Daily Richmond times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1849-1850, 1850-05-11

NtW IIt3TCUi BuG, lnf1UenCo sentllnent
JUSTICE and great liberaty the bill proposes to Texas
| Tor her REIMBURSEMENT of any such claim, large
pecunary equivalent. As consideration for it, and
considering that a portion of the debt of Texas
created pledge to her creditors of the duties on
foreign imports transferred by the resolution of
nexation the United States and now received and
receivable in their treasury, majority of the
mittee recommended the payment of the sum Of
millions OF dollars to Texas to be applied in the first
instance to the extinction of that portion of her debt for
the reimbursement of which the duties on foreign i'm
ports pledged aforesaid and the residue in
such manner as she may direct The said sum is to
be paid by the United States in stock to be
ted bearing five per cent. interest annually, payable
half yearly at the treasury of the United States and
the principal relmbursable at the end OF fourteen
years.
According to an estimate which has been made
there are included in the territory to which it is pro-
posed that Texas shall relinquish her claim embra-
cling that part OF New Mexico lying east of the Rio
Grande, little less than 124 1888 square miles, and
about 1887 100 acres of land From the proceeds OF
sale OF this land, the United States may ultimately
be reimbursed portion, not the whole of the amount
OF what is thus proposed to be advanced to Texas
1t cannot be anticipated that Texas will decline to
accede to these liberal propositions but if she should
it to be distinctly understood that the title Of the Unit
ed States to any territory acquired from Mexico East of
the Rio Grande will remain unimpaired and in the same
condition as the proposals of adjustment now offered
had never been made.
A majority OF the committee recommend to the Sc
nate that the section containing these proposals Tex
as shall be Incorporated into the bill embracing the ad
OF territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico
The definition and establishment of the boundary be-
tween New Mexico and Texas has intimate and ne
cessary connection with the establishment of territorial
government for New Mexico. To form territorial 60
vernmen Tor Jew Mexico, without prescribing the limits
OF the territory would leave the work imperfect and in
complete, and might expose New Mexico to serious
roversy, 1t not dangerous collisions with the State of
Texas And most, if not all, the considerations which
unite in favor OF combining the bill tor admission of Ca
ornia as State and the territorial bills apply the
measures every question of difficulty and division
which has arisen OF the territorial acquisitions from
Mexico will, 1t is hoped be adjusted, placed in
train OF satisfactory adjustment The committee avail
ing themselves of the arduous and valuable abors of
the Committee on Territories, report a BILL herewith
annexed marked y embracing those three measures
the passage OF which, uniting them together, they
commend to the Senate.
The committee will now proceed to the consideration
Of and to report upon, the subject of persons owing
service or labor IN one State escaping into another
The text OF the Constitution is quite clear: No per-
held to service labor in one State, under the
ldaDS thereof, escaping into another, shall, IN
queuce oil any law regulation therein be discharged
from such labor or service but shall be deueredu
the claim OF the party to whom such service labor
may be due Nothing be more explicit than this
anguage-nothlng more manifest than the right TO de-
mand, and the obligation to deliver up to the claimant
| any such fugitive And the Constitution addresses it.
sell alike to the States composing the Union and the
| General Government II, indeed, there any dife
renee in the duty to enforce this portion Of the Consti
!
is clear that it is that of the former than OF the
latter But it is the duty OF both 1t is well known
and lncontesablethat citizens IN stvehodng States
the greatest difficulty obtaining the benefit of
this provision of the Constitution The attempt to re-
capture fugitive almost always subject OF great IT.
| rlatlon and excitement and often leads to most
pleasant, if not perilous, collisions An of
slave IS quite notorious cannot pursue his property
Tor the purpose OF its recovery, OF the States
without imminent personal hazard This is depora-
BILE state of things which ought to be remeded The
Iayv + hao., o,,,,l -l,rl
quires more stringent enactments. There is especially
deficiency in the number of public unctonares
thorlzed to afford aid the seizure and of fug
tlves Various States have declined to afford aid aud
cooperation in the surrender of fugtives from labor
the committee believe, from misconcepton OF their
duty arising under the Constitution of the United States
It is true that decision Of the Supreme Court of the
United States has given counenance TO them in with
holding their assistance But the committee cannot but
believe that the intention OF the Supreme Court has been
misunderstood. They cannot but think that that court
merely meant that laws OF the several States which
created obstacles in the way of the recovery of ugi
tives authorized by the Constitution and not
that State laws afordng facilities in the recovery of tp
gltlves were forbidden by that instrument.
The non-saveholdng States, whatever sympathes
any OF their citizens may feel for persons who escape
from other States, cannot discharge themsev from
obligation to enforce the Constitution OF the United
States. All parts Of the instrument being dependent
upon and connected with each other ought to be fair
y and justly enforced II States may seek to ex
onerate themselves from portion of the Consttu-
ton, other States may endeavor to evade the perform
ance OF other portions OF it and thus the instrument
some OF its most important provisions, might become
imperative and invalid.
But, whatever may be the conduct OF individual
States the duty OF the General Government is perfectly
clear. That duty is to amend the existing law, and
to provide efectua remedy for the recovery of ug
tves from service or labor In devislng such remedy
Congress ought whilst one hand securing to the
owner the fair restoration OF his property eecually
guard on the other, against any abuses IN the Application
OF that remedy,
In oil o1ftb ,,;tl, of
charged with offences in all OF the pursuit OF u-
gves from justice from State to another Statei ia
all cases OF exradlton provided or by treaties between
foreign powers-the proceeding uniformly is summary
1t has never been thought necessary apply in OF
that kind the forms and ceremonies OF final trial And
when that trial does take place. is in the State coun
try from which the party has fled, and not in that in
which he has found refuge. BY the express language
OF the Constitution whether the fugitive held to
vice labor not to be determined by the la,pS of
the State from aohich he fed; and consequently, it
most proper that the tribunals of that State should ex
pound and administer its own laws Ii there have been
any instances of abuse in the arrest of ug-
tives from service or labor the committee have not OBJ
| tanned knowledge OF them They believe that none
such have occurred and that such not likely to oc
cur.
tut, in order to guard against the possibility ofther
occurrence the committee have prepared and herewith
report marked b. section to be offered the ugi-
tive bill now pending before the Senate According 10
this section, the owner OF fugitive from service la
Dor is, when practicable, to carry with him to the State
in which the person is found record, from compe-
tent tribunal, adiudicatng the facts of elopement and
slavery, with general description ofhe fugitive This
record properly attested and certified under the official
seal of the court, being taken the State where the
person owing service labor is found, is to be held
competent and sufficient evidence of the facts which had
been adjudcaed, and will leave nothing more to be
done than to identity the fugitive.
Numerous petitions have been presented, praying
for trial by jury in the case OF arrest of ugitves from
service labor in the non-slavehodng States 1t has
been already shown that this would be entirely contrary
to practice and uniform usage in all similar cases
Under name of popular and cherished institutions
an institution, however never applied in OF pre-
limnary proceeding, and only in of final trial
the Of the fugitive is concerned Ii the trial by
theury be admitted it would draw aerit its usual
sequences, of continuance from time to time, bring
evidence from distant places, of second new trials in
cases where the Jury is hung, the verdict asde
and OF revisas ofhe verdict and conduct of the ures