The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-01-06

D. Governments of Spain, Great Britain, an
ID France is unusually important at this timt
l. The recent publication Of the correspondence
n between our Executive and the Spanish NJ mi,
y try has excited deep and pervading interes
10 throughout the country
4, And, sir, here take pleasure in vindicatn
We the President against the assaults made upo
IT him by sc-pe presses of the South, for publish
RS ing this correspondence With its publication
2 he had no concern whatever. We, sir, by res
oution, called for the correspondence As tn
'e Representative Of the sovereign people, we ha,
It a right to it, He had no right to withhold il
n As he was bound by his oath and by the Con
n stitution, he sent it TO US. We ordered it print
r ed The people had right to see and under
/. stand what their servants were doing on th
e as well as on all other subjects
q This correspondence is highly important. Il
e shows to the country and TO the civilized world
e that for thirty years the Executive has exerteG
e our national inheuce to maintain slavery in
Cuba in order that the institution NAV be
q rendered more secure in the United States
q This policy stands out in bold relief; it per.
4 vades the whole correspondence, and was also
l incorporated into the instructions of our Com.
Y missioners to the Congress of Panama, although
D these instructions are not embraced in the
communication now before us
} Both Wing and Democratic Administra-
r tons have adopted this policy; and although |
! have but little time to read extracts from this
correspondence, | will give one from the letter
OF MIR. Webster, Secretary of State. marked
, Pirate and Confdentiai,n to our Consul at
Havana, dated January IA, 1S43, in which the
: author refers to reported intentions of British
Abolltlonists and the British Ministry TO aid
In the abolition of slavery and in the establish
J ment OF an Independent Government in Cuba
ne says: off this scheme should succeed the
} influence of Britain in this quarter, it is re.
marked, will be unlimited. With six hundred
thousands blacks in Cuba, and eight hundred
thousand in her West India Islands, she 1riU lit
IS sald) strike biOto at the existence of slaverv
IN the United STATES" These, sir, are the words
OF man who opposed all expression, by this
Government, of sympathy with oppressed Hun
gary; who was 10 strongly opposed to all in
terventon with the affairs Of other Govern
ments In favor of liberty.
We, sir, hold our own institutions by the
right OF revolution, which he so severely con-
demned. He appears to have been shocked at
the Idea that liberty should be enjoyed in Cuba,
and avowed himself willing to prostitute the
naval and military power of the United States
10 uphold system of oppression in that Island,
"hich conslgns to premature graves one tenth
part OF Its whole slave population annually-a
system by which eighty thousand human vic
TINS are said TO be sacrificed every year to
spanish barbarity and Spanish cupidity. Sir,
at this moment the Senate are en- ga ged in eulo.
gang the statesman who has himself erected
tins monument to perpetuate his own disgrace.
lhey Sir, are endeavoring to falsify the truth
OF history; to cover up those stains upon his
character which no time can erase and no ee
fort OF friends can purify. They can never
separate his memory from the great errors of
his ilte Sir5it is right and proper that the
EVIL deeds OF public men should be remember.
ed, that posterity may avoid their crimes. and
duly estimate their moral and political worth. |
Yet sir, we were told during the recent can |
Vass tnat unless we voted for the Wing candi- !
date, IT we permitted the Democratic candidate
to be elected, Cuba would BIO annexed and sla.
very extended and strengthened in. tka,6st kid
ma ases ra aus,a was gjbality was then in
question, ana mat statute was supposed to con-
flict with the claims of Slavery. A declaration
against its constitutionality, for that reason,
would not have been decent; and so general
princi ple-the unconsttutonaty of all State
legislation, whether favoring or hindering the
claims of master-was found to be necessary.
This principle was laid down, fully, explicitly
emphatically. The people Of the free States
and slave States alike understood it, Slave
holders exulted, for its application at that time
was in their favor But, when the non-slave-
holding States began to repeal their legis-
lation on the subject, and to prohibit their Off
GERS from acting in behalf of slave claimants,
or their jails from being used for the confne-
ment of fugitives, their exultation ceased they
complained of bad faith on the part Of the
North; and the majority of the Supreme Court
felt, we presume, that they had gone too far in
the assertion of general principe-for now
we find this very Court holding that a statute
of the State Of Illinois designed to favor the
execution of the clause in the Constitution re-
lating to fugitives from service or labor-in
other words, to aid in the recapture of such fu-
gitves--is entirely constitutional In the
Prigg case, the statute of Pennsylvania was
unconstitutional, because Congress- in the
| OPINION III lno SOufl, Hdu cACluoiNo poWcI W
legislate upon the subject of fugitves from SER
vice or labor. In the Eells case the statute Of
Illinois is perfectly constitutional, for the Court
has never decided that the Police Power of a
State would not enable it to pass laws which
would help the master in the assertion Of his
rights over the runaway slave 1t comes to
this then, that the Constitution of the United
States vests the exclusive power of legislation on
the subject in Congress; only, by its police
power a State may constitutionally legislate in
aid of the legislation of Congress Plain
people, looking beyond the technical ambigui
ties of the Court, will see at once that it has
reversed its opinion in the Prigg case and now
holds that the States have a power of concur
rent legislation with Congress on the subject
1t matters not whence this power is derived, by
what name it is designated, for what ostensiblt
object it may be exereised---tho fact is S,rseC
by the Court, that State legislation, adapted Il
protect and enforce the CLAIMS of masters Il
fugitive slaves is constitutional and this af
frmation, despite all judicial sophistry, is tan
tamount to reversal Of the decision in tn,
Prigg case, SO far as that asserted exclusive ju
risdcton in Congress over the whole subject o
the reclamation aud recapture of fugitiv
slaves
Ifitwere not held to be presumptuous to speal
0 evil of dignities, we should say that the Cour,
t for the purpose of giving show of consistenc
+ to its opinions, misrepresented the statute o
!, Illinois II says that the statute of Illinois
t having for its object the prevention of the hmm
grafton Of such persons, prohibits the harbor
ing or sccreting Of negro slaves, whether dc
nestle or foreign, and without regard to tn