Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1828-01-16

Tccty. lie IeU tlll.eu 10 tc e"pN" =.
lust spoken for some Of he remarks which he had
made, aud he would have been FULLY as mrcn oongee
If they had not been made. IL was a question VIVA
which the Federal Government had noihing 10 doS
with which it never had any thing, never can nave
any thing TO DO ; for the instant it lays its unhaliowed
hands on that ark Of our safety, 1t ceases W De q eoS'
eBment.
The gentleman had said that this question was set:
tied forty years ago. 1t was settled two hundreo
years ago; it was settled when the first cargo Of
Africans was sold in our market. And what Is the
difference between persons and property, az IT there
were an ncompatibility on this point. There Is no
difference I; there can lie none. Property Is fhe crea-
ture of law. What the law makes property is prop.
crty. What it does not, is not property. Hleie, and
there alone exists the distinction.
This point was settled more than half D century
ago ; at the same time that we threw off our alle-
glance to Great Britain; and il the gentleman from
New York would pardon him-that gentleman was =
stranger here, and he had every good feeling towards
hin-he should take exception to his calling the last
war the second war of Independence. Vie would
never agree that we were slaves before thst war. or
that we were rot perfectly independent. This he
merely stated by the way.
Slaves are made property by law, and you cannot
make them other than property, any more than you
can interfere in the payment Of the NATIONAL debt Of
Great Britain, or the tithes, or any other matters
which relate to a foreign country. When Gentlemen
tell us the Constitution is to protect us in this, or any
other property, it is the kind of protection. which tho
wolf gives to the lamb. We scorn such protection
1 t0 hbfo o"O - ~ S
laws into effect, and we want the aid Of MI document.
The gentleman had spoken of reviying the Mis-
souri, question:. That question was meyer yet settled.
(Herc the gentleman from Virginia made a few obser-
vations which we could not distinctly hear.)
We have been told something about humanity and
religion. What have they to do with the question :
Nothing. 1t depends solely on facts lie Ter scr;pts
est. We may cavil about religion, fut, whether Jew
or Gentle, we cannCr y Interfere wi tn this property.
Here Mr.. X. made a reference to hc only Constitu-
tional authority which could Interfere with 1.-THE
States and to the strained COM truction by which
alone the Federal Government dould have such .
right.
Humanity and religion are VERY good in their
places; but we have no right to set up our humanity
and religion as standards for otn n men. lie would
put a case, and he wished that he might be understood
literally here and every where elseI BY the law ola
State-as he did not wish to take a liberty with other
States, he would say the State of Virginia. Suppose
a slave may be punished only by the master, and tho
master is not made responsible for his treatment Of
the slave and suppose slaves verb daily, cruelty,
murdered by their masters-a casle as possible as
many others which have been put-wlhere is the rcme-
dy is it here ! Can you pass a latw to prevent tina
conduct beyond tie Potomac =! You may cry your
eyes out, with your humanity and your religion, but
you could not prevent it. They are as -auch under
the protection of humanity and religion in the States
as here, and it would be an act Of scurrilo Us rashness
for US to
Stop in where Angels fear to trea L."
Again, we have been told that the course, agreed on
by the Representatives Of the South at Phi!adelphia,
was a compromise. Ii was no compromise faH,her
W .en he whole Constitution is a compromise. We
wanted a representation for our whole populath IN,
and we are weak enough to agree that only three-6 tbs
OF the slave population should be represented. 1t
was no compromise, and why notl Because. in I1a Y,
there was not a man on the continent, who wosl lid
have dared to breathe that the Federal Govcrnmel mt
! had a right to touch this property. The Until I'd
states Government had no more to do with it thu IN
Khan OF Tdrtary. There is no occasion for such rIn-
reference. Our laws will execute themselves. The re
may be some agitation on the subject out ofthe State s,
but the States well know how to govern their owl n
population.
One word more. Suppose the reasoning Of t !
learned gentleman from Louisiana-a and 10 man HI l
d better title to the name-was corrective ought tc
claim three Gi;hs of the value Of the slave. II u
British Government had no business to pay more 81 Or
those carried away, as three ifths only is person, Q nd
two fiths property. Shall we cut off the two htuI IS
which is property. and leave the three f:ths which is
person! II we cut, it may be wiser 10 make the ' err
tical cut from top to bottom. He would again Q lr-
nest'y express his hope that no member, the right 5 o
whose section of country are involved in this a. les
ton, will deign, now or hereafter, to discuss this qI les
ton. II ever the time should arrive when these Der
sons shall be considered other than property, our b usi
ness will not be here, but at home. All the cow n,
will then be like the deer OF Cacus. Our bush res
wall not be here, but at home. On the other HI md
there might be gentlemen who, as conscientioi isl,
cherished their opinions as he did his.
1t was exactly ten years from the first stirrintI, o
the subject OF the rights Of these colonies, that tn,
separation of them from the mother country { DOL
place. Ii took ten years of goading to bring alb on
that result. This Government of ours %rcsemblesl
connexion Of a more tender ciaracter-that cor nu
bial connection which is sometimes prematurely .or
asunder, though there may be pledges OF love to u lin,
it together. lie may be very excellent, very le arm
cd, in train to become very able, but he is not Of, rea
observation or experience, who does not see Ina
a temper has been excited, and is still exciting, VIII &c
1t is the duty OF this Government to allay. He " a
speaking the words Of truth and soberness. He b
heved the rejecting part Of the country would uni
with him in opinion. He did not consider this class
beings an unhappy race. They were sometimes IL
cause of unhappincss to their proprictors; they we
sometimes themselves unhappy, for who is not
times unhappy
In relation to the agitation of the slave question
he referred to the old maxim inter drna hges siiual
which prevailed every where. The slave was o.
tirely the property of his master. No man ofhumNl
ity, indeed, ever regarded the slave as he did his or
but even the OK and the horse have their rights. III
had now done, what he had rarely done, and he shoul
seldom do again-trespassed upon the patience of u
House; but it was a question on which no could NJ
'cmain silent.
In answer to Mr.. r. Mr.. Storrs submitted man
judicious, and in our view, conclusive objection
against the appropriation. He concsAedt that u
right oftho master over hi. slave was ab.slqte,,s
could no, be violated by the gore of the UNI
ed States that no officer oCthp' government co9
do more than the gOvern%cpt g s9lE hsa a Fight Il
and consequently that the ACT q the officer impres
ing the slave, was not one aythosized by governms4l
or for which it was liablsH Tic law prohibited d
enlis,ing of slaves, or df sminors, or apprentices in