The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-03-06
CAN CRIME BIB LOCALIZED?

CAN CRIME BIB LOCALIZED!
"The National Era takes the affirmative Of
this question. In some comments on the proc ed
ings Of the Illinois Convention, these sentences
occur: A legal relation is one which the law
allows, creates, or protects Again The legal
ASc1c 2. VelGt1sD Is one. its~ass,&-ll3s' an
other 1t is legal II 1t is established by the law
making power Of the State, acting under the Con-
stitution which prescribes its extent and limita-
tons
eve demur to the above sentiment The
proper meaning of the term law, as applied to in
telligent beings, is rule Of duty. That which is
immoral is never duty and therefore, can never
become lQ,p in the true sense of that term. Ii is
not, of course, our intention to deny that men
may pass enactments which allow, create, or pro.
tect crime But are those enactments laws2 DO
they impose the duty Of obedience Does it re-
quire person to obey such enactmeDts, to earn
the character of law-abiding citizen P'-Free
Presbyterian
The Free Presbyterian is rather anxious, we
fear, to disagree with the Era. The difference
between us is one of @faaiOn, not principle. We
agree with the Free Presbyterian, that no human
enactment can justify relation, or impose an
obligation upon an intelligent being to do an act
which the law of Nature or Revelation forbids
In common with the editors Of that paper, and
with every man who believes in the existence of
God, we acknowledge the absolute Supremacy
of the Divine Law. Ia p iueipie we agree. Where
ia, then, lies the difference between US In dtf-
naioa-nothing more The Fiee Presbyterian de-
fines law to be, a rigM rule Of conduct one of
the essential elements of law, in its judgment, is,
its harmony NTH Justice. 1t follows from this that
The phrases" bad lans," "wicked laws," "iyran-
meal hvs, y" erusI lams" are all misnomers: there
can be no such laws A bad law" is no law at
all. No enactment is law which commands, sane
tons, or allows anything wrong
Need we say that this definition is not war;
ranted by the etvnS.',~u of tho ,-"-~i @l.-li .A'
supported by authority not in conformity with
popular ideas or modes OF expression7
The word Is derived from Saxon root, mean
ing laid, set, or fixed and means simply rule
of eOadnet-not of dWty, as the Free Presbyterian
has it. Human law is rule Of conduct pre-
scribed by the supreme power of the State; Di-
vine law, rule Of conduct prescribed by the
Creator. The latter can never be otherwise than
just and good, because it's Author is always just
and good. The former may be short-sighted,
absurd, or unjust bearing the stamp Of its fallibe
or corrupt author.
Human laws may be right or wrong humane
or MISUNDERSTANDING in one country what they
forbid in another, prohibiting today, what yes
terday they legalized.
Houses of i'll fame are legalzed in some parts Of
Europe but are illegal in some States Of this
Union.
Polygamy, which was allowed by the Mosaic
institution, is q crime under our laws. To deny
that it was legal, that is, allowed by law among
the Jews is to deny fact
The union of Church and State in England
we regard as wrong, q trespass upon the rights of
conscience Is it therefore illegal Everybody
knows that it j. established by law
Once the foreign slave trade was legal traffic
that is allowed and protected by law. Now, our
law regards and treats it as q crime. Its moral
character, not being dependent upon human en-
actment, was just the same then as it is now IL
was always a crime against man and God-not
any less a crime then, for being allowed by law,
not any more a crime now, for being forbidden by
law. We repeat, the legality of a relation is one
thing, its mo,alay another.
Gambling by lottery, which the Free Presbyte-
ran considers a crime is legslized in some States
II is useless to deny the fact. The law allows,
licenses it. You cannot by any legal process pre-
vent men from selling or buying lottery tickets
in such States. The business is just as legal as
any other You may say it ovgh not to be; true
but it is; and you can make it unlawful, only by
forbidding it by law.
SO slavery is established, defined, recognised,
protected, regulated by law in the slaveholding
States. Because it IS, it does not follow that it
ought to be-any more than because it ought MOI
to be, it follows that it is not Human law has
lesslized-,hat Is allowed, protected, established,
Slavery-jast as it has allowed polygamy, the
slave trade, lotteries, gambling, houses Of i'll
fame-but it can no more make that right than
these right. Their moral right or wrong depends
upon their relations not to human law, but to the
Divine law
The Free Presbyterian says that the doctrine Of
the Era is identical with the famous Tor rather
infamousD dogma That is property which the
law makes property" The dogma is true--aud
the offence of Mr. Clay was, not in giving utter
anco to IL, bat in Hsiag as reason 10 jusiy Sla-
Uny-for, he added, "two hundred years of legis.
lstion has sanctioned and ssnctfed negro slaves
az property Two hundred thousand years Of
Legislation cannot sanction or sanctify wrong
The law in the free States makes the soil and iis
products. capital, and the productions Of capital
and labor property-and in the slave States it
makes men, women, and children, property. This
Is fact and it is because it is true, that what
the law makes property is property that we so
utterly detest the system of slavery. Our heavi.
est charge against that system is, that 1t takes
man, who was created little lower than the an
GELS and to whom was given dominion over the
fish Of the sea, and the fowl Of the air, and the
beasts Of the field, drsgs him down to their level
and makes him property, in the same sense that
they are made property. This is the very element
which makes Slavery the monster crime against
humanity --dishonoring Human Nature aud in.
sultiug it's Creator.
II Is folly to say that the law Of the slave States