Our enquiry is not what the Constitution can be made to mean, but what is the natural and fair import of its language? Of course, we can pervert the meaning of any instrument, and by false reasoning and wordy controversy, make black appear white, and _vice versa_. When I say "John, come to dinner," to a fair, impartial listener, my meaning would appear plain; but to a technical quibbler, I might be made to be a great tyrant. For instance, I assert authority. I utter a command. I do not ask John to come to dinner, but I require him to come, and a long argument might be entered into to prove my tyrannical nature, such as that I was forcing John to eat whether he wished to or not; that I required him to eat a good deal, a dinner, instead of a little, and above all, that I was disposed to force him to _obey me_. By such reasoning, the kindest of parents might be proved to be severe and hardhearted. On the contrary, if I say "dinner is ready, John," the same quibbler might accuse me of indifference to my child's welfare, that I did not care whether he came or not, and so on. Now in all these cases, that sterling quality, common sense, is to be brought into requisition. When I promise to carry my friend to ride to-morrow, unforeseen accidents are of course considered as an excuse for the non-fulfilment of my promise; but Mr. Lysander Spooner, in behalf of my friend, might enter an action in law against me; for there are my words in writing, "I will take you to ride to-morrow;" but common sense would excuse me, if my horse should be sick, or my carriage be stolen. Mr. Spooner argues like an earnest man, to prove that these expressions do not mean Slaves, because they cannot be proved to have reference to such a class, by the exact meaning of the words. "The word free is not the correlative of Slavery; for a variety of reasons," he says. He thinks "all persons" mean aliens. Now, what an absurdity. Who ever heard of three-fifths of the aliens in each State being added to the naturalized citizens in making out the apportionment of representatives? How many representatives have seats in Congress, in consequence of aliens residing in their districts? Not one, and yet twenty-five men are seated there, in consequence of Slaves residing in their districts. It is a burning shame for a man to prostitute such noble powers of thought as Mr. Spooner possesses, to such a silly and contemptible mode of reasoning. Why, if his arguments are correct, all poetry and figures of speech are wrong; all metaphorical language, and personifications in writing are out of place; and nothing is left us but plain, straight forward words, which have a precise meaning, and can mean nothing else. If I say "the wind blows," I lie, for wind is an action of something else, and, of course, it is absurd to talk of its blowing. If I say "I am in pain," it is not true, for the pain is in me; and if I talk of God's moving the world by his arm, it is false, for he has no arm.