The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1842-03-12

our slaves II we assent to the principle she sets
up do we not surrender to- her all our rights as
free and independent nationi We have no right to
supervise the municipal laws of Great Britain what
right has she to supervise oursi We stand to each
other as free and independent nations. Each Is the
sovereign judge Of the rectitude Of its own acts,
within Its own territory. The moment we allow
her to supervise legislation, in any instance
to set aside our legislation whether on the question
OF slavery or any other, surrender our lndepen-
dence and own ourselves her subjects, conceding to
her the principle that she may bind us in all cases
whatsoever"
And yet we have individuals among u.s. claiming to
be friends of freedom, who would concede to England
all she claims who justify, nay, exu in the dolngs
OF the local authorities at the port of Nassau But do
not these Liberty folks" know that when national
independence ID surrendered, there Is no longer any
security for the liberty of the individual Are they
SO mad as to suppose that they are furtherIng the
cause OF liberty by suTendering Great Britain the
right TO supervise our laws, thus punging US back
into old colonial bondage? Out upon the miserable
fanatlcs nay traitors to their country and to free
dom Their success would be their defeat The
course they take would render liberty impossible to
both white man and black The man whose
soul has forsworn patriotism, who would not sooner
die than cOncede ota of the independence of his
country, is usafe counsellor, and 10 be listened to
only with distrust. WO to the country when such
can have influence in its councils its doom ia not far
of. The independence of the nation ia the first con-
dition Of the freedom of the citizen
We find it difficult to restrain our Indignation at
the unpatrotc doctrines upheld by abolitionsts.
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 emancpa-
ton itself would be mockery. They are giving
England, fast possible, pretext for interposng
in our internal police, and encouraging her to set up
doctrines in regard to u.s. which nation not lost to
all sense of national honor and independence, for
a single moment listen to- But, we warn England
not to count too much the reasonable co-opera-
ton Of the abolitionsts. The great body of the
American people will sustain the ,vernment in its
stand for the independence of the country. None
but few madmen and fanatics will suffer England to
interfere with our municipal legislation Slavery
may be right, or it may be wrong; be it or the
other, is not with any foreign nation that shall
discuss its merits. We respect the municipal laws of
other nations, and attempt not 10 interrupt their egi
innate operation; and we demand that other nations
show the same respect for ours. There is only one
course to be pursued by independent nations and that
is for each to respect the others sovereignty within
its own territory.
For ourselves, we have no 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
become, really and truly freeman; but never Will
we consent to alter single feature in municipal
legislation at the command of foreigner least of
all at the dctation of Great Britain We 90 first of
all for the freedom and independence of our coun-
try, for the maintenance of its complete and entire
sovereignty; and then fast possible, and far
practicable, for the freedom and independence of
the individual citizen. No freedom is possible to
the citizen while the country is enslaved 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 it
nay, shall not officially question it. No other ground
can be taken without surrenderng the national sove
reignty, and owning ourselves a dependent people,
tributary or enslaved 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
doubleday, English municipal law is paramount within
the English territory. We do not question its supre-
macy within her domnions. 1t is her claim Of right
to enforce within territory that resist The
slaves on board the Creole were within American
territory according to 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 JUS
tce than 10 the municipal court of this CITY, There
fore it is say that to assent to the act of the Br
fish authorities in that case would be to surrender in
principle, our national sovereignty. We 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 a few fanatics and traitors,