fore me. Slavery may be wrong. Be it so; there is still a
_righteous_ method to get rid of it. But if slavery _is_ wrong, that
does not make violence and murder _right_.

I am not justifying the fugitive-slave Law. It may be wrong: it may
be unwise and unconstitutional. I think that any wise and modest man
would hesitate much to pronounce it unconstitutional, after its
enactment by a body of men who _aimed_ to abide by the constitution,
and who studied the matter most intensely, with every opportunity
for information and with minds trained for years in the depths of
legal science. But, be it wrong--be it unwise and unconstitutional;
there are civil courts to decide upon its constitutionality, and
no man has _any right_ to decide for _himself_ that it is
unconstitutional, and act upon that decision: if he had such a
right, then every man would be his own Lawmaker, and public
Constitution and Law would be nothing but a bugbear or a bubble! Be
it wrong; there is a peaceful, prescribed way of amending both Law
and Constitution,--and a wrong in the Law does not make
false-swearing by the juryman and murder by the fugitive _right_!

It is a most marvellous thing, what a number of clergymen north of
Mason and Dixon's line, have, all of a sudden, become such great
_Constitutional lawyers_! Never before was anything like it! It is a
modern miracle! A decision upon a great constitutional question is
nothing to them! How amazingly these profound legalists, these
clergyman jurists, would adorn the high courts of the country if
they would only consent to take their seat upon the bench! The
Judges of the United States Supreme Court ought to be thankful, that
these clergymen Judges have done their duty for them in advance,
deciding the law to be unconstitutional and no more is to be done!
Benevolent men, these clergymen! Some have done the duty of the
jurors for them and others the duty of the judges--the verdict and
the decision are both recorded! yea indeed, in advance, and without
pay!

But seriously, it were far better, that these clergymen should
attend to their own appropriate duties to which their Master has
bidden them, than to be engaged in fostering excitements among their
people, which _never can_ result in any good, civil or religious. If
we shall have the rebellion, disunion, and civil war, to which these
evil principles and these excitements tend, the guilt of such
clergymen will not be small! I would not have their