New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-02-12

Utefest Oh inc nofthorn tor OF oiave cSeSos, "pos
prospect of getting the price Of good hsods up to
FIVE thousand dollars tho revival Of the African
slsve-trsde would indefinitely postpone.
Meanwhile, come enterprising citizens Of Mssis-
sippi-a State in which the art Of getting round,
creeping through or running over the most eI-
press legislative acts is pretty well understood-
have taken hint from that eminent democrat and
philsnthropist, Louis Napoleon to revive the slave
trade on their own hook, without any necessity OF
any appeal to Congress in the matter. A certain
Mr.. Hughes of that State has, it seems, been in
correspondence with ga number Of highly intel-
gent and practical gentlemen now in the slave
az trade whether resident on the coast OF Africa
or in the City Of New-York does not appear
the result Of which correspondence has been an
application to the Legislature of Mississippito in
corporate company for the bringing into that
State of native African negroes" "bound
land obligated BY negotiable labor obliga-
tons to work and serve for the benefit
"of the holders or owners of the said Is
&" Dor obligations for the full term OF twenty nine
"yesrs." These " native African negroes" il is
proposed to procure, after the French fashion in
trOduced or patronized by Louis Napoleon, by pur
chasing them on the River Congo, or wherever else
they can be had on the Coast of Africa for the least
money. 1t might be asked, would not the impOr-
tstion Of these Africans, thus purchased. be vio
lation of the acts of Congress prohibiting the i'm
portaton of slaves To this it is replied-taking
advantage Of distinction which has at times been
good deal relied upon by the opponents Of Slavery
that slaves are not property only, not merely
chattes, but they also persons, and such ca
pable of volitiOn.
Under the laws of Congress, as they now stand, it
would not, according to the argument of those who
propose to enter on this new African enterprise be at
oil necessary to resort to the fetch ofbrngng their
native Africans as indentured laborers. Though the
acts of Congress prohibit the importation Of
siaves-that is to say, their involuntary arrival
here-there is nothing in those acts it is alleged,
to prohibit their voluntary migration hither. The
presumption, indeed, might be, that being slaves
they were not voluntary immigrants; but this pre-
sumption, it is thought, might be set aside by au
examination of the slave separate and apart from
his master, in analogy to the separate examination
Of the wife who signs deed, in order to ascertain
that it was not done by coercion of her husband.
The fact that the slaves came voluntarily being
thus established, their coming would then be
perfectly lawful. With such Judges as they have in
Mississippi, aided by skillful interpreters-since
these native Africans could hardly be expected to
speak English, especially if good sound Ameri-
can rawhide, having previously been exercised
on the back Of the African to be ex-
amined, should, pending the examination,
be hung up in plain sight over the Judges head
this scheme might succeed perfectly well. There
is possibility, however, that Congress might take
upon itself to prohibit this voluntary arrival of in
voluntary aborers. 1t is by way of having two
strings to the bow; it is to be prepared against any
such emergency, that the indentures for twenty
nine ye airs are suggested. These ndentures, it is
will change the native Africans who
sign them from slaves into voluntary laborers, and
the arrival of such voluntary labOrers Congress, it
is alleged, neither has prohibited nor has the con-
sttutional power to prohibit. at s completely
I" and absolutely beyond the jurisdiction OF Con-
" gress, and completely and absolutely within the
" jurisdiction Of the States alone" 1t is ian I'M
" delegated sovereign State right" rendered by
the course of events "inexpressibly dear and in
90 calculably useful" For this point the bred
Scott case is quoted with great emphasis. That
case decides that the only two provisions in the
Federal Constitution, referring TO Africans, treat
them as property, which it is the duty of the
Federal Government to protect and that in any
other character than in that of property Congress
has no right to legisate concerning them. As
voluntary immigrants, under indentures to
serve for the trifipg period of twenty.
nine years, these native Africans would be
exclusively objects of State legislation, to
be admitted OF not at the pleasure of the State;
nor, once thus admitted, would there be any diff
Guilty in the way Of converting them by State egis-
lation back into slaves. This is another point de-
cided by the bred Scott case according to which
the States possess an exclusive and unlimited
power to fix the status of the negroes resident
among them, short, that is, of making them citizens
of the United States. 1t is accordingly proposed
BY these Mississippi philsnthropists, after having
eyaded the laws of the United States by bringing in
these native Africans purchased on the River Congo
or elsewhere in the character of ndentured aborers
bound to service for term of years. TO proceed in
due time, by virtue of the power vested in the
States TO determine the status of the negroes resi-
dent among them, to elevate" these indentured Ia
borers into Slavery to give, instead of warrantee
of the comforts TO be had on Mississippi cotton
plantation for the pitiful term of twenty-nine
wears warrantee ofthe like comforts to them and
their posterity forever. 1t is not, however, pro-
posed to complete Immediately this act of munif-
cence, this valuable gift as well to the holders of
.. the labor obligations as 10 the na i've Africans