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 accountability for all the gold of Ophir!

But it is not all the clergymen of this part of the country, nor the most of them, nor the half of them, who have turned Constitutional lawyers, or turned law opposers.  I hesitate not to say, it is only a small minority, and those in general who are not entitled to the most respect for erudition, sense, or excellence of character.  The (New School) Synod of New York and New Jersey, as respectable a body of ministers and elders as is to be found in the Presbyterian Church, at their late meeting in this city, had good sense enough, and good religion enough, to “leave the constitutionality of the recent enactment” (the Fugitive Slave Law) “to be adjudicated by the civil tribunals of the country.”  They deserve the thanks of the country and of all mankind.  The solid sense and real religion of the land will respect their decision.