Robert Rantoul, Jr., whose large heart was so true to Democratic _principles_, that the _party_ wanted to expel him from their ranks, (as parties are prone to do with honest men,) opposed the Fugitive Slave Bill with all the power of his strong intellect. In a speech delivered in 1851, he said: "I am as devotedly attached as any other man to the Union of these States, and the Constitution of our government; but I admire and love them for that which they secure to us. The Constitution is good, and great, and valuable, and to be held for ever sacred, because it secures to us what was the _object_ of the Constitution. I love the Union and the Constitution, not for _themselves_, but for the great _end_ for which they were created--to secure and perpetuate _liberty_; not the liberty of a _class_, superimposed upon the thraldom of groaning multitudes: not the liberty of a _ruling race_, cemented by the tears and blood of subject races, but _human_ liberty, _perfect_ liberty, common to the whole people of the United States and to their posterity. It is because I believe all this, that I love the Union and the Constitution. If it were not for that, the Union would be valueless, and the Constitution not worth the parchment on which it is written. God-given Liberty is above the Union, and above the Constitution, and above all the works of man." * * * * * TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT. The Hon. Josiah Quincy, senior, whose integrity, noble intellect, and long experience in public life, give great weight to his opinions, made a speech at a Whig Convention in Boston, 1854, from which I extract the following:--"The circumstances in which the people of Massachusetts are placed are undeniably insupportable. What has been seen, what has been felt, by every man, woman and child in this metropolis, and in this community? and virtually by every man, woman and child in Massachusetts? We have seen our Court House in chains, two battalions of dragoons, eight regiments of artillery, twelve companies of infantry, the whole constabulary force of the city police, the entire disposable marine of the United States, with its artillery loaded for action, all marching in support of a Praetorian Band, consisting of one hundred and twenty friends and associates of the U.S. Marshal, with loaded pistols and drawn swords, and in military costume and array; and for what purpose? _To escort and conduct a poor trembling slave from a Boston Court House to the fetters and lash of his master!_