The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-02-11
From the Charleston Mercury.

TIE Laws RELATING TO CoLoREp SgAMEN.
The laws of South Carolina provide that persons
of African descent whoarriy here in vessels from
other States, or from foreign countries, shall be
removed and placed IN confinement until the de-
parture Of such vessels, and that their support in
the meantime shall be at the cost of those who
brought them here. The statute was enacted i'm
mediaely after the attempt in 1922 to organize an
insurrection IN Churleston,-an attempt which,
as was fully proved, originated with and was con
Quoted by coored persons from the West Indies.
It was the first attempt Of the kind, from the
original settlement of the colony, and naturally
strongly riyeed attention the circumstance that
it was the work OF strangers, and the natural rem
sdy for a mischief that had never in a angle in
stance shown Itself the spontaneous fruit of our
domestic system Of servitude, seemed to be to
exclude from our shores the free colored people Of
other countries, or to ensure their harmessness
while here, by strict confinement The object of
the law was simply to provide for the SAFETY Of
the people Of the State, by an effective restriction
on class Of strangers who, in the case referred
to, had organized conspiracy that threatened a
wide destruction Of life and property, and could
hardly have ended short Of the humiliation of the
black population.
The law was enacted, at the time, under pro-
found and lively conviction Of it's necessity, and
to dispute the right OF the State to protect its ci
zens and their property from such a danger would
munity to forbid the turning loose in our streets,
of wild beasts, because, forsooth, they came pas
sengers in the vessels Of a friendly nation, or TO
enforce quarantine on those who arrive from in
fected ports, because there was no mention Of
cholera in the trestises Of ruflendorff and Gro
thus. We take it for granted that the right of a
nation, or Site, to make all enactments that
are necessary to it's self-preservstion, is unques-
toned and uoquestonabIe, and that this right un-
derlIes and controls all provisions OF treaties that
do not explicitly relinquish it.
So much for that matter. The exigency seemed
a very pressing one, and legislators did not
go, we are persuaded, single step beyond what
1t demanded, according TO the view they took Of
the danger. But we doubt If they anticipated n
necessity for the permanent continuance Of the
law. AT all events. it was enacted under the
strong and general excitement of the events of
1922, and if nothing had interviewed to revive those
feelings from time to time, 1t is not doubted that
the only features Of the enactment that made It
really oppressive would have been long since re-
moved, We need not go over the history Of Brit
sh emancipation and Northern abolition The
people of the Southern States were made to feel
that they were the objects Of hostility that de-
MED their right TO their property, and aimed at
nothing less than a disastrous and destructive re-
volution Of our whole social organIzatlon When,
therefore, these people asked that they might be
allowed freely to send their 'colored citizens"
among us, It seemed like asking PERMISSION to IN
troduce emissares OF murder and confagrationi
Should we accept such an oier' Should we take
poison because it offered with bow, and
labelled medicinei" The civility Of such a con-
ctssion would be too much at the cost Of its ration
atty to suppose sober men would make il.
The object Of the law Of this State il then sim
pie and good, justified by the legislation Of all
civilized countries. The remaining consideration
is, whether the object is not attained by means
harsRt 'If the safety Of the com
munity can be AZ effectuaIly guarded by other and
less excep.ionabIe restrictions, then it cannot be
denied that the continuance Of the law in its pre-
sent form, ia grievance TO those who suffer from
it, and gives color to the mputation that The State
persists, from the pride OF consistency, or rcluci
ancs to make sa apparent concession, in main