Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1849-02-02

was indispensable to the security Of this spe-
cies OF property in all the slave holding States,
and. indeed. was so vital to the preservation
OF their interests and institutions. that il can.
not be doubted that it constituted fundamen-
tai article, without the adoption of which the
Union would not have been formed. Its true
design was 10 guard against the doctrines and
principles prevalent in the non .slaveholding
States, by preventing them from inlermed-
ding with, or restricting, or abolishing the
rights OF the owners of slaves
Again. "The clause was therefore of the
last Importance TO the safety and security Of
the Southern States, and could not be surren
dered by them without endangering their whole
property in slaves. The clause was according
" adopted in the constitution by the unani
nous consent of the trainers of ia proof at
once OF its intrinsic and practical necessity.
Again. ''The clause manifestly contem
plates the existence OF positive unqualified
right on the part OF the owner Of slave,
which no State law or regulation can in any
way regulate, control, qualify, or restrain
The opinion of the other learned Judges was
not less emphatic as 10 the importance of this
provision and the unquestionable right of the
South under it. Judge Baldwin, in charging
| the jury, said :" "if there are any rights
| of property which can be enforced; if one
citizen have any rights of property which are
| lnviolable under the protection Of the supreme
law of the State, and the Union, they are those
which have been set at nought by some OF
! these defendants. AS the owner of property,
which he had perfect right TO possess, pro-
tect and take away-as citizen of a sister
State. entitled 10 all the privileges and immu-
mites of citizens OF any other States-Mr
Johnson stands before you on ground which
cannot be taken from under hint is the
same ground on which the government itself
is based. If the defendants can be justified,
we have no longer law or government
Again, after referring more particularly 10 the
provision for delivering up fugitive slaves, he
said "Thus you see, that foundations OF the
government are laid, and rest on the right of
every form; resistance from hostile acts of e-
gisation, intended 10 battle and defeat their
claims by all sorts of devices, and by lnterpos-
ing every description of pediment-resis-
lance from Judges and magistraes-and final
ly, when all these fail, from mobs composed
of whites and blacks, which, by threats or
| force, rescue the fugitive slave from the pos
session of his rightful owner. The attempt
to recover 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 wor-
thy citizen of Marylandt lost his life in ma
king an attempt to enforce his claim to flu
gitve slave under this provision
/ But provision of the constitution may be
violated indirectly as well as directly, BY do
ing an act in It's nature inconsistent with that
which is enjoined to be done. OF this form
of violation there is a striking instance con-
nected with the provision under consideration.
We alude to secret combinations which are
believed 10 exist in many of the northern
States, whose object is TO entice, decoy, entrap,
inveigle, and sedlce slaves to escape from
their owners, 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 slave,
| by whatever artiice, to abscond from his own
er into non slavehoiding State, with the in
tention TO place him beyond the reach of the
provision or prevent his recovery, by conceal
ment or otherwise, is as completely repugnant
to it as its open violation would be, is too
clear to admit OF doubt or to require illustra.
ton. Aud yet, as repugnant as these combi-
nations are to the true intent of the provision,
it is believed that, with the above exception,
not one of the States within whose limits
they exist has adopted any measure to sup
press them, or to punish those by whose agen-
CIV the object for which they were formed is
carried into execution. On the contrary, they
have looked on and witnessed with indffer~
ence, if not with secret appreciation, great
number of slaves enticed from their owners
and placed beyond the possibility of recovery,
to the great annoyance and heavy pecuniary
loss of the bordering southern States
When we take into consideration the great
importance of this provision, The absence OF
all uncertainty as to its true meaning and in
tent, the many guards by which it is surroun-
ded to protect and enforce it, and then reflect
how completely the object for which it was
inserted in the constitution is defeated by these
two fold infractions, we doubt, taking all to-
gether, whether a more fragrant breach oil
faith is to be found on record. We know
the language we have used is strong, but it is
not less true than strong.
There remains to be noticed another class
of aggressive acts of kindred character, but
which. instead of striking at an express and
specific provision of the Constitution, aims d.
rectly at destroying the relation between the
two races of the south, by means subversive
in their tendency of one of the ends for which
the constitution was established. We refer tc
the systematic agitation of the question by
the abolitionists; which, commencing about
1885, is still continued in all possible forms
Their avowed intention is to bring about 4
state of things that will force emancipation or
the South. To unite the North i'll fixed hos.
tility to slavery in the South, and to excite
discomfort among the slaves with their condi
ton, are among the means employed to effec
it. With a view to bring about the former
every means are resorted to in order to render
the South, and the relation between the two
races there, odious and hateful to the North.
For this purpose societies and newspaper:
are everywhere established, debating clubs
opened, lecturers employed, pamphlets anc
other publications, pictures and petitions tc
Congress resorted to. and directed to that sin
gle point. regardless of truth or decency; while
the circulation of incendiary publications ir
the South, the agitation of the subject Of abo
Iition in Congress, and the employment o
emisaries, are relied on 10 excite discomfort a
mong the slaves This agitation, and the ust
of these means, have been continued, with
more or less activity, for a series of years, no
without doing much towards effecting the oh
iect intended We regard both object ant
means to be aggressive and dangerous TO thu
rights of the South, and subverslve, as stated
of one of the ends for which the constitution
was established Slavery is a domestic in
stitution. 1t belongs to the States, each TO
: ITSELF to decide whether it shall be establish
ed or not and, if it be established, whether
! Icb IL obol;eboJ Gunh hainr RI,