The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-02-19

pal regulations IL unguestonsble; but we view
this a right, existing by posifi0siaw, OF a mu-
nicipal character, otkouf foundation an the iaie
Of nature or the unwriuea and common tsr."
To complete this legal authority, let us turn
for moment TO the highest tribunal Of the ma
tion--the Supreme Court of the United States.
II II shall be in accordance with these State au-
thorities, can our correspondent doubt VIII
he-ought any man, TO resist, TO set up individ-
ual opinion against united Judicial decision, in
dividaa pref udice, against universal law Refer,
then 10 Graves, ct al. rs. Slaughter, Is, Peters,
507. Prgg rs. Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania,
l6, Peters, Gil, where the Supreme Court deter
mine:
"Tbe state of slavery is deemed 10 be mere
municipal regulation, founded upon, and limit
ed TO the range of the territorial laws,
is manifest from this consideration, that slave |
~ is a local institution that, if the Constitu-
ton had not contained the clause for recapture,
every non-slsveholding State in the Union
would have been at liberty TO have declared free
| all runaway slaves coming within its limits, and
TO have given them entire immunity and pro-
| lection against the claims of their masters
"The character of property is given thern
(slaves) by the local law.
"Ihe Constitution treats of slaves as persons.
The views of Mr.. Madison, who thought II
wrong TO admit in the Constitution, the ides,
| that there could be property in men, seems TO
have been carried out in that most important
instrument"
Enough, surely Of this. The law is clear.
1t is emphatic as well as clear Its dry logic
and close deduction comes TO conclusion which
the warmer impulse Of the heart jumps at by
intuition, and the higher decision of the soul
feels as a conviction. And not man, alive to
the duties and feelings of man, can doubt
or deny these afiirmations, come they from what
source they may Dare South Carolina 1t
was but the other day, that her legislature gave
freedom to the slave of 1t. Adams for his man
like fidelity and bearing. And why7 Solemn
ly, authoratively, unanimously, that body has
asserted, that the slave was better fed, better
clad better treated, than any sborer, and its Of
fetal organs have repeatedly affirmed, likening
the white workman to the horse or the OK, ''that
so far as the mere laborer has the pride, the
knowledge, or the aspirations of freeman, he
is untitled for his station" that it would be ri
diculous TO impart to him ga cultivated or re-
fined feeling" Why, then, degrade, by freeing
the slave Charles This act gives the lie direct
to all these vain and vague declarations. Lib
erty is a boon. 1t is mans highest privilege,
and Heavens richest gift. This all kpop, and
we might well attempt to stop the lightning's
stroke, or hush its thunder peal, by a defiant
flash of the eye, or babbe Of the voice, as to
tear out from the soul Of man this Unborn, God
implanted conviction.
But ga correspondent raises another ques-
tion-as to the slave owners right to introduce,
TO force slavery, into territory now free. Can
this DO dOnel Is there any power any where.
in Congress- in the slave States, 10 create slavery
in free territory We say not. We deny the
right every way. We affirm that reason, justice,
law, forbid it.
What is the purport of all the decisions al
ready quoted What the great principle they
affirm This, "'that slavery is local." ''that the
character of property given to slaves rests onl.
upon municipal right" shat the constitution
of the Union has not, and cannot give thi,
character" How, then, can the institution be
established The States cannot DO il. MOI
Congress. II follows, therefore, that free terri
tory must remain free territory. Does ga CORES.
pondent" point TO Florida,.or Texasl Neither
example touches the question. Slavery existed
in them before they became part Of the Union
No! IL a slave owner has a righ: to force his
slaves into free territory on the Rio Grande, he
has the right TO force them upon Ohio, Indiana
e or any free State, and if Congress may create
slavery in such territory, it may uncreate
abolish it, in any and every slave State in the
Union. There is no resisting these CONCLUSIONS
;, The law, and the logic of the law, sustans them
with positive demonstration, and Southern men
must abide by the decisions of their own courts
and the Supreme Court of the United States, OF
= else abandon slavery State Institution, and
say, that Congress may do with it as il
shall see ft.
But the practice of the Government, as clear
ly as the cases cited, prove, that Congress has
entire jurisdiction over the territories Of the
Union-a point which ga correspondent
doubts, and on which he rests his right to &C
with his slaves where he pleases. Not 10 re-
peat what we have heretofore said, Though W,
must often do it on this point, so much is the
question mooted in the South let us refer, first
E to the ordinance of I7e7. That decreed thai
/ slavery should be forever excluded from the ter
: ritory lying North Of the Ohio. Listen to il,
brave Ords as advocated by THOMAS JEFFERSON
r and all the great men of the South:
r Sand for eTfeading the fundamental princi-
pies Of eiUiI and religious liberty, which form
the basis wherein these republics, their laws and
constitutions erected; to fix and establish
those principles the basis Of all laws consti.
buttons and governments, which forever hereaf-
ter shall be formed in said territory, &c, il il
hereby ordained and declared by the authority
aforesaid, That the following articles shall be
considered articles of compact between the
original States and the people and States in the
said territory, and forever remain unalterable
unless by common consent, to wit:
"Article VI.-There shall he neither slavery
, nor involuntary servitude in the said territory,
T otherwise than in the punishment of crimes
whereof the party shall have bsen duly convict
ed: Provided always, that any person escaping
into the same, from whom labor and service il
lawfully claimed in any one of the original
States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed
!. and conveyed TO the person claiming his or ber
labor or service aforesaid
BY what right was this ordinance passed. II
Congress has not control over the territories Of
the Union. how did that body by unanimous
, vote Of all the States sustain this ordinance
and in doing embrace, under its provisions
, | all the territory thea indisputaby possessed by