, viz.:--"No act suppressing the slave-trade
between the slaveholding States." Unfortunately for Mr. Webster, he is
here, for the fifth time, virtually held up as a disorganizer, and an
enemy of the Union; for in his speech in the Senate (6th February, 1837)
he remarked,--"As to the point, the right of regulating the transfer of
slaves from one State to another, he did not know that he entertained
any doubt, because the Constitution gave Congress the right to regulate
trade and commerce between the States. Trade in what? In whatever was
the subject of commerce and ownership. If slaves were the subjects of
ownership, then trade in them between the States was subject to the
regulation of Congress."

Mr. Webster declared, that the work of the two days in which he rejoiced
had fortified the Constitution, and strengthened the bond of the Union;
and yet we are now solemnly warned, by the very men and party with whom
he is acting, that the bond is to be severed, should Congress pass any
one of five laws, all and each of which he, the great expounder,
declares the Constitution authorizes Congress to pass. So it seems the
great peril to which we are exposed, the course which is to make the
fabric of our government to tremble over the heads of the people of
Boston, is, not the violation of the Constitution, nor the breach of its
compromises, nor the invasion of the rights of the South, but the
exercise by Congress of powers which Mr. Webster declares to be
undoubtedly constitutional. The Abolitionists supposed they were
following a safe guide when they confined themselves, in their petitions
to Congress for legislative action against slavery, exclusively to such
measures as they were assured, by the eminent expounder, were strictly
constitutional. The Abolitionists have sympathized with this gentleman
in the obloquy he incurred, in common with themselves, for holding
opinions unpalatable to the slaveholders, and for maintaining the
constitutional rights of Congress. Because he insisted, in the Senate,
on the power of Congress over slavery and the slave-trade in the
District of Columbia, Mr. Rives, of Virginia, was so unkind as to say,
that the gentleman from Massachusetts, "if it so pleased his fancy,
might disport himself in tossing squibs and firebrands about this hall;
but those who are sitting upon a barrel of gunpowder, liable to be blown
up by his dangerous missiles, could hardly be expected to be quite as
calm and philosop