The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-02-21
EDITORS CORRESPONDENCE.
From the National Intelligencer.

EDITORS CORRESPONDENTS.
From the National In,elligencer
To reply intelligibly to the inquiry proposed
| in the following letter to the Editors, by
gentleman who fills the distinguished station
of Senator in Congress from the State of
Iowa, it becomes necessary to present his letter
at large to our readers:
WASHINGTON, Fsb Is, 1856.
Messrs GALES & SEAToN In the article of
Judge Ewing, of Pennsylvania, published in
your paper of the 18th instant, find the fol-
lowing extract:
off the citizens of Maryland or Virginia
choose to carry their slaves to Kentucky for
sale, Pennsylvania and Ohio have no more
right to prohibit their transit through their ter
ritory, or to NEEDLE or interfere with them by
| the way, than they have to prohibit or inter-
| fere with the transport of imported goods from
| New York across their territory to other West.
ern States. This seems so plain that it is
matter of astonishment that it should have
been forgotten or overlooked and that an idea
should have been adopted that the moment a
slave, by the permission of his master, sets his
foot upon the soil of a free State, he, by some
magic influence overriding the Constitution,
| becomes Free"
You introduce the article from which the
|
| following editorial remarks:
"At the request of friend, we give place to
the annexed article from the pen of an eminent
| jurist of Pennsylvania. 1t is on subject of
which we avoid in general the discussion in this
paper, as hardly ever tending to any good. But
this article of Judge Ewing's is, besides being
| characterized by research and ability, written
in so calm and candid spirit, aud embodies
| such sound constitutional views, that we have
| consented to make it an exception"
| 1t is not my intention or wish at this time
| to review the article of Judge Ewing; but per-
NIT me to say that read the article with some
surprise, and with still greater surprise the edi-
toral commentator of it. Having been
subscriber for your paper for over twenty years,
| / hope not to be considered Obtrusive when |
respectfully call your attention to this subject,
and desire to be informed, through the medium
| of your paper, whether your commentator
| of the article was intended to apply only to its
| general character, or whether it was intended
| by the editors of the Lntelligencer to approve
| and endorse the position taken in the above
extract, as sound constitutional Uiep of the
rights and duties Of the States2"
Very respectfully, A. HARLAN.
| The National Hntelligencer, from which we
copy the foregoing, returns non-committal
|
sition, whether it concurred in it or not, it
would not have thought of endorsing or de-
nouncing the opinion of learned Judge, &C.
| 1t adds
GAS regards the principle to which our at
| tsntion has been specially invited, and without
| by doing so intending to endorse it, that this
principle is one which has been recently as
serted and maintained in Courts of the United
States, if not in State Courts. A late instance
of such a decision in the United States Court
at Philadelphia is familiar to the readers of this
| Journal"
Judge Kanes Court is the one alluded to-
but Judge Kane will not be accepted as an
authority, in cases involving questions of Sla-
very and Freedom, anywhere except in lati-
tudes where Slavery is the rule, and Freedom
the exception.
But, our purpose in giving publicity to the
correspondence above, is to express our sur
prise that Mr.. Harlan, after having read the
htelIigencer for twenty years, could entertain
doubt as to the meaning of the commenda-
ton bestowed by that paper on Judge Ewing's
opinion. The National Hplelligencer is in no
respect an AntiSlavery paper, or neutral one
on questions at issue between Freedom and
Slavery. Without violence or vituperation, it
has always been on the side of the Slavehold-
ing Oligarchy. Attempts at new aggression
by this Party it would decorousy oppose, from
profound regard to the quiet and peace of the
country, and an apprehension of agitation. But,
the aggression once committed, no paper would
labor more earnestly to prevent or suppress all
attempts at redress.
For public men, devoted to the interests
of Slavery, or its extension, it has always fat
tering words--but of statesmen at the North.
occupying prominent position in opposition
to their policy, it says as little as possible, and
that little is generally barren of praise. The
abominable doctrine that Shareholders NAV
, make highway Of free States, for the trans
portation of human chattels-a doctrine that
could have been pronounced by judicial author
ity in no free State but Pennsylvania, whose
deities are coal, iron, and Slavery-is, of course
not at all abhorrent to the htelligencer. Should
it be affirmed by the Supreme Bench, it will
accept the decision, we doubt not, as anothe,
signal evidence of the sublime independence
and purity of the Judiciary.
For ourselves, we regard with detestatior
Judge Ewing, or any other Judge of a free
, State, who, in cold blood, assumes as he doe.
f in the opinion quoted above, that human beings
:, sustaining the relation of Slavery in slave
: State, are as much property, and property In the
J. same sense, as cotton, silk, or broadcloth, and
t that no free State, therefore, has right to pro
S hibit their transportation through its borders
e Such Judges DC rot deserve to be reasoned
e with-and the People who elect them, deserv'
t. themselves to be goods and chattels in tn,
d ! hands of Southern slave-drivers.
81 ~7s--
II REPUBLICAN MEETING At HARTFoRp.--HGrf
= fort, Cam, Feb. 1.-THE Republicans ar
holding large and enthusiastic meeting her
this evening, preparatory to a STATE organize
ton.