, and by firm and enlightened juries.

Resolved, That we will at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances, so far as our acts or influence may extend, sustain the Federal Union, uphold its Constitution, and enforce the duty of obedience to the laws.

SPEECH OF B. R. CURTIS, ESQ.

B. R. CURTIS, Esq., moved the adoption of the resolutions, and spoke as follows

It is a source of great satisfaction to me, that I can stand here and say-not Fellow-Whigs or Democrats, but Fellow-Citizens;— that here I can meet on common ground, in an important emergency, those who have a common interest with me, in the country. For I understand we have come here, not to consider par

ticular measures of government, but to assert that we have a Government; not to determine whether this or that law be wise or just, but to declare that there is law, and its duties and power; not to consult whether this or that course of policy is beneficial to our country, but to say that we yet have a country, and intend to keep it safe. These are the objects for which I understand we have, as American citizens, here met, and for my own part, I cannot think we have come together too soon.

There is a very excited state of the public mind all over the country. It grows out of a subject of the last importance, so connected with the interests and sentiments and passions of our countrymen, as to make it difficult for the wisest and coolest on either side, to restrain themselves within the limits of prudence and moderation. Many good men, among us, with very tender consciences, but not very sound practical judgments, apparently not at all aware of the direction in which they are moving, or of the results to which they are tending, believing themselves to be as harmless as doves, and feeling, no doubt, quite sure they are as wise as serpents, have plunged into this contest. Others, who love excitment or notoriety, or influence and power, or who are smarting under disappointment, have found here a new field of promise. Others still, whose daily food is contention, and whose daily drink is the waters of strife, have rushed hither as into a quarrel, and brought with them temper and feelings which have been justly charcaterzied as " malignant philanthropy." While influencing more or less all these and thousands of others, who have suffered themselves to be led into this excitement, and lending a certain dignity and power even to the bad passions which are enlisted, is that deep and ineradicable love of human liberty, which beats in every throb of every heart of the true sons of New-England.

And when we add to all this, that the people of other parts of our country, having opposite interests and passions, who, I believe, have never been remarkable for letting that excellent virtue called moderation, be known unto all men, have, upon this subject, used language and manifested feelings and done acts, which, I am sure, wise and good men everywhere must deeply regret, and that these things have produced their natural consequences here; we may not be greatly surprised, however deeply we may be concerned, at the existing state of things.

In my humble judgment, it is a state of things calling for the sober and careful consideration of good citizens of all parties in the State, and for the public expression of a well-considered, temperate, but fixed opinion thereon.

In times of public danger, it was the usage of our fathers to