The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-03-12

our slaves If we assent TO the principle she sets
up, do we not surrender to her all our rights as
Tree and independent nation? We have no right W
supervise the municipal laws OF Great Britain "hat
right has she to supervise ours We stand To each
other as free and independent nations Each Is inc
sovereign Judge of the rectitude Of It's own acts,
within its own territory. The moment we aiio"
her TO supervise our legislation or in any instance
to set aside our legislation whether on the question
of slavery or any other we surrender our indepeh-
dence, and ourselves her subjects, conceding 10
her the principle that she may bind us IN all cases
Whatsoever
And yet we have individuals among US, claiming to
be trends of freedom, who would concede TO England
all she claims who justify, nay exult In the doings
oil the local authorities al the po OF Nassau But DO
not these Liberty folks" know that when national
Independence is surrendered, there Is no longer any
security for the liberty Of the individual Are they
so mad as to suppose that they furtherng the
cause OF liberty by surrenderng to Great Britain the
right to supervise laws, thus plungng US back
INTO old colonial bondage Out upon the miserable
fanatics nay traitors TO their country and TO Tree
dom. Their success would be their defeat The
course they take would render liberty Impossible TO
both white man and black man. The man whose
soul has iorsworn PATRIOTISM who would not sooner
die than concede ios of the independence oil his
country, is usae counsellor and TO be listened TO
only with distIust. Wo to the country when such
can have influence in It's councs It's doom l. not lar
of. The Independence of the nation Is the first con
don Of the freedom Of the citizen.
We find il difficult to restrain our indignation al
the unpatrioc doctrines upheld by our abotionists.
In their eagerness to the emancipation OF the
slave, they break down all the barriers which the
wisdom of our fathers erected against tyranny, and
destroy the very conditions without which emancipa-
ton itself would be mockery. They are giving
England as fast possible, preteXt for nterposing
in our internal police, and encouraging her to set up
doctrines IN regard to u.s. which no nation, not lost TO
all sense Of national honor and independence can Tor
single moment listen TO. But we warn England
not to count too much the reasonable co-opera-
ton of the aboitonists. The great body OF the
American people will sustain the vernment in its
stand for the independence OF the country. None
bur few madnen and fanatics will suffer England to
interfere with our municipal legislation. Slavery
may be right, or il may be wrong be It one or the
other, il is not with any foreign nation that we shall
discuss its merits We respect the municipal laws of
other nations and attempt not 10 interrupt their eg
innate operation and we demand that other nations
show the same respect for ours There is only one
to be pursued by Independent nations, and that
for each respect the others sovereignty within
its own territory.
For ourselves, we have sympathy with slavery;
we go now and always for the largest freedom we
would see every form of slavery abolished, and we
should rejoice to the negro becoming, if he can
become, really and truly freeman but never Will
we consent to alter single feature in our municipal
legislation at the command of foreigner, least OF
all at the dictation of Great Britain. We go first OF
all for the freedom and Independence OF our couIl-
try, for the maintenance of IFS complete and entire
sovereignty and then fast possible, and far
as practicable, for the freedom and independence OF
the individual citizen No freedom is possible to
the citizen, while the colnry enslayed to foreign
nation. We hold then that, far the foreigner is
concerned all our internal police, whatever its ma
ture and tendency, is just and he must respect II
nay, shall not officially question it. No other ground
can be taken without surrenderng the national sove-
reignty, and owning ourselves dependent people,
tributary enslayed TO another.
With this view of the case, to tolerate the liberia
ton of the slaves board the Creole the alleged
ground of the injustice of slavery, or the ground
that slavery cannot exist BY British law would be to
surrender national sovereignty and to concede to
England the right of supervising legislation I'M
doubtedly, English municipal law paramount within
the English territory We do not question its supre-
macy within her dominions, II is her claim of right
to enforce it within territory that we resist. The
slaves on board the Creole were within American
territory according the legal meaning of that term,
and were therefore under American, and not under
English municipal law The laws of England could
be enforced on board that vessel with no more JUS
tice than in the municipal court of this city There
fore is say that to assent to the act OF the Bril-
fish authorities in that case would be to surrender, in
principle, national sovereignty. We are pleased
therefore, to find Government demanding redress
for the outrage committed, and in making this de-
mand, it will be sustained by the entire country saw
ing few fanatics and traitors.