Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/252

 THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and em- phatic resolution which I now read: rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its judgment exclusively, is essential to the balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend, and we denounce the law- less invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.*' I now reiterate these sentiments; and, in do- ing so, I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming administra- tion. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the lav>'s, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States, when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another. There is much controversy about the deliver- ing up of fugitives from service or order. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions : '*"No person held to service or labor in one State, un- der the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in con- sequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.*'
 * 'Eesolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the