The Port Gibson herald, and correspondent. (Port Gibson, Claiborne Co., Miss.) 1848-18??, 1850-08-30

ses reducing the former to So, "a, $40 and the
latter to $553, 400; and (or good measure) cast
ing into the account, New England's share of
liability to the South during the same period, for
the like aggressions, and not less than five hum
dred slaves, (valued at $225,o00y whom the
North assist annually to escape to Canada.
Let us pause. Here is an array Of losses
reaching up TO % millions of dollars! Who
lost it? The South! Whocaused ii? The North!
What is it? A debt Who owns iti The South!
Who owes it? The North! How did II origin
ate? From spoliations to that amount of the
South's property. Were the spoiations prompt
eddy any necessities OF State or of circumstance?
| BY neither: The aggressions were both wilful
and wanton. The North coveted what she did
not want She took what was not her own.
She sacrificed what belonged to others: The
motive Of the emprfse was not the thrift OF the
spoilers but the wrong and injury OF the plum
dered.
] have shown the vast amount Of slave proper
ty which has thus been taken from the slave
States, from reliable data: | have shown what
it was worth at a very moderate valuation, and
it stands proved as a subsisting and valid debt,
amounting to $22 1S4640. Who are liable for
the payment? Those who took the property
those who received it-those who kept it-those
who gave it proteCtion-and those who evaded
and resisted its reclamation: The citizens of the
free States are liable,-the governments of those
States are llable,--or in one comprehensive word,
the North is liable. There is not a legal 90
rum in Christendom, where such claim, for
such cause, with equal proofs, between man
and man, or nation and nation would not be re-
cognized and enforced. Why it has been done
slime out of mind, ,"--and the claiming and re-
covery of similar claims along the thoroughfares
of the world, constitute at this time the current
business Of men and CT nations. What but the
foreign claims of her citizens prompted Great
Britain to prowl over the seas like huge Levi
athan Tax Collector, and menace aggressive war
in the ports of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Hon.
duras, of Greece, Tuscany and Leghorn' What
was it during General Jackson's Presidency,
which brought the United States and France to
the very brink of war, but the wavering hestan-
cy of Louis Philippe and the French Chambers,
to execute the treaty Of Paris, providing indem-
nifty for French spoilations upon American Com.
merce, under The Berlin and Milan DEGREES?
Where in all South America have we Minis
ter whose whole functions of embassy are not
engrossed with the trials and Grugeries of an ac-
countant, in debating and adjusting at the bar
OF nations, the spoiated property-rights of Amer
ican citizens? What originated and aggravated
up to the moment of rupture, the war with Mex
, ico more than her seizures, detentions and con-
fiscations OF American property. and what but
the national protection due to the property.rghtS
of all American citizeas o! all sections, has in
stituted the commission now sitting here, for the
adjustment OF American claims for Mexican
spoilations? And what is It at this moment that
J threatens our peaceful relations with Portugal
but the propertyrights Of our citizens, involved
in the belligerent capture OF an American prfva.
! teer, while under Portuguese protection in the
) harbor of Fayal, near forty years ago? Now
f amid this vast and diversified mass Of American
: claims, there is not among them all, single
one juster of right, clearer of fact or more valit
!. Of law, than that of the South upon the North
d for the spoatons and confscations referred t.
!, and established in this paper. and in amount /
/ far exceeds the lchole of them put together!
This then being just debt, in the Southt
t name, demand to know, why, like all other jus
r debts, it should not be paidl Two reasons hav,
:. been given by the North why it should not
a One reason is, that slaves are not property
L and are not the basis therefore of valuation ant
e Indebtedness But besides that, Congress haI
e repeatedly assessed their value and taxed then
e as property, and sold them as such under exc
r cutions, the North is estopped from taking thi
e ground BY her own act. In 1915, during thl
d war with great Britain) she, in common witt
i the South insisted that Great Britain should eithe
= make restitution o. or payment for, several hun
] dred slaves as property, which she had carries
5 away from the slave States during her inyestmen
e of the Southern coasts. And how did Grea
e Britain. the leading Abolition power in the world
deal with such proposal? She received 1t wit
e respect, acknowledged it to be just, and mad
i full payment for the slaves, with interest 70
e their detention, and thus fully recognized thu
r rights of Snutherners in their slaves, evenagains
their adverse claims and possessions as belliger
: ents. The North committed herself to that pro
d posal by making it, and she ratified if by receiv
o ing payment Cor the property with interest iron
the British Excheque.
The other reason is, that the nature of GU
S. Union is incompatible with the enforcement G
such demand. Is it? Then the Union mus
be incompatible with its own principles, for th
Union is itself but an incident and dependepcl
Of the Constitution, and the surrender and de
livery Of fugitive slaves by the States they ar
found in, was one of the fundamental condition
Of its formation; and those who have not stru
their eyes to the gloomy portents which sadie
the times, must know, that the observance of il
provisions will be insisted upon as the fundarner
tai condition of its continuance. The Mort
would have US believe, that the preservation q
that Unionis an object of her first and profonndes
regards; and 10! she commends it to the South
s. support and affections, by insisting that while
lasts, she can despoil the South OF her propert
dd libitum and be exempt ffom restitution an
liability, while, if j: were at an eud, the Nortl
like all the civilized nations Of the earth, woul
3. be bound and constrained TO make full rest
stitution or payment, under the grave penaltie
of national dishonor and the chances of wal
s. Without treaty stipulation for the extraditio
Of fugitves from labor, in derogation Of the do,
trine OF the British constitution that there ca
be no property in man, in disparagement OF he
bellgerent rights as captor within her enemy
il iurisdiction,--behold Great Britain Gin conto
xt nifty with the Consuetudlndry Law of nations
lie attestng her reverence for the rights Of priva
IN property, amid the waste and confscation of o
st fensive war. and rating and paying for OF
il captured and deported slaves at their full valh
le Gainsay it who may that selfdespoHing exampl
le SO meet for observance, so worthy of praise an
e. SO Just in ITSELF has drawn to it the spontaneor
" concurrence of all nations, and made itself th
= law Of the world In peace and in war.
Such is the sanction and inviolability sechre
to private property-righis by d common conser
10 and the reverenced usages between all nation
: and without treaty. stipulation to enforce the