New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-11-01

I'D ,everepce for human eqnaty snd inalienable
riobt. are illustrated and honored by a republican
chief MAGISTRATE Of free and sovereign State.
Thus is il that civil government and civil Law are
administered by those who expec to receive the
esteem and respect Of their fellow citizens Tor
heir fidelity to tie fundamental aims aud princi-
pies of civil society
The s'atemen Mt Of such a case appears more ike
fiction than like reality writer even OF romance
should be criticised when his narratives oy beng
overdrawn. 90 violence to that innate instinct oil
probability, so necessary to invest fiction VITA the
interest Of imagined fact. An effort VIII De re
ouired in the resder before he can fully realize
that the facts of this case are facts He WA wish
N see awe have seen, the man himself and have
the attestation from his own lips Hewill wish 70
see and handle, as we have done, the official d'cu-
n.ut under the broad seal of the State OF Indiana
and signed by her Secretary, the attested copy oil
the indictment of the Kentucky grand jury, the re
ouisition of the Kentucky governor. We marvel
even that the secretary OF Free STATE IKE In
diaps. should consent to furnish an attested copy
Of document the bare reception Of which were
suficient, unless promptly repeed, to cover the
State with disgrace. What, then, shall we say Of
the governor who not only receives such document
and receives it without giving it Just iebuke-
but lastens, with spaniellke Submission, to sccede
TO the insoent demand All epithets are at fault
here. Langusge-such as we have it in this state
of existence breaks down under the attempt to
characterize or describe such acts. We can only
record them. There let them stand.
The first impression of surprise having passed.
our citizens will open their eyes to more leisure
" survey Of the phenomenon. They will inquire
not merely what it is but why it is whittier it is
landing. and what is to be the remedy for such
condition of things. Judge Kane aud Passmore
Williamson, Gov. Wright and T. B. Mccormick
names long to be pondered-letters OF an alphabet
vet TO be mastered, wherewith seeing eyes may
divine nameless and as yet shapeless things. The
elements of future-the eypher OF coming
American history may be in process OF develop
mept in these dim beginnings The signifcancy OF
events like these awaits more full revelation
siterward. There is much yet TO be learned, much
vet 10 be attempted, much yet to be achieved A
great nation is to be delivered or enchanted.
First and foremost, we should like to know-if
sny living voice can tell us-what IS this serns
om1jpotent power, in the hands of less than three
hundred and fifty thousand Shareholders BY
what authority do they WELD the prerogatives
thus claimed aud thus recognized in nation OF
twenty four millions Next, We should like to know
how this mighty power residing in the Slave
States, has acquired the right to extend Its sway
over every citizen of every Free State in the
Unionl Il will be noticed that Gov. Powell, IN
his reaui,itiou on Gov Wright, distinctly "pre-
" sents bis eemand," "by virtue of the authority
"yested in (him) by the Constitution and laws oil
the United States " We should like to be pOntedt to
the clause of the Constitution which clothes the
governor of Kentucky with authority to demand
the surrendry of citizen of Indiana, to be tried
in Kentucky for an alleged Ohense against the
laws of Kentucky while residing in Indana-for it
is not pretended nor stated that Mr.. Mccormick
came into the former State. The courts of Mis-
souri, it seems, have set up similar claims. A
grand Jury and governor of Alabama have done
the same, and q citizen Of New-York (R. G.
williams was once the subject of similar requi-
.ition. But even William L. Marcy himself, then
governor of New-York, and during the frenzy Of
that period l636), could not be frightened or
wheeded into the folly of obeying such requlsi-
tiCn.
How is it that, with all the progress made since
1876, Gov Wright should have plunged himself in
1855 into ditch which Gov. Marcy was careful
TO avoid nineteen years before And how could
he persuade himself to disregard the precedent
that had Just before been set for his guidance by
Gov. Powell hmselfl How is it that the COVER
nor of Kentucky has right to demand the arrest
of citizens of Indiana who had not touched the
soil of Kentucky when the governor of Indiana
has no authority to demand the arrest of Ken
tuckians who, on the soil Of Indiana, had violated
her lawsl If the Kentuckians could claim i'm
punity. and il their governor could shield them on
the ground that they had done nothing in Indiana
contrary to the laws of Kentucky, why could not
a citizen of Indiana, when demanded By agOvernOr
of Kentucky, be shielded on the same ground, es-
pecially as be had not been beyond the boundaries
of his own State! In every view that can be
taken it is evident that the Kentucky governor,
like the courts of Mississippi and the governor Of
Alabama, lays claim to Jurisdiction over all the
Free States-a jurisdiction claimed only where the
interests of Slavery are concerned. And now, for
the first time, the claim is admitted by the gov
ernor of State. Gov. Wright enjoys the unen-
yiable nOtorety of being the first governor that
has BUNDLED himself so low as to comply with the
insulting demand.
Very evidently, the time has come for an exam
nation de moro of the relations of our State and