"Slaves cannot breathe among us. If their lungs Receive _our_ air, that moment they are free! They touch _our_ country, and their shackles fall!" If you cannot be induced to reform this great wickedness, for the sake of outraged justice and humanity, then do it for the honor of the State, for the political welfare of our own people, for the moral character of our posterity. For, as sure as there is a Righteous Ruler in the heavens, if you continue to be accomplices in violence and fraud, God will _not_ "save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." L. MARIA CHILD. APPEAL TO THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT. The Hon. Robert Rantoul, Hon. Horace Mann, Hon. Charles Sumner, and other able men, have argued against the Constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Bill, proving it to be not only contrary to the _spirit_ and _meaning_ of the Constitution, but also to be unauthorized by the _letter_ of that document. That this nefarious Bill is contrary to the _spirit_ and _intention_ of the Constitution is shown by the published opinions of those who framed it; by the debates at the time of its adoption; and by its Preamble, which sets forth that it was ordained to "establish _justice_, ensure domestic _tranquillity_, promote the _general welfare_, and secure the blessings of _liberty_." The arguments adduced to prove that this bill is unauthorized by the _letter_ of the Constitution, I will endeavor to compress into a few words. Article 10 of the Amendments to the Constitution expressly provides that "_Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution_, nor prohibited by it to the States, _are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people_." Article 4 of the Constitution contains four compacts. The first is: "Full faith and credit shall be given in each of the States to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the _Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof_." Here, _power is expressly delegated by the Constitution to the United States_. The second compact is: "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." Under this provision, an attempt was made to obtain some action of Congress for the protection of colored seamen in slaveholding ports; but it was decided that Congress had no power to act on the subject, because _the Constitution had not delegated any power to the United States_ in the clause referred to. Slaveholders are very strict in adherence to the Constitution, whenever any question of _protection_ to colored people is involved in their decisions; but for purposes of _oppression_, they have no scruples. They reverse the principle of Common Law, that "in any question under the Constitution, _every word is to be construed in favor of liberty_."