After all he is no more than the Chief
Executive officer of the government. His
province is not to make, but to execute its
laws, and it is a remarkable fact that in our
history that notwithstanding the repeated
efforts of the anti-slavery party, no single
act has ever passed Congress, unless we
may possibly except the Missouri Compro
mise, impairing in the slightest degree the
rights ot the South to their property in
slaves. And it may also be observed,
judging from present indications, that no
probability exists of the passage of such
an act by a majority of both Houses either
in the present or the next Congress. Sure
ly under these circumstances, we ought to
be restrained from present action by the
'precept of Him who spake as never man
spake, that “ sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof.” The day of evil may never
come, unless we shall rashly bring it upon
ourselves. It is alleged as one cause for
immediate secession that the Southern
States are denied equal rights with the oth
er States in the common te> ritories. But by
what authority are those denied? Not by
Congress, which has never passed, and i
believe never will pars, any act to exclude
slavery from these territories; and certain
ly not by the Supreme Court, which has
solemnly decided that slaA es are property,
and like all other property, their owners
have a right to take them into the common
territories and hold them there under the
protection of the Constitution. So far,
then as Congress is concerned, the objec
tion is not to anything they have already
done, but to what they may do hereafter.
