The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-10-11

.fessors Of rhetoric. Obseqtious, derterOus, and
ready, the versatile Greeks maonopoliscd the
business Of teaching, publishing, and manutac-
turing, Ia the Roman Empire-allowiag their
masters ample leisure for the seroice of the
State in the Senate or an the field. The peo-
pie of the Northern States Of This COnfederacy
exhibit the same aptitude for the arts of in
dustry. They ercel as clerks, mechanics, and
tadesn,en, and they haze D,OnOpotised the
business Of teaching, publishing, and ped
ding"
Whose features answer to this vivid por-
traiture? Will our National Patriots" re-
ply? This sturdy "Roman," who, in the flush
of the Nebraska triumph, thus painted your
likeness, now needs your votes, and fatters
you. But, has he changed his opinion?
THE WORK OF NATIoNALIzINa SLAVERY.
The work of Matchmaking Slavery goes on.
The Administration evidently considers it the
American Institution, claiming paramount re-
gard and protection. The Fugitive Slave Act
being too limited in scope, Mr.. Attorney Gene
raj Gushing has lately amended it, SO as to
make it universal in its operation on all Amer
can soil. We copy from the National Mtel1i-
gencer an abstract Of the new enactment:
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Attorney General Gushing has given an opin.
ion in regard to the reclamation of " fugitives
from service " in organized Territories, of which
the following are the main and most interesting
points:
81. The constitutional right of citizen OF
the United States to reclaim fugitive from his
IL Al ~
to the organized Territories, but also to all the
unorganized territorial possessions of the Uni
ted States.
80. If in such Territory there be no commits
sioners of the United States to act, the claim
ant may proceed by recapture without judicial
process.
80. Amy such fugitive from service in the
Indian country is there unlawfully, and, as an
intruder, is subject to arrest by the Executive
authority of the United States.
"a. Such fugitive cannot be protected from
extradition by an Indian tribe or nation; for
the Indians are themselves the mere subjects OF
the United States, and have no power in con.
fict with the Constitution of the United States
IS. BY the local law of the organized politi
cal communities of the Cherokees, Choctaws
and Chickasaws, there is ample provision
for the delivery up of fugitives from service in
any of the States"
The " constitutional right" of persons claim
ing fugitives from service or labor, according
to the Constitution, not Caleb Cushing, is thus
defined:
"No person held to service or labor in one
State, under the laws thereof, escaping into an
other, shall, in consequence of any law or regu
lation therein, be discharged from such service
lohO huf oho1 no 1ol,yora1 oloir n
1t has always been held by civilized jurists
that Slavery is an exception to natural right
and that, therefore, any provision in relation te
it should be construed strictly. 1t has always
been held by the oracles of Democracy, and
especially by Slaveholding politicians, that the
Federal Government possesses only derivative
powers, conferred by the Federal Constitution
and that it can exercise no power, not express.
ly given, or absolutely necessary to the exer.
else of one that is so conferred. Examined in
the light of these two principles of construction,
the constitutional provision in relation to fugi.
tives from service or labor, invests the Federal
Government with no power at all. Neither in
terms nor by implication does it impose duty,
or confer right, upon it. Whatever oblira-
ton it prescribes, is laid upon the States indi.
vidually.
This view is sanctioned by the doctrine of
State Rights, and by natural right. Slavery
rejects this view, and the principles on which it
is founded. Where there is doubt, it claims
the benefit of it. Where an act admits of two
constructions, it insists upon that which shall
nure to its interests, no matter though forced and
unnatural. And, while affecting to stand upon
State authority, it uniformly aims to extend
and strengthen itself by Federal action, in this
way becoming the ally of the most dangerous
Centralism.
1t begins by converting an obligation laid
upon the States, into duty imposed on Con-
gress, transferring from the States to the Fed.
eral Government the right to act upon the sub
ject of fugitives from service or labor. The
Constitution says that such fugitives shall not
be discharged from such service or labor BY
the laws of any State, but shall be delivered up.
Slavery enacts that officers constituted by the
Federal Government, shall deliver them up.
The Constitution says that such fugitives, es.
Gaping from one State into another State, shall
be delivered up. Slavery, through its Fugitive
Act, says that such fugitives escaping into an.
other State or Territory, shall be given up.
The first usurpation paves the way for the
second, and this for the third, namely, the
amendment of Mr.. Cushing to the Fugitive
Act, which declares that such fugitives, es-
Gaping not only into another State or Territory,
but into unorganized territory, or into the In
dian country, shall be subject to recapture
and to make this effective, inasmuch as the
Fugitive Slave Act has not provided the means,
Caleb Cushing, the Attorney for Slavery, en-
acts that the claimant may recapture by force
such fugitives in unorganized Territory, and
the Federal Executive seize them and deliver
them up by force, when found in the Indian
country.
And all these gross, outrageous usurpations
are founded upon an utter perverson of the
simple constitutional provision, that no per-
son held to service or labor in one State, under
the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall
be discharged from such service or labor" &c.
Look at the practical working of this Cush-
ing amendment. A dozen fugitives escape into
a portion of the unorganized territory of the
United States. There are no commissioners,
for the Fugitive Slave Act does not embrace
such Territory. The claimant finds himself I'M
able to recapture them-they resistant he
calls upon the Federal Executive to help him.
Forthwith Secretary Davis issues orders for
detachment of United States troops to march
upon the fugitives and capture them, dead or