Abolition a Sedition, by a Northern Man. Calvin Colton
law of the country on the subject, and that is a fair expression of the public mind—of the political creed of the citizens of the United States, in regard to the particulars here represented.
We observe, then, that certain specific modes of combined popular action for political purposes, are here licensed. Of course, we suppose it is fairly to be inferred, that the framers of these Constitutional laws did not intend to license all and any modes whatever of popular action for public purposes. Such an assumption would be preposterous and absurd. It would be tantamount to the setting aside of all authority, and the dissolution of one all government. On the contrary, the declaration, that these modes are lawful, is an implied and virtual declaration, that other modes are unlawful. We think there can be no mistake, and we trust, no difference of opinion, on this point. Because, if other mode be lawful, then any and all others are, and the rule falls to the ground—is good for nothing; it is, in that case, a mere mockery of legislation, and the community is left without law, and without government, in this particular.
Moreover, a consideration of the occasion of this law goes to settle the question of its meaning and limitation: It was the common and known prohibition of these rights, under absolute and despotic governments, and more particularly under the Colonial administration of British law in America, that suggested these declarations of rights in the establishment of our independence, and which caused them to be adopted as parts of Constitutional and fundamental law. These rights were deemed sufficient, and they have always proved satisfactory. They have also been held very sacred. The people of this country would shed their most precious blood, before they would surrender them. It was an invaluable acquisition to liberty. And as this law is deemed sufficient, and has proved so by experience, we suppose it will be allowed to be equally important, that it should not be transcended, as that it should be maintained; and that a licentious extension thereof is as criminal as an abridgement. It has every thing in it that a people can ask, who are free to choose their own legislators and magistrates. If the views of the public press, and the petitions and remonstrances of the people, carried forward to the Government, when they may see occasion for it, are not respected, the people know their remedy, and can effectually apply it at the polls. They have liberty of speech and of the press, the right of popular assemblages for the discussion of public interests and measures, and the right of petition, address, and remonstrance, guarantied to them; and to crown the whole, they are themselves the source of all law and government, always subjected to the will of the majority, in a Constitutional mode of action.
Now we ask, where is the license in the Constitutional law of this land for such a political machinery as the American Anti-Slavery Society? It cannot be found. Individuals are free to speak, write, and publish, what they please, on slavery, or any other subject—they being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. The people may assemble, in a peaceable manner, and discuss any subject that may be agreeable to them; they may pass any resolutions they may see fit, as an expression of their opinions or wishes; but the only constitutional and lawful mode of popular action for political purposes, designed to influence the measures of the Government, or to effect any change in the laws, apart from the use of the elective franchise, is for the people to connect themselves with the proper authorities, by petition, or address, or remonstrance, unless they see reasons for abandoning their purpose. There is no license for a permanent political organization, to act independently of the constituted authorities of the land; nor to act with them. Government requires no such auxilliary; much less can it tolerate an opponent of such a character. The Government is the only permanent, political organization, which the Constitution recognises.
We are inclined to believe, that these statements will commend themselves to the common sense of all intelligent persons, and that this position will be admitted as indisputable. What! an independent political body within the State, acting under a polity of its own, plotting and carrying on designs against the State, and claiming the State’s protection, while it is enacting treason, if it chooses so to do! What an anomaly! Who ever dreamt that such a thing were possible? Who would think that it could be advocated and defended—maintained as a right? And yet, what else, and what less, is the American Anti-Slavery Society?
The wisdom of the Constitution, or Constitutions—for those of the States, and that of the nation, embody the same identical principles—in licensing such modes of political action as have been quoted, and in prohibiting all others, is obvious. If any association, or associations, of individuals, were at liberty to set up an independent political machinery, to be extended without limit, and to be managed without control or responsibility, there would be no safety for the constituted authorities of the States and Nation. They would be liable, at any time, to be undermined and overthrown by agencies under their own eyes. There is equal wisdom in prohibiting such combinations altogether; for there is no demand, there can be no lawful occasion, for them in such a government as ours, where the people can always move, without let or hinderance, directly, towards the objects they desire, or which the majority desire, under the prescribed forms of the Constitution and laws. If it were allowable for the people to depart from these forms in one instance, they might do it in another; if in one degree, they might extend it at their own option; and there would be no end to it. Sedition and treason, in that case, would be authorised by law. But, most happily, the Constitutional law of this land has been minutely scrupulous in prohibiting all permanent political organizations, which are not created by itself, as parts of one great political fabric, asserting sole empire over its own jurisdiction. We say, in prohibiting them, as we have before shown, that the license given is equally a law of prohibition for all that is not licensed.
This wisdom is moreover apparent from the consideration, that by adhering to these forms, there is always a balance of influence against any attempts to injure, or impair, or overthrow the Government, Constitution, and laws of the land, or to surprise the public by the advantages acquired by political combinations of a permanent and organized character. The freedom of speech guaranteed to one citizen, is guaranteed to all. Hence, the private influence of one man on one side, is balanced by that of another on the other side, of the same question; and between the two, the chances are in favour of the right. The same remark applies to the influence of the press: there is always a balance of power, operating on the public, so long as the forms of the Constitution are observed. In the same manner, popular assemblies of one party and the other, so long as they keep within the Constitutional license, neutralize each other, in all their inordinate excesses, and afford a chance for the right to prevail. Whenever a petition, or address, or remonstrance is preferred to Government, in regard to which there is a difference of opinion, its undue influence will be counteracted by another. And so a salutary balance of power is maintained in all the Constitutional modes of political action.
But the moment the Constitutional license is transcended, as in the case of the American Anti-Slavery Society, this healthful balance of power is lost. Such an unconstitutional organization steals a march upon the public, and by the amazing power of its vast political machinery, assails the Constitution and laws of the country, with no rival influence to counteract it. While the rest of the people keep within the laws, this combination has transcended them, and occupies the field of its usurpation alone. There is no balance of influence any where, that can lawfully be employed, except in the strong arm of authority. The public, the Government, the world, have been taken by surprise. Here is an immense and powerful combination, that has suddenly leaped from the sphere of the religious world, brought with it a machinery which was manufactured in that sphere, seized upon affairs of State, usurped the business of State, and neither the public, nor the Government, seem yet to know which end, or how, head or tail, to take hold of the monster. It comes in shapes unknown, unrecognized before, and has pounced upon the political fabric of the nation, with an apparent determination to rend it asunder, and tear it down before the eyes of the world. Like as Satan, when he came with errand fatal to our race, from out Hell’s regions, and approached the gates that opened from that dark abyss, encountered and addressed his monster child, so the Government, not less amazed, seems also to say to this unexpected Apparition:
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