Democratic banner., 1849-07-02

w Piooi NJ OhCe " as InCEbn-I
sic and practical necessity"
Again. "The clause manifestly contem-
plates the existence of a positive u~nqualli-
fed right on the part of the owner of the
slave, which no State law or regulation can
in any way regulate, control, qualify, orre-
strain"
The opinion of the other learned Judges
was not less emphatic as to the Importance
of this provision, and the unq~uestionable
right of the South under it. Judge Baldwin,
in charging the jury, said:* "If there are
any rights of property which can be en-
forced if one citizen have any rights of
property which are inviolable under the
protection of the supreme law of the State,
and the Union, they are those which have
been set at naught by some of these defend
ants. As tie owner Of property, which he
had a perfect right to possess, protect, and
take away-as a citizen of a sister State,
entitled to all the privileges and i~mmunities
of citizens of any other States-Mr. John
son stands before you on ground which can
not be taken from under hint is the same
ground on which the government itself is
based. If the defendants can be justified,
we see no longer any law or government
Again, after referring more particularly to
the provision for delivering up fugitive
slaves, he said: "Thus you see, that the
foundations of the government are laid,
and rest on the right Of property in slaves.
] he whole structure must fall by disturbing
the cornerstone"
These are grave, and solemn, and ad-
monitory words, from a high source. They
confirm all for which the South has ever
contended, as to the clearness, importance,
and fundamental character Of this provision,
and the disastrous consequences which
would inevitably follow from its violation.
But in spite of these solemn warnings, the
violation then commenced, and which they
were intended to rebuke, has been fully and
perfectly consummated. The citizens Of
the South, in their attempt to recover their
slaves, now meet, instead Of aid and CO.
operation, resistance from all sides; resis-
lance from hostile acts Of Legislation, intend
ed to battle and defeat their claims by all
sorts Of devices, and by %interposing every
description of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. from
judges and magistrates-and finally, when
all these fail, from mobs, composed Of whites
and blacks, which, by threats or force, res
cue the fugitive slave from the possession
Of his rightful owner. The attempt to re-
cover a slave, in most of the northern States,
cannot now be made without the hazard OF
insult, heavy pecuniary loss, imprisonment,
and even of life itself. Already has a worthy
citizen of Marylandt lost his life in making
an sttemrt to enforce his claim to a fugitive
slave under this provision.
But a provision of the constitution may
be violated indirectly as well as directly,
by doing an act in its nature inconsistent
with that which is enjoined to be done. OF
this form Of violation there is a striking in
stance connected with the provision under
consideration. We allude to secret conbi-
nations which are believed to exist in most,
IL not all, the northern States adjacent to
the South-including with them Michigan
whose object is to %entice, decoy, entrap, in
veigle, and seduce slaves to escape from
their masters, and to pass them secretly and
rapidly, by means organized for the purpose,
into Canada, where they will be beyond
the reach Of the provision. That to entice
a slave, by whatever a%rtiice, to abscond
from his master into a non-slayeholding
State, with the intention TO place him be-
yond the reach of the provision, or prevent
his recovery, by concealment or otherwise,
is as completely ~repugnant to it as its open
violation would be, is too clear to admit OF
doubt, or to require illustration. And yet,
as Repayment as these combinations are to
the true intent Of the provision, it is believ-
ed that not one Of the States within whose
&The case of Johnson Vi. Tompkihs and