New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-02-13

ricao b,ocd. arriving In say OF her ports, should
Be Imprisoned while tie ship remained In port.
Then, IL TIE captain did not pay the jail fees, the
prisor or wss 10 be sod for term Of tine suf6-
Gent to discharge them, when he was TO be sect
out Of the State. Aferward the law was amended
90 So to have the negro guilty Of not having bis fees
paid sod into slavery for fe-and this even if cast
by shpwreck On those barbarous shores Under
this most atrocious Law, which would have dis
eracsd Alters aud Tunis while those Regencies
held slaves, citizens of this State, and of al the
States which have any commercial marine, are IN
ouestionably at this moment wearing out their
lives in slavery And, though entitled to protec.
ton both from their native States and from the
limited States. the rather from their very help
lessness and weakness, there does not seem to
have existed the power, if there did the WILL to eI.
tend ii 10 them.
Massachusetts, indeed, did send an agent tbither
for the purpose Of trying the consti!utonaty Of the
law in the United States Courts. But be was CON-
PEELED by force to leave the jurisdiction and the de-
fectve code Of the State was remeded BY making it
felony, punishable like burglary, highway robbery
Courts for such purpose And Massachusetts,
had TO submit to the affront-so did England, for
that matter This matter was more than once
sgitated in Parliament and taken up by the Mins-
try. Mr.. Consul Mathew, the same afterward
promoted to Philadelphia, and whose s1equat~
Pres dent Pierce revoked last year had long cor
respondence with the Governor of South Carolina,
which was laid before the Legislature, but no action
was vouchsaftd thereupon. This last year, having
indicated her superiority over all the rest OF man.
kind, with one foot on the neck of John Boil and
the other on that of Uncle Sam, she has con.
descended to extend to her suppliant' an act Of
grace and favor out of her mere mercy and good
ness. By this act negroes are excused from an ac-
quaintsnce with the inside of her ais, on the cap
tans giving bonds in $500 that they shall not leave
the chip while it is in port. And in case the ship
having these contraband articles on board be
driven into port by stress Of weather, mutiny, or
other unavoidable cause, they are exempted from
Imprisonment, if they remain on board, or in such
place as shall be appointed for them Tin case Of
shipwreck, we suppose) by competent magistrate.
This act Of mercy has been gratefully received by
her Britannia Msjesty's Consul at Charleston, who
has notified all concerned Of the same, and an
nounced his intention of refusing to interfere in
cases of wlllful careessness or neglect. And so it
will be received, undoubtedly, by the great body of
merchants trading to that port-although the modl-
fed legislation is in open violation of the C)nstitu.
ton of the United States just as much as the inhos-
ptable cruelty of the old law. And il is this State
of South Carolna Which is foremost in the cry for
dissolution of the Union Now We should like to
know what it is that has enabled her thus TO snap
her fingers not only at the Constitution Of the Uni-
ted States but at England and all foreign nations
too What but the apprehension that an attempt
to compel redress would bring on conflict with
the whole nationl England, of course, could wipe
her out of existence in week had she only her own
strength to depend upon. But, to give her an an
tsgonist nearer her own size, how long could she
stand up sgainst Massachusetts, should they come to
fsticuffs7 South Carolins, in 1850, according TO
census taken by her own friends, had white popu-
laton of $4,000, of whom fraction over 80, 900
may be taken for men capable OF bearing arms.
Massachusetts, with population OF million, has
at least 200, 900 fighting men. Aud the wealth aud
credit of the latter State ia at least in the same pro-
portion to that of the former, although this last
reckons more than half her Inhabitants as property.
Nothing, of course, but the Union keeps her from
taking Justice into her own hands and thrs ,hng her
impudent little sister within an inch of her life.
And yet this cross-grained hussy, holding on sl
the time to the skirts of our common Uncle, aud
venting her insults and injuries in the confidence of
his protection, threatens him with utter annihili-
ton if she should once let go of bis cOat-tal