The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-06-10
VOL. XII.

kindly authorized by law to seize or NAL.
prisoner of war of the child and AZ viii -
prisoners, it is simply choice between a.,
and Slavery. Were slave marriages lawn "
that the child could have father. it is aT,;'O
uncertain in what condition il wonld -
held; twould probably depend somewhat mn, W
the demands of commerce. Bot born tins a..
tltute, the harmony of the African code h.
| comes apparent in authorizing It's immsd;st.
. seizure, under the rules that regulate the int,
course Of the strong and the weak.
Thus we see the Senator was too eas;lv H..
eouraged, for l have plainly shown how y.
condition of property" was in all csses. bo,i
by adults and infants, acquired in the mol
er country. The only puzzle is, how this Az,
can law should be permitted to override n.
common law, or the law of England. in ~
colonies, as the supremacy Of the latter was ~
pressly provided for in the colonial cbar,s,a
Chief Justice Marshall seems to doub, wbatIs.
"those who had renounced this Law" conH -
permitted to participate in its sfscts:" tbopsI
it is not believed the presenV Ehief Jn.,;sa
would have any doubt upon any such uuestjor
The Senator, however, cuts the knot. bv M.
king this same common law the instrument r.
Its own overthrow, by recognising "eyery,bipg
as property which was the subject Of properfy
IN the country from which it was brought Az
but this hypothesis fails to reach the children
OF slave mothers born here, unless it means 8.
suppose 1t does, that, by this curious opera
ton OF the common law, the whole Aficao
slave code was imported and war, after H.
manner of the African slave hunts. of her kia
mapping and baby-seizing, became forever crrs.
tallzed in the colonies
Thus began the Authorization of the col,
MES, the subversion of the common law bv M.
law of force, by the code of the map.bupter
80 long as mere avarice dictated law, bird
money.getting wrenchirg gold from torn mu,
Gle and rifed soil, Africauism ruled the day
But as the public conscience awoke, stimulated
by the labors of Edwards, of White6eld. and Of
Wesley, and especially of the brave followers Of
Fox as the common law vindcated its suprem.
acy at Westminster and as the attention Of
the coonists was so attracted to its free maxim.
and free methods as to force resistance to minis
terial absolutism, the black and bloody code be-
gan to be regarded as a hostile intruder. The
American Revolution was but an act in the
great drama of English hereditary resistance IL
oppressive laws. 1t but followed the struggle,
for the restoration of the laws of the Confessor
the strifes at Runnymede, and the combats with
the Stuarts. 1t was but the emancipation Of
the common law, and placing it under the cou
troll of popular sovereignty-a resumption BY
the people of the guardianship of its maxims
and its methods. The people assumed the
mastery, and reorganized government to protect
not infringe rights. Africanism was frightened
at its new master; and it is no wonder that the
Guinea code fled from the gaze of people
burning with regenerated love for free and
Christian civilization. 1t only begged for time
to set its house in order, little indulgence to
fold its limbs with decency, before being thrust
into its waiting grave. Alas that this indulgence
was given it'll that this African serpent was per
mitted even for moment to fix its basilsk
gaze upon the young sovereignty, charming By
its very hideousnessl
And the struggle now is, not between the
North and the South-no, indeed the friends
of the common law in the South are in the
closest sympathy with its friends in the North
but between systems, between civilizations 1t
is the misfortune of the South, that the African
code, the law of force, is fastened upon it;
deeply do / sympathize with that misfortune
1t is the misfortune of the South that the cham.
pions of that code are grinding her in the dust:
with what alacrity would aid her to shake Of
the tyrant rule, and leap to the position given
only by the law of justice 1t is the misior.
tune of the South that her fame is involved il
the frauds and crimes her terrorists commit 10
her name; would relieve her from the stain,
by snatching power from these her terroris!s.
1t is the misfortune of the South that she is
drunk with the cup of Gree; would not even
reproach her with the deadly lethargy; but,
going backward, would spread the mantle, while
arousing her from the charm of the drug7sd
potion. The South is not alone responsible for
her condition. The North has helped it on. Even
while our old statesmen were, as they supposed,
dissolving the spell, New England, as the price
for a navigation monopoly, consented-ay, her
self held the cup for deeper draught-and
ever since, Northern slaves aud Northern huck
sters have We'd in the deep lullaby No; We
have no controversy with the South but the
struggle is between fresh FREEDoM, flinging Of
the manacles of barbarism, both the old and
the new, and fetid FORCE, long driven fom the
Tiber and the Thames, coming from its refuge
in the dark Businesses of the Niger, to breathe
its sitting breath upon the Potomac and the
Mississippi.
Justice smiled when that navigation wa dcslroyrt
as are those hucksters spurned by the unconscious,
avenging South.