New-York daily tribune., 1843-04-28
NEW-YORK, FRIDAY MORNING, APRIL rs. 1913.

which ii concludes has been passed by the House,
40 that the party has fully endorsed and adopted
It's principles. Let Us unfold them
The preteIt mainly set up tor this repeal is the
fact that the T. S. Supreme Court, III the case of
Prigg rs. Pennsylvania, has recently decided that
all State laws. regulating or interfering with the
reclamation OF fugitive slaves, are null and void,
at least since the act OF Congress that subject,
passed IN 1893. To this we object, because
ls,. 1t is neither necessary nor usual to repeal
laws pronounced unconstitutional. If they are
so. they are void, Of course, and dead letter on
the statute book. We might as we'll repeal the
blank leaves al the beginning and close OF that
book But
Cd. 1t is BY no means clear that all our laws
AGAINST kidnapping are annulled by that decision.
1t cannot be possible that the Supreme Court
would DENY to a State all right 10 protect her CIT
izens from the grasp OF the kdnappsr-a decision
when would render State Rights q sorry farce
indeed. If Congress have exclusive powers TO
legslate for the reclamation of slaves, the States
may still have power to legislate for the protection
of their free citizens, and to punish Their aOduc-
ton.
3d. But if 1t be indeed true, as we hold it is not
that the Supreme Court has over-ruled all our
laws, whether common or statute, designed to
guard the personal liberty OF our citizens, we
would still insist most earnestly on their retention
on the statute-book. They can do no harm to the
STAKEHOLDER with the Federal Judiciary at his back
they are worth much to the character and dignl-
tv of our State which, if her citizens are to be
torn from her soil and dragged into slavery, without
Il right of appeal or trial by Jury, ought at least
to have the poor consolation of knowing and show
ing that she stretched out her arm to prevent 1t,
l., !,
this is not consistent with her primary duty to
her citizens or her sacred honor. Ii the time shall
come when her noblcst and truest sons shall be
dragged away into servitude on the oaths of per-
rcrs to CRAFTY the malice, or her iaircst and pur.
est daughters to satiatc the lust OF vllniny, avail
ING itself of the slavc-clauSc III the Constitution
in which there is no limit of color complexion
to accomplish its ends, then let us at least have
the melancholy satisfaction of believing that our
most precious rights were lost by construction or
wrested by overpowcrlng force and not tamcly
surrendered by those who should have upheld and
defended them at whatever peril.
There was period in the worlds history when
at the proud exclamation, g am Roman citl-
zcn!" the hand Of power was palsied, the shackles
of authority were broken, IN any part OF the CIV
ilized world, and he who claimed the lofty char
actcr of a Roman could only be tried by the laws
and the tribunals of the Imperial City. We adj
vocate no such nvidous distinction but we do
contend that here, on the soil of New York, an
individual seized as q slave, but protesting that
he is free citizen OF our State, should be allowed
an opportunity to establish his freedom before
court and jury of our own citizens. In other
words, we contend that man claiming TO be
owner of himself should have at least an equal
chance to establish his lawful freedom as If the
matter in dispute were horse or dog possessed
by him and claimed by another. A contrary
doctrine appears to compor better with the self
STYLED democracy of our day, but it is not con-
sonant with human liberty or common sense.
But while the majority have shown an eager
readiness to legslate for the immunity and ad-
vantage of the kdnapper, they have manifested
an entire indifference to the petitions and suffer
ings of our own oppressed citizens. For two
years the citizens Of New York, trading to or
touching at the ports of Virginia, have been sub
jccted to indignites the most humillating, and ex
actions the most wanton and veXatlous. No pre-
text of misconduct on their part has given color
of retaliation to this iniquity. The reason al
legged is, that New York has refused to surrender
her own free citizens to be tired for felony IN Viz
ginia, under circumstances most uniavorable TO
an impartial trial, upon a charge OF having aided
the escape OF a slave from the bondage to which
he was Immediately returned. But has New-l ork
done any thing extraordinary in this that her citi-
zens should be singled out for oppression Has
any other free State surrendered any of her c!ti
zens on such requisiton Never! Name
for one, has distinctly refused to do so, through
Governor OF each party successfully; Massachu
sets has gone still farther, in the recent case of
Latmer as decided By Gov. Davis and persisted
{
State are subject to fines and penalties at the
South, While those of New-Y York are arrested in
the pursuit of their lawful business, compelled to
give the most humiliating bonds and pay heavy
costs and the next day they are Liable to be ar
rested over again. Their representations and pc
tltions Tor redress have been utterly unheeded by
this Legislature; and even the simple proposition
that the Attorney General of our State be en-
powered 10 test the constitutonality Of the Viz
gina law in tho Federal Courts, was promptly
voted down, Recoiling from the barefaced aban-
donment of duty and surrender of right involved
in this act, the majority soon after reconsid.red
this vote and sent the proposition to a committee
to be smothercd, as it has been Repeated at
templs on our part to procure Report from that
Committee or induce the House to take some ac-
ton on the subject nave been resolutely sttied by
the power of numbers, not ashamed to perpetratc
acts OF which they dared neither to assign the rea
son nor contemplate the consequences
Fellow Citizens the reasons why your State IS
singled out for these indgnties, and why they are
so tamey endured, are obvious. They are part
of the general machinery by which the Northern
man with Southern principles IS required to prove
the blind serviity of his domestic followers anu
establish for himself claims to Southern gratitude
and support.
The enormous amount of money expended IN
the enlargement of the first fourteen mile sec
tons of the Erie Canal, seemed to impose upon