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ConscrriUaa Resources 
 Lig-Frec® Type I 
 
E 450 
 .H31 
 Copy 1 
 
 L E T T K R 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. TIIOS. L. IIARIMS, 
 
 OF ILLIXOIS, 
 
 CPO.V 
 
 THE REPEAL 
 
 or 
 
 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 
 
 WASHINGTOX: 
 
 FRIITTED HY JNo. T. TOWERS 
 
 1851. 
 
'HZ I 
 
L E T T i: R 
 
 House of Rf.prkhentatives, 
 
 Washington, /««««/•// 13, 19')!. 
 
 Siu : On rcacliiiig this city a few ilays since, after a short ahsi'iice, I 
 found await inij inc a letter from you, accompanied hy a petition for the 
 repeal of the fugitive slave law. The jx-tition reads thus: 
 
 "The uiiilcrsi^niil, citizens of Illinois, most cnrncntly petition tho Honorable Representatives 
 
 in Congrrss assiunhlcd, for the immediate and unconditional repeal of the late fugitive slave law, 
 
 because in our judgment it is a most palpable violation of the law of God, of the Constitution of 
 
 our country and State, and ot eternal principles of right and duty, and thus your petitioners will 
 
 Evzn rnAT." 
 
 Signed by M. Ni MILES, and twenty-eight others. 
 
 Your letter reads as follows : 
 
 "Hon T. L. HAnnis: 
 
 Sik: I have obtained a few names in this vicinity to the petition — not a tythc of what I might 
 if I could have alVorded the time. Five sixths of all the voters of this region will sign tliis peti- 
 tion, including every good and honest and religious man in tho community. All religious men 
 feel it to be an unwarrantable interference with the rights of conscience, and that by obeying this 
 law we still must violate the Constitution, which declares, that no person shall be deprived of hia 
 liberty except by due process of law, which is most elTectually prevented by the provisions of the 
 late law. No act ever passed by the American Congress, since the old alien and sedition laws of 
 the elder Adams, has awakened such deep abhorrence in the minds of good law abiding citizens. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Metamoua, December 12, 1850. M. N. UTILES. 
 
 As an addenda, you say, "the original names you will find with ]\[r. 
 Shields — some of them I write myself at their retjuest/' 
 
 Such is the letter, and such the petition. They are the first of the 
 sort wiiich I have received. I hope they will be the last. What you 
 expect or desire me to do with these things 1 know not. You niake no 
 request, nor intimate any purpose, in sending them to me. It is not an 
 original petition, but a copy of one which I have not seen, and have no 
 desire to see. Neither modifications nor amendments will answer your 
 purpose. There must be "an immediate and unconditional rcpcaV of 
 the entire law, to relieve you of your " deejt abhoi-n nre," and permit 
 your " conscience" once more to be disenthralled. Now, sir, it is easy to 
 see what manner of man you are, if not your design, in sending me these 
 precious papers. My opinion is, that the law referred to is a law neces- 
 
sary to enforce one of the guaranties of the Constitution of the United 
 States. 1 am opposed to its-j-epeal, because its repeal would be unjust ; 
 and in the present state of public feeling at the South, it would be fol- 
 lowed bv civil discord, in its most disastrous form. I have, therefore, 
 some ''conscience" in the matter, as well as yourself. Under all the cir- 
 cumstances, therefore, and as I have no opportunity to present it on the 
 floor of the House, and express my opinions in regard to it, I return you 
 the scrap of paper, on which you have written both petition and letter, 
 to use lor any purpose that to you may seem good. If, hereafter, you 
 ha^"e any connnunication of that sort to make to Congress, you would 
 do well to select some other agent. 
 
 I might stop here, but the tone of your letter and the character of 
 the petiiion, lead me to remark further. A few years ago our country 
 was undisturbed by any excitement upon the subject of slavery. The 
 same causes which had extinguished it at the North, were operating to 
 produce a like result in several of the Northern slave States. In Dela- 
 ware, Maryland, and Vii'ginia, there was, in the ten years preceding 
 1840, a decrease of more than 84,000 slaves. Indications were manifest, 
 that the philanthropy and sound policy of the age, combined with na- 
 tural causes, in the absence of all legislation, would gradually, but with 
 certainty, work the extinction of slavery. Political Abolitionism began 
 its career, and these indications have been constantly growing less. The 
 slaves have been, in consequence, more closely restricted, and more harshly 
 dealt with; and I see now the day of their liberation more distant, than 
 it seemed eighteen years ago. The efforts of the Abolitionists have, 
 thus far, been a curse to the negro, and a curse to the countr5\ They 
 have retarded the day of emancipation — they have divided the country 
 into sections, and produced an alienation of feeling between the North 
 and South, the thought of which, gives pain to every true-hearted man 
 in the nation. In consequence of the proceedings of these pretended 
 friends of the negro, I see very little prospect of the area of slavery 
 being dinilnislied soon, to any extent, unless by such a course as mad- 
 men oidy would pursue. If any considerable manumission of slaves is 
 hereafter to take place, it will be upon condition of their removal to 
 Africa. But will you give a dollar for that purpose ? You can show 
 any qua:itity of sickly sympathy in letters and petitions, but how much 
 sympathy will you show out of your {)ocket? I venture, that not a dime 
 could be squeezed out of you for any such purpose. 
 
 What is the history of this abolition movement ? It has reached its 
 present influence by fraud — by corrujition — by coalitions for place and 
 power by men who care no more lor a negro slave than for a hippopo- 
 tamos. And these base combinations are still kept up, and so they will 
 be, amouL' men who lack sense and honesty. Political Abolitionism be- 
 gan more than twenty years ago. It had the untjuestioned ability to 
 keep itself beneath contc-nipt, until intriguing and dishonest politicians 
 cauglit at it ; not because they cared a lig about negroes or slaves, but 
 because they judged it contained an element which they could agitate, 
 and promote their own elevation. They, from corrupt motives, joined 
 the cry of Abolitionism, and without these, it never would have reached 
 
ihf tlit,'uily of Millerism, tlm iiuiiiia for Morus Multicniilis, or lh«i lluch- 
 estpr kiiockiiifis. 
 
 N;itiv<! Anicricniiisni was .1 cnusiii ^'oniiain to Abolilioiiism; Ijut it so 
 liappnuul, that in those r«'^iotis wlieiv hiirnlnif^s do most llourish, a 
 lar;::(' iorcitrn population was found, and as this population liad voters, 
 this otl"sho(tl of ihr huiiihnfj family was found unprolilaMc, and waa 
 aI)an(iont'd. Had this Ibrrii^h population been srttlod in iIh; South(;ra 
 .States, so that their voles eould not directly reacli the agitators of that 
 Cjuestion who liirured so conspicuously a 1\'W years ago, tin* .Native 
 Auieriean church-hiu'ners would hav(? been to-day more powerful than 
 Abolition barn-burners. Even anti-masonry beat it for a time all hol- 
 low. It carried one State of the Union in the Presidential contest of 
 1S.'J'2, while no Abolition candidate ibr that office, not even Martin Van 
 Buren, with all his craft, eunninir. and corruption was able to do as 
 much. But I am not disposed to underrate the power of the Abolition- 
 ists. They have {)ut the Tnion in peril, not l)y the force of tlu'ir ari^u- 
 meuts, but by base aliiliations with political hacks and demago-^ucs. I 
 hope the danjrer is ]iast. 
 
 I believe a chanj^^e has been goinc; on in the |)ul)lic mind at the North — 
 a change that will crush those unholy aliiliations and factions, and re- 
 sult favorably to the peace and happiness of the country. What is 
 this change ? Every one knows that in LSIS the Cass Democrats of the 
 Xorlh were the only op])oiients there of the Wilmot proviso. Every 
 ^^hig speech was an argument in favor of prohibiting slavery in the Ter- 
 ritories by j)ositivt« law, and the people were urged to vote for General 
 Ta) lor, a holder ot' some three hundred negro slaves, because it was de- 
 clared he would not veto the proviso. It was on this grounil that Mr. 
 Webster, after declaring in his jManslield speech that the nomination of 
 General Taylor for the Presidency '' irns a nurninalion lluit xcas not fit to 
 have been m(nk\' still advocated his election. He .*aid that the Butl'alo 
 platform was a good one, with the exception of a few rotten planks. In 
 his Abington sj)eech he declarctl that, the Whigs "were just as good 
 anti-slavery men and frecsoil men as the barn-burners." And he claimed 
 it as particularly creditable to the Whig party that it was so. After 
 speaking of the annexation of Texas, he said : 
 
 '•By this time the elForU of the Whigs alone had raised a strong cxcitemcut in the North 
 against the annexation of slave territory. I say the Whigs alone, for nobody belonging to the 
 other party, North or South, Enst or West, stirred a finger in that cause; or if there were any, 
 they were so few as not to be discernible in the mass, until the Whigs of New England, Ohio, 
 and other Middle States, had accomplished a great excitement, a new feeling in the public mind. 
 And then this portion of the Democracy of New York, now denominated the bam burning party, 
 seized upon this state of excitement ihiia brought al)0ut by \\'hig effort, and attached thia princi- 
 ple to their creed, to give them a pre-eminence over their rivals." 
 
 He, in his Faneuil Hall speech shortly after, advised the Whigs to go 
 for Gen. Taylor "as a security against the slave power.'' The ^\ hig 
 orators at the North, everywhere, so far as I have learned , pursued the 
 same course, descanted upon the enormities of slavery, and upon the 
 
saving efficacy of the " Wilinot," which the ])eople were told would uu-" 
 doub'edly pass Congress, .and as General Taylor would not veto any bill 
 which Con,2,-rcss might pass, I'estricting slavery, he was the man \\ hom 
 they were iold they ought to support. This w^as the case in our own 
 region. The Whig presidential electors, with Lincoln, Yates, and others, 
 made strong efforts to convince the Van Buren men of the lolly of voting 
 for him, /^ecr///.ve there was no possibility of his election ; their votes if 
 cast for him would be thrown away, while by voting for General Taylor 
 they could accomplish just as much in restricting or abolishing slavery 
 as by voting for Van Buren, and by voting for General Taylor his elec- 
 tion 'might be secured. Who is there that does not recollect this course 
 of the Whig leaders? But they went further than this. Fourteen dif- 
 ferent Northern State legislatures, (all but that of Iowa) passed resolu- 
 tions, in some form or other, in favor of restricting slavery, and most of 
 them for abolishing it in this District. And not a solitary Whig ica.s there 
 in cither of these legislatures, (as far as I can learn,) but voted in their 
 favor. Tliese Whig leaders quite took the wind out of the sails of the 
 free-soil, A^an Buren, Abolition part)^ and out Wilmoted Wi'lmot himself. 
 Let us look at their position now, and inquire whether 1 am correct 
 in the opinion already expressed, that a change has taken place in pub- 
 lic sentiment at the North on this question. I allude not to the Demo- 
 cratic party, who supported a candidate for the Presidency pledged 
 against any and all legislation interfering Vvith slavery, but to that par- 
 ty at rhe North which supported the successful candidate. How stands 
 that party, and vv4iat course has its leaders pursued ? General Taylor 
 was inaugurated March 5th, 1849. He found himself in an equivocal 
 position. At the South he had been urged before the people as pledged 
 to veto any bill passed by Congress interfering with slavery. At the 
 North he had been advocated for being opposed to the exercise of the 
 veto power, and as willing to acquiesce in any such legislation. If Con- 
 gress, then, should pass a bill containing a ])rohibition of slavery in the 
 Territories, what was he to do? Should he approve it, he would be 
 everywheie in the South denounced as a traitor to them. Should he 
 veto it, his party at the North would be shattered into iragments. Like 
 the slavers from the coast of Africa, he attempted the "middle passage," 
 as least dangerous. Out of character, as it was for him, he, or his cabi- 
 net for him, attempted to shirk a responsibility which was judged to be 
 too foj-midable to assume. It was proposed to let the Territories remain 
 in anarchy, or subject only to military rule, until they should become 
 organized as States. This was an attempt to evade the question which 
 had placed the administration in powei-, and that, too, by approving mil- 
 itary governments in the Territories in time of peace, while ibr doing the 
 same thing in time of tear, Mr. Polk had been denounced by the leaders 
 of the Whig j^arty, without stint and without measure. This policy of 
 General Taylor met the open condemnation of Mr. Clay in a speech in 
 the Senate. He said he could not see how any Whig could possibly sus- 
 tain such a course. Here was danger again ; a danger which threatened 
 the total overthrow of the power of the administration. In the mean 
 time, the excitement in the country had assumed an alarming aspect. 
 It was apparent to every observer that something must be done, and 
 
timt tlic (]ursii(»n imist ho self led in soinr iii(»<Ir or oilier. Tlicn it wa« 
 that Mr. Wc'l).st('r, wlio had clainiod to ho thi* iiivotiior of'tho proviso — 
 tho tiuN'hrtiiio \vh() had f<itisti-(!r|( d ihr aiiti- lavorv phiifortn— -tlu- vory 
 cdoud out of which had isvurd )hc lirsr, rurrihhiiKN ol' thr pioviho ihun 
 dor — came forward to (hssijiatc that ck)iid, th-mohsh th« phitforin, iind 
 repudiate tho iiivoiitioii of his own ponius. He put tlic " Wihnol" to 
 scorn l)eforo tho American Sonato and tho American pooph-, and sup- 
 ported with all his intcdh^clual power, (and no man has ^rroater,) the 
 compromise measures, includin;; a hill for the very purposes ol' this hill 
 whieli excites your ''deep ahiiorrence." Mr. Wehstj-r was suj)porlefl in 
 this hy scv(>ral Northern Whii:: StMiators and Representatives, and hy 
 the A'ico PresidcMit himselt", who had always hefoic heon known as a 
 steadfast enemy to slavery, and an ardent friend to its aholition wher- 
 ever it could he reached. All those "changed front " on this (piestion, as 
 promptly and mechanically as thoujrh they had heon a well-drilled hat- 
 talion, actiniij on a parade day under the orders of then- commanding 
 oflicor. What next? Gonorai Taylor dies, antl Mr. I-'illmore he(!onfes 
 President. Me makes Mr. Wehstor his prime minister, thus, heibre the 
 Country, cndors-ini^ his opinions and eonfirmin^^ his acts. Even Mr. 
 Corwin, who had opposed the "onmihus *' in the Senate, glides smoothly 
 into tho Cabinet, iaces "to the right about," and all join hands to crush 
 the proviso, and roll the omnil)US ;n triumph through the halls of Con- 
 gress. And it icas rolled through, like a triumphal car, by aid of Whig 
 votes induced by them in its favor. Even such Whie;s as General Wil- 
 son, of New Hampshire, a man who had. in the llou^e of Ro])rosenta- 
 tives, alter advocoiinir the jiroviso as the only means of preventing the 
 extension of slavery in the Territories, said: 
 
 " If the alternative should be presented to h'm of the extension of slavery, or the dissolution of 
 the Union, /ic would saj', let thd Union, aye, ihe Universe be dissolved. IVever, noer," said h«5, 
 " will I raise my hand or my voice to give a N<itc l>y which slavery can or may be extended. A» 
 God is my judge, I cannot, I will not, be moved from the purpose I have now announced." 
 
 Even such a W hig as he, came up with a ready " aye " for all the bills 
 of settlement, including this act oi" " ahhotTcnce.'^ How do tho pro/rs- 
 sions of the Whig party of the North made in IS IS, when they wished to 
 elect a President, tally with their practices in ISfiO, when he was elected ? 
 Look at the public meetings which have ])een held all over New Eng- 
 land, in New York. Philadelphia, and elsewhere in the North, at which 
 prominent and distinguished men of that party, old proviso anti-slavery 
 men. have come forward to support acts for Territorial governments 
 M'ithout the proviso, and this act which stirs up in you such "deep ab- 
 horrence!'' Where stand Stuart. (Tillespie. Pi'd<oring, and others. Whig 
 members of our own Legislature, who voted the proviso instruetions ? 
 I doubt not that ere this letter reaches you, a vote will be taken in the 
 Legislature again, and you will see the great mass of the members of 
 that party repudiate their own resolution. Look at the election of Mr. 
 Eliot in the Boston district. He ^vas among the first to approve the 
 changed course of ]\Ir. Webster, and on that approval was elected to 
 Congress from Boston, the strong hold of al>olitionism. He, too, voted 
 
for this ahharred law. Am I right, then, in supposing that a change has 
 been goins- on in the public mind, or the miiul of that great party? Or 
 are these acts and professions in dellance of the general senl iment of that 
 party ? I believe that such a. change has taken phix;e — that it is still 
 going on — and if a test could be had, 1 believe it would show that nine- 
 tenths, aye, nineteen-twentieths of the men at the North entertain 
 opinions directly opposed to yours. 
 
 But perhaps you will point to my defeat at the late election in Illinois, as 
 evidence ihat a change has been going on the other way. But how is it? 
 Was not the late election the first time since the district was organized, 
 that the Abolitionists had not a candidate of their own in the field ? 
 Have they become so feeble that they cannot again raise a candidate 
 for Congress in the Seventh district ? Or did my opponent sufilciently 
 answer their purposes ? Did the Abolitionists go over to the Whig 
 party, or did the Whig party, candidate and all, go over to them ? How 
 was it ? In 1848 you polled 712 votes in the district for Mr. Tan Buren, 
 while at the same election, your vote added to the Whig majority, left 
 the Democrats in a minority of 2,19S votes; and yet, though I voted for 
 this abhorj-ed l/ill and the other measures of adjustment, and h.id opposed 
 to me the Abolitionists and the whole Whig party — knowing themselves 
 in a large majority, smarting under their former defeat, with a perfect 
 organization, with their candidate long in the field, at work, on the 
 stump, with no one to oppose him — notwithstanding all this, I, having but 
 a few days to spend in the cause, and having to fight a gang of personal 
 enemies and base political traitors in my own party, (to say nothing of 
 the diminished vote caused by a violent tempest on the day of the elec- 
 tion, which gave to the large towns where the Whig majorities nearly 
 equal that in the entire district, a decided advantage over the people 
 living in the country at places remote from the polls.) yet for all this and 
 much more that I might name, I was defeated by a smaller Whig ma- 
 jority than that party ever before gave in the district. Whether the 
 gentleman elected will prove any more satisfactory to you than myself, 
 time will sliow. 
 
 But you denounce the fugitive slave bill — why ? Is it not solely be- 
 cause it enables the master to repossess himself of his runaway ? Is not 
 this the sole cause of your objection? If not, it would seem that some 
 modification or amendment might remove your objections. But no ; 
 there must be "an immediate and unconditional repeal." Perhaps the 
 law interferes with your employment. Perhaps you have stock in some 
 underground railroad, which has suffered depre(;iation, and is below par 
 in consequence of this law. If so, you had better sell out and abandon 
 the business, more especially i( you can get back what the investment 
 cost you — ijour moral and political honesty. 
 
 You say you think the law is "a violation of the law of God." You 
 are, I believe, a professed clergyman ; but I fear you have studied Abo- 
 lition fanatical newspapers and pamphlets more than your Bible. Y^ou 
 think it "a violation of the Constitution of your country and State." 
 What the constitution of n Slate has to do with the law of Congress, 
 passed in pursuance of the Constitution of t/ie. J'nitcd States, it is not for 
 me to inquire. But the remark vhows that you have studied the Consti- 
 
9 
 
 tution of our cnnntry as lifflt' a>^ you liavr thf laws of HikI. I lieliove 
 you know vory little ol'eillirr. 
 
 Now, sir, your intentions vitnj he very ^'ood in all this, hut I retrret 
 that I have not charity enoii<i;li to l)«'lieve it ; and if they were, it \h nn 
 old adage, that "hell is j)aved with gfMxl intentions." And it is my 
 private opinion expressed to you eoiifidentially, that such intentions n.s 
 yours are Ix^tfer lifted lf)r that use tlian any other. Why, sir, this law 
 would not have heen needed or thoii<;ht of, hut for sueh iiumi as yoti. 
 You have made it necessary, and you are responsihie for if. Think of 
 that awhile. Ytun* ohjection to the law is an ohjection to the ('onsiitu- 
 tion. It declares that "no person held to service or lahor, in one State, 
 under tiio laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of 
 any law or regulation therein, he discharged from such service or la- 
 bor, hut shall he delivered up on claim ol" the party to wliom such ser- 
 vice or lahor may he due." The law of 17()S was jjassed to give elfi- 
 ciency lo this provision, 'ihat htir was passed hy Northern votes. The 
 North had majorities at that time in* holh Houses of Congress; and in 
 both Houses, but seven negative votes were given on its passatre. There 
 were members of the House of Ilepresentatives and mernbej-s of the 
 Senate at that time, who had heen members of the Covention which 
 formed the Constitution, mid they all, either by their recorded or passive 
 votes, went for the law. It received the signature ot Washintrton, who 
 had been President of the Convention which formed the Constitution, 
 and may reasonably be presumed to know sometliing of its meaning. 
 It has been sustained by ttie !Suj)reme Court of the I'nited States. But 
 you are wiser than all, and pronounce a bill, similar to that in charac- 
 ter in many respect;*, dilfering only in minor details, to be unconstitu- 
 tional. \'erily "the children of this world are, in their generation, wiser 
 than the children of light." Even the ordnance of 17S7, in praise of 
 which, the Abolitionists forget that we have a Constitution, contains a 
 similar provision. The first part of the Gth article is constantly in your 
 mouths. Now, let us read the whole of it. Here it is: 
 
 •' AiiT. 6. There shall be neither slavery nor inv(llunlar^• ser\itinlc in the said territory, other- 
 wise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party kIiuU have been duly convicteil; provided 
 always, thai any person escaping into the same from whom Ltbor or service is lawfully claimed 
 in any one of the original Slates, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the 
 person claiming his or her labor or service aforesaid.^' 
 
 Here it is, older than the Constitution, in the immortal ordinance of 
 seventeen hundred and eighty-seven. Are you for obeying it, or not ? 
 You live on the soil over which that ordinance was extende*!. Are you 
 man enough to stand up and sa}' you will abide by it, in all its provis- 
 ions, in good faith ? No, you are not. Now, sir, make no lonjrer con- 
 cealment ; come out openly, and alike denounce ordinance. Constitution, 
 and law. Acknowledge "the higher law" as the one by which alone 
 you are to be governed, and for once assume your true position. We 
 shall then know you for a man of mettle ol'the genuine Fred. Douglass 
 stamp, and hereafter know where to find you. 
 
10 
 
 But would you be content with the " immediate and unconditional 
 repeal" of this law? Far iVoni it. It would only encourage you for 
 new exploits. You wanted the proviso; you did not get it. Events 
 have proved it a mischievous humbug, if that can be so called which 
 brought such excitement with it, and such danger to the Union. Had 
 that been passed you would have been stimulated to more violent 
 contests. Now you want this "late fugitive slave law" repealed. 
 Suppose that done, what next? The law of 1793 must go with it. 
 Then what / Why, the abolition of slavery in the District of Colum- 
 bia. But would that satisfy you? Not by a great deal. Then the 
 internal slave trade must be prohibited, and forthwith the yell would 
 be raised, "Remodel the Constitution, and strike out the clause that 
 allows slaves to be rated at three-fifths of their numbers in the basis of 
 representation ;" and then, to finish the work, abolish slavery by a law 
 of Congress, and make it felony for any citizen to hold a negro in ser- 
 vitude. Already it is maintained by many of your Abolition scribblers 
 that Congress has power to do it now, under the Constitution. But 
 how long will it take to get two-thirds of the States free, and amend 
 the Constitution? The States stand now 15 slave to 10 y7Te. Dela- 
 ware will soon be a free State, and then they will stand 14 to 17. 
 Then comes Minesota, Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico, making two- 
 thirds of the whole, without including the Nebraska, the Yellowstone, 
 and the Mandan country. There is ample room for a dozen new States 
 out of our vast unsettled domain. The free States will soon have the 
 numerical strength to vote these things. But would voting them accom- 
 plish the work? Think you the South would submit? I would despise 
 her myself if she would. The fact that the North is rapidly gaining the 
 power 1o do these things, so far as they may be done by their votes, 
 throw upon the people of the North the responsihility of the Union. Upon 
 them, more than ever, will depend its perpetuity. If they value it, they 
 will look well and see that the rights of the South are untouched, and 
 that the Constitution is preserved and administered in its purity, not 
 simply in its letter, but in its spirit. For one, I shall resist all attempts 
 to disturb these questions. I shall resist them always, whether in pub- 
 lic or private life, whether I may be acting with a victorious majority, 
 or overborne and crushed by numbers. While I have a voice to speak 
 or strength to act, it shall be exerted to thwart the nefarious schemes 
 of political abolitionists, disunionists, and traitors. But the day of their 
 power and their glory has passed. I believe there are Union-loving, 
 law-abiding men in all parts of the land, each in their respective quar- 
 ters, to render nugator}-, to dissipate all such heretical and hellish de- 
 signs. 
 
 You assert in your letter that " five-sixths of all the voters in this 
 (your) region will sign this petition, including every good, and honest, 
 and religious man in the community." Now, sir, I am not extensively 
 acfjuainted in Woodford County — not so much as I wish I was — yet I 
 venture the opinion that your statement is not correct. I have formed 
 a high opinion of the people of that county, and I believe they are 
 as "good, honest, and religious" as the people of any county in Illinois 
 or elsewhere. 1 think I know men there, whose goodness, whose hon- 
 
11 
 
 esty, and whose relifrion will not ho (|UPStioiio<l hy any oim except 
 yourself, who would never j)uf their names to siieh a doeuinerit. I 
 know, too, that I received !!•() iiKijority in that county, when and where it 
 was well known that I had voterl lor this very hill, and where I declared 
 in the canvass, in apuhlic s|)eeeh in the court-house, that I should stand 
 hy it lirinly and in good faith. I think, sir, you slander the j)e(.ple of 
 your county, and I challenge you to get live-sixths of all the voters 
 there to sign your incendiary missile. Do if, sir, or acknowledge that 
 you have told what is not true. I douht whether t/tni can get one- 
 sixth of them to sign it, or even one twenty-sixth, if tin- matter were 
 properly stated to them, and tiiey were governed hy tlieir calm judg- 
 ments and deliherate oj)inions. 
 
 I know that there is a large i)()pulati(tn of intelligent and indiisiriou.s 
 Germans in Woodford county, and that an extraordinary etiort wfis 
 made, in the late election, to prejudice their minds against me, and 
 draw otr their votes. It did not succed. They understand the Consti- 
 tution of our country hetter tlian you do. They are cool, reflecting 
 men, who act not Irom impulse, hut from judgmerit. They have come 
 to our country, and to one of its most heautiful portions, to make their 
 homes — to enjoy in peace and luippiness the fruits of their honest lahor 
 — to rear up their children in knowledge and virtue, and make them 
 fully worthy of the Repuhlic, of which they themselves are such useful 
 citizens. They know that their safety, their peace and j)rosperity, de- 
 pend upon the safety and permanency of the Union. Tfiey know that 
 the etlorts w'hich you and your associates are making, would, if success- 
 ful, shiver that Union to pieces, and involve them and their chosen 
 country in war, bloodshed, and every dire calamity. They do not, with 
 you, see domestic servitude in the AlVican race, as the only evil under 
 the sun. They look upon this Government as having, under the Con- 
 stitution, in the providence of God, a high mission to fulfil. They know 
 that by its influence and example it has worked, and is still working, the 
 elevation and advancement of the people, the millions, in their father- 
 land, throughout Europe, and throughout the world. They know that 
 in the wreck of the Constitution and the destruction of this Govern- 
 ment they have no more chance to escape in safety, than have the in- 
 habitants of a city upheaved by the convulsions of an eartlujuake. 
 From motives of self-preservation, therefore, and if such motives are 
 not strong enough, from impulses of duty, they will stand by the Con- 
 stitution against any horde of fanatics that may attempt to assail, to 
 impair, or destroy it. They come among us to uphold the Constitution, 
 not to strike it cloini — to oheij the laws, not to violate them ; and you, sir, 
 ought to 15LLSH FOR siiA.ME that you are so far behind them in patriotism 
 and a just sense of duty. I know it is an easy matter to get names to 
 petitions relating to ordinary matters. Men often sign them without 
 thinking of their import, or the consequences of tiieir acts. Hut the 
 Germans, not less than the other patriotic citizens of Woodford, will re- 
 flect before they sign a petition of this character; and if you get live- 
 sixths of their names to such a petition you will have to forge them. 
 
 Now, sir, I voted for this law, not because I thought tiie Union would 
 be dissolved if it did not pass, but because it was a law to enforce one 
 
12 
 
 of the provisions of the Constitution, and a law which the Abolitionists 
 of the North had rendered necessary. It is not precisely such a law as 
 I would wish. I could suggest an amendment which would render it 
 more eflicient, in my judgment, and meet the general approbation in all 
 quarters. But this is not what you seek for. It is its " immediate and 
 unconditional repeal."' This, permit me to say to you, you will never 
 live to see, unless you outlive slavery itself, or the existence of this 
 Union. And so long as your efforts are directed as they are, you will 
 prevent any change from being made, however necessary and proper it 
 may be. 
 
 In conclusion, let me say, that if you should again find any of the citi- 
 zens of your county who anxiously desire to continue this anti-slavery 
 agitation by means of Abolition petitions, or petitions of the character 
 of that I have been considering, I request you will not send them to me. 
 You can send them to some of the higher law-yers in the House, whose 
 names are sufficiently notorious as to require no insertion here ; sixty- 
 eight of whom but a few days ago voted to receive a petition for the 
 same purpose, which denounced the Constitution as an " unholy com- 
 promise." 
 
 THOMAS L. HARRIS. 
 

 
 
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