The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-04-03
THE NATIONAL ERA.
For the National bra.
CAN IDEAS WITH ANY PROPERTY BE TIE
SUBJECT OF POLICE REGULATIONS!

which the people are the acknowledged source Of
power and Of the laws practical notification
will always take place when the general sense OF
q community is disregarded in legal enactments.
The disregard Of the Fugitive Slave Law in
the extreme North and the defence in the ex-
IRENE South Of the Post Office regulations with
regard to the faithful delivery Of letters and pa
pers, and the violation Of the constitutional pro-
vision for securing TO the citizens of any State
the common privileges Of citizenship of the seve-
raj States and Of course securing to colored citi
zens Of Northern States the same immunities
while journeying through Southern States which
white citizens of the Northern States enjoy, were
adduced in illustration Of his position. e The
citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the
privileges and immunities Of citizens Of the seve
raj States J
But, said nv friend South Carolina and Lous-
lana are not guilty of any disregard Of the Con-
sttutioB Of the United States in the enactment
Of laws for the Imprisonment Of the colored cti-
zens Of other States az a measure Of safety Self
preservation il the first law of Nature, and this
measure is OF the nature Of police regulation
We all know that the presence Of free blacks
amid slave population produces discomfort, and
renders property uncertain and even eDdabgeTs
life; and in thus treating the colored citizens Of
Northern States, the Southern States simply eK-
ercise the reserved privilege claimed by every
people all the world over. Have you not a quar-
antine, and can you not restrain n smallpox pa
tient from entering this city, on the ground that
the lives Of your own people would be endangered
by his presence7 DO you think that the plea of
this patient, that he enjoyed citizenship in Yer
mont or Massachusetts, would avail him in the
attempt to secure his liberty to 90 where be
pleased as long as he should continue to be
source Of dangerous infection?
w ho wnu1d cure vel at MIGHT he the nrOyieinuq
Of his own State, or even OF the United States
These provisions ought to be disrcgarded if their
execution should endanger the property. the peace
and the lives, of our own people Now, how,
said he is the case altered when free black man
or a white Abolitonist comes among as We
know that the presence Of such is dangerous, and
it is perfectly competent for us to adopt such reg
ulatiOns rs shall eifectually exclude them and il
is competent to exclude them also as a class If
the great majority Of the citizens of Massachu-
sets should prove troublesome and dangerous
while travelling through our States, it would be
perfectly right to exclude the whole Of them, as
much as it would be right to subject the whole of
ships crew and passengers to quarantine if sus-
pected of having the seeds OF a contagion within
them, though not more than one in ten might ever
spread the infection. As the dangerous ones
could not be distinguished from the safe, it would
be right and necessary to confne them all In
deed, said he, 50 far from there being any undue
severity, or any injustice, in the statutes of the
Southern States, | think they ought TO be far
more stringent, including all suspected white err
sons as well as all free negroes. The danger Of
the people is the justification, aud ! cannot see
why the principle is not the same, whether the
cause of danger be disease of the body or the
dissemination of incendsry or reasonable ideas.
And so, verify, have thought the advocates of
gimpo,Dder institutions always. Take care! Take
care !! Don't bring your fire here I've powder
in my house, and if you don't keep away, shall
be blown to atoms
You have no business with all this gunpowder
you must have stolen it, or your fathers for You
says the fire king And if you have any right to
it, you must take care Of it, for fire | must have
and will. Fire always has been and always will
be- it is necessary everywhere and always but
powder can be dispensed with and il is very
doubtful whether it has been of much use in the
world. 1t has killed more people than it has
saved, and destroyed more property than it has
ever made.
All, but, says the powder man, the powder is
mine, and III do what please with it. If light
ming should strike it, or if it should take fire
spontaneously, it will he dispensation of Provi-
dence and cannot help it; but if il explode from
your spark, you viii be guilty of downright muir
der. Let me put out your fire before it has done
any mischief
Nay, nay, but the fire is mine, replies the fire
king, and it il all men's-it pervades the universe,
and is an indispensable condition of life. If
should quench my own little blaze, which 80
frightens you, Heaven and Earth are still full of
the same principle, and a thoughtless boy with
his match or the spark from the nails of your own
shoe as you tread upon flint, may dsspAte your
powder into air, and yourself into eternity. And,
moreover, cannot dispense with FIRE, for by it
come my necessaries and my comforts, and yours
also--but your powder endangers yourself and
it endapgers me also We are both liable TO fall
by the explosion; and, besides, those thick and
high walls by which you have thought to pre-
serve your powder arc built ut my expense quite
as much as yours, while you have never been
charged one mill for my fire, for nobody bat
powder-men have ever thought of putting it out
or shutting it up Come, now, n little water for
your powder, to lessen its combustibility and re-
lieVe yourself from all fear of my fire.
All, yes says the powder-man, you would first
persuade me TO give you the flint of my fre.lock,
and then you would force it from me altogether
will neither be preserved by your water nor
warmed by your frenzy powder will keep and
live with it, or be blown up with it, Away with
you and your fire too, or you yourself shall be
converted into powder finer and blacker than
gunpowder. One word more, and | have done
time for you to learn, that gunpowder has always
been a monopoly, and that, however sacred and
useful fire may be in its proper place, it has al
ways been subject to restraint and imprisonment
and death have always been the penalties for
bringing 1t into the vicinity of gunpowder.
Smother your fire instantly, or suffer the conse-
quenoes. Powder may be kept in the open air,
but woe be TO the man that fails to keep his fire
tightly shut up.
The fire king was frightened and put out his
fire to keep the peace, for the powder-man had
still further threatened, that if the fire WAS kept
burning, he would lay train from the great mag
azine straight up to the fire. when all must perish
together. And, besides the fire king contented
himself with the reflection that fire is a universal
and Heaven-born principle, and that the suppress
sion Of one little fire can make but little differ
ence in the aggregate. Somebody else will kindle
fire, or it will fall from heaven, and flow through
the natural avenues of life, and we shall all con-
tinue to be warmed and yivifed thereby. II is
wrong to give such a partial agent as gunpow-
der such monopoly, and force the pervad-
ing principle Of fire to get out of its way, but
this cannot always be so, and | must consult
my own safety and abide the will of Providence
for " Discretion is the better part of vaorn
The powder-man laughed in his sleeve, and
thought TO himself, flor he was too sagacious TO
speak it, even in soliloquy) | have gained my
point. | have found that powder is an agent
which multiplies and expands when let alone.
have gained little longer delay, and perhaps my
powder, with sufficient time, may gain weight
enough by the stratsgem TO destroy fire altogether,
or subject it TO perpetual Punishment. All fire
kings and fire kindlers shall be whipped and
tarred, and we shall hear no more Of that danger
GUS element, fire, for long time.
The fire king, wearied with his debate and
at his discontinue, retired from OBJ
servatiOn, and slept but he will wake again, with
the memory Of his disgrace, to make larger and
more glazing flame and with each effort and each
succeeding sleep he will gain increased strength,
until Il preict he shall burn every ounce of pow
der from thu worlJ