The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-04-14
NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, APRIL H. 1857

The Dred Scott Decssaon-The New York He
raid versus the New YORK Tribune.
Our philosophers OF the Tribune, in commenting
uyou the remarks of the HERALD concerning the
proposed legislation at Albany on the bred Scott
case cay that we are mistaken in supposng that
any Southern mao is to be punished for bringing
slave into this State. ANY master is at full
liberty to do that The crime to be punished is
the attempting to hold as a slave the man who,
by being brought into the State, has been made
free man" This is very nice distinction, in
deed; but it is bit Of mockery of the meanest
pettifogging description. Oh. yes, under this
proposed law, Gov. Wise, for example. may bring
a slave with him as his body servant when he
comes to this city. "He is at full liberty to do
that" But the moment the master and the man
land on this side the Jersey ferry, the man be-
comes free aud the master becomes felon if he
shall presume any longer to hold the man as a
slave. We adhere to our opinion that this sort
of State legislation is in violation of the spirit
and intent OF the constitution; that it is vicious
and seditious in its spirit, and demoralizing aud
revolutionary in its tendencies.
Our liberty teachers of the Tribune are pleased,
however, to pronounce their Judgment against
us through the pitfui bubble aforesaid, aad
they say further that
Equally unsoundsd 10 toe ding OF the HssAI, n .hs
committee for not proposing to remove che property
qualification By which distinction estabn shed 10 this
hsd already been before Inc Legislature sud hsS been
put In far train TO De set right when that question
comes se'ore The PEOPLE - shortly WILL NO mop, 70
md the HxRD ss "a advocsss for the doctrine that oil
men are equal.
We hope not. We have no faith in this doc
trine that all men are equal, because there is no
truth in il. We find it Get forth, as a figure of
speech, in the Declaration of Independence of
l776; but we fDd it repadisted in the Federal
Constitution of 1889. And why so? We are
thrown back upon the field of the worlds history
to inquire. Thus we find slavery sculptured
upon the Oldest monuments of Egypt, aud exist
ing in various forms among all nations and in
volving all races of men down to comparatively
late period. The Magma Charta, extorted from
King John by the English barons, stands in the
developement of individual "inalienabe rights"
and political popular sovereignty, the same lofty
! landmark as Martin Luther in regard to the dis
cussion and expansion Of the principles of re-
I hStOuo hDSA' uAha0p, AAompuSh SlOmWCu
their democratic contemporaries gave still more
powerful impulse to the doctrine of popular
equality and from these sources aud their
aHiuents was this doctrine transplanted into the
virgin soil of the British North American
colonies.
The fathers Of the American revolution, in pro-
claiming their independence, adopted this doc
trine Of equality without qualification. 1t sim
pifed the issue against the assumed sovereign
and divine rights Of the King, Lords and Com
mons of England, and kept this thing of African
slavery very properly out of view till the great
struggle was over. But when the authors OF the
declaration approached the work of a constitu-
ton for these United States, they were compelled
to deal with things as they found them. Where
masters and slaves, as in England and other Euro
pean countries, were of the same general race,
the doctrine of equal individual rights in the
community could be readily harmonized to q
popular revolution. But the trainers of our con-
stituton at the outset were confronted by
distinctly marked servile and inferior race among
them-thc African or black race-repulsve to
the natural instincts of the European race and
wholly unfit for social or political recognition
of equality with it in any shape Accordingly
tie trainers Of the constitution recognized and
treated the African race in these States as a
servile and inferior race Of men, and not as
citizens.
Believing that ii was wise, just and right thus
to act upon this broad distinction between the ma
tursl superiority in the one race and the natural
inferiority in the other, and upon the principle
that there can be no harmony between the two
races admitted to the same level OF equality in
the same community, we, of course, must repu.
date this doctrine of equality of all men when
you come to apply il to Uncle Tom or Dred
Scott We stand by the decision of the Superior
Court as the Interpretation of the constitution and
as the doctrine of round philosophy
CASE or DISTRESS. Little Villain and
bis stock gambling confederates Of the Duily Time
are in state Of great distress with regard to the
butiness Of the Herald. They kindly publish
our circulation, stating for the benefit of thei-
advertising patrons that our daily issue ranges
from seventy thousand (7O,oOO) TO eighty thou.
sand (so.00o). They scem, however, not to
understand the matter distinctly, and we there.
fore repay the obligation by giving them a little
light on the subject. During the present spring
our circulation, on several occasions has reached
eishty-six thousand (s6,OOO) copies in one day
our lowest circulation upon any one day has been
sixty thousand (6O,OOO) copies and Il varie,
from six'y-three thousand (63,OOo) to seventy
thousand (7OOOO). 1t is only within the las,
two or three weeks that one of our splendid new
ten cylinder presses has been in operation. II |
il b ad been going two months since we sbould |
have printed one hundred thousand instead Of
eishty-six thousand copies in one day. In
week or two more the new machinery of our Of
flee will be entirely completed and we have no
doubt that We shall reach, in another year. the
splendid figure OF one hundred thousand daily