The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-29 00:00:00

GENERAL NEWS.

A trial which involves, among other points, the
question of the -power of Congress to prohibit
slavery in the territories, had commenced at
the Supreme Court of the United States. The
action in question was bra nght by Dred Scott,
man of colour, who sued to try his right
to freedom. He claims having been man-
eipated by his master having taken him to
reside in Illinois, which act, it is declared by the
ponstitution of that State, operated to emancipate
him. the Circuit Court decided against the
plaintiff on the ground that by his return to Mis-
souri, his master's right, dormant whilst in
Illinois, had revived, and that the constitution of
Illinois was a penal law, which the courts of other
States were not bound to enforce. The case was
argued at the last session, but the decision was
reserved to allow of arguments on certain points of
law. The excitement in Tennessee and Kentucky,
relative to the negro insurrections, appears to have
nearly died out, but in other parts of the South it
is as lively as ever. This negro plotting com-
menced down in Texas, near the Rio Grande, some
three months ago ; but every one was absorbed at
that time with the Presidential election, and
the matter was passed over without comment. Since
then ithas developed itself in nearly every slave State.
Both houses of the South Carolina Legislature
have disposed of the subject of the re-opening of
the African slave trade, by allowing the com-
mittee to which it was referred to report at a
future time. A bill to amend the law relative to
coloured seamen, passed the Assembly on the 10th
instant, after some opposition. It is stated that
negro property is becoming so precious in the
Southern States, owing to the machinations of the
Abolitionists, that the slaveholders of Western
Virginia are generally taking measures to guard
against their loss, by disposing of them to those
who will early them beyond the reach of the under-
ground railroad. A few weeks since, Mr• Joseph
S. Machir sold to Messrs. Stern, of Richmond,
fifteen slaves, old and young, for the sum of
8,150 dole. Mr. William Lowe also sold to the
same gentlemen two likely girls and a boy, for
2,450 dols. These negroes never would have been
sold, had it not been discovered that they were
making preparations to leave for a free territory.
In reference to rumoured negro conspiracies, the
Augusta (Georgia) Constitutionalist has the follow-
ing . paragraph :—" For reasons which are
unnecessary to relate, we particularly call the at•
tention of the police of our cities, the judges of
of the inferior courts, and the magistrates of the
several districts in the counties of the State, to a
rigid enforcement of the Patrol Laws." A word
to the wise is sufficient for them.' The City of
Nashville (Tennessee) has passed a very stringent
ordinance on the subject of negro assemblages
and kindred matters. This- ordinance was signed
by the mayor of that city on the 4th instant. The
negroes of Virginia, too, in one or two districts to

a limited extent, are said to exhibit a spirit of in-
subordination. Five' atTests have been made at or
near Williamsburg, and a similar occurrence is
mentioned in Montgomery County, in the same
State. A bill has been introduced in the Legisla-
ture of North Carolina, and it is believed it will
pass, to re•charter the bank of that state. It has
been found, we learn, that the bank has been an
indispensable agent of the State, in furnishing
means to meet the responsibilities of the Treasury.