Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/78

THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS of the opinion that it was an injunction upon the States themselves. When it is said that a per- son escaping into another State, and coming therefore within the jurisdiction of that State, shall be delivered up, it seems to me the import of the clause is, that the State itself, in obedience to the Constitution, shall cause him to be de- livered up. That is my judgment. I have al- ways entertained that opinion, and I entertain it now. Then, sir, there are the abolition societies, of which I am unwilling to speak, but in regard to which I have very clear notions and opinions. I do not think them useful. I think their opera- tions for the last twenty years have produced nothing good or valuable. At the same time, I believe thousands of their members to be honest and good men, perfectly well-meaning men. They have excited feelings; they think they must do something for the cause of liberty; and, in their sphere of action, they do not see what else they can do than to contribute to an abolition press, or an abolition society, or to pay an abolition lecturer. I do not mean to impute gross motives even to the leaders of these societies, but I am not blind to the consequences of their proceedings. I can not but se e what mischief their interf erence with thp ^niitb ^«« prnHnpprl' And is~ it not plain to every man? Let any gentleman who entertains doubts on this point, recur to the de- bates in the Virginia House of Delegates, in 1832, v^