... for seceding from the Union. But the debates show that this pretext was a sham, and Mr. Rhett frankly declared that he regarded the fugitive slave law as unconstitutional, and that Mr. Webster and Mr. Keitt had expressed the same opinion. You have seen, too, from Mr. Stephens, that all the constitutional rights of the South were protected within the Union--and that the South was indebted to the Unio...