New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-08-11
/. HARD STRAIN AT THE LAW


scuuen Of Jadge Kane himseIf-to get rid Of
the ttatutes Of PennsylSanis, which declare that
Slavery shall not exist in that State " for say
"period of time Whatsoever" We have seen
great many efforts made by rogues and old
offenders 20 get rid of the plain principles Of the
law when they happened to conflict with the
questionable practices of the aforesaid rogue'i
in fact, one may see attempts of this KIDD almost
any day in the police aud other or minal colrt'i
but few sue hepterprises have exhibited more
fsgrant de1terity than that The Union displays
in ITS effort to shelter Judge Kane. Let Us
quote its whole argument, to see what il is and
get the facts before US:
On the Let day Of March. 17sO, the General As
seubly Of PENNSYLVANIA enacted law for the era iua
abolition of Slavery. The 10Th section provides;
That no man Of any nation or colr e'csP; he
CT nuist'oes 20 sn1 9e Ies' 80 - 40 - l. "a ~
s bt ~ e. men a 4 women EXCEPT ne soneae arsei
,s mo. aee9ais. IN Congress from other fnoaln Siats'
feiH min feys cHsn md rers rs pdsn tfro4 ~ So
ogy1irg IN rs, state and rot becoming reeea hssiH dad
I'M, "a IN .Srs nof belonging . any ilh ibtiaf 0 this
STATE erp0led m any shP or7ea ~ any 'Aoa
Tsd i d1rsc slir be NJ alien tied Or sod 9 dHg IN
5gIinf nor te1cept in Of members 4 Congress ffegn
ministers and colsu retained ~ AZ Siie longer nan ~
TanfAs.'
celted from the operation OF this law, are
Fysf : ayes attending upon delegates in Congress
Second Slaves OF oieiga ministers anl c'A'nl..
FourtA slave. ii persons soioalnns and becoming 5e
his state rorded such reseoce doe' not exceed SIX
ia seamen on board d eerain class OF vessels.
we presume that upon the authority even Of the
ststue law of the state IL will be pretended that
willie tbs act was H. force the right OF passage was
detcd 10 the master with bis slave Indeed, It *
rressy excerpts any such construction, ant eve1 n
md not make such exception, ia tnc absence OF anY
exurss denial OF ibi- ht we can OF uude' stand tne
r. tn mert Of legal rea-ouiog which coui by implca-
ton take away privilege that existed By ongesta0-
lshed custom. or ny tie necessary incilenis OF a
domestic institution the existence OF which Pennsy-
ysria nine years subsequent TO Der abOli ION nad
Acknowledged in becoming part and parcel OF the
Cor stuiiou Of the United States.
cit is couteuded however that a slave brought
voluntarily into Pennsylvania becomes tDso tac'o
free. and this construction l. put upon the law by VIZ
tue Of the act of 81 March az, generally understood
AZ the act repeating the provso aud exceptions OF the
act OF l7-O II is as follows
So much Of the st # DE General Assembly, entitled An
Act for the Abolition Of SLAYER pe,.ed It, M'5ol .,
authorizes the masters OK owners o sI' % ony al
@ M r.r y. s,id ,ct as prevent. persou fon giving
|. siiR,oIS ss,aIi' Any p''''-
"Tbis Act applies only to that exception in the act
Of 1850 which allows the bringing aud retaiHiHg,
which was not Mr.. Wheeler case. Ii is absurd to
areue n at the passing through the retaining there
for a shor time anc that the fete iuon Tor any t"c
whatsoever Is unlawful, and therefore the slave tree
Such nil hi have been les lumdte consru non were
il not ceran that tho act of 1850, ia one clause eX-
cepe the passing through, aud IN aaother exespts ina
rs;1i0iDg. ac he act Of lS41 only repeating thar
/ clause which relates 10 the re'alRipg no man dn,i
ased by pre- JUDGE would contend mat IL refers 20 1e
cause relating to 10 SONS clearly IN state OF uansh
He'd the Legislature intended any such cOnst ncloh
ley could easily have said o. much. But having Tue
/ nc Of 1850 before them, ara only repeating Two
caus,s OF tie Droviso the most legitimate cohruhc
tion H. they intended those clauses not menllOneu III
terms in the act of lsi1 should remain 10 full force
and one OF he clauses of the act OF loO gives to al
rersors the RIGHT Of passing through the State with
The slaves"
The italics here are those of The UaioH, yet
donot hep out its conclusions. WHAT are the
simple facts Of the PenLsy yania legislation as
here described First, b. the laT Of 1850 no
man or woman of any color or nation could be
teld asa slave or servant for life, within the
territory of the Commonwealth; secondly, ex-
cept TWO classes Of domestic slaves which are
enumerated, namely those attending upon Mem
bers of Congress, foreign ministers, consuls,
and persons passing through or sojourn,ng With
10 view 10 residence, and slave seamen EN-
ployed IN ships uot belonging to any inhibitant
|
these slaves were not sold to any inhdbitant
or were rot retained 10 the State for a
longer period than six months. a 1 this, it
seems to us, is as clear as language well can
make it. There could be No slaves in Pennsyl-
yania, except a certain sort 10 attendance upon
various soiourners, aud these could not be re-
tanned beyond six months
But il March, 1884, the Legislature passed an
act lepe alDg these exceptions with the proyiso,
and leaving only that part Of .he ofiginal law
valid which prohibited all slavery. Tnis act
said that so much If the law OF 1880 as allowed
the owners of slaves 70 bring and retain them
ia the Commonwealth foe the period OF six
months, or for any period Of time whatsoever, was
c4nceed. As if 70 render all doubt upon the
subject impossible it declared emphatcally
that the domestic slaves formerly excepted,
could not be retained, not merely for the six
month. mentioned in the original, but for any
period of time VhatsOoyer-sx days or SIX
hours.
1t is piece Of transparent and contemplate
special pleading in The CRion then, TO contend
that this repeal applies ouly to single clause of
the old law, namely, TO the clause about retain
ing slaves in the State, and not to the whole
class of exceptions. Nov, the only clause
which refers TO the retention is the Proyiso, and,
according to Tic Union, this alone WAS repealed
Suppose IL to be go, and then we have toe very
singular state Of things that an amendment ia
tended to limit the operations of a prevIoos Law
positively enlsTges them If the Pfoyiso OF