The Rodney telegraph. (Rodney, Miss.) 1838-1840, 1839-03-16


raj Government The grant in the Consti-
tuton, OF exclusive power of legislation
S'ser the District, WINS made to ensure the
exercise Of an exclusive authority of the
General Government to render this place |
safe and secure seatof Government, and to
promote TIE well being Of the inhabitants of
the District. The power granted ought to
be interpreted and exercised solely by 'the
end for which it was granted. The I'm
guage OF the grant was necessarily broad,
comprehensive; and exclusive, because all
the exigencics which might arise to render
This a secure seat of the General Govern
ment could not have been f'rseen and pro-
vded for. The language may possibly be
.saficen ly comprehensive toinclude pow
err Of abolition, but it would not at all
thence follow that the power could be right
fully exercised. Theecase may be resem-
bed to that Of plenipoentiary invested
with plenarv power, but who, at the same
time, has positive instructions from his Go
v.rnneu, as to the kind of treaty which he
Is toneeo,iate snd conclude. If he violates
those instructions, and concludes different
treaty, his Government is not bound by it
And it the foreign Government is aware of
The violation, it acts in bad faith. Or it may
be illustrated by an example drawn from
private life. ! am an endorser for my friend
4on note discounted in bank. He applies
to me to endorse another to renew it, which
Go in bark. Now, iris gives him power
81 make any other use Of my note which he
pleases. But if, instead of applying it to
the intended purpose, he goes to broker
and sells it, thereby doubling the response
bill,y for him, lie commits n breach OF trust,
and a violation of the good faith implied In
the whole transaction.
But. Mr.. President, if this reasoning were
as erroneous as believe it to be correct and
conclusive, is The affair of the liberation Of
six thousand negro slaves in this District dis
ronnectcd with the three millions of slaves
in the United States, OF sufficient magnitude
tn asi,ate, distract, and emlittcr this great
Confeder-cy?
The next case in which the petitioners
ask The exercise of the power of Congress
reIates TO slavery in the Territory OF Florida.
Florida Is the extreme southern portion
Of he United States. 1t is bounded on all
lis land sides by slave States. Ii almost eX
tends within the topics, and the nearest i'm
portant island to it on the water side Is Gu.
ba. slave island. This simple statement
Of its geographical position should of itself
decide the question. When, by the treaty
of 1910 with Spain, it was ceded to the U.
States. slavery existed within it. BY the
terms of that treaty, the effects and proper
ty of The inhabitants are secured 10 them,
aud they are allowed to remove and take
them away, if they think proper to do so,
re, ~
pedicdt, therefore, TO abolish slavery in it,
it could not be done consistently with the
treaty, without granting to the ancient IN
bat,tan:s a reasonable time to remove their
slaves. But further. By the compromise
which took place OH the passage of the act
for the admission of Missouri into the Union,
in the wear 1920, it was agreed and under
stood that the line of 36 deg. 80 min. of
north latitude should mark the boundary be-
tween the free States and the slave States
10 be created in the territories of the U. 5.
coded blythe treaty of Louisiana; those sit
mated south of it being slave States, and
these north Of it free States.
But Florida is south of that line, and con-
seuucntIy, according to the spirit of the un-
derstanding which prevailed at the period
alluded to, should be slave State. 1t may
be true that the compromise does not in
terms embrace Florida, and that it is not abb
.solu.elv binding and obligatory; but all can
did and impartial men must agree that 1t
ought MOTTO be disregarded without the most
oeiohty consid erations, and that nothing
could be more to be deprecated than to
open anew the bleeding wounds which were
happily bound up and healed by that COM
promise. Florida is the only remaining
Territory to be admitted into the Union with
the institution of domestic slavery, while
Wisconsin and Iowa are now nearly ripe
for admission without it.
The next instances in which the exercise
of the power of Congress is solicited is that
of prohibiting what is denominated by the
petitioners the slave trade between the
States. or, as it is described in abolition pc.
titions, the traffic in human beings between
the States. This exercise of the power of
Congress is claimed under that clause the
Constitution which invests it with authority
to regulate commerce with foreign nations,
and among the several States, and with the
Indian tribes. The power to regulate COM
rnerce among the several States, like other
powers in the Constitution, has hitherto re-
manned dormant in respect to the interior
trade BY land between the States. 1t was a
power granted, like all the other powers of
the General Government, to secure peace
and harmony among the State-. Hitherto
it has not been necessary to exercise 1t
Allthe cases in which, during the progress
of time, il NAV become expedient to exert