The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1859-07-27

4 AtsSt having SOoSue iOA etAC
| eminent the power to prohibit the iInpmtatlon
of slaves, succeeded in inserting s clause
which has been construed as decianng such
| prohibition after 1903. In 1918, the Congress
| enacted law which fixed penalties upon the
importation of negro slaves of such nagni-
tude as exhibits not the purpose to exercise
the power Of commercial regulation, but to
prohibit it as species of commerce which
should be destroyed In 1920, the Congress
as the condition Of admitting a slayeholdng
State carved out of territory to whiA by
treaty was secured all the rights Of ferson
and property, prohibited the continusnce OF
involuntary seryitude in all that portionm the
territory which lay exterior to and nefth OF
the State then admitted.
i Call they it favor when the price deInanIied
and paid for the enjoyment of an indispatable
i political right was the surrender Of rgh OF
property equally unquestionable, both resting
: ON the basis of the Constitution and fofifed
Il BY the specific obligations of the treaty WITH
France for the acquisition OF the territory
In the same year, a period prolific d O.
partures from the principles of our gowns
ment, the Congress, by Legislative act, declsted
the slave trade to be piracy, thus not @ly
Withholding from an American citizen vhD
should engage in that trade the protectioao 81
his government, but withdrawing from him
the right TO be tried under the laws and 81
the courts Of his own land, pronounced him
the enemy of mankind, and abandoned In
to the mercy of whomsoeyer should captue
him.
! This law is not to be COMPOUNDED with tIHi
of 1878. They differ essentially in their e
/ feet I; their policy, and the authority whia
/ I.uI
/ From the power 10 regulate commerce. to con.
duct foreign intercourse, and 10 estabIish
rules Of naturalization, much may be draw
in relation to the migration or importation D
persons, | am not prepared to deny that /
may not extend to exclusion, yet as genera
rule it would be more consonant with thu
| genius of our government and the rights O
the States to leave the subject to the contro
of the several States, as domestic interest
which each community can best decide fol
/ itself There are few, if any among us, whe
would admit that the general government
possesses the power to authorize the inporta.
ton into State of persons to whom admis.
sion was forbidden by the laws of that State
In this connection it deserves to be remem.
bered that upon this point arose the early
controversy between the State of Virginia and
the general government and it viii also b
remembered that if viewed simply as cues.
ton Of commerce, the Congress have nc
greater power over the foreign, than over the
| Interstate trade.
But how stands the case in relation to the
act of 1920, declaring the slave trade to be
| pnacy r. From what clause of the Constitr.
ton, is the authority for that act derived II
is commonly assigned, and / know of no
- i.
and punish piracies, and felonies committed
| on the high seas, and offences against the law
of nations.n To define, is not to create OF
to give new meaning (; and to punish offen-
ces against the Law ofnations, is not authority
| to introduce a new article into the code.
Conceding the power for justifiable reasons to
exclude the importation of a particular class
of persons. authority surely cannot be thence
dedueed 10 assume control over the trade OF
other nations, and BY police of the seas to
| destroy a trade between two foreign nations
which is recognized by the laws of both or
to brand as nefarious traffic which has exist
ed from the earliest period of human history,
and been conducted BY nations which have
most illustrated the annals Of man. So great
q departure from xell-established policy and
obvious principle, suggests the inquiry by
WAioAA dhiu iOE Nt1at ptfA pOsc Was II HlAtle
have been satisfied that it was one of those
departures which result from substituting a
temporary expediency for immutable truth ?
After the termination of the general wars
which prevailed in the early part of this CEN
tury, rowing and adventurous men accustomed
to the hazards OF military life, were thrown
out of employment, and every sea on which
there was the temptationof commerce became
Al IL
they at last made Judgement in the West
Indies. About the time of the treaty for the
transfer Of Florida to the United States, an
organized band seized the Island of Fernan-
dina, and assumed to exercise dominion over
it. They were understood to be pirates gen.
orally, and to be engaged in the slave trade
particularly. President Madison sent an ex-
petition of naval and land forces to take pos
session Of the Island, and the Congress Of the
|&aext year.[ 1210) passcd the act winch de-
ciares the slave trade to be piracy There is
reason to believe that this was done not in
hostility to slave property, but to the pirates
who had engaged in the trade. The previous
law had interdicted the importation into the
United States and there was no doubt also a
purpose by the act of 1920, to render the
prohibition of 1918 more effectual.
If considerations of public safety or interest
warranted the termination of the trade, they
could not justify the government in branding
as infamous the source from which the chief
part of our laboring population was derived.
1t is this feature Of the law which makes it
offensive 10 us and stimulates us to strive for
its repeal. What let me ask has been its re-
suits It has magnifed the horrors of the
middle passage; il has led us to an alliance
with Great Britain, by which we are bound to
keep naval squadron on the deadly coast of
Africa, where American sailors are sacrificed
to foreign policy, urged under the false plea
of humanity; it has destroyed lucrative
trade for ivory, oil and gold-dust, which our
merchants had long conducted with the inhab-
itants of the coast, and transferred it to our
commercial rivals, the British. Truly have
we gone "out shearing to come home
shorn.n The manner-as | have been in
formed-in which our trade has been destroy
ed, is generally this. An American vessel of
the character which engages in that trade,
when boarded by British cruiser on the
coast Of Africa, if she shows the flag and pa
pers Of an American trader, will be turned
over to a vessel of our squadron, and probab-
" be sent home for trial as pirates, but if her
flag and papers are thrown overheard, then
| the slave trade not being piracy by the law of
nations Notwithstanding our statute) the YES
sci is held as the prize of her captors, and the
officers and crew are discharged. a recent
instance has occurred in which vessel sent
home for trial was discharged on the ground
| that the circumstances did not warrant the
conclusion that she visited the coast of Africa
to engage in the slave trade
Ny friend, Senator Clay, of Alabama, (his
L Il - e. 4 -
! South as Chairman of the committee of COM
merce, instituted at the last session Of Con-
gress, an inquiry into the facts connected with
| the maintenance Of our squadron on the Coast
Of Africa and I hope his energy and ability
may lead to the annulment of treaty which
has been productive only of evil.
Before leaving thisquestion, it may be proper
notice the fact that the argument drawn from
the language of the Constitution, that its trainers
understood the government to have power to
prohibit the trade and only restricted for a
time its exercise, is subject to all the deduc-
| tons made by the amendments to the instru-
ment, and the mode of its exercise to all the
restrictions contained in it. The broad and
earlsest distinction between the Federalsts
land The Republicans, was that the former
were for the Constitution as formed, and the
II IdttCI III eAtC OO1Aotdta6lOa dS d4icttQcu LIZ
deed we have reason to believe that but for
the assurance that amendments would be
adopted, the Republicans would have rejected
the Constitution. One of those amendments
declared that the powers not delegated to the
United States, nor prohibited to the States,
were reserved to the States respectively, or
| to the people. Il is under this clause that we
have claimed the duty of the general govern
ment to show a specific grant for every power
| it assumes to exercise, and have required that
laws should be needful and proper to the per-
Torrance Of the function, such being the de-
fined purpose of the grant of Legislative
power Another of those amendments re-
strains the general government from imposing
excessive fines or inflicting cruel and unusual
| punishments.
If have succeeded in showing that the act
of 1920, was not authorized by any express
grant of the Constitution, the first amend
ment cited is.sufficient but If have failed
| in this, then does not the second amendment
stand in bar of that enactment. 4 decision
of this question by the Supreme Court, might
| If possible render doubly absurd the rant Of
| those who term an infraction of that statute
treason, and thus commit, not piracy, but
smhrder of the kings English"
Regarding the slave trade as sanctioned by
| the immemorial usage Of mankind, as a COM
,naree recognized by the Constitution hut