The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-01-26

To the Friends of american Liberty:
The whole force of this decision lies in the
principle involved, that a slave however legally
enslaved) becomes free the instant he touches
the soil of country in which Slavery is not
expressly established by positive law. And
this was precisely the condition of the Colonies
when slaves were first introduced into them,
and for long time afterwards 30 that the
slaves whether legally or illegally imported,
whether under the British flag or any foreign
flag were legally free the moment they were
landed in the Colonies. When sold, they were
illegally sold when held, and SO long as held,
they were illegally held and, in the language
of Judge Mathews of Louisiana could not
legally be reduced to Slavery.
In proof of this, it is sufficient to notice the
indisputable facts that there can be no Slavery
under the reign of English Common Law, las
has been decided in England that the Colo
MES were always under the control of English
Common Law-and that, at the beginning of
Colonial Slavery, and for a long time after
wards, there were no Colonial enactments on
the subject of Slavery. It has never been pre-
tended that Slavery in the Colonies was ever
established by any enactments of the Mother
Country.
1t is therefore certain, that the first sales of
slaves in the Colonies were illegal sales-that
the first purchases were illegal purchases
that the first saveholding in the Colonies was
nHegd! slaveholdng, without the slightest
shadow or pretepcs Of authority, either from the
Colonial Governments or the Government of
Great Britain. So that if the present slave
holders have no legal claim to their slaves, ex-
cept that which they inherited" from their
fathers in the early times Of the Colonies, they
have precisely no legal claim at all. If they
have any other claims, they must bring them
forward, and show uhen, where hon. and by
lchom, the legal tenure in slave property was
established and upon what it is founded |
have already quoted the Common Law maxims,
that Where the foundation is weak, the struc-
turc falls that "what is invalid from the
beginning cannot be made valid by leng of
time" Also, the decision of Southern Judge
that prescription is never pleadable to a claim
for freedom Tt may be well in this place, to
state more at length this righteous decision. in
which Judge Porter said:
The defendant pleaded the general issue
and prescription" "If a man be FREE, no
matter how long he may have been HELD by
another as slave, his state or condition can
not be thereby changed, nor can be be reduc-
ed to Slavery an any manner wha 'euer, On &C
count of the TIME he may be held in servi.
tude "-Delpene Us. Devise, Ia Martins Louis
lana Rep, $50. Same principle in the case of
Metayer Us. Metaver, Jan T., 1919, 6 Louisi-
ana Req, Is. (Wheeler's Law of Slavery. D.
1887 Also, in Vaughan Us Phoebe Jan. T.,
1927, Martin end Yerger's Tenn Rep, 1.
wheeler, PIP 395-lO4) Judge Crabb said
the law of limitations would be no bar" IA e.
to the. slaves claim to freedom l-Goodelps
american Slave Code" Pr. 265-'6
1t was on the basis of this established prin-
ciple, that Solomon Northup, HELD as slave
for twelve years, and several times bought and
sold, was g ven up to his friends and restored
to freedom, az soon as conclusive proof was
produced that he was originally free and had
been unlawfully enslaved AS soon as the mas
ter and his attorney discovered the euf6ciency
of the evidence to establish this fact, they saw
it would he of no use to litigate the claim, even
IN slave State. This incident, so highly hon.
orGbte to the South, could never have taken
place but for the Southern sanction of the prin-
cipie for which contend. But the principle,
fully carried out would liberate euery Ameri-
can slave as we'll as Solomon Northup and
Others For all the American slaves, or their
ancestors, were illegally enslaved, in the be
ginning and 200 years differs nothing from 2
years, nor three millions of slaves from one
slave, so lar as the principle is concerned. And
rs ooeoience to the true principle that we
admire IN the particular applications of it just
mentioned. L nc extent, the magnitude and
the long continuance of injuries. only enhance
the obligation of redressing them. The lone.
er Solomon Northup was unlawfully held in
Slavery, the greater the legal obligation of lib.
Grating him. And if his children had suffered
with him, or after him, the obligation would
have been greater still Let the South give mn
all its unlawfully manaoled freemen, and de-
serve the applause Of mankind.
"When Slavery was first introduced into the
country" says Spooner, "there were no laws
at all on the subject. Men bought slaves of
L. L. ~ hova hnr0bk
horses and held them, and compelled them to
labor, as they would have done horses-that is,
by brute force. By common consent of the
white race this practice was tolerated without
any law. At length, slaves had in this way |
become so numerous that some regulations be- |
came necessary, and the Colonial Governments
began to pass statutes which assumed the exist
ence of slaves, although no laws defining who
might be made slaves, had ever been enact
ed."-Spooner, p. 81.
In another connection, shall prove all this,