Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-08-04

Judge Matthews, of louisiana Senator Mason
of Virginia, Mr.. Baylys, Representative in Con-
+ gress from the same State; Senator Douglas, Of
Illinois, Mr.. Toombs, of Georgia. Gen. String
fellow; of Missouri with Hon. s. G. Brooks and
John Mcqueen, of South Carolina, William Smith
If Virginia, and Thomas l.. Clingman, of North
Carolina *% (Mcmbcrs of Congress- and Southern
editors generally, affirm that slavery grew up in
the American Colonies without any positive en-
actments creating or authorizing it~that nothing OF
that character is known to the legislation of this
country-although statutes have been framed to
regulate what was assumed to have had previous
legal existence And yet it is admitted by the
Southern Courts that slavery IS contrary to natu-
raj right and to common law, and can only exist
by the force og local. municipal, positive law
On this ground the Southern Courts have liberia
ted slaves who had been carried by consent of
their masters beyond the limits of the local iuris
dicton where they have been held as slaves.* The
The Supreme Court OF the United States lin the
case Of Prgg IS. Pennsylvania lG Peters, de-
clared that "thc state of slavery is n munich
pal regulation, founded upon and limited 10 the
verge of the territorial law" Putting these two
statements together, the materoffact illcgaliy Of
American slavery is seen at glance.
HISTORICAL OUTLINE.
The whole history Of slavery and of the slave
trade in England and her American Colonies shows
that slavery has never been legalizcd.
The ''permi" of Queen Elizabeth to John lIaw-
kins, to carry Africans to the Colonies. forbade
their transportation without their own free con-
sent. But he took them away by brute force, and,
therefore, in violation Of the conditions of the per-
NIT under which he pretended to actf All the
subsequent acts of parliament "resuatng the
trade to Africa" particularly the act Of 80 George
H., chiefly relied upon by the slave traders for
badc, under heavy penalties, the carrying away of
Africans by any act Of "lraud, force, violence" "
But the whole history of the traffic proves it to
have been prosecuted in open and direct violation
/ of these prohibitions SO that the matter offact
African slave trade never was lcgalized. This was
proved by William Pitt, in the British Parliament,
and this led to the abolition of the slave trale.S
When the slaves were landed in the Colonies
and sold to the planters there not English or
colonial statutes authorizing the procedure. Had
c there been any, they would have been of no valid
force, because contrary to the British sCOnstitu-
= ton and thteEnglish common law. This appears
/ from the decision Of lord Chief Justice Mansfield,
who, on this ground liberated the slave, Somerset
; and declared slavery Illegal in England, in the
IS year l772, four years before our Declaration OF
e Independence. Tho same decision though never
enforced in the colonies, legally binding upon
@ them, as Granville Sharpe publicly maintained.
II The colonial charters moreover, restricted the col
o onial legislatures from passing any laws contrary
e to the common law of n5land, which forbid,
slavery And finally, there were no colonial en-
actmcnts, up to the hour of the declaration of In
dependence, that even undertook to legalize sla
very, and there have been no such State enact
mcnts since.
= The Declaration of Independence would have
II abolished slavery if it had had any previous eSa
existence. Add to this, the Constitution of all the
original States, formed after the Declaration
Of Independence, were Incompatible with slavery
# And was the common law. On these ground,
the Courts in Massachusetts,, without any lcgisla
tive enactment the subject, decided that slavery
i was icgal.%% And slavery in all the other States
stood precisely on the same basis.
t No ono charges upon the old "Articlcs of Con
c federation" any recognition of slavery. And no
. one surposcs that the Federal Constitution org
mated it, gave it to any validity which it did not
f possess before. The absolute icgality of slavery
. at the Time tho Federal Constitution was adopted
is hence certain any legal fact of history can
and no prctends that it has acquired amy ad
+ ditional legality since that time THIS fttct We
have deemed IN important one to be affirmed il
the Constitution OK our Abolition Society," as
foundation Of our distinction measure.
SAmorican Slave Code, pp. 2GG-oG8. "No leg
> isativc act Of the colonies can be found in rcla
u ton to it."-JVhcclcrS LaW Of Aacc,y PIP. 8, ..
g Mr. Mason objected to a jury trial (orfugitvcs
& on tho ground that such process would require
that ''proof shall bo brought forward that slave
IL ry is established 10y existing laws" and, said he
c ''it is impossible to comply with the requistion
s. for no such lac can be proRucca- GOodcPS &arc5
l. and anti Sldre,y, PIP. HO,57l.
o TDebates in Congress on the Nebraska Bill
J. Determined to carry slavery into Kansas and Ne
braska without ahy statutory enactments creating
v lit, they were driven to the necessity Of declaring
D. the truth that it had been introduced into all thu
= slave States without statute.
. **These gentlemen assume the present legality
= of slavery in Kansas "without any positive law.
And they say, "Tho vcriest school boy must know
=. as matter Of histo'y-that, although slavery
existed in all the old States, in not ono of them
o a law ever enacted to establish it"-N. !. Ddll
~ Tribune, Jan. II, 1855.
v american Slave Code, pp eCl-2Gi. Wheeler
t. Law of Slavery, 3i0-3lG, $40, 335. Story's Con
II ilict of Laws, 92-07. Louisiana Reports 475.-
Il ?. Marshall's Kentucky Rep, 467. Martins Lou
J. Rep, 40l. Walkers Miss. Rep, Sc.
r Clarkson's History, p. so; Edwards History
le of West Indies, vol ., PIP. l3, Al Goodes Slaver
Is and Anti. Slavery, p &.
le Spooner's Unconstitutionality of Slavery, PIP
" SClarkson's History. p, 3ll; Goodell's SLAYER
vs. and Anti-Slavcry, p. IS.
of n Stuarts Momoir of Sharpe; Carkson's lIistor
IN Slavery and Anti Slavery chap. vi.
r. Il Vide Spooner
ca M Pckering's Reports, PIP. 2O9, 90; Kent
5 Commentary, p. 252; Washburn's Jud Hist. Mas
oi p. 202; DIR. Jonathan Edwards Sermon, Sept /;
NJ n, l70l. See Goodell's Slavery and Anti Slavery
az PIP. Ill, ll2.
" Correspondence Of the Indianapolis Journal
DOINGS OF THE KANSAS LEGISLATURE
II II Il. T.I.