Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1859-01-01
TFEWEEKLYMI MINNESUrIAN
[,....... s.uaeor, ana Piracy.

M,,ue,esa senators ana Piracy. = 81
A recent vote IN Congress should not be
overlooked by the proper people, who are
d;sgraced and insulted by the thrice infamous
conduct to which allude. 1t was no less tnan
to take the peoples money to pay Spa"'s" r.
rates for the loss Of their rictims!
By the laws of both countries those vlllalns
ought to have been hung; but ms'eao
If that Minnesota is made to favor
navment for the loss OF their piracy
The State is dishonored and nothing but the
;ndipnation of the people at the ballot-box
AGAINST such services and their accomphces'
will wine out the stain. The sooner we give
all such men salutary lesson on this subject
the better. Look at the facts.
Twenty years ago or more, cargo OF ma
tive Africans was, landed in Cuba, and while
rcshipping to another port of the island they
rose and struck ,nobly for liberty. Some OF
the officers and crew were killed, and others
saved to direct the vessel eastward with the
probable design of returning to Africa. Ihey
struck, however, upon the coast OF Connect-
cut, perhaps through the treachery OF the pl'
lot Here the Africans were taken into GUS
tody by the United States Marshal, and the
Spanish claimants demanded their delivery
as pirates and murderers. But it was certain
that they had been imported to Cuba IN vio-
lation of the laws and treaties of both coun-
tries; how then could they be surrendered as
criminals? The case went before the Circuit
Court, and from thence to the Supreme Court
at Washington.
The whole country became interested IN
the result. The shareholders dreaded the ex-
ample of the federal government justifying
colored persons in asserting their liberty by
force: and on the other side the abolitionists
had taken up the cause of those heroic
strangers, and their rights were urged with
unwearied persistence The administration
at Washington, true to its uniform character,
enlisted with equal zeal in behalf Of slavery,
and sought by every means, fair or foul, to
effect their surrender With infinite shame
anaval vessel was ordered to lie Oft the coast,
and if they could be got hold of, to seize them
and transport them 10 Cuba; thus becoming
the +" catchpoles," as JOHN Q. ADAMS said,
of foreign pirates!
Had they been claimed simply as property
there would have been no escape for them
however groundless the claim. But to send
those thirty or forty human beings to Cuban
gallows without shadow Of crime, and in
the face of mankind, was more than even that
court of shareholders dared attempt at that
day. They would do it now. Mr.. ADAMS,
venerable in years, plead their cause with
such ability as to wrench from the court the
decision that they were free, and by treaty
must be returned to their native country
The Spanish claimants were therefore the pi'
rates.
The decision filled every free heart with joy
while tyrants, both Cuban and American
gnashed their teeth. The prey had been
plucked from their very jaws. The conduct
of VAN BUREN's Administration in this matter
will cover it with everlasting shame, and the
country must deeply share it.
Here the matter slept for years, till oul
Democracy" was supposed to have reached
the necessary degree Of baseness, when those
Spanish pirates, encouraged doubtless by theil
brother shareholders, and the facts being sup
posed sufficiently forgotten, Had the audacity
to present their claim for the loss of that prop
erty! The shareholders requiring of thei
Presidential tools the endorsement of thi
claim, Mr.. BUCHANAN is the third who ha
urgeu Its va,lAliy ,lnon Congress. The ma
ton is called onto dishonor tile decision of it
highest tribunal for the benefit OF foreign vii
lains, who ought, by tn claws of civilized ma
tons, to be hung or shot.
But on the very first day of the present
session of Congress, Immediately after the
organization of the Senate, MASON, of Virginia,
called up this infamous claim, and moved that
it be taken out of its order on the calendar
and made special order for an early day as
signed, thus giving it freedom over all 9TH
er business of the nation! This was
strenuously resisted, but party democracy
prevailed; and right here, in favor of this
guilt and shame, we find the names of RICE
and SHIELDS, of Minnesota
They stand almost alone from the free
States. Even BRoDERICK, of California was
against them.
Is there a man or woman in Minnesota who
does not feel the debasement of this vote OF
our Senators? Of RICE not even an excep,
tional act of freedom was expected, not even
as blundcr; but some supposed SHIELDS
might have one drop of free blood in his veins
That is now demonstrated an impossibility
He is as servile as the other.
The very soil of our new State is dishon
honored and the spirit of its inhabitants un'
settled by that vote. Our character is stained
anew in our early youth, and Minnesota
stands now on the records of the Senate of the
United States among the catch-poles of for.
eign pirates"
Minnesotians! Do you assent to such rep
resentation? Do you accept the character
and the service? If not, let these sordid
tools even Of foreign tyrants and all Others
like them be made to feel the scorn and IN
dignant contempt with which you look upor
their conduct This blotch of dishonor mus
be washed from the character of our State
that our children and children's children in
herit not the shame
Senator Douglas Still on the Presiden'
tial Track.
The st. Louis Republican, whose editor hal
G. IL l. L IL