Bedford inquirer and chronicle. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1854-1857, 1857-05-15

or place of the United States, which port or
place shall be situated in State which BY
law has prohibited, or shall prohibit, the ad-
mission or Importation Of any such negro,
mulatto, or other person of Color
To the same effect also are the decisions
of the Courts, both State and NATIONAL
The Supreme Court of North Carolina, in
an elaborate opinion delivered in 1888,
State rs. Manuel III Dew. & Bat, .. 24l
by Judge CASTOR, one of The mosr learned
and able jurists in the Union, on the PEE
else point now under consideration, fully
sustained the Jefersonian and CoDsress;on-
al views of eiizenship, just cited. In the
opinion Of the Court in that case, il is 81 id
''British subjects in North Carolina--by
virtue of the Revoluticn-- became North
Carolina freemeu, foreigners, until made
members of the State, continued aliens;
slaves manumitted here became freemcn,
and therefore, if born within North Caro-.
lima, are citizens of North Carolina; and all
free persons born within the State arc born
citizens of the State"
To the same effect also are the decisions
Of the Supreme Courts Of other States, and
of the Supreme Courts of the United States.
In thecase Of Lee VS.. Lee, Is, Peters 49,
this latter court in an action for freedom
said-"Freedom is not to bt valued . In
the case of Walhngsford VS.. Allen-(1o
Peters, $685. Judge Wayne, one of the
judges coH,urring in the Drcd Scott opin-
ion, declared that ''thh question Offreedom
is superior to any question of property"
In Williams Us. Ash, q Howards, Rep.
~ in which r. b. fancy, then as now
Chief Justice, delivered the opinion of the
Court. a colored man was not only permit
ted TO sue for his freedom in a court Of the
United States, but was permitted to recov
er it. And 10 the same effect also il Rhodes
Us. Bell, e How, 397,l in which the opin-
ion Of the Court va delivered By Justice
M'Leaa.
Can il be then in this free country and
| in this enlightened age, that zone half the
citizens" as Jefferson expressed il, in sosss.
OF the States, and a greater or less portion
of them in all the States suddenly become
no citizens at all. That solely BY reason Of
their color, they are presumed to be with
out the pale Of citizenship. that they cannot
even sue in any court of the United States
to try the question whether they are bond
or free.
| This doctrine is so contrary to all past
history aud Judicial precedent, so repugnant
to all ideas of law ani in stice. and SO abb
horrent to reason and Humanity, that your
committee can not do otherwise than con-
denim and repudiaie il as utterly unsoul8,
and unworthy the Court which proclaimed ii,
2. The plaintiff having bee slave in
the State of Missouri, his subsequent resi-
dence in the State OF Illinois, and in The
National territory North of Missouri, lid
not affect the condition of himself OF his
faulty, but all remained slaves.
The question here raised is purely legal
one; aud one which his been decided agaia
and again, from the organization of our Gov
ernment down to the case of Dred Scott,
and BY thc Courts of almost every State in
the Union. Slavery being contrary to nat
ural rights,is created only BY municipal law
Thi, is not only plain in itself, and agreed
to by all writers on The subject, but is also
the doctrine laid down by our Federal Con-
stitutiou, aud has been most explicitly dc.
clared Dy the same Court which now denies
it in the case Of Dred Scott. The second
section of the fourth article of the Constitu-
ton of the United States, is as follows:
No person held to labor or service in
one State, under the latOs Thereof, shall, 10
consequence of law or regulation therein, be
discharged from such service or labor, but
shall be delivered up, on claim Of the party
to whom such service or labor may be due.
No words could more clearly describe
status created by municipal law than these
words in the Constitution. In the celebra-
ted and leading case os Prigg rs. the Com
monwealth of Pennsylvania, (l6, Peters
Reports, 539.) decided by the Supreme
Court of the United States in l842, the
same principle is solemnly recognized and
affirmed. The late eminent Judge Story
delivered the opinion of the Court, and among
other things said, "The state of slavery is
deemed 20 be mere municipal regulation,
founded upon and limited to the territorial
laws" at is manifest from thisconsidera-
ton that il the Constitution bad mot contain
ed this clause trequiring the delivery mp Of
iugitivcs) every non-slaveholding State in
the Union would have been at liberty to
have declared free all runaway slaves coming
within its limits, aud to have given them
entire immunity and protection against all
claims of their masters Judge Taney
was then as now Chief Justice of the Court