The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1841-03-23
For tho Caledonian.
THE AMIS d g A 3 Il.
nrnAyIp NJ. CANT.


s. But some have said, Slavery IS the creatura
Of law and were tho slave code repealed in state'
slavery wouIJ tben cease Of course" On the same
ground AIR CLAY seems TO have reasoned, when he
pu, forth his estimate Of property in slaves in tho
United States at twelve millions of dollars aud nj
tered his famous aphorsm, "that is property which
the law makes property II this be true or slavery
IN the Southern States, then the cases | am com
pairing are not identical and this objection must
now be considered.
!. in few instances, slavery may have been
tho creature Of law, and there is kind Of slavery,
uniformly admitted to be not only 'egai, but just
and perhaps indispensable. In those countries
where laws made to encourage and protect
tho African slave trade, slavery may be considered
rs having originated in those enactmenis. But o.
ven here, the law had generally no effect Upon
the Africans until after hey were made slaves,
that is deprived Of their natural freedom. The
slave ships crews did ordinarily put forth tiny
"manly force" in catching the victims; they only
pure based them after they had been caught The
few instances therefore, in which tho whites took
them in a state OF freedom in their native wi!es,
though furnished with authority for so doing by
their respective governments, can hardly weaken
Mr.. rs position, ''that slavery ~ sustained by
force"
Legal and jusGabIo slavery is confined to cases,
wherever the right Of personal Liberty has been for
fsited by crime and has really nothing 10 do with
the present discussion,
As to tho effect ola repeal of the slave code,
remark thai in tho Island Of Cuba the introduction
of negroes for the purpose OF making them slaves,
has been prohibited from 1920, in the United States
from 1903, in many Of the states the prohibition is
entire, yet no one doubts that these laws have Of
been violated. II then the cupidity Of man to
avail himself of upaid labor of his fellow man is
such that he will violate positive enac,ments with
the severcs penalties, rather than forego its graf
cations; il is incredible that The absence Of all law
upon the subject should at once neutraize that
p6ity TO make men universally tho Fl sends of
man. Slavery in The British islands was not and
could not be abolished by simply annulling the
law regulating slavery. Tho strong arm Of the
paren; state heavily laid upon those dependenProv
nces aud accompanied with an ample provision
for pecuniary lossos, could alone effect it. In most
Of our free states the same thing has been done
ihI Tough the influence of an enlightened public o.
prnioni not through n repeal Of the slave CODE but
in spite oft. Whenever public opinion becomes
right slavery must cense and i, is mmaterial wheth
or this is first manifested in The legislature or else
where.
g The regulations, in the form pf law, which
shareholders have made respecting individual pos
sessions, The transfer of those possessions and the
treatment which policy and expectancy have
dictated as proper for slaves, certainly
does not make them siaves, tor they were
slaves, literally, before these enactments. The
principle, therefore, which nm resisting, puts the
cause for the effect, these regulations are in fac,
''he creatures Of slavery and never would have
had an existence hut for the prior existence Of ala
very, Any number of persons, having slaves
could make similar regulations, giving them the
form and title of laws, eveu Ruiz and Montez, had
they Owed no allegiance to the Spanish, Monarchy,
or either government, had az good right TO enact
slave code for the special regulation of J,nqua
aud his comrades, as tho great and enlightened
state Of Georgia possesses to do the thing for
the government of her slaves.
The essential ingredient of moral right is want
ing in both cases Elementary writer's on law
tell us that, "the law of nature being coevai with
mankind and dictated by God himself is of course
superior in obligation TO any other. 1t is binding
over all the globe, in all countries and at all times
no human laws are Of any validity. if contrary Ia
this; and such Of them rs are valid, derive nil
their force and all their authority, media,eIy or
immediately, from this orgaal.-Upou tbese ,yvo
foundations, the law Of nature and tho law orreye
la,on, depend all human laws; ,hatis to saw. no
human laws should be suffered to cont. adict then,
Those rights which God and nature have es,ab
lished and therefore called natural rights such
life and liberty, need not the aid of the HUI
man laws 10 he more effcctualy in vested in every
man Than they are; neither do they receive any
additional strength when declared by the munich
pal law To be involable. On the contrary no I'M.
man legislature has poaesr to abr;dge or DESTROY
them, unless the owner hail himself commit sor,
act that amounts TO a Forfeiture The slavery of
the condemned 10 hard labor in the states
prison for life for tho crime of manslaughter NAV
very properly be called echo creature of the law
for he is deprived of his liberty and that justly or
IN conformity to the lao nature and his labor is
the property Of the State But in the slave code
there is nothing analogous to this. Tho slaves
have'commiied no acts, by which, liberty is Justly
forfeited They simply persons depris,ed of
liberty by force and tho slave code is simply IN a.
greement among Stockholders that they will not dis
s,rb oh ttar -, ha,r