The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-25

TUESDAY, MARCH ~. 1851.
4Eane 1si&a1n M aoatA 0atoaana.
We inssst today from Tie CAsrlsssos Nsos,
A elsborats and triumphant vind;cation Of ths
right and psopdety Of the conduct Of the British
eoassl n applying to The government Of South
Caeosps, IA case Of alleged hardship to British
anAjesas trading with bar ports. We have 70
eefved from Distinguished source statement
AZ tAs points involved in the case Of free colorsd
ssamsn from British ports, entering the ports Of
the 6onth, which differs materially from the
views we presented the other day. The writer
claims that the arrangement Of the British West
Iudia trade with our government, through mu-
taA acts OF legislature, orders in council. and
psoclamations, placed the West Indies on the
name footing Of the British European posses
aions. Ia The CONVERSIONS Of lSl5-07; and that
the oct Of Congress, passed coincidently with
the treaty Of Washington. was designed 10 give
70 al British subjects that might b. imprisoned
in this country, the benefit Of habeas corpus
The arrangement between Great Britain and
our government respecting the Colonial trade
Of the Latter, was ia lS30--And was conseq uent-
y b4loss British emancipation in the West In
dies. md cannot therefore be pleaded to give
the hlscks Of those islands any rights or priyi-
leges in our ports, which they could not have
hid under that arrangement at the tune it was
made.
Al for the treaty Of Washington in le42, it
Il totally silent a. to trade, and as to all topics
involved in this dispute. That treaty was rati
fed by the Senate on the 22d August, and on
the 2ad, an act passed Congress giving to all
subjects of foreign powers the benefits Of
ka6sas corpus in csses where they were arrested
Or confined by the States, in violation of the
law Of nations. The act is as follows:
An Aet to provide further remedial justice in
the courts Of the United States
Be i enacted hyde Senate and House of Rep
ressntdtipes Of The United States of America in
CoAeress assembled That either of the justices
Of the Supreme Court Of the United States. or
Judge Of any district court Of the United States,
10 which prisoner is confined, in addition to
Che authority already conferred by law, shall
have power to grant writs of habeas corpus in
I'll cases Of any prisoner or prisoners in Jail or
confinement. whore he, she or they, being sub
jacts OF citizens Of foreign state and domiciIed
thsrein, shall be committed or confined, or in
custody, under or by any authority or law, or
pfecess founded thereon, Of the United States,
o. Of any one Of them, for or on account of any
oct done or omitted under any alleged right, IT,
Tie, authority, privilege, protection or exemp-
ton, Get up or claimed under the commission or
order, or sanction, Of any foreign state or sover-
eighty, the validity or effect whereof depend
upon the law of nations, or under color thereof
And upon the return Of the said writ and due
proof Of notice of the said proceedings to the
attorney general or other officer prosecuting the
pleas Of the state, under whose authority the
petitioner has been arrested, committed, or is
held 10 custody, to be prescribed by the said
justice or Judge at the time Of granting said
writ the saidiustice or judge shall pro.
Deed TO try the said cause; and if upon hearing
the same it shall appear that the prisoner pris-
oners 10 or are entitled to be discharged from
such confinement, commitment custody or ar
rest, for or by reason of such alleged right to
the authority, privileges, protection, or exemption
10 set up and cl.imed, and the laws of nations
applicable thereto, and that the same exists in
fact, and has been duly proved to the said
justice or Judge, then it shal be The duty of the
said justice or judge forthwith to discharge such
prisoner or prisoners accordingly. And lift shall
appear to the said. justice or Judge that such
Judgment or discharge ought not to be rem
dered, then the said prisoner or prisoners shall
be forthwith remanded Prorided, al,oays, That
from any decision of such justice or judge, an
appeal may be taken to the circuit court of the
United States, for the district in which said
eause il heard; and from the judgment Of the
said cisent court to the Supreme Court Of the
United 6tates, on snch terms, and under such
regulations and orders, IS we'll for the custody
md appearance Of the prisoner or prisoners, as
for sending up to the appellate tribunal tran
script Of the petition, writ Of habeas corpus re-
turned thereto, and other proceedings, as the
judge hearing the said cause may prescribe and
pending such proceeding OF appeal, and until the
final Judgment be rendered therein and after f.
nal judgment of discharge in the same, any pro-
ceeding against said prisoner or prisoners, in any
State court, or by or under the authority Of any
State, for any matter or thing 90 heard and de-
tsrmined, or in process Of being heard and de.
termined, under and by virtue Of such writ of
haheas corpus, shall be deemed null and void.
Passed August %. Approved August &c.
18A2. U. s. Statutes at large, vol. s, p. 500.
This act was passed TO provide for such cases
~ that of Nelson, who had been arrested by the
authorities of New York, for burning the Caro-
line, and who refused to release him after this
government was notified by the British that he
was acting under its authority. This was held
TO be contrary to the laws of nations, and there
fore, the act was passed. But there was-noth-
ing in the correspondence between Mr.. WEB
STIR and Mr.. Fox, or Lord AsHBuRror, having
the slightest reference to colored seamen, al
though twenty years had then elapsed after the
passage of the South Carolina law, and eight
years after the British emancipation.
There can be no pretence whatever, that the
law of South Carolina ia in violation of any