New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-05-23
A Review of the Decision of Judge Paine,
YORK,
IN THE CASE OF THE SEIZURE AND LIBERATION
OF Mr.. LEMMoN's SLAVES.

1
of holding slaves appears to have been raised
but, every possible proof is found that it tvas
considered as on the same footing as any COM
| merce. Between the years 1913 and 1872, there
| were no less than four chartered companies to
| deal in slaves, the last of which was dignihed
with the name of the Royal African Company,
and had among its subscribers the King of Eng
land, his royal brother, and many persons OF
high rank and quality, and was founded on
capital of el10,000. As late as 1850, an act
was passed by the English Parliament for ex-
tending and improving the trade to Africa.
All nations were eager to seize the opportu-
nifty ofderiving profit from this traffic Gas late as
in the year 1889. 1t was even asserted upon
| the floor of Parliament :" to be necessary, in a
commercial view;'' and was not consider
ed inconsistent with the rights of humanity
or the laws of nations The contract of the rs
siento, which was obtained by England for a
limited time, under the 18th article of the tire
ty ofUtretch, was a legitimate source of wealth
and prosperity to her, and afforded special
| encouragement to her maritime enterprise,
which must ever be considered political object
by her statesmen.
In the year 1889, England made regular
convention with Spain for supplying the Spanish
West Indies with negro slaves from the island of
Jamaica. The twelfth article of the treaty of
Utretch, Q713), grants to Her Britannia Ma
jesty, and to the company of her subjects ap-
pointed for that purpose (the South Sea Com
pauy)-as well the subjects of Spain, as all
others being excluded-the contract for intro
Jt,o int oI &c +l,o
ions of Her Catholic Majesty in America, (com-
monty called Ell pacto De el .4ss,ento de Ne
gross, at the rate of4.000 negroes annually, for
the space of thirty years SUCCESSFULLY.
To this compact there have been pointed
references in the British Parliament: :" By the
Treaty of Utrecht said Lord Brougham, June
16, 1872, (which the excavations of ages have
left inadequately censured, Great Britain was
content to obtain, as the whole price of Ramil-
lies and Blenheim, an additional share of the
accursed slave trade
Among the Germans slavery was recognized
as one of the principles of national law [Woll
de Nat. Rel. 20l; Molloy de Marit lib 3, chap.
IL Egypt, Carthage, Sicily, and every nation
of antiquity, have deeply Incorporated in their
social systems the institution of slavery. In the
rude outline of the feudal system, with all its
notifications of villeinage and under servitude,
may be clearly deduced the general recognition
of slavery in the North of Europe
1t is matter of notorious history that, both in
ancient and modern Europe, the condition of
slavery and commerce in slaves we're sanctioned
by the universal practice and law of nations
[See Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. iv, p. 221; Glib
bons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
vol. i, p. 63l. The very definition of slavery in
the civil law, which has been copied by writer's
on public law, shows tina tit was all institution
established by private law against the law of
nature. Serritus est constitutio juris gen
tium, qua quis dominic alieno contra natu-
ram subieitur. [sce Domat Loix. civ, Prel.
tit ., sec 81,
In 1889 all the judges in England, with the
eminent men who then filled the Offices of attor-
ney and solieitor-general concurred in opinion
that negroes were merchandise" within the
general laws of the Navigation Act. See Chal-
mers Opinion of Eminent Lawyers, 1851
The first case relating to the African slave
trade is that of Butts Us. Penn, determined in |
the 29th of Charles II, being trover for negroes
The special verdict found that they were usually |
sold in India. [See Keeble 1856; Lev. poll |
In subsequent case, trover was brought for
negroes in England. Holt, c j., said that tres.
pass was the kind of action, but that trouty
would lie % if the sale was in Virginia" Other
cases bear upon questions as to the form Of
action, but they all concur in establishing the |
666 A Lord Raym. 146; Mod Rep 1851.
ripht IN this spacips NJ ,ropnrtv rGaa . On
In case of great Importance, on an appeal to
the High Court of Admiralty, the whole doc
trine of slavery was reviewed, and the following
strong and marked language was used by SIR
William Scott, in delivering the Judgment of
the court
60 Let me not be misunderstood or misrepre-
sented as protested apologist for the practice.
when | state facts which no man can deny, that
personal slavery, arising out of forcible cap
tivity, is coeval with the earliest history of |
mankind; that it is found existing (and so far |
as it appears, without animadversion,) in the |
earliest and most authentic records of the hui |
man race, and was recognized by the laws Of |
the most polished nations of antiquity; that un-
der the light Of Christianity itself, the posses |
sion OF persons, so acquired, has been, in every
civilized country, invested with the character
OF property, and secured such by all the pro
lection OF laws; That solemn treaties have been
formed and national mouopolies eagerly sought
to facilitate and extend the commerce of this |
asserted property and all this with the sane
ton of law, public and municipal, and without
any opposition"
In connection with this question Of personal
property it may be remarked that the ancient
aw of England made the piliein or English
face Unbeatable estate, and passed to him like
he land that the laws of all the British West
ndia islands in 1882 contemplated the negroes
8 real estates that the French colonial laws
them, in several important partcu-
ars, like movable property that the ancient
Iomans held them to be like lands that The
lars of nations, as established bv
he practice of Great Britain, France Spain.
tc., restored and delivered them M, after
Tar, as real estate, not only in captivating
stands conquered from each other, but even, as
a the Grenada and the Grenaders, in islands
onquered Internationally, or lcithou capitu.
1tion.
We found slavery engrafted in the very policy
the country before the organization of the
Government, and we are persuaded ofthe impol ,
y of rashy interfering with it if it be an evil.
is like many others which exist in all civilized
ountries, and which the world quietly submits
D. Humanity has been topic of defamation
N his Il,