Southern pioneer, and Carroll, Choctaw and Tallahatchie Counties advertiser. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1840-1842, 1841-03-13

The Minister in his letter OF the 18th De-
cember 1910, says: at is quite notorious that
Mr.. Mcleod was not one of the party engag-
ed in the destruction of the steamboat Caro-
line; and that the pretended charge upon
which he has been imprisoned rests only upon
the perured testimony of certain Canadians,
outlaws, and their abettors," &c. This may,
! perchance all be so but ii would be asking a
great deal to require an American court to
/ yield Jurisdiction, and surrender up prisoner.
charged with offences against the law, upon
i the mere ipSe dirit of any man, no matter how
! high in authority. Whether Mcleod be gull
ty or not guilty, is the very point upon which
an American Jury alone have right to decide.
Jurisdiction in State tribunals over criminal
cases, and trial by a jury of the venue, are es-
sential points in American Jurisprudence; and
it is total misrepresentation as TO the nature of
our system TO suppose that there Is any right
in the Federal Executive to arrest the verdict
OF the one, or thwart the jurisdiction OF the
other. lfsuch power existed, and were eX-
erCised, it would efectually overthrow, and
upon vital point, the separate sovereignty and
independence of these States. The Federal
Executive might be clothed with power to de-
liver up fugitives from Justice for offences COM
mitted against foreign State; but even then
it might not be obligatory TO do so, unless it
were made matter of treaty stipulation. This
duty and right in an Executive has generally
been considered as dormant, until made bind
ing by treaty arrangement. But when the
matter is reversed, and demand is made, not
of fugitives from Justice for offences committed
against foreign Power, but for the Liberation
of a man charged with offences against the
peace and dignity of one of our own States,
then it is that the demand becomes preposter-
Gus in the extreme. The fact that the often
ceS were committed under the sanction of pro-
vInclal authorities does not alter the case, I'M
less we were IN state of war. In such cases
as the present, the power TO deliver up could
not be conferred upon the Federal Executive
by treaty stipulation. 1t could only be con-
terred in those cases over which jurisdiction is
clearly delegated by the Federal Constitution:
such Tor instance, as treason, which is an Of
fence against the conjoned sovereignty of the
States, as defined in the Constitutions Over
all cases except those defined in the Constitu-
ton, and those coming clearly under the laws
OF nations, the States have exclusive iurisdic-
ton, and the trial and punishment for offences
against them are incident to their seperate SOW
ereignty. 1t is not pretended, in this case,
that there IS any treaty stipulation under
which the demand is made; and the Federal
Executive under our system, has no power but
what is conferred by the Constitution, or by
special law of Congress. In the former it is
declared that "the Executive power is vested
in President of the United States" and that
power is then to be pointed out defined by
enanial l Taa<snd from time 10 time, inspoo
ing such duties as are thought proper and ex
pedient by Congress.
Your committee deem it dangerous for the
Executive to exercise any power over sub.
ject-matter not conferred by treaty or by law;
and to exercise it in any case in conflict with
State jurisdiction would be worse than dan
gerous: it would be usurpation.
But your committee forbear to press these
points further a present: and they would not
have said as much on such clear questions of
law, but that in this case the de-
mand for liberation has been made by the &C
credited agent of great Power, and under
circumstar ces of peculiar aggravation and ex-
element.
We have other points of difference with
Great Britain, which add interest TO every
question that arises between US at present.
Neither our Northeastern nor Northwestern
boundaries are yet settled with her, and the |
subject is not entirely free from difficulty
She has recently seized our vessels and exer-
cised power inUol0ing the right of search,
under the pretext of suppressing the foreign
slave trade, which il perseyered in, will sweep
our commerce from the coast of Africa, and |
Is incompatible with our rights as a maritime
power. She has recently, in her intercourse
with US, refused indemnity, and denied our
rights to property, on a subject-matter vital to
near one half the States of this Confederacy,
and which, considering her military position
at Bermuda and her growing power in the
West Indies, is of the last Importance TO our
national independence.
ALL these subjects make every question be-
tween us, at this peculiar juncture, of the deep
est interest.
Besides this, we are both permanently des-
tined to have, perhaps, the most extensive COM
nerce OF modern nations. Our flags, float
SIDE by side, over every sea, and bay, and in