text: Pre* Um Mm Nl, Wo? ?<W Haa?|?hlr* *?r Ik* Fnlm Dutm *??*? IMS lu MmkIhimi. Manchester, (N. H.,) Nov. 98.1600. 7b <As Editor of the Boston Putt : Having just returned from an immense Union meeting held here this evening in the City Hall, in pursuance of a call issued by a committee of representatives for the purpose, and comprising several eminent and patriotic citizens of the great political parties, I have undertaken to offer for the First a somewhat general account of the proceedings, in old people of Boston may learn the feelings and sentiments of the men of the Granite State in relation to the incendiaries against the military compromise measures at the late session of Congress. The ball contained at least two thousand people pretty round number for a young and far inland city; and full a thousand, who in vain essayed an audience into the overcrowded hall, had to retire much disappointed, in consequence of not arriving in season. Among those who were on hand in time was a delegation of about five hundred from Concord, accompanied by a fine hand of music. At balf pant 7, the meeting wan raHeJ to order by B F. Ayer, smj., chairman of the commttee of air.mg? mentK. w ho said thai it waa hardly necessary to explain the object of the mealing, any further than to tsav that it waa called for tbe purpone of obtaining a public txpim aton of sentiment teiicing to ulU\ tlioa^ axiutione wtucli were dietracting the couutry and endangering the Uuion He now move.i that the meeting be organized, and pro poaed the following lis; ot otftcerj, and they wete chosen unanimously t President?Hon. Kichard H Aver. Vit* /'refrdeufi?-Robeit Bsad, William C. Clarke, Moses Fellows, Walter French. Jo*i?h Crosby, l?a*c C Flanders, E. A Straw, C. E P<>. er'. M. G J Tewks bury, John S. Kidder, Jems* Her-ey, Henry T Mowatt, Mace Moulton, Herman Foater, James McK. Wilkin*. William P. Newell, Warren L Lent, Luther Farley, Moody Currier, Inane Riddle, Jame* S. Cneney, Freder ick Smyth, John S Elliott. Jacob F. Jame*. . Stcrttariu?Isaac W. Smith, Tboa. P. Pierce, Abram Roberaton, John L. Fitch, John W. Johnson, David Hill. Upon taking the chair, the president aaid the explana tory remarka of the chairman ol tbe committee in rela tion to tbe object of the meeting rendered any further atatements unnecessary, other than to congratulate the assembly by communicating the fact that a number ol dletinguiebed and eloquent gentlemen from different patta of the State were present by invitation, and prepared to addreae the meeting aa soon aa some lettere should have been read and a eeriea of resolutions submitted. Mr. Ayer, chairman of tbe committee, now read the following letters: CoKComo, Nov. 10,1630. Gentlemen : I regret that circumstances beyond my control will prevent uie from attending your Union meet ing on Wednesday next. Of the purposes of that meeting, I most cordially approve. The preservation of the Union of the States in its integrity far surpasses in importance any matter of mere local or temporary interest, and it is one in which good and petriotic men of all names and parties may well unite. In our doubts in regard to a single measure of the general government, or even in our disapproval of it, to lose eight of the unexampled peace, prosperity, and happiness which it has so long secured to the people of this country, and still more to hazard the continuance of these blessings by encouraging a spirit of opposition to the constitution and laws, would, in my judgment, be the very extreme of folly. I sincerely hope that the efforts of the gentlemen who stay have the pleasure, from which I am precluded, of being present at your meeting, may strengthen the bonds of our glorious Union, and avert the long train of calamities sure to follow their dissolution. Yours, respectfully, JAMES BELL. B. F. Ate*, esq., and others, Manchester. CONCO, (N. H.), Nov. 13, 1830. Gentlemen: Your polite invitation for me to attend a Union meeting at Manchester on the 30th inst., has been received. The great object of that meeting—"to advise upon the course best calculated to allay all unnecessary further agitation" of certain sectional questions—meets with my hearty concurrence. Without more forbearance as to such agitation among the sister States, it is my solemn conviction that the present hallowed Union of those States will Be placed in fearful jeopardy. It is another alarming sign of the times that any portion of our law-abiding community should either recommend forcible resistance to the laws, or actually particular measures designed to overawe the constituted authorities and defeat the execution of legal precepts issued by those authorities. This is in direct hostility to the injunctions of Washington, in his Farewell Address to his grateful countrymen; and it seems no less hostile and derogatory to every sound principle for sustaining public order and obedience to what the legislative agents of the people end the States have enacted. The only objection to such obedience which has come to my knowledge, and which seems supported by some semblance of argument, is one very dangerous for individuals to rely on at any time so as to use force. But it is much more hazardous when the measure resisted is one sanctioned, after much deliberation, by Congress and the President; one provided for explicitly in the constitution itself one carried into effect, except as to some details since added, under the Father of his Country as early as 1793 and one which has received the approval of the Supreme Court, giving as the highest judicial tribunal of the Union, and of the elevated law officer of the government, the present Attorney General of the United States. It would afford me much pleasure to attend your meeting, and express my views at length on this subject, were it not that this last question is likely to come before me officially, one warrant having thus been issued at ready by the circuit court of which I am a member. Consequently, I do not deem it appropriate to offer my own opinion on it now, or at any public meeting, until the particular who may raise it before me judicially have been fully heard. But at all times, and in all places, I shall never hesitate to raise my voice against forcible resistance to established laws, made by our own agents and subject to be altered by majorities peaceably, whenever obnoxious. And in point of consequences and common sense, it must be as culpable to thwart their extension or impair the Union by covert and indirect means as by open violence. Respectfully, LEWIS WOODBURY. B. P. Ayer, Abr. Robertson, Amos Hadley, and others, on committee of arrangements. Boston, November 10,1890. My Bill was when I received yesterday the invitation of the committee to attend the meeting at Manchester, my expectation was that I should immediately leave this city; and I contented myself with a very brief reply. The weather having detained me for a day, I have time to write a more respectful acknowledgment of your Communication, and to exercise more distinctly As well the gratification it would afford me to attend the Meeting as my pleasure that such a convention is to be Convened. A "Union meeting, without distinction of Party," held in the largest town of the city in the State, Can hardly fail to be attended with good consequences. There is evidently abroad a spirit of disunion and disunion to the laws, which good men ought to meet, made to check if they can. Men are to be found who propose as their own rule of conduct, and recommend the same rule to others, "peaceable resistance to the laws;" that is to say, they propose to restrain the laws of the land so far as they can do so consistently with their own personal safety. Their obligations to support the constitution go for nothing; their oaths to act, if they hold any public trust, according to law, go for nothing; it is enough that they do not, by forcible resistance, expose themselves to danger and penalties. This is, certainly, a new strain of patriotism. We have never before known such sentiments to be circulated, condemned, and acted upon by any who professed love for their country or respect for its institutions. A still more extravagant notion is sometimes advanced; which is, that individuals may judge of their rights and duties, under the constitution and the laws, by some rule which, according to their idea, is above both the constitution and the laws. You and I, sir, and our fellow citizens of New Hampshire, have not so read the books of authority, either religion or civil. We do not so understand either the institutions of Christianity or the institutions of government. And we may well value more and more highly the government which is over us, when we Sea that the weapon aimed against its preservation are also, for the most part, equally directed against those great fundamental, moral, and political truths upon which all good governments and the peace of society at all times must necessarily rest. I have the fullest belief, sir, that in the State of New Hampshire this disorganizing spirit will meet the rabble, a rabble shall not be the reproach of the nation. The sentiment of the State in Congress generally supported the peace measures of the last session, and by these means I doubt not that the State will stand, it is time, at cord and animosity should cease. It is time that a better understanding and more friendly sentiments were revived between the North and the South. My dear sir, the Union will be preferred, and the laws will be observed and approved. Let me take counsel, and that for our own sake, for the sake of courage which prompts man to a resolution of the character of their duties. We will say the Union for our own sake, for the sake of the country, for the honor of free gowns, and even for the benefit of those who see ready with ruthless hands to tear it under. I am, my dear sir, with true regard, Your friend and obedient servant, DANIEL WEBSTER B. F. Aver, esq. Three letters having been directed to the chairman read the following resolutions: "I recognize, That we attribute the unparalleled prosperity we have enjoyed to the nation to the Union of the states under the constitution. When we consider the true value of property, persons, and liberty, and the restrictions upon freedom of opinion under the monarchical governments of the Old World; or when we look upon the neighboring republics of the New World, distracted by civil dissensions, and struggling to maintain even a feeble existence, we cannot doubt too seriously, or estimate too highly, the privileges we enjoy as American citizens; and believing that Daniel Webster, that if our present system of government defrays, the noble idea of American liberty, our utterly, has been established, will be extinguished forever, we are led by every dictate of our understanding, and very emotion of our heart, to adopt his sentiment and the sentiment of another distinguished statesman from our own country. If we are not struck with judicial blindness, as were God's chosen people of old, we shall cling to this constitution as the mariner of his to the last plank, when right and the tempest closes around him, 'Let us stand by the constitution as it is, and by our country as well.' It is one, Informed, and entire; let it be a truth engraven on our behalf Let it be borne on the flag under which we rally, in Every exigency, that we have one country, one combatant To the destiny. "2 Rights, That the fabric of our general government is band upon compromise. Framed by a convention placed over by Washington, and composed of the wise men at a time that tried men's minds, Told from different sections of the country, and representing all its vital concerns, it was the opening of reciprocal Concession, of mutual respect, and of sincere respect; and as was an framed, so only upon the mind has been Compromise, concession, respect, and affection. It be sustained and perpetuated. "I believe, That through the combined agency of southern ultraism and northern fanaticism our beloved country was recently brought to the verge of dissolution and ruin; and our warmest gratitude is justly due to those patriots since whom whose wise counsels have conducted us through this, the darkest hour of our peril, in safety; that we cordially approve those measures they have passed, which fetter forever the vexed questions growing out of our late territorial acquisitions; and that we recognize in their union that spirit of constitutional and compromise by which alone, in so dangerous a crisis, the government of our fathers could still be preserved—a government established by its common dangers, suffering, and success." "Rolotd, That, in common with the people of the entire North, we cannot look upon the institution of slavery with other feelings than those of regret; yet, as citizens of the United States, mindful of our constitutional obligations, we are content to leave the matter where the constitution has let the States whom it exists." It is resolved, That the fugitive slave law recently enacted by Congress, based upon and supplementary to the act of 1872, passed by those who assisted in the foundation of the constitution, and then by the immortal Washington, is, in the opinion of our wisest statesmen and most profound jurists, constitutional, and accordingly binding upon all the people of the nation; and while we recognize to the fullest extent the right of the people to call for the modification or repeal of this or any other enactment, yet, as law-abiding and order-loving citizens, we cannot encourage any irregular opposition to its acknowledged authority, or countenance any attempt to resist its execution; that we entertain no respect for the sentiments of those abolitionists who set up or affect to set up their own private conscience as paramount to the constitution and laws of their country; that we are opposed to nullification at the North as well as the South; and that we know of no security for life, liberty, or property, but in the absolute supremacy of law. "6. Relieved, That, inasmuch as fanaticism is driving to enkindle anew National animosity, and designing and misguided men, seizing upon every plausible pretext, are organizing harshly and unjustly our glorious constitution, and speaking with contempt of the Union, and, forgetful of all those ideas of enlarged patriotism that glowed so brightly in the breasts of the founders of our government, the endangering, in the pursuit of peace and harmony of these States, this is a time of all others when we should remember and observe the sentiments and advice of the Father of his Country—that the name of America must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local ducal distinctions; that the American people should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to the Union; watching for its preservation with jealous auxilium to the Union; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enable the tamed ties which now link together the various parts." During the reading of the fifth resolution, someone cried out "no such thing as the interruption was promptly silenced." The Hon. Lehabod Bartlett, of Portsmouth, was the first speaker called upon, and his address breathed a truly fraternal spirit. Turning to a banner on the platform, bearing the inscription, "the constitution and the Union," he read it, and said that though not a young man, under that banner he would cheerfully enlist, and fight till he conquered, or fall with it, if, unhappily, it should fall in the contest, which certain parties were pursuing a course to provoke. In the call for the meeting, he perceived that it was addressed to all who were in favor of obeying the laws and sustaining the constituted authorities of the land—a call which contained an ominous implication that there were those who were opposed to such obedience and giving such sport. This was true. There were newspapers and public speakers of high standing who had even urged a forcible resistance to the laws and to the constituted authorities; and he asked if their course would be tolerated in this community. Without submission to the law, a state of anarchy must follow. The only objection urged against some of the laws passed under the constitution, and demanded by it, was that they bore oppressively on a peculiar portion of the people who were subject to them. But there was no novelty in the law most objected to—no new display of injustice. It had been in existence since 1703, and for sixty years the zealots had lost as good a chance for rebellion as they had just at this time discovered. Were we to give up everything we have most valuable on earth to set free the slaves with whom we have nothing to do? The evil existed and was fully Acknowledged as such when the constitution was formed, and received the most anxious consideration of the best and wisest men of that day. But now a set of young men set themselves up above Washington, Roger Sherman, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison. If those venerated men had been such stern engraving abolitionists as have now arrayed themselves against the law, we should never have had a constitution, or enjoyed the blessings which we have reaped under it. In the fugitive-slave law, without trial by jury, be saw no greater hardship or danger to the personal liberty of any free man than exists in the case of a fugitive from justice. Ha raferrei to the letter of Joseph Quincy, senior, once a member of Congress, a judge, mayor of Boston, and till recently president of Harvard College, counting resistance to the last passed in strict pursuance of the agreement entered into by our fathers; and when such a man recommended a violation of the agreement, it was, he said, time for its friends to rally, and make their determination to maintain it felt throughout the land. Who would destroy the constitution and our institutions for all the negroes that ever trod the soil of Africa? Not he. The feelings of the North had been respected by Congress in the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia; and California, New Mexico, and Utah, were secure from slavery. The Nashville Convention had decided to wait for the course of the North in relation to the compromises which had been adopted; but he was satisfied that the southern fanatics will execute their threats, if the North prove unfaithful to the compromises. The first blow struck will be followed by the dissolution of the Union. But would the slaves be freed by it? The braggadocio of the North would find that in resisting the government, and violating the rights secured by the constitution, they were as weak as infants. But whether they conquered or were conquered, the country would be equally ruined in either case. Neither law nor liberty could survive the catastrophe. Ruin, destruction, and bloodshed must result. And he was astonished to find that clergymen were encouraging the measures which must be followed by the North. At the end of a decisive civil war, those who deem war even with a national enemy as wrong were found in trying to civil war. Surely such men could not foresee effects from causes, or they would not be guilty of such absurd inconsistencies. The president now introduced General Frank Pierce, and that gallant gentleman was received with enthusiastic cheers. Disclaiming any purpose of making any thing like a regular address, he said he never before was so much under the influence of conflicting emotions. There was much in the appearance of the assembly which filled his heart with joy; and yet a feeling of sadness oppressed him when he cast his eyes over that vast, calm, resolved multitude, and remembered that they had gathered there to consider a question which for twenty years had never been raised in any public body in our country. That question was not whether the Union should be perpetual, but whether there should be the union. He was in the United States Senate when that word was heard for the first time on that floor; and never should he forget the thrill of horror it sent through that body. A deep and solemn pause ensued, and senators shuddered as they slowly turned their eyes upon the bold author of the appalling argument. But he had now lived to hear hisses while one of the secretaries of the "standing was reading a resolution in favor of union." This remark drew back, and Gen. Pierce proceeded. They hiss again. Last the men who do it show them. Up rose two clergymen, the Rev Mr. Foes and Rev. Mr. Davis—the former a pulpitist, old-line Baptist, the latter a freewill Baptist, settled over a congregation in this place. Here, then, (said Gen. P.,) we have men who seek to destroy the Union. (One of them replied, "No. If you will let us explain, we will show that we do not intend that we are willing to meet the question, however, any way." Gen. Pierce continued: You shall have your opportunity all in good time. Let the discussion come, and he that is defeated must go to the wall and yield the question. That is the way to manage such matters in a free country. There must be no breaking up of the government in case of defeat. If we are precipitated into a war by fanaticism, we cannot conquer. Both sections of the country may be immolated. Neither could come out of the contest short of ruin. It was said that we of the North could bring two men into the field for every one that the South could muster; but it would be found, when the trial should come, that the man who now makes that boast would not be one of the two men who was to go forth to meet even the one man from the South. (Great cheering) General Pierce said the men then in the hall who had abandoned themselves to the infatuation. Of disunion sentiment would probably live to regret and repent of their present course in the coming days of desrepondence, when the infirmities of age shall have crept upon them, they would gather their children around them, and confess now they were once betrayed into moral treason, and as a legacy say to them, "Stand by your Union, and stand by your country." He said he deemed it unnecessary to go into a formal argument in support of the Union. The resolutions embraced all that could be said on that subject. When the Compromise was first proposed in Congress, he had no doubt that the Union would go down unless the measures recommended were carried out. Who did not deplore slavery? But what sound-thinking mind regarded that as the only evil which could rest upon the land? The men who would dissolve the Union did not have or deplore slavery more than he did; but even with it, we had lived in peace, prosperity, and security from the domination of our institutions to the present time. If the constitution provided for the return of fugitive slaves, it should be done. That was what he wanted to do; that was what our fathers agreed we should do; and that was what the friends of the Union established by them wanted to do. [Hisses.] There, said General F., are the arguments of the "higher law," I These provokers of disunion claimed to be men of humanity, with no other object in view than humanity. They were the men who were always preaching against war. Yet how was a peaceable dissolution of the Union to be accomplished? If one portion of the States could succeed without violence, how long would peace continue? The slaves would escape. Their owners would pursue them. If the slaves were protected in the free States, the owners would pursue with aimed forces. Troops would be raised to resist them; battalions would be aided to battalions on each side, and the free States would be the battle-ground, where such armies would be found engaged beyond what Napoleon ever saw on the most terrific of his bloody battle fields. It was the fear of such dreadful consequences that caused such a universal revolution of feeling throughout the Union when the original Compromise project failed. The eyes of the nation were opened to the magnitude Of the danger. Even those who opposed it in Congress felt that they were standing on the brink of a precipice. There seemed to be no step between disunion and a faithful adherence to the compact of the Union. He knew that was the feeling. Members of Congress had confessed it. The resort to disunion, as an experiment to get rid of political evil, would be about as wise as if a man were to think of remedying a broken arm by cutting his head off. The danger which would have existed, if the compromise had not been gassed, would now exist, if they were defeated by the action of the opponents of those measures. They were fairly within the scope of the constitution, and were to be obeyed with the same fidelity as that sacred instrument itself; which all good citizens must and would stand by while a plank remained. Happily, through the lowering clouds of the passing storm, the white cliffs of concession were in sight, and the joyful cry was: "The Union! Eternal Union! General Fierce spoke with a free and fiery energy, which created and maintained a lively sensation during the whole period of his eloquent and uncompromising speech." The Key. M. Foes now claimed to be heard in reply to General Fierce, saying that the call for the meeting was addressed to the people of Manchester. William C. Clark, esq., one of the committee, requested the reverend gentleman to be seated, reminding him that the call was for a meeting of citizens who were in favor of supporting the constitution and laws. Mr. Fobs, or someone near him, said something about the proceedings in Faneuil Hall last Friday night; and Mr. Clark requested the speaker to be seated, or to leave the house. The Hon. Joel Eastman, of Conway, having been introduced, said he was pleased at being present at the Union meeting for the sake of the Union. All party ties sink into insignificance when measures leading to dissolution were in progress. The safety of the constitution rested on a few simple stipulations set forth on a piece of parchment. If they were disregarded, the constitution was nothing. Its power and efficacy were wholly in the living men of the day. He could not understand how men of education, and professing to be religious, could think of preserving the Union, and at the same time aim to break its stipulations. Their opinions proved that there was danger that the few cords that bound the Union would be severed. Could they suppose that one-half of the States would see their rights cut down, and still remain in the Union? Would the North remain in it, under similar wrong? Here we were not in the habit of submitting to a breach of contract, even for an old horse. After touching upon the annexation of Texas, and the acquisition of territory from Mexico, he asked what had occurred that we should trample the constitutional rights of the South under the foot. How had the fugitive-slave law changed our duty? Its opponents said it was unconstitutional. Then, let the constituted authorities decide if it be so or not. Others said it ought to be regaled, at any rate; and who could expect that could be done, even after another nine months of agitation? What was to be gained by repeal? The fugitive must be given up, or the constitution must cease to exist. It is one of the agreements? One of the most important stipulations, made expressly for the security of property in the United States. Who could expect to excite the feelings of the people of New Hampshire so far as to make them false to her aggrandizement? Who are the people who demand such a sacrifice? Why, certain persons who have very tender consciences. But in the great affairs of life, we must have some brains as well as some conscience; and brains were particularly needed now, or the thread on which the constitution hangs would be severed, and severed forever. It was much that the opponents of the law were not aiming at dissolution; but were they not pursuing a course which must result in dissolution? Have the Rev. Mr. Davie, displaying a pamphlet in his hand, desired to be heard. Mr. Clark, of the committee, replied: This is not a meeting for controversial debate; it is called for a specific object. If you want a meeting for debate, you must call one, and speakers from our side will be appointed to meet you. Mr. Eastman rammed, and admitted that at the South were some unconstitutional State laws, which ought not to exist; and could not be enforced if their constitutionality should be properly treated in the Supreme Court of the United States. But the law under discussion was a national one, extending over the whole country, and binding upon every part; and if not obeyed might give rise to some American, who would ride upon the whirlwind and direct the storm for his own advancement, amid the utter wreck of the constitution and Union. The Hon. Moses Norris, of the United States Senate, was next called upon, and he proceeded at once to express his utter and total dissent from the sentiments and opinions put forth at recent promiscuous meetings by the "higher-law" party; and he charged upon members of the same faction stamp the delay of a month in organizing the House at Washington, at the commencement of the session, and reminded the meeting that the election of Speaker, and the consequent proceeding with the public business, was effected by compromise, and followed by the happiest results. He aimed to describe the development of the spirit of faction in the Senate, and its embarrassing operation for several months. He did not entirely approve of all the compromise measures which had passed Congress; but he believed that, taken as a whole, and fairly carried into effect, they would promote the peace of the country. Nothing had been lost to freedom by that action; for without action slavery could have been taken into the new Territories quite as well as it can be taken into them now under the legislation for organization which has been had. Here, at the North, the measure which has raised the greatest and most senseless clamor was the fugitive-slave law. Some of its assailants, laying down singularly nice distinctions of duty, say they will not offer any forcible resistance to the law, but they will not aid, even if called upon, in carrying it into effect. "Amen," ejaculated one of the interrupting preachers who had so frequently before indulged In occasional running remarks, Mr. Norris here read the fugitive clause in the constitution; which, he said, he had sworn to support. When I took that oath, he added, I had no secret reservations. If I had, I should have been a paralyzed villain. I care not who or what the man is who makes such a reservation? Whether he who takes the oath belongs to the pulpit, the bar, or any other purpose? He is a perjured villain if he refuses to support this provision among others. The outcry about the kabot corrupt was all humbuggery, as every schoolboy knew. Rev. Mr. Davis: What does the governor of Ohio say about it? Mr. Norris: I don't know, and I don't know what he says. Literary schoolboy who has read of Dickens' spelling-book knows that it is ill humbug. What man's sense supposes that Congress would suspend the habeas corpus, when the constitution expressly declares that it shall not be suspended, except in two specified contingencies named in the instrument. It was said that the writ was practically suspended in the case of the fugitive, because the proceedings were so summary in their character. Now, it is not true that the proceedings had been made more summary than they were under the law of 1783. The proceeds of reclaiming a slave were no more calamitous than other cases of arrest in relation to which the law for the slave might be applied for. Rev. Mr. Davis: Let me explain my own ground. Mr. Norris: I am not speaking of your own ground in particular. I find the objection I am speaking of in a resolution passed at your late meeting. We will not use open resistance, say the higher-law gentlemen; but they labor incessantly and insidiously to instill error and hostility into the minds of the people in regard to the law. One of their errors is, that there is no danger from the application they are inflaming. But there was danger. He had been through one crisis, and he knew there was danger. Men at the South, who had been in no way connected with the doctrine or spirit of nullification in that times, say there is danger. They know it. They are so situated and circumstanced that they know where the danger lies. If the agitation is kept up, it will not be five years before the Union will be dashed into fragments. It is inevitable, if the constitution be openly assailed, or undermined by false and disingenuous attacks upon the legislation imperatively demanded by it. Who could suppose that the South would submit to it, even if they had no consideration of property interest in the question? If it were merely a question of submitting to an unprincipled denial of their constitutional right, they would indignantly resent the course of the North, under the guidance of what is called the "higher law." Where do these violators of the constitution find the duty of obeying this higher law laid down? The preacher: Read the 8th chapter of Matthew. Mr. Norris: I have read it. The fugitive-slave law, in substance as it now is, has existed sixty years without its constitutionality having been suspected. They cannot show in what it is unconstitutional. Preacher: You won't let us allow it. Mr. Norris: You had an opportunity to show it the other night; and you did not do it, because you could not. The Hon. Levi Chamberlain, of Keene, followed with some general remarks, to the effect that almost the unanimous opinion of New Hampshire was in favor of obeying the constitution and the laws. The loyalty of the people of New Hampshire to the institutions of the country was not to be questioned. There was not a sentiment in the resolutions before the meeting which would not be endorsed by every genuine son of New Hampshire; and they would be adopted as the political creed of the State. He did not think the few women and men who entertained the new notions about constitutional duty could do much harm in New Hampshire. They did not belong in the State, but were of foreign growth. The Hon Charles G. Atherton, of Nashua, next called to the stand, said he concurred with his whole heart in the objects of the meeting. The object was to declare that the people of New Hampshire were prepared to uphold the constitution, laws, and institutions of the country; that they would rebuke the attempts made to create jealousy and hatred, which must, in the end, produce disruption of the Union; and that they will discountenance those who, while they say they will not resist the laws, do and say all in their power to bring them into contempt. Such persons were like the madmen spoken of in Scripture, who scatter about firebrands, arrows, and death, and then say: "Am I not in spirit?" While every friend to his country hoped that the perpetual topic of agitation had been affected, these disturbers were doing everything in their power to unsettle the adjustment. Honor, exclaimed Mr. Atherton, to those wise and patriotic men who effected the Compromise! Honor to Henry Clay! Honor to Daniel Webster! [A few hisses.] We all know who entered the garden of Eden to hiss, and what was his mission. The mission of the bisser here, whether he be from the pulpit or not, is no better than that of the respectable personage who stole into the garden of Eden. Honor to Lewis Cass! Honor to Dickinson! Honor to Foote! Honor to all those who exerted themselves on the side of their country's institutions, and stood shoulder to shoulder for the country's institutions. Institution! He continued: The very efforts of the professed friends of the slave here at the North to keep up the agitation had done more to retard its prospective abolition than all other causes combined. Nothing could have prevented measures in that direction but the misguided, brainless efforts of the "higher-law" party. They were not the sure result of their machinations should they unhappily prove unsuccessful. Had they the least conception of one of the consequences which must follow, they would shrink back almost into nonentity. They did not foresee their own destruction in the general ruin. But could they expect to go unhurt? As soon as the first drop of blood shall have been shed in the contest, the attention of men would be at once turned to the primary instigators, and they would not be spared in the hour of carnage. After some glowing remarks about Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, and Taylor, whose deeds and Titian had stamped their names in living light, he spoke of the national glories won by the men of the South and the North fighting side by side on many a stricken field where ever the flag of their common country had been borne by her armies. The Union purchased by their blood was not to be put in jeopardy on account of the visionary speculations of dreaming enthusiasts, or by listening to the domestic traitor who seeks to undermine its foundations. Their views might be entitled to some consideration, if anyone could show that any possible good could result from adopting them. Who was prepared to say the violent liberality of the blacks would not be the signal for their extermination? Jefferson has said that the two races, as they relatively stand at the South, cannot live together upon terms of equality; and we do not want the blacks here to come into direct competition with our own labor. Certainly he was not prepared on their account to destroy the Union, under which we had enjoyed a greater degree of freedom, taken as a whole, than the people of any country in the world. Where even had our race of men enjoyed so much of liberty as had been enjoyed here under our American institutions! What if our Union was not free from one imperceptible one which did not affect the rights or interests of a large majority of the whole people? Was it therefore to be annihilated! He that would do it, would, if he could, blot out the glorious orb of day, became some star-gazer should discover a single speck on his broad and Flaming disc. The Hon. George W. Nesmith, of Franklin, being called upon, spoke of the security we enjoy in lives, persons, and property, and all other rights, from the universal sentiment that they depend upon the observance of law. If that sentiment were undernamed, not one of those rights would be secure. He referred to Shay's rebellion, where parties aggrieved in the matter of taxes undertook to contend in arms with the constituted authorities. Those insurgents only carried out the principle now avowed by the "higher-law" party, that each man is at liberty to make his own conscience the measure of his obedience to the law and its authorities. He next adverted to the extent of the dissatisfaction at the South. It was no longer South Carolina standing alone. She was surrounded and aided by other States which felt their rights to be equally endangered. The testing of dissatisfaction with the national government had become so strong and general, that it had become difficult in some of the States to get men to accept office under that government. So far from doing anything to increase that state of feeling, the people of New Hampshire would rise in opposition to secession now and forever. They would stand up for the Union men of the South, and against the disunion men of the North. After some remarks about the "higher law," he said the ship called the Constitution had been riding in a storm during the past six months, and was still sound. He concluded by saying, if there be a plank in our ship that we don't like the color of, shall we tear it out, and let the water crush in and sink her? Or shall we let the plank remain, and permit her to sail on in her glory, as in other days? The president now called upon Gen. Pierce again; but on account of the lateness of the hour, he declined to make any remarks, further than to refer to the equal gallantry displayed by the South and North, the blood of whose sons had flowed together on so many victorious sides. 