Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1857-03-26
not Citizens of the u. 8.
Opinion of WIN. Writ.


are ~endeavoring to create the impression
that the doctrine that negroes are not
citizens of the United States is a recent
one, We publish the following, showing
the opinion of William Writ, a distin-
guished jurist, who was the opposition
candidate for President against Jack
son, in 1882:
The navigation laws of the U. States
required that masters of vessels should
be citizens. Under this statute a ques-
ton arose in the Treasury Department
whether a free negro of Virginia was a
citizen of the United States, and there
fore entitled to be placed in command OF
a vessel. The point was referred by the
then Secretary OF the Treasury to the
Attorney General of the United States,
in the following form: "Whether free
persons of color are, in Virginia, citizens
of the United States, within the intent
and meaning of the acts regulating for
eign and coasting trade, so as to be
qualified to command vessels p
To this query Mr.. Writ gave an Off
cial reply, in a letter to the Secretary of
the Treasury, datea-November Z, 1921.
from which we make the following x
tracts:
Choking to the Constitution as the
standard of meaning, it seems very man
ifest that no person is included in the
description of citizen of the U. States
who has not the full rights of a citizen
in the State of his residence. Among
other proofs of this, it will be sufficient
L. - A. ao-e&,k, - onal npnvISJnn
that the citizens of each State shall be
entitled to all the privileges and imnu-
mites of citizens in the several States.
Now, if a person born and residing in
Virginia, but possessing none of the high
characteristic provisions of a citizen OF
the State, is nevertheless a citizen OF
Virginia, in the sense of the Constitu-
ton, then, on his removal to another
State, he acquires all the immunities and
privileges of a citizen of that State, al
though he possessed non of them in the
State of his nativity; a consequence
which certainly could not have been in
the contemplation of the Convention
Again: The only qualification required
by the Constitution to render a person
eligible as President, Senator or Repre-
| sentative of the United States, is, that
he shall be a citizen of the United States
of q given age and residence. Free ne
groes and mulattoes can satisfy the re-
auisitions of age and residence as we'll as
the white man; and if nativity, residence
and allegiance combined, (without the
rights and privileges of a white man. are
sufficient to make him a citizen OF the
United States in the sense Of the Con
stitution, hen free negroes and mulat-
toes are eligible to those high offices, and
and may command the purse and sword
of the nation"
Mr.. Attorney General Writ, after fur
Their discussing the subject, states his
conclusions in the following words:
"Upon the whole, I am of the opinion
that free persons of color in Virginia are
not citizens of the United States, within
the intent and meaning of the nets reg
ulating foreign and coasting trade, so as
to be qualified to command vessels.
We submit to an honestpublic, whcth-
er the attempt of the Black Republican
press to stir up the prejudices of the peo-
pie against the United States Supreme
Court, for deciding what Writ in 1921
and Daggett in 1884 indorsed as the
true construction of the Constitution, is
not barefaced imposture.
HoAouay's Ointment and PiHs-The
applicability of these extraordinary med
icaments to the disorders of all climates.
renders them Indispensable to all who
Journey by sea or land. Scurvy, the
most terrible scourge of seafaring men
is eradicatcd by the use of the Ointment
while the Pills, by their Alternative and
conservative operation upon the stomach
| the secretions and the bowels, o re.
lieve the worst cases of bilious fever, di
arrhea and stomach complaint. Taken
as a preventive, they fortify the system
against the disorders consequent upor
changes of temperature, and deprive the
process of acclimation of its principa
danger. Emigrants to the Far Yves
had better go there ~unprovided with i'm
plcmcnts of labor, than without thes'
uncqualled curatiycs.
ma. The Washington Star hears tina
Elk. Secretary Marcy designs making
tour through Europe, leaving the Uni
ted States in the summer or fall. Hi
progress on the other side of the Allan
tic will probably excite more attentio
from the public men of Europe tina
was ever before accorded TO an Ameri
can, for there, as here, he certainly rank
as the greatest living conductor of tn
foreign affairs of a nation.
r@-The Petersburg (Va) Erpre4
says: "Our citizens are beginning t
observe the unusual number of slave
that are constantly passing throug
Petersburg, on their way South; and t
II the minds of many, the result appear
inevitable, that it will need but the wor
of ten or twenty years to clear Virgini
e completely of that part other population
It A company of n hundred passe
through on Saturday.
MyFour Republican members ofCor