The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-01-04

tlSfgStGu SltllSI III ItSsO Liz 9tdtt 4S
that as Congress had alreadY act of ssa9
flegislated thereon the State could not and tHefe:
fore Tho statute under which tlie pIsinf m er:
syas co.lyicted and aenteHecds IS soid rTlas
Ethe case NECESSARILY brings npd dew the de.
Ecisiou Of the Supreme Court famous case
of Prigg Is. The o ennsSlya-
mia, in which the Court tint the mastersof
slave lad right seize him and take
him olit Of hsgStatc where found vii hont any
process; aud, d the & xcI,lsiye power ofies
gislating upon the subject Of tFonser.
aice IS vested I'M Congress-
Senator Chase Is well known to hold the epin;
ion tIlat no such rights Of seizure and depoTtas
ton exists IN The master; and that to
eeisLate on tile subject of from Service
Els not 10 Congress at ali, but exclusively Ia the
State Legislatures. That Isl the .ttrec Democrat
ic' doctrines, arlt, it will be seen at once that
opinion operates against his orn client. In
opening his argument.t TO the Court lie adverted
ito his own opinions, and to his entleayors to i'm
press them upon the Court; but, having failedin
these attempts, he now claimed the benefit ofthe
adjudication the Prigg case for his cGent in
this suit. He mgned 55ssft
Ist. That the power of Legislation on the sub
ject of fugitiyes from service having been held to
sbe exclusive in Congress all State legislationuD.
on the same; subject must necessarily be void.
2ds That if Congress and the State LegisIa-
t1re, possessed concurrent powers of Legislation,
(as is the opposing argument the exercise oftlIe
power by Congress, must decessarily superccde
the exercise Of the same power by i State Legs
5l;ltnre; md therefore s:.S
That Congress having by Iaw prohibited the
llrBoring and secreting Of fugitive servants mn
der penalty payable to the claimant, no act Of
State legislation prohibiting the same acts under
n penalty payable to the State, could be valid
How-he argued =-can the same man, for the
same offence aud at tile same time, be arrested
BY national officers and State officers; be tried in
national courts, aud in State courts; and in case
of non payment OF penalty he imprisoned in ma
tional iaiis, and State pcnitentianes?
Sd: That the right of the State to legislate
could not be successfully asserted on the ground
that it was simple police power. To sustain
this position, lie quoted the opinions of Chief
Justice fancy and Judge Daniel in the Prgg
case and further argued that even if it were
police power, still the whole power Of legislation
having been vested in Congress, according to the
majority of the Court no part Of it could remain
in the States, by whatever name it might 5e
called.
No one can fail to see tile important political
bearing whichthe decisioniin this case must have.
Unless the Supreme Court reverses its own opn-
ion, Qong ago delivered, and ever since looked
up to as the highest exposition of the constitu-
# - u al, ~,
siva jurisdiction either in Congress tue States,
but that their power is coucuTent,) one of two
things must result--either all State enactlnents
on the subject must fade from the statute books,
and the plaintiff in error.in the present case be
relieved from his sentence; or, the very Fugitive
Slave act of Congress, which so recently convuls-
ed the land, must be declared invalid, and he
blotted from the pages of federal law. The pub
lie will await, with deep interest, the decision of
the Court