The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-01-19
For the National Era.
THE LEGAL TENURE OF SLAVERY.
LETTER VIII.
OF SLAVE PROPERTY DERIVED FROM AN
ILLEGAL SLAVE TRADE-CoNrrNuFp


OF SLAVE PROPERTY DERIVED FROM AN
ILLEGAL SLAVE TRADE-CoNrINuRp.
To the Friends Of dnse,ican Libertv:
The States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico
are VIGOROUSLY implicated in the SMUGGLING of
slaves, to an unknown bat very con.idcrablc ex
tent. Mr.. Middleton Cf South Carolina in
1919, declared, in speech in Congress, that
thirteen thousand Africans were annually
struggled toto the Southern States Mr.. Mer
Ger Of Virginia, i'll speech in Congress- some
time aiterward, declared that "cdrgoes of AZ
rican slaves were struggled into the South to
a deplorable extent" Mr. Wright of Mary
land, in a speech in Congress- estimated the
number annually imported, at fifteen thou
sand President Van Buren, stated in his
Message, IL 1897 that o naval force had been
employed in preventing the importation Of
slaves. The New Orleans papers in 1929 re-
corded the fact of frequent and extensive snug
Cling. 10 1889 slave ship was captured and
carried into Savannah.* After 4 sham trial OF
the importers, they wc4e acquitted, and the
cargo of slaves distributed among the planters
The numbers Of plantation slaves at the extreme
South who cannot speak English. and who ex-
hlDit all the characteristics of native Africans
reveal the general fact Of an extensive and con.
stantly continued importation from Africa.
Estimating the importations siGce 1908, q
period Of As years, at only lO,0 900 rcr annum
the amount is 10000. Adding to these their
natural increase, We have large population of
slaves, the product Of commerce prohibited
by Congress in 1907. 1t woud hardly be
decent to say that these are legdHu held in
Slavery. They are held, nevertheless, and the
courts that recognise the legality Of American
Slavery make no Discrimination between them
and other slaves. They must not complain If
others refuse to discriminate, and account the
tenure by which the whole are held To be no
better than that by which this particular nor
ton OF them are held. Or, if discrimination
be made, it will dcvOlve on the shareholders.
especially those Of The far South, to show from
which OF the two classes their slaves are derived.
In closing this examination of the legal ten
ure OF American Slavery, as founded upon the
African slave trade, submit single remark.
Tho legal tenure Of Slavery we are told.
Is identical with tho legal tenure of chattei
property in general This is what the Ameri
can Slave Code makes it, This ia what the
Southern Legislatures and Courts of Law de-
fine it to be. This is what Mr. CLAY and
Southern statesmen in general have described
and claimed it to be.
Very well, gentlemen; have it your own
way. take you on your own ground. by
the law OF chattel property the holder thereof
torfeits his title, whenever it appears that those
from whom he derived it obtained the property
by robbery or theft. And this IL precisely the
predicament of your titles to your slaves, who
were all obtained by that process.
COMMENCEMENT OF COLONIAL SLAVERY
ILLEGAL.
We have been searching after the legal
foundations Of American Slavery but they have
thus far eluded our detection. Not the slight
EFT vestige Cf legality has been found in the
African slave trade, from it5 beginning to the
present time. 1t was never legahzed by the
British Government. The successful catab-
lishment Of this fact, by VIM. Pitt, in the Brit
ish Parliament, as We have seen, led to the
acts for its suppression by both the British and
American Governments; for the struggle was
simultaneous on both sides Of the Atlantic, and
the logical victory there was felt and &C knowl-
edged here. IL was never lcgalized By the
colonies, but the neglect of the mother country
to suppress it was always cause OF colonial
complaint. And the courts that now maintain |
the legality of American Slavery make no dis
tinction between slaves imported before and |
since the prohbitory act, taking effect in sos. |
They say in their practice that the legal ten |
ure OF Slavery is the same in both cases A |
legal tenure that may lie thus described and |
that is thus upheld, stands self.convicted Of |
legal identity with piracy and crime, and must
accordingly be adjudSed null and void, when
ever the claim comes before a righteous and
impartial tribunal.
To this it may be objected, that cur histori-
cal view Of the African elave trade embraced
only that which was prosecuted under the Brit
ish flag whereas the first introduction of
slaves into the present limits of the United
States was by Dutch vessel under the Dutch
flag, and the traffic may have been duly legal
lied by the Dutch Government
The answer to this objection is easy and it
is twolold. FiySt. That DItch importation was
but drop in the bucket compared with the
iDgal Epgsh importation that soon followed,
increased, and continued To set UP the die
elimination is to render it incumbent On or
Shareholders to prove that their slaves arc dc
scendants Of those imported under somo for
cjgn flag Even then they would have to
prove the legality Of tho foreign slave traffic.
But. in the second place, slave imported un |
der a foreign flag become free the moment they |
touch the soil Of a country wherein Slavery l. |
mol legalized, because Slavery exists only under
the jurisdiction OF municipal, positive, local |
law. This point was established in roy fist |
letter, in which appealed to Southern dcc- |
siOns. " In the case Of Marie Louise rs. Mar
riot ct al, in which tho slave had been taken |
to France by her master and brought back, !
Judge Mathews said " Being free for one mo-
ment in France, it was not in the power Of her
former owner to reduce her again - Slavery
WILLIAM GooDELL.
American Slave Code, p. $50; Yields Slavery as
it Is, p 1879.
Judge Mathews Of Louisiana, in the ease Of
Seville Chretian notices " the absence Of any
legislative act Of European Powers for the iuloduc
ton of Slavery INTO their American dominions. .
Martins Lou. Rep, 275 Wheclers Law Of Slavery.
p. Is Am. Slave Ccdc, Up. 1854.