Weekly national intelligencer., 1854-04-08

territory Of tho United Statcs which is the common pro
perty OF ALL the Consultation will establish it; or, il
words that the Constitution far recognises pro
perty in slaves that il will protect il as property in nj
the territories oyer which it has municipal jurisdiction
while there is no law prohibiting it.
propose to examine these positions: and I think
shall be able to show that upon neither one of them car
slavery be carried into Nebraska or Kansas tha
they must forever remain Free unless the Territorial LIE
gsature pass laws Introducing it; the result Of which
will be that Southern men will be excluded from all
toipaon in making these very laws which operate
upon this subject until it is too late and the condition
the country is irreyocaby fixed This indeed takes
back to school days, when were amused with the
fool who swore he would never again touch the water
| until he had learned to swim.
must be pardoned il, in the examination Of these
questions my remarks assume somewhat the form of
forensic arguments and must also be pardoned IT, in the
views which shall submit run counter to those preju-
dices, IL may them, those feelings which ami
mate Southern gentlemen regard slavery 1t becomes
US to lock the legal consequences OF this bill boldly in the
face, and to meet them like am not of that school
OF politicians who are willing to leave this matter to the
judicial tribunals OF the country, with the express under
standing that if they do not decide with will dis
solve the Union. am willing to leave it, for better or
for worse, to the courts Of my country and therefore
wish to come to the examination of its judicial conse-
quences with all the calmness and clearness Of compre
henson which tsgreat Importance emincnty demands.
Those gentlemen who argue that slavery sustained by
prohibited by positive law rely principally upon the his
tory Of that institution They say that il has been
cessary condition Of civilized from the earliest Pc
RODS that all the polished nations of antiquity
cognsed and protected it; that the barbarian practiced
it, and master slave, according circumstances
that you find it every where element Of society, but
nowhere you find the time the in which it
became such and therefore they argue it must spring
from an ordinance Of nature universally recognised and
universally binding This account Of the matter con-
ceive to be true at least to considerable extent But
the moral of the world upon this subject has very
much changed within the last one hundred years. Let
phofn Of
Of Inappropriate tue labor and services of another
without remuneration rests. The matter certainly
be analyzed and modern lawyers have found difficulty
in arriving at the truth They all agree that slavery
rests alone upon the right of capor to the life the
perpetual services Of his captive taken in war; and with
much unanmity do they agree that in morals this
whole principle is wrong and has been exploded in all
civilized countries, and that this mode of acquiring
slave is longer to be tolerated The language Judge
Nesbt reported in 9th Georgia Reports is full upon
this point, and give it MS follows:
"Whlt it be conceded by uss OF all civilized
that the slave trade is the laws nature
upon the principle that every has natural right the
fruits of his labor and therefore other person
rgbtu deprive him Of them and appropriate them against
his will yet Is also well settled that it s prohibited by
the laws of nature This principle of the law Of nations o
mated in the ghtS which orig nay held confer.
quhd This idea has been exploded by the States of Chris
endom but obtains still among many nations Of the earth.
Acquiescence in this begerent right for centuries estab
shed the doctrine that traffic in slavery lawful
merce."
This sir, is the language of truth and finds echo in
every heart There is other principle but this upon
which slavery be based and if it has been exploded,
then has the natural right hold slaves been exploded
If the courts Of ali Christendom have decided they
have that this principle found its root in the law Of
nature, but in the selfish and cruel propenses Of man,
then at the consequences flowing from it perish with it.
The history of this change in the moral sense of man is
somewhat curious. When Christianity once began to
diuse itself Europe the first modification in this
stern principle made 1t agreed that captive
taken in war must also be pagan he could not be
duced to slavery This the first step (and it bears
upon its front the marks of the pro,eytng spirit of it's
age) taken in the direction of that doctrine which is the
legitimate result of enlightened Christianity
In the early history Of the world and down to
late PERIOD seemed to be the normal condition
of man. and while the principle recognised that cap
tves should be reduced to slavery under its influence the
world was filed with slaves They became interaced
and intertwned with every fibre OF society that the
nicpa laws of many countries protected cherished and
fostered the institution that although contrary
tural right in its inception, it has become egalized and
is in reality what the Supreme Court has pronounced it.
the creature Of municipal law But although it is thus
kept alive and cherished by local law based upon
raj and physical necessity yet when you undertake to
introduce it nsoa country where does not already exist
you thrown back upon the old exploded principle,
which must utterly fail to sustain it.
1t is not entirely truo however, that slavery this
continent and in these States is not based upon any posi-
tive law. will not say that the very first African slaves
brought to this continent brought by royal permis
and before the trade in slaves had reached Importance
it carried by royal lcence and charter which OIL
lowed them to be brought to the colonies. This
sanction Of the institution by the mother country an
authority for it to exist; positive beginning for it,
which, in degree meets the argument drawn from
history.
The principle which have laid down thus far is sus-
tanned BY numerous critics. which shal proceed
to adduce. They drawn from the English and Ame-
rcan reports, and conclusive upon the point In the
American decisions which have selected / have been
careful take them from the Southern States and to
advert of recent date They al made before
this subject of slavery became such element of excite
ment in politics. and consequently entitled to the
greatest consideration.
The first of decided character in England, al
though several had previously occurred the of
negro slave, who had been brought from
the West Indies and confined board Of ship for
tho purpose Of being taken back by his master Upon
habeas corpus he was discharged; and Lord Mansfield
said:
"The state Of slavery Of such nature th it is ncapa
bic of being introduced any moral POLITICAL but
only by positive law
This WAS followed up in 1924 by the case Of Forbes
against Coohrane in which the doctrine is affirmed,
and Holroyd, Justice, says:
"I of opinion shat according the principles of tho
English law the right slaves country where such
upon the law of nature but the particular law Of that
country"
The principles have been held in the prize courts
OF England where the law of nations administered
That eminent Judge, Lord Stoe in the case of the For
tuna, says, in substance:
Thc slavo trade is repugnan to tho law Of nature but
tolerated by the municipal laws Of nations bat
the burden Of showing that il tolerated and
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