The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-05-17

or shall arbor or conceal such person. after notice that he or
The SAID Offences forte fort and pay the sum Of i've hundred
dollars Which penalty may be recovered by and Tor the ben
erop U to- try the same SAVING to the person.
claiming such labor or service his right of action for
account OF, the said injuries, or either OF them
.7pprored, February IL, 1888.
The clauses of these acts are statutory common
tares upon the understanding of the times, by the
decision of an unanimous Congress, that the owner
Or his agent had right to apprehend and seize his
own slave wherever he could find him, without let
or hindrance; and, that he had right to apply as
well to the State Courts to the United States Off
GERS Tor assistance in procuring certificate for the
removal of fugitive slave. The act was but the
confirmation OF previous usage land only prescribed
an uniform and convenient mode Of dealing with
the subject 1t may well be said that it instituted
no new practice, but only enforced an old one.
: The colonial history of the country would show
that at one period, slavery recognized as le-
gal institution in all the colonies; and, that in all
OF them conventional or customaryllaw prevailed,
which conferred on the owner of fugitive slave
the right, to reclaim him wherever he might be
found.' After the revolution, the public sentiment
of some of the northern States in which slave Ia
Dor had become of little value, commenced under
going change. In 1880, Pennsylvania passed an
act for the gradual abolition of slavery; and in the
same year, Massachusetts made provision for the
prospective emancipation of her slaves In a few
years afterwards, these examples were followed by
all or nearly all the New England States. The
southern States, however, for obvious causes, from
soil and climate and local relations, continued to
tain the institution This state of things calcula
ted and in fact was leading to angry controversies,
and to conflicting and retaliatory legislation, UNI
propltious to the harmony and peace of the States
The compromises of the constitution, under which
entered into the Union, arrested this tendency
Of things, by containing such guarantees as gave
confidence and supposed security to the slavehold
ers of the south. These guarantees and solemn
pledges were generally observed in good faith until
about 1919 About that time, the institution of abb
solute slavery Gt still being continued in modified
FORM was expiring under the acts of previous legis
lation in New York. About the same time, the
voice of discord was heard in the debates on the
Missouri question 1t was, as Mr.. Jefferson ex-
pressed it, g like the sound of fire bell in the
night" 1t reused dormant elements of mischief
Sectional prejudice and sectional ambition have as
sumed an alarming shape, well calculated to arrest
the profound attention Of all patriots who inter-
ested in the perpetuity of the Union.
From the date referred to, the legislation of the
non-slaveholding States has taken the direction of
design. and has assumed a form well calculated to
undermine the guarantees of the constitution and to
put in jeopardy the rights of the slaveholding por
ton of this confederacy. Justification of these
remarks will be found by reference to the acts Of
several non-slaveholding States, all pervaded by
common feeling, and all having, apparently, sys-
tematc aim to make war, both upon slavery and
the political power of slaveholders-a design dep
recated by many non-slavehalding citizens, but pro-
NOTED by more. 1t is certain that legislative enact
ments, and even Judicial decisions, from the time
referred to, have assumed new character in the
non-slaveholding States. In New York, II John
sons Reports a. it has been decided that the State
courts have power or right to exercise any Jurls-
dicton conferred on them by an act of Congress
and as consequence, that Congress cannot vest in
the State magistrates and sheriffs and constables
power to execute the act of 1793 is attempted by
that act Without questioning the soundness of the
decision, it gives to the constitution different con-
struction from that which Congress unanimously
entertained at the time the act was passed, and In
effect, deprives the slaveholding States of a re-
cognised remedy for the security and protection
of their property.
The legislation of some of the non-slaveholding
States has been of less equivocal character, and
more palpably unconstitutional as it has been de-
termined, by judicial decisions, the paramount law
of the land. In all, or nearly all, the eastern and
northern onslaveholding States, laws have been
passed, since 1920, prohibiting, under high penal
ties, the owner of fugitive slave from apprehend
ing such slave without sthe previous authority of a.
magistrate and, after apprehension effected,
in many cases, giving the slave the writ of habeas
corpus and the sight of trial by jury, thus throwing
vexatious and hostile impedments in the way of the
owner well calculated to deter him from asserting
his rights, and in pal pable violation of the consti
tuition.
Your committee have not time to refer specifical-
rallv of the same purport. it is unnecessary One,
however, must be referred to, not by way of in
vidious distinction, because it was not as oblec-
tionabe in its provisions as others, but for the rea-
son that it has undergone an elaborate judicial in
vestigation and its character settled by an author
tative Judgment of the Supreme Court We refer
to a law of PENNSYLVANIA, passed in 1926. 1t may
be remarked here that New Jersey, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, and several other States, had laws
going beyond this in design and operation.
The first section of thai act provides that, " fany
person SHALL by force and violence, take and carry
away, or shall cause to be taken and carried away,
or shall, by fraud and false pretence, seduce or
cause to be seduced, or shall attempt to take and
carry away, or to seduce any negro or muatto from
any part of that commonwealth, with design of
selling and disposing Of or causing to be sod of
keeping and OBTAINING or of causing to be kept and
detained such negro or mulatto as slave or ser
want for life, or for any term whatsoever, every
such person, by aiding and abettiug, &C., SHALL on
conviction thereof be deemed guilty of felony, and
shall forfeit and nav sum not less than five hun
dred or more than one thousand dollars; and,
moreover, shall undergo Imprisonment for any term
IL,