Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-02-04
Gse 9allp SPg.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY A, 1858
The FuaitIve Slave LAW aud State
Rights.

The FuaitIVs Slave LAW AVID State
Rights.
The General Assembly Of the State Of Rhode
Island now IN session, has before it a personal
liberty law, somewhat similar in its provisions TO
that which stands upon the statute book Of our
own State II seems to us that there ought to
he no question, AZ this late day, as 20 the right
Of any State in the Union to assert and maintain
its own sovereignty upon its own soil. aud to de-
clare by statutory enactment what may or may
not be lawful for its citizens to dos and also how
far the State will 90 in aording the protection OF
its laws to its citizens, come from where they
may. mans right to himself, it seems to US,
ought never to DO questioned, in a State which
possesses such a constitution as the State Of
Rhode Island, unless tina, right has been forfeit
cd By conviction Of some crime, and therefore we
must confess our surprise that the Providence
Journal, which generally leans to the right and
the Just side upon every question, should oppose
the enactment of law, the provisions of which
are only calculated to prevent its own citizens
frnm being deprived of their just rights, and its
own State laws from being over-ndden by the ar
bitray requirements and exactons Of statute of
the United States, which tramples in the dust
the plainest provisions of tae constitution of that
State. The Journal says;
1.-THE fugitive slave law is an odious law it
was pressed upon the country in an odious man
ner, and It has been enforced with rigor and
sometimes with brutality designedly offensive to
Northern men. But it is the law; and it over
rides all State legislation"
Well, then, we ask, why should II be permitted
to ''override all State legislation, when the Peo
pie of Rhode Island in 1912 adopted their consti-
hat hat - will
this State ought to find certain remedy by having
recourse to the laws for all injuries or wrongs
which he may receive in his person, property, or
character" and that the right Of trial byJwy shall
rem liA apiolate," why, ask, should the State
have any hesitation in sustaining the principles
Of that Constitution against all persons, prinei-
patics, or powers, whatever Had not the peo-
pie of the State of Rhode Island a right to es'
tablish such a Constitution II they had not
then they ought to abolith it forthwith but hav
ing the right and having exercised it in the man.
ner which the Constitution shows that they have,
why should they not adhere to their own Consu
tuition at all hazards
We do not agree with the Journal, that the
State is not called upon to aid in the execution
Of this odous law CHE Fugitive Slave Law, nor
is any citizen called upon to do such violence to
his nature any more than he is called upon to
take upon himself the eniorcement'of any other
law" Surely, the editor of the Journal cannot
be fresh in his readings Of that diaboliesl instru.
ment, or he would see that by the very letter Of
the law, the United States officers, having pro-
cess TO arrest an alleged fugitive, are authorized
and empowered to summon and to call to their
aid the bystanders or posse oomitatusof the prop.
er county, when necessary to insure a faithful
observance of the clause of the Constitution re-
ferred to, in conformity with the provisions of
this acti and al good c,tissNS are hereby con-.
~ tadSa to aid and assist in the prompt and ef-
hcent execution of this law, whenever their SER
vices may be required, as aforesaid for that pur
pose"
Il seems to us, that this is quite loud CALI
upon the citizens of the State "to aid in the
ecution Of this odious law"
Again, the Fugitive Slave Law provides for the
seizure of an alleged fugitive, ,Oithom process"
anywhere that he can be found, while the Const
tuition Of Rhode Island provides that no person
shall be deprived of life liberty, or property,
Mess by the Judgment of his peers and the law of
the land" Is there, we ask, any law of the land
older than Jury Trial? Is there, or ought there
TO be, any law Of the land OF any State or of the
United States, that should override the princi-
Piles Of the common law and the Constitution of
sovereign State 1t seems TO us that there
should not be; and II we were citizen of Rhode
Island, we should rejoice, rather than lament, in
view Of the fact that the legislators of that gallant
little State at last aroused to the assertion
Of the doctrines Of State sovereignty, against
the cruel and unjust legislation of the Federal
Government.