Constitution. These words are in the mouth of every politician; they form the warp and woof of almost every speech about Slavery, whether in or out of Congress, and even large politi cal assemblies have not failed to employ them. But they are, for the most part, without any very definite meaning. We do not remember to have seen them so explained as Mr. Clayton explains them, or so lightly thought of as he seems to think of them. So reprehensible, indeed, do we consider hist remarks, that had they been drawn from him by any unlooked for occasion, or sudden excitement, we should in that find his excuse. But they were not; for his speech bears every mark of having been deliberately considered. After calling the rash advocates of slavery at the South, and the uncompromising opponents of it at the North" geographical factions," and saying that the war between them and the bill was a war of extermination that they do not desire any thing that would tranquillize the country and restore fraternal feelings to its discordant sections, he then proceeds:

"They have falsely represented the bill to be a compromise of principle, and have employed the cant that principle cannot be compromised, although the Constitution itself was but a compromise of principle, and the result of mutual concession between the different members of the confederacy."

As if not content with this, he returns to the charge and says:

"That same spirit, that mutual deference and concession are again rendered indispensable by our condition. We are now about to apply the Constitution to a region larger than the old thirteen states when the Union was founded. Under such circumstances, when I hear a man set up for himself a higher standard of morality and virtue than that of the fathers of the Republic, and say that he can agree to no compromise, or, to use the cant of the time, that principle cannot be compromised, I think of the poet's exclamation

"O! for a forty-parson power to chant thy praise, hypocrisy !'

"Not a man came out of the convention that framed the Constitution who had not objections to some part of it. It was a compromise, and the same feeling which governed in its formation is, and ever will be, indispensable to its preservation."

That the Constitution was what Washington said it was"the result of a spirit of amity, and of mutual deference and concession," we are not inclined to call in question. The

name of Washington is here introduced by Mr. Clayton, who artfully associates his expressions, as just now quoted, with his own, that the Father of his Country may seem to have used, or given his sanction to, the obnoxious sentiment of Mr. Clayton. But 66 a spirit of amity," -"mutual deference and concession," are, by no means, the same as Mr. Clayton's "compromise of principle "—indeed, they are widely different from it. The first ought to prevail everywhere and at all times. We doubt whether a constitution or form of government intended to pervade a country as large as ours was ever made, or can be made without "amity, mutual deference and concession," and we hazard but little in saying that Washington, anxious as he unquestionably was, for the adoption of the Constitution, never pronounced it a "compromise of principle," or used words tantamount to them; and we have too much respect for his memory for his honesty-for his sense of propriety, to suppose that he ever declared a "compromise of principle" to be the "cant of the times."

Adhe

Notwithstanding the light and contemptuous terms in which Mr. Clayton speaks of compromising a principle, if he mean the same thing by principle that we do, truth, or what we honestly take for truth; the consciousness of acting according to what we believe right; doing to others as we would have them do to us, - if he mean this, we do not see how it can be done. A principle is our highest treasure. rence or non-adherence to it makes the good man or the bad man. To the poor to the afflicted-it gives a self-respect which the honors of the world or its wealth cannot give. Nothing is equal to self-respect, and nothing is of value enough to be given in exchange for it. He who wisely respects himself, respects the Being who made him the Saviour who died for him. If, by a compromise of principle it be meant. that a part of the truth we already possess is to be yielded on both sides, then that part is lost, abandoned, for a principle cannot be transferred. Both exchangers are injured; both have admitted injustice; both have lost, what in their present state is irrecoverable their self-respect. The vile becomes equal to the precious. A lie is as good as the truth, and better, if it seem better to effect the purpose for which it is told. We may lawfully do evil, if, in our dim, imperfect, and partial apprehension, we suppose good will result from it. Right and wrong-justice and injustice the will of God and the will of the Devil are a mere nothing, and for persons

to boggle about preferring one to the other is nothing but 66 cant.'

We readily admit that the consolidation of the Union, after the peace of 1783, was the "greatest interest," so far as government was concerned, which could enlist the intelligent friends of the country, although there was a large party that thought otherwise. Yet all such interests are subordinate to the respect which every man owes to himself. He may have an interest in the government, as government is administered, as great as it can excite; for instance, in the establishment of a heavy tariff, or of a system of direct taxation: but let the complete success of the government depend on his telling a falsehood, though it be known only to himself, and he will not hesitate what to do. For the act of the government he is not responsible -it cannot injure him as a man, as a moral being; for his own act he feels that he is responsible, and that he may be everlastingly sunk by it in his own estimation, if not in that of others. Now if this be true, to establish the "Constitution of the Union," important as it is admitted to have been, was not of as much value as for one honest man Washington, for instance to maintain his integrity; to prove himself faithful when others required him to be faithless and degenerate; to be seen doing what he believed right, in spite of the scoffs and contumely of those who knew they were doing wrong.

Whilst we say this, we do not mean to affirm that there was no compromise of principle in the Constitution. There was one a mischievous one. It was on the part of Northern members, who well knew that Slavery, making merchandise of human beings, was morally wrong, a sin, yet consented it should be in the Union, and be protected by its power as one of its interests provided they and their constituents received advantages in certain fisheries, or in the carrying trade, or for any other equivalent, we care not what. Of this compromise, had we not historical evidence of it, we could not but be aware from the discord it has produced. We are now reaping the bitter fruits of it. It is in vain to look for a cessation of it as long as slavery exists. Conscience on the one side, and injustice and avarice on the other, know no truce. The war will be waged, till one or the other gains a complete victory. Which will gain that victory it is not hard to foreBut even on this compromise, Washington, in all likelihood, did not look so seriously as we now do. He probably thought it little more than a "deference," a "concession," for

see.

he was a slaveholder in 1787, and continued so during the remainder of his life. But he who is well acquainted with the political history of the country from the peace of 1783 to the ratification of the present Constitution, especially when he remembers that knowledge, and reflection, and feeling in regard to Slavery were almost immeasurably lower than they now are, - will be prepared to make no small allowance for this deviation, and almost to say, with Washington, "the consolidation of our union was the greatest interest of every true American." Under the Articles of Confederation, Congressthe Legislature of the Union-consisted of but a single House. Its "delegates" were appointed by the different state legislatures. In making treaties, declaring war, making peace, receiving and sending ambassadors, borrowing money, &c., it represented the whole country. But then it could not collect the moneys it necessarily expended or promised, except with the consent of the several states, and through the officers appointed by them. The sums loaned to us by foreign governments were loaned to Congress. The public debt, at the conclusion of the war, was about forty millions of dollars. From Nov. 1st, 1784, to Jan. 1st, 1786, fourteen monthsthere was not half a million of dollars paid into the treasury of the United States; a sum so altogether insufficient to meet the current expenses of the country, and the interest of the debt, saying nothing of discharging any of the principal, that foreign nations began to decline making treaties with us, fearing, from the inefficiency of our government, we should not be able to comply with the terms of them. The inconvenience that had been felt during the war from this uncertainty of raising funds, occasioned an application by Congress for power to levy an impost of five per cent. on imported and prize goods. Mr. Fitzsimmons and Mr. Rutledge, two gentlemen of great intelligence, constituted the committee to whom this matter was referred. Their report in favor of it, after a tedious and embarrassing debate, was adopted on the 18th of April, 1783. Mr. Madison, Col. Hamilton, and Oliver Ellsworth, afterwards Chief-Justice Ellsworth, were appointed to prepare an address to accompany the recommendation to the several states. In this address is the memorable sentiment so often quoted:"Let it be remembered, finally, that it has ever been the pride and the boast of America, that the rights for which she contended were THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN NATURE." They go on to say, that never had the "unadulterated forms

so fair an opportunity

of a republican government of justifying themselves." "If justice, good faith, honor, gratitude, and all the other qualities that ennoble the character of a nation, and fulfil the ends of government, be the fruits of our establishments, the cause of liberty will acquire a dignity and lustre which it has never yet enjoyed, and the example will be set which cannot but have the most favorable influence on the rights of mankind. If on the other side, our government should be unfortunately blotted with the reverse of these cardinal and essential virtues, the great cause which we have engaged to vindicate will be dishonored and betrayed; the last and fairest experiment in favor of the rights of human nature will be turned against them, and their patrons and friends exposed to be insulted and silenced by the votaries of tyranny and usurpation."

In June, 1783, Washington, in view of soon laying down his public command, addressed the governors of the several states. He warmly recommended the same measures that had been recommended by the last named committee. He considered as essential to the well being, if not to the exist ence of the United States as an independent power-1. An indissoluble union of the states under one federal head. 2. A sacred regard to public justice. 3. The adoption of a proper peace establishment, and 4. The prevalence of a pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the United States. The opinions expressed by Washington were not hastily formed, for we find him frequently expressing them again. As late as 1786, in replying to a letter of William Jay, afterwards appointed the first Chief-Justice, he said, “I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation without lodging somewhere a power which will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner as the authority of the state extends over the several states." Similar opinions were expressed by his correspondents, embracing a large number of the ablest and most considerate men in the country.

The party, for it now may be called such, headed by those three persons and others who thought as they did, had to encounter the opposition of another party, which, if it did not equal their opponents in intelligence and ability, was yet formidable for its numbers. "Viewing," says Chief-Justice Marshall, from whose Life of Washington these facts are, for the most part, obtained, "Viewing with extreme tenderness the case of the debtor, their efforts were unceasingly directed