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

amounts 10 ABOUT <O,UUU.--sN. H. CoW.
The Randolph Epistles.
The South's losses in fugitive slapes amount ID
$22,OO0,OO0 in the last 40 gears, and her
annual losses amount to $550,0OO, for achict
the North is responsible, d,c.-Jury Trial IN
the Free States, devised solely for the enfran-
chisemet Of the fugaiues- The Military re-
sources and strength Of The South, dc.
WAsHNGToN CIrr, July IA, 1850.
About nineteen-t wenrieths Of all the wars,
civil and national, which have washed and
soddened the earth, have sprung out Of
aggressions upon the property-rights OF men
and nations. Mr. WEBSTER once said, and
with that felicity of thought for which he is
SO remarkable, that the men Of the revolution
were so sensitive to the least encroachment
upon their property-rights that they even
rebelled against a preamble, and took up
arms against the first maritime power in the
world, for the recitGls Of an act Of Par
lament, SC. In homelier words, they
maintained that those who pay the taxes
must lay the taxes, and that the rights OF
taxation and representation were inseparable
elements of all rightful legislation. In sup
port Of this principle they drew the sword,
and sheathed it no more until they had
cleaved the colonies and kingdom asunder.
AS practical grievances, the moderate duties
upon teas, stamps, &c., were scarcely felt,
and the whole controversy arose about the
right to impose them. Moreover, the re-
venues raised were all destined to colonial
uses; and in all the time the colonial tariff
lasted, scarcely amounted to a tythe of what
it costs a large portion Of their descendants
annually, and over and above all the barthens
and expenses Of the State and Federal Gov
ernments, and without dollar being applied
to any public uses, or returning into their
pockets, through any Of the channels of the
public expenditures.
The descendants referred to are the people
Of the South, and the monies spoken Of, are
the annual values of her fugitive slaves,
which the citizens Of the North entice from
her borders and set at liberty. This has
been carried on for these thirty or forty
years, and in late years through organized
associations, with alarming frequency and =
most amazing audacity. One Of the, worst
omens Of the times is, the shamelessness with
which of late, men of property and character
at the North, avow and boast of their crimi-
nal participation in decoying away and de-
priving owners Of their slaves in the slave
States. 1t is scarcely two months ago since
The New York State Vigilance Anti
Slavery Committee, y, (of which the opulent
and famous Gerrit Smith is chairman) held
its anniversary meeting in public in the city
of New York, and ! quote single passage
from its secretary's official report:
6 The Committee hare toithin the gear,
since the Isl Of May, 1S49, assisted one
hundred and )yiy-one tugitires (tor that,
you kno,c, is our business) in escaping from
serritude !"
Are these people aware how deeply they
have eliminated themselves in these avowals?
Do the citizens of New Y ork hold themselves
irresponsible to public opinion in conniving
at felonies and giving them impunity Do
they not know that the members of this
committee, by visiting sister State, violat-
ing her criminal laws, and carrying off her
property, themselves become, in the sense Of
the Constitution, fugitipes from justice, and
by virtue Of their own confessions Of the
crimes they have committed, are subject to
arrest and delivery to the authorities Of the
State whose laws have been broken. These
one hundred and ffty-one slaves, at the
most moderate estimate, were worth $500
piece, which amounts to an aggregate
value of $75 800; and if the same persons
had publicly confessed that they had stolen
that amount Of money from the same citizens
in the States of Maryland or Virginia, or
had passed it of in counterfeit bank bills, is
there judicial officer in the State Of New
York who would not have felt it to have
been his duty, to have caused them to have
been arrested and imprisoned upon their own
confessions Of the felonies, and have detained
them subject to the demand Of the Executive
Of the State whose laws had been violated'
In all the Southern States, the stealing Of
slaves is one Of the highest species of statu-
tory felonies. In several Of them it is pun
ished with death; and the mildest punishment
for the crime in any Of them, extends to hard
labor and penitentiary confinement. Every
one who entices away slave, with intent to
deprive the owner Of his services, and ell
who aid and abet him as accessories before
the fact or after the fact, are made thieves
and felons by the laws, and shall suffer death,
or imprisonment at hard labor for life or for
years, according to the criminal laws OF the
Jurisprudence where the trials are to be had!
Yet Presbyterian church in the city Of
New York, makes free its pews to thes..
fugitives from Justice, and there in the pre-
sence Of the New York public, they detail
their felonious thieveries committed against
the property-rights of her sister States, and
in fragrant violation Of the Constitution Of
the United States; yet no man lays hands
on them, or denounces or reproves them!
propose in this paper to bring these
abuses to public attention. My subject is
the escape to, and emancipation in the free
States, Of fugitives from labor from the slave