Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1852-11-24
THE LAW OF COLoRED SEAMAN IN SOUTH
CAROLINA.

paid by the Magistrate advertising.
THE LAW OF CoLoRED SEAMAN IN SOUTH
CAROLINA.
Some time ago We called attention to certain
cases instituted in our Courts, for the purpose OF
testing the validity Of our laws relating to
rolored seamen At that time, we were led to
believe that the opinion Of the Cabinet ut Wash
ton was adverse to the law of South Carolina.
and that the eases, for testing its validity, were
commenced with the appreciation of the Cabi-
net. Whether or not this impression DC correct,
it is certain that some of the defenders OF the
s administration have heretofore taken ground
against our law, and the administration itself
has done nothing 10 prevent this interference
of Great Britain with our police regulations.
It must be well known to Mr.. Fillmore aud his
constitutional advisers, that the British Consul
at Charleston under cover Of Il treaty Of Great
Britain with the United States, denies our right
to exclude, from our ports, certain persons
whose presence We regard lis dangerous 10 Us,
and that the process of the Federal Court has
been used to test the question, in the form OF
IN action for trcSspaSS, against the Sheriff OF
Charleston District The case progresses in
the form of private suit, hut no conccamcnt
is made of the fact that it is no private matter.
on the contrary it is openly pressed by Mr..
Mathew, III. Ms Consul, rs an affair OF State.
Under these circumstances, the silence and nom
interference of Mr.. Fillmorc'S Administration
have reasonably led to the conclusi"n that it
favored the movement of The British Consnl.
and doubts the right of this State. to make her
own police regulations, of the necessity of which
she alone is to Judge Such at least, has been
our opinion, of the posirfnn Of t1c Hdmnstra-
ton, and many others of our citizens have con-
errrcd in it.
But the Cuban authorities have raised qucs-
ton supposed to be similar to that which is in
issue here, and the necessity Of taking position
upon that question Hts pressed upon the
Washington Cabinet, that lis opinions and
policy must now he declared to the country.
in this new juncture, the Washington Republic.
Mr.. Fillmorc's organ. COMES ont fatty in favor
of our law, and pleads it rs precedent in Jnsl.
fication of the Spanish authorities in their ex
cIusion Of the Crescent City, from the port OF
Havana. The following is the strongs emphatic
language of The Republic, upon this question.
What publcist-what man of common sense
denies to country the right of cnaclng and
enforcing such police regulations as its rulers
may deem necessary to lis peace or safety
France. in seasons of domestic trouble. decrccs
that certain suspected individuals and classes
shall not cross her boundaries and neither
I.cdru Rollin nor Louis Blanc questions her
right to do ~, however little they relish the
hardship it occasions. When Ireland was in u
state Of incipent rebellion, England seizcl and
cast into prison American citizens who were
suspected of fomening mischief; and though
Mr.. Bancroft demonstrated against the lIar 'lne ~
of The proceeding, neither he nor Mr.. Buchanan,
the then Secretary of State, disputed the right
L.. -. tIs ~nt Snttft
Carolina asserts her rights TO hold in duress
colored subjects of Britain entering Charleston
Iarbor in British vessels; not because they have
committed felony, but because their color
brings them within the range Of police provi-
sions, which the local authorities hold to be es-
scn,ial to the good order Of the city. Still
more : South Carolina and Louisiana claim and
enforce the right Of imprsoning-and, under
certain contingencies, srllin%-c""red citizens
of Boston, New York, or philadc phi,, sailing
rs servants on board of merchant ships or
steamers, when they trcSplsS against local laws !;
laws not lcvcllcd against theft or drunkenness
or rio:, but simply against the presence. in par
iicuar circumstances Of free colorrd individuals
-Sarclv, then. the right concealed 10 England
in times of peril and rxcrtcd even now By
France and by States Of this Union. may with
out impropriety be claimed by Spain, and be
exercised by her in any precautionary measures
she may adopt 10 maintain her colonial posses
sions intact 1t is the right of self defence and
nothing more If Cuba, having disatttcted
population amongst the Crcolcs, be u,enanced
BY organized bodies in the United States, her
government is clearly justified in declaring who
Shall and who shall not be permitted to land
upon her shores and this country has no ground
of offence it one or another OF our citizens be
excluded by the arrangement thus devised.
Thus, it Is, that reluctant administrations
when forced by outward pressure, ut last yields
tardy, unwilling assent to the validity of our
law. This being the second administration
which has so decided we may now rest assured
that the able and learned opinion of Judge
Berrien, then United States Attorney General,
was sound law, and, rs such, it will bc sustained
by the country.
But though we hold the position of the Re-
public 10 be sound, we, by no mcans assert ts.
the conclusion which it draws from it. Our
precedent wonld justify the Spanish authorities
IN excluding from their ports, any class of our
citizens, such as our naturalized Creolcs, whose
presence there might he regarded rs dangerous
to the public peace it might even justify them
in excluding an individual, and in suhjccting
hsa to restraint if he should persist in entering
lQelf p6TtS iiltCI HuiiCc UOb w uO so. Dul IL
cannot uphold them in excluding the vessel
which carries him, or inrcfusing TO unsl.spceted
passengers, the right to enter, merely because
they happen to arrive in 4 vessel which has n
suspected person on board. South Carolina
imprisons the colored persons who enter her
ports contrary to law; but she does not subject
the vessels in which they come to any restraint
whatever. The other passengers, and crew, arc
received rs in other cases, and only the individ-
ual, whose presence the law forbids is subject
cd to that restraint which is supposed to be
necessary to her safety. Her course, therefore,
is no precedent or justification for that Of the
Spnnnh authorities at Cuba. But the position
which our Cabinet has taken upon that qaes-
ton, clearly maintains the validity of our law,
and leaves the administration without excuse,
for its silence and influence under the annoy
ances to which the authorities of our State have
been subjected, Tin defence of this now ac-
knowedgcd national rightly
Southern Standard.
SARD1SEs-Thc editor of the Manchester
Mirror says, from personal knowledge, that the
Bay Of Monterey, California, is literally filled
with this delicious fish. They are said to he
found there in greater abundance than in any
other part of the world. They are to be found
not only at Monterey, but in all the still waters
onthe coast from Panama TO Oregon.
The CHALLENGE AccEPrED.-A Mississippi