The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-05-12
AN INQUIRY ANSWERED.
NoRrHBoRo', Mass, Apnl is, 1858

rs reason, " that 1t 10 not In the power oil man
10 show in the Constitution, any grant Of
power to Congress to enact it." So said Messrs.
Rantoul and Sumner; and you evidently con-
cur with them in calling that part OF the 4th
article, relating TO fugitives from service, as
compact the execution of which, in the Ian
guage of Mr. Sumner, depends absolutely up
on the States, without any intervention of the
nationo
Three or four weeks since, you reproached
the State of Massachusetts for quietly submit
ting to the insult the State of South Carolina
offered to her in imprisoning her citizen blacks.
have not the paper now before me; but had
the impression, ut the time, that you regarded
the action of South Carolina as gross VIOLA
ton of the Constitution. Bot the clause in the
touching the privileges Of citizens
of the several States, must be compact, like that
relating to fugitives from service, as they both
form a part of the I'd section OF the 4th article,
concerning which MIR. Sumner thus speaks:
& Each State, in the exercise Of its own judg.
ment, will determine for itself the precise ex-
tent of the obligations assumed Now, does
not this construction of the Constitution COM
pletely bar any action on the part of Massa-
chusetts, if any of her black citizens are i'm
prisoned in any State of the Union !! South
Carolina decides that she is under no obligation
to treat black man from Massachusetts, as a
citizen and where is the remedy? We have
no right to send an agent to bring the matter
before the District Court of the United States
for it has no jurisdiction in the matter, being
a branch of the Supreme Court, which is .
part of the General Government and the
General Government as Mr. Sumner states
has no right to intervene. see no way, under
this construction of the Constitution, but that
Massachusetts, must pocket the insult, unless
she determines she is under no obligation " to
catch South Carolina negroes. But this could
not have been the course you would have sug-
gested, when you tainted her with submitting
quietly to the indignities heaped upon her by
South Carolina.
The dominant party in this State at that
time, have been accused, by General Wilson
and others, of changing front of abandoning
their Anti-Slavery resolves, &c. Now, as good
portion Of their opposition to Slavery was made
up of resolutions adopted, and action taken, in
regard to the imprisonment of our black eiti-
zens at the South, will you, Mr. Editor-as you
evidently think that Massachusetts came short
Of her duty at that time-please point out the
course she should have taken, and, of course,
one in harmony with the construction put upon
the compacts by Messrs. Rantoul and Sumner |?
H. b.
We can easily define our own position, and
our correspondent will be unable to detect any
inconsistency in it.
The first and third clauses of section second,
4th article of the Constitution, are:
1. "The citizen of each State shall be entitled
to all the privileges and immunities of citizens
in the several States"
3. "No person held to service or labor in one
State, under the laws thereof escaping into an
other, shall, in consequence of any law or regu-
lation therein, be discharged from such service
or labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of
the party to whom such service or labor may
be due"
We believe there is no grant of power to
Congress to legislate to carry into effect either
of these provisions-that they are both articles
of compact, binding upon the States, which
alone have authority to pass laws to make
them effectual- But, because Congress has nc
power in the premises it does not follow that
the Judicial Power of the United States may
not be appealed to, when these provisions are
violated. One of them is habitually violated by
South Carolina, which, 30 far from allowing
certain citizens of Massachusetts, to enjoy " oil
the privileges and immunities of citizens "
within her limits, incarcerates them. The
Constitution provides that the judicial power
shall extend to all cases, in law and equity
arising under this Constitution" "to contro.
versies between State and citizens of another
State" &c. Under this provision, the Legisla.
ture of Massachusetts, appointed an agent, To
institute an action against the persons in
South Carolina, engaged in the unconsttution
al incarcertion of certain of her citizens. This
was clearly her right; she attempted to excr.
else it discreetly, and with as little offence as
possible; but her agent was confronted by mob
violence, and compelled TO leave the limits Of
South Carolina.
In regard to the other provision, Massachu"
sets has never passed any law, discharging a
fugitive from the service or labor due by him
in another State. Were such law on her
statute book, South Carolina would have a
right, under the Constitution, to protest against
il, and to subject it, if possible, to the test of
judicial process.
Our correspondent asks US what course Mas
sachusetts ought to have taken when Mr. Hoar
was so summarily elected We might say
that such an outrage would have authorized
her to release herself from the compact in rela-
ton to fugitves from service or labor, so far as
South Carolina was concerned; but we prefer
to point out an obvious mode of procedure,
which no one could deem exceptionable
The Legislature of Massachusetts, should have
requested the Governor, the moment he ascer-
tanned that Massachusetts, citizen had been
incarcerated in Charleston, to employ an at
torney there to institute suit against the
sheriff, for assault, battery, and false imprison-
ment las has just been done by the British
Consul in the case of British sailor,) for the
purpose of bringing the whole matter for ad-
justment before the Supreme Court
THE WoRKINGMEN's NATIONAL ADVOCATE,
is the title Of a new weekly lately commenced
in Washington, by Mesrs Page and Walters
1t is devoted to the interests of the working
classes, and is published at 81 year. 1t dis
claims hostility to the class of employers, and
asks but justice to the employed. Itsays these
do not desire to release themselves from labor
but they insist upon fair remuneration for
their labor. 1t says what is true, that the cost
Of living has increased, the prices of all arti-
cles Of consumption, having been raised, and
that it is but fair, therefore, that wages should
be advanced.
We like the tone of the paper, and its object
is highly laudablc. Working men cannot be
blamed for looking to their own interests and
reasonable employers will readily accede to
reasonable demands. Let them abstain from