Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1841-03-11

| l29. II is idle 10 quoIdrom the courts
of our own country. II poin, is beyond
all controversy. Undene treaty of 1895,
slaves are 10 be consided as mercIlan-
disc in law. The treats the law of the
land, and every tribunal, bound to carry
ou, its spirit and intenlowhenevera case
arises. After an otlicialemand has been
made by the minister oSpain, and the
regular ship papers, proerI y authentica-
ted by the proper oflicerm Spanish ports,
have been presented, is itarrying ou. the
spirit of the treaty to raj, and decide the
| abstract right of properl under the local
laws of Spain Is it rht to deprive
Spanish citizen, under tSpanish flag, Of
the privilege of making his issue as 10
the final rights of propey beGore tho lri-
bunals of his own couny? Was il the
intention Of the treaty to orce the citizens
of Spain, who may he lvea into our Ter
rirory by the "act Of Gid and the kings
enemies" aud seized by ur own officers,
10 have their final title lproperly in pos,
session decided upon by ur sribunals 1t
was precisely the revere. If they had
come in by their own coseur, the matter
might, perhaps, have bee different. Bu,
The vessel was takeu po.ession of by an
officer Of the United Sles, eff Montauk
Point, aud admitted to b'upou the "high
seas" There had been isurrecrion, muir
der, and robbery commied on board by
the slaves. She was tatn into the juris-
dicIion Of our disrc! cout, under charges
of offences supposed to ,e committed a
gainst The laws of nations. Instead of hay-
ing the negroes placed ina situation 10 re-
ceive punishment for whatever Offences
they may have committed against their
masters, those who had cen in Cuba in
undiSputrd possession Of property under
the Spanish flag were Instantly deprived
of tha, possession, and llrir final title to
the properly peremptoril' decided upon
by all American court, in defiance Of the
plainest treaty stipulations Not only that,
but Ruiz and Moutes. Sranish citizens,
thus forced into our terri'oy under appall-
ins c.rcumstarc s, where common hu
manity, independent of alllaw, demanded
that they should be treated with hospitali-
Iy us unfortunate guests were actually
thrown into prison under charges which
the negroes tcere instigatd TO make, for
Offences committed against the negroes
while they were in Cuba, ,nder the Span
isE jurisdiction. This is tle justice of an
American court, bowed down in disgrace
full subservicncy before lie bigoled man
dates of that blind falaticism, which
prompted the judge upon the bench TO de-
clare in his decree, in reference 10 one OF
these negroes, that, "although he mig ht be
stained with crime, yet he should not sigh
in vain for Africa;" and al! because his
hands were rcekins with the blood of mur-
dered white men! 1t is base outrage,
II can use no mildcr lausuage) upon all
The sympalhies of civilized life.
1t is time that the white race Of The
Southern States should be alive TO the re-
lalions they bear towards their fellow men
in other regions. When The first move
m ents were made in Great Britain towards
emancipation in her Yves, Indies, il was
thought to he the idle and visionary dreams
of lheore;s"I "I;,,s sn.h%-'%rs n,,rI,rs,I
until it held checking power over the
British cabinet, and was satisfied with no.
thing short of its demands. Even now,
welded as it is by O'Connell, lashed into
the fury and phrenzy of blind phanatcism,
it holds under its sway a weak cabinet,
forced 10 courl and allay it by ministering
to its base aud dcpraved appetite. Hav-
ing carried its measures at home, it now
looks, in the arrogance Of its power, for
objects abroad, upon which to exhaust its
pharisaical charity. While the public
men of Great Britain exult in ravaging the
fairest regions Of Asia, aud reducing three
hundred millions Of human beings TO the
most abiect slavery on earth; whilst they
have gloalcd for ages yer pluudcr and mur-
der in those vast regions through which
the Gangcs sweeps, they, al the same time,
whine, in the drivelling hypocrisy Of mod
ern times, over the hard fate of The slave
in America. Her whole ard final object
is to strike at the source of our poDer as a
nation destined to be hereafter her great
commercial rival in the world. The pro-
ductions Of slave labor furnish us our vast
resources i'll commerce, and are the basis
Of our power abroad. To strike at slave
labor, is TO strike at our power. If she
prostratcs i, by appealing TO the hypocrit-
ical sympathies Of the world, she strikes
as ellectual blow al US, as her rival, as if
she had sacked our cities and ravaged our
coasts by war. Her aim is pO,oer, and
she has ever been bent on Obtaining it, Ell
their by force or by fraud. She holds the
literature of the English language in her
hands; and she can appeal TO the religious
sympathies Of those who speak that Ian
guage, with more certain power than by
an appeal to arms. IT is under these views
and feelings that minister Of Great Brit
ain has recently declared, in the sickly
cant of modern duplcily, that she will nc
longer recognise in us "thc right of prop
erty in persons" Case of the brig En-
terprisc.) Let her get possession of Cuba
and she holds the exposed coast Of Fioridt
at her mercy.
In former times, the great contest wa.
10 secure the private rights of individuals
in society. In modern times, The grea
struggle is to preserve the separate inde pen
dence Of different communities. The pow
er of the Holy Alliance" and the prin
ciples springins from its councils, tosethe
with the interested ties of commerce