The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1855-08-14
The Wheeler Slave Case.

The decision of Judge kane recently dc
livered in the "aeeler case, has met with very
general acquiesceuce. Passmore Williamson
who made himself 80 prominent in the ahduc.
ton of the servants OF our Mni>t"r to Ncara
qua, has been committed to Jail. "wi'hou:
bail or mau.prize," for contempt Of court
leaving the question Of perjury, with which h.
! also stands charged to the subsequent acto
Of Il grand jury. The Philadelphia papers. f
the most part, publish the opinion Of judy
Kane in detail, but without any editorial con'
ment. The Derpocrat papers. however in vi.
rinus sections of the country, are using the no.
Lle stand taken by Judge Kane, for the purpose
of getting up laudation Of the General Gov
ernment.
Of Judge Kane, it is sufficient for us to say
that he has promptly and ably met the issue in
the shape it was presented TO him, and although
the main poiuts in the case are yet to come up
for adjudication, he has seized the OCCASION I"
lay down certain propositions relating to SLAVE
property 'in transtu," which cannot inil 20
place il salutary restraint upon future mp:s
Of similar character. "Waving the inquiry"
; says Judge Kane, "whether the PERSONS w.re
or were not, legally slaves, or whether thy
were within the territorial jurisdiction o;
PeSnsy lyania, while passing from one State +"
another upon the navisable waters Of the Uni
ted States-a point upon which my first i'm
pressions are adverse to the argument-l have
to say:
l. That know Gi no statute, either Of the
United States, or of Pennsylvania, or Of New
Jersey, the only State that has a qualified ju
risdc,ion over this part of the Delaware, that
authorizes the forcibe abduction ef any person
or anything whatsoever, without claim of pro
perty, unless in aid Of legal process.
9. That know Of no statute Of fPennsy'va.
MIA which affects to divcst the rights Of proper
ty Of citizen of North Carolina, acquired aid
asserted under the laws rf the State, because
he has found it needful or convenient to pass
1.-THE territory of Pennsylvania.
3. That am not aware that any such stat
ute, If such one were shown, could be recog-
,ized as valid in Court of the United States.
d. That it seems to me altogether unimpnr-
tant whether they were slaves or not. 1t would
be the mockery OF philanthropy to assert that,
because men had become free, they might there.
fore he iorcibly abducted
The Washington Union in preface to the
above propositions remarks that "it WAS long
ago held by the supreme court Of Pennsylv'"'':
that the slave did not become emanci mtrt -
the mere transit or even temporary. soj"urA c.
the master in Pennsylvania. 1t could IT., : .
otherw Use; for, if 1t were then that clause oftle
constitution by which the States stipulate each
to the other that "the citizens Of each State
shall be entitled to all privileges and immuni-
ties Of citizens Of the several States would be
y mockery and snare. The State Of New
York has no more constitutional power to pass
q law in case, dissolving the legal tic of mas
ter and servant, as against citizen Of Virginia
or North Carolina, than it would have to pass
a law to dissolve the bonds Of matrimony. as a.
gainst husband and wife in tiaust through New
York" Baltimore Patriot