On the other hand, men who make a trade of politics, and whose capital
consists in the denunciation of the institutions of other States, had
erroneously judged him by themselves, and had regarded his coming as a
political mission; wherefore it was, he was led to suppose, that the
scavengers of that party had been employed in the publication of
falsehoods, both in relation to himself and his political friends at
the South.
So far as it affected him personally their attacks were no more than
the barking of a cur, which, by its clamor, indicates the inhospitable
character of the master who keeps him. If his friends and himself
were, as had been falsely charged, Disunionists and Nullifiers, they
might naturally have looked for kinder considerations from a party
which circulates petitions for a "prompt and peaceful dissolution of
the Union" on account of the incompatibility of the sections--from a
party, which, having proved faithless to the obligation of the
constitution in relation to the fugitive from service or labor, then
declares null and void the law which their dereliction made it
necessary for Congress to enact. The fealty of himself and friends to
the constitution, and their honorable discharge of its obligations was
their rebuke to this party, in whose hostility he found the highest
commendation in their power to bestow.
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