The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-03-18
-,nsr B1ow STRUCK IN CALIFORNIA.

-, COMPROMISE but the press has generally
~, ;nattentiye and indifferent. At last, the
c. snccessful blow for Slavery has been struck
= california. A bill has passed the Legisla-
,rre in fragrant violation of the Constitution,
:, reduce to Slavery persons who were carried
>, tbe Territory as slaves, before its organiza-
lion and emancipated by its State Constitu-
ton The passage of this bill shows that the
legislative power of the State is in the hands of
re Slavery Party. Possibly the good people
Of the Free States may now think it worth
while to talk less of the cheating Compromise,
and do more to rid themselves of the old party
hacks. who are laboring to narcotize them on
the subject of Slavery.
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS IN CALIFORNIA.
From the Alta California, Feb. l6.
The Hon H. A. Crabb, a member OF the AS
sorblv from the county of San Joaquin, intro
dnced into that branch of the Legislature OF
,rbicb he is a member. a bill respecting fu-
,;tiycs from labor and slaves brought to this
State prior to her admission into the Union"
which after debate and amendment, has tnally
passed that body ,,r,.
We have not received copy of the bill as 1t
finally passed the Assembly, but there Is now
before US Mr. Crabbs bill as originally intro
duced the first two sections of which, we be-
-l;eye. passed substantially as they were brought
forward by the gentleman from San Joaquin:
They are a species of application IN briei OF
the Fugitive Slave Law of the last Congress- 10
the officers of our State Government: and as
they are neither so persplcuous nor effective rs
the provisions of that statute, they are OF no
NOT
change the law of the land in any particular,
and will remain but n dead letter whilst the
enactment of Congress is in existence. it may
be well enough, however, to have them upon
the statute book at least there is no serious
objection to them.
The third section was mainly to the same
effect as the two first; but its last clause, which
was somewhat extraordinary in character, was
so amended in its passage through the commit
Tee as to make it correspond generally with the
tFo preceding ones, and in that shape it was
sdonted
The whole bin, to our thnkl.,1, -
remembrance upon the statute book and sdch
appears to have been the opinion of the Assem-
biy: for they adopted an amendment limiting
the existence of the law to twelve months. But
the really Objectionable feature of the act is the
fourth section As we have before remarked,
we do not know positively the shape in which
the section was adopted; but it is probably suf-
fcient for our purpose to show the section as it
was introduced by the Hon. Mr.. Crabb
Here it is:
ga Any person or persons held to labor or
service in any State or Territory of the United
States, by the laws Of such State or Territory,
and who were brought or introduced within
the limits of this State previous to the admis-
c.L... 49, h. Int
of America, and who shall refuse to return to
the State or Territory where she or they owed
such labor or service, upon the demand of the
person or persons his or their agent or at
torney to whom such service or labor was due,
such person or persons refusing to return
shall be held and deemed fugitives from labor
within the meaning of this act and all the
remedies, rights, and provisions, herein given to
claimants Of fugitvcs who escape from any
other State into this State, are hereby given
and conferred upon claimants of fugitives from
labor within the meaning of this section
This section is undoubtedly in direct opposi-
ton to the clause in the Constitution respecting
slavery. That instrument says, in very ex-
plict and unmstakable language, that
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever
be tolerated in this Staten
Is there not between this provision of the
Constitution and the section quoted above di-
rect conflict Does not the Constitution say
that slavery shall not be tolerated, and does
not the section of MIR. C.'s bill actually and d.
rectly tolerate the Institution Nothing, it APP
pears to us can be palmer.
We know it will be urged that slaves were
brought to this country before the adoption of
the Constitution and that the owners ought to
have been permitted time to remove them.
That may be all true; and yet no law of this
kind can affect the matter. The Constitution
may have been just in its summary manner
OF dlsposng of the question of slavery but if
1t were, no feeble enactments of a Legislature
which was created by it have sufficient potency
to nullify its plain provisions
MEDDLING WITH THE CONSTITUTION
bill has been introduced into the LegsIa-
ture of California, providing for the calling of
Convention to revise the Constitution. The
Alta California mentions the two lurking mo-
tves for this proposal. The firstis to procure
the division of the State and the second is, so
to control the course of events that one or both
the States formed after the division, shall be-
come slaveholding States. That there may be
an intention to promote a constitutional con-
yentlon in order to produce division of the
State, there is little doubt but that there can
be the slightest intention to introduce the Sa-
very Question into the issue, we are quite
willing to believe. But be that as it may, we
are willing to fight the battle upon the grounds
which are most apparent
The main object of a Constitutional Conven-
ton would be a division of the State. Who
asks division of the State The Southern
portion demand it, on the ground that thereby
they will escape the onerous taxation which is
now prostrating and running them But they
do not desire division if two States will be
made, because they plainly perceive that such
course would increase instead of diminishing
their burdens. The conclusion then follows
that they do not desire division at all because
every man. with the slightest penetration into
political affairs, at once pcrceives that it is the
height of folly to attempt to divide an organ
lied State, in order that one-half of it may re-
turn to its Territorial condition Independent
OF the abstract improperly of the proceeding, it
would be impossible to accomplish the passage
OF the measure through Congress without re-
wing the old slavery quarrel in a new and
more difficult, if not more dangerous form than
ever before. This scheme, then, for the division
OF the State for the purpose of making one
nai Oh Territory, is an impracticable one !;
anu as 10 the formation of two States, everybody
UNDERSTANDS that we are not strong enough
e''her IN wealth or population for that
A DEAD MAN AT AUcTioN.-We knew live
men were marketable but supposed dead
man was not worth his hide. A Southern
friend sends us the following scrap, cut from
newspaper published at Greenville South Caro-
Ina, dated February 10, 1852.
erty Of Messrs. Tim & Walker. which was ad
vertsed in our columns brought very extrava.