But the only reliable and certain evidence of devotion to the
Constitution is to abstain, on the one hand, from violating it, and
to repel, on the other, all attempts to violate it. It is only by
faithfully performing these high duties that the Constitution can be
preserved, and with it the Union.
But how stands the profession of devotion to the Union by our
assailants, when brought to this test? Have they abstained from
violating the Constitution? Let the many acts passed by the Northern
States to set aside and annul the clause of the Constitution providing
for the delivery up of fugitive slaves answer. I cite this, not that
it is the only instance (for there are many others), but because the
violation in this particular is too notorious and palpable to be denied.
Again: Have they stood forth faithfully to repel violations of the
Constitution? Let their course in reference to the agitation of the
slavery question, which was commenced and has been carried on for
fifteen years, avowedly for the purpose of abolishing slavery in the
States--an object all acknowledged to be unconstitutional,--answer.
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