The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-07-20

claim, for such cause, with equal proofs,
between man and man, or nation and nation
would not be recognized and enforced. Why
it has been done time out Of mind, and
the claiming and recovery Of similar claims
along the thoroughfares Of the world, consti-
tute at this time the current business Of men
and Of natinos. What but the foreign claims
OF her citizens prompted Great Britain to
prowl over the seas like huge Leviathan
Tax-Colector, and menace aggressive war
in the ports of Venezuela, Nicaragua and
Honduras, of Greece, Tuscany and Leghorn;
What was it during General Jackson's Pre-
sidency, which brought the United States
and France to the very brink Of war, but the
wavsIing hesitancy Of Louis Philippe and the
French Chambers, to execute the treaty Of
Paris, providing indemnity for French spolia-
tons upon American Commerce, under the
Berlin and Milan Deanus, Where in all
South America have we Minister whose
whole functions Of embassy are not engrossed
with the trials and drudgeries of an ac-
countant, in debating and adjusting at the
bar Of nations, the spoliated property-rights
OF American citizens9 What originated and
aggravated up to the moment of rupture, the
war with Mexico, more than her seizures,
detentions and con6scations of American pro-
perty, and what but the national protection
due to the property-rights of all American
citizens Of all sections, has instituted the
commission now sitting here, for tie ADJUST
ment Of American claims for Mexican spolia-
tons And what is it at this moment that
/ fhro Of of,I
but the property-rights Of our citizens, invol-
we'd in the bellgerent capture of an Ameri-
can privateur, while under Portuguese pro-
lection in the harbour of Fayal, near forty
years ago. Now amid this vast and diver
si6ed mass Of American claims, there is not
among them all, single one iuster of right,
clearer offact, or more valid Of law, than that
Of the South upon the North, for the spolia-
tons and con6scations referred to and estab-
lished in this paper, and in amount far err
ceeding the whole Of them put together,
This then being a just debt, in the South's
name, demand to know, why, like all other
just debts, it should not be paid' Two
reasons have been given by the North why
it should not:
One reason is, that slaves are not property,
and are not the basis therefore Of valuation
and indebtedness. But besides that, Con-
gress has repeatedly assessed their value and
taxed them as property, and sold them as such
under executions, the Northis estopped from
taking this ground by her own act. In
1915, (during the war with Great Britain
she, in common with the South, insisted that
Great Britain should either make restitution
OF, or payment for, several hundred slaves as
property, which she had carried away from
the Save States during Ter investment Of the
Southern coast. And how did Great Britain,
the leading Abolition power in the world,
deal with slch proposal /! She received
it with respect, acknowledged it to be just,
and made full payment for the slaves, with
interest for their detention, and thus fully re-
cognized the property-rights Of Southerners in
their slaves, even against the adverse claims
and possessions Of beligerents. The North
committed herself to that proposal by making
it, and she ratified it by receiving payment
for the property from the British Exchequer
] The other reason is, that the nature of oul
| Union is incompatible with the enforcement
of such demand. is til Then the Union
must be incompatible with its own principles
for the Union is itself but an incident and
dependency of the Constitution, and the sur
render and delivery of fugitive slaves by the
States they are found in, was one of the fun
damtntal conditions Of its formation and
those who have not shut their eyes to the
gloomy portents which sadden the times,
must know, that the observance Of its provi-
sions will be insisted on as the fundamental
condition of its continuance. The North
would have US believe, that the preservation
of that Union is an object of her first and pro-
foundest regards and 10 |! she commends it
to the South's support and affections, by in
sisting that while It lasts, she can despoil the
South of her property ad Hbitam and be ex-
empt from restitution or liability, while, if it
were at an end, the North, like all the civili-
zed nations of the earth, would be bound and
constrained to make full restitution or pay
ment, under the grave penalties of national
dishonor and the chances Of war! Without
treaty stipulation for the extradition of frgi-
tives from labor, in derogation Of the doc
trine Of the British constitution that there
can be no property in man, in disparagement
of her belligerent rights as captor within
her enemy's jurisdiction, behold Great
Britain Tin conformity with the Consucfu-
binary Law Of nations) attesting her rever-
ence for the rights Of private property, amid
the waste and con6scations of offensive war,
and rating and paying for our captured and
deported slaves at cir full value Gainsay
it who may, that self-despoiling example, so
meet fSf observance, so worthy Of praise and
SO just in itself, has drawn to it the sponta-
neous concurrence of all nations, and made
itself the law of the world in peace and in
war.
Such is the sanction and inviolability Sc
cured to private property-rights by COM
mon consent and the revcrenced usages be-
tween all nations, and without treaty
stipulation to enforce their performance
In all Christendom there is not an exception
to be brought against these usages,-
question to be raised upon these rights Of