Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-09-03

= to approach the subject, which is in but thrt
places, it does so in the following language:
Sec. Q, Art 1.-THE migration or import,
ton of such persons as any of the States no
existing shall think proper to admit, shall M
be prohibited, by Congress, prior to the yea
!. One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eight"
Sec. 2, Art. 1.-"Representatives and d
e rect taxes shall be apportioned among tn
q several States which may be included in thi
0 Union, according to their respective numbers
l which may be determined by adding, to tn
whole number of free persons, including thos
bound to service for term of years, and ex
cluding Indians not taxed, three -fifths of al
other persons"
Sec. 2, Art. 4.-"No person held to service
or labor in one State under the laws thereof
escaping into another, shall, in consequence,
of any law or regulation therein, be discharg
, ed from such service or labor but shall be
delivered up OH the claim of the party t.
whom such service or labor is due"
The South itself then felt that Slavery wa,
in Opposition to the Natural Sentiment Of th,
Human Race, in opposition to the principles
upon which our Republic was builded, and
was totally unrecognized by the Common
Law. ~ .....
The Common Law Maxim of England
was:
Slavery legally exists by no general rule
but only by the force of some local law
| Forbes ps. Cochrane, cited in note to Black.
stone, p. 1919
'The Law of England" says Blackstone
'abhors and will not endure, the existence Of
Slavery in this nation
"The state of slavery" says Lord Mans.
field in l772, SIS of such nature that it is
incapable of being introduced on any reasons,
moral or political, but only by positiue law"
Hence as the right of slavery was not rec
Ognised by the Constitution of the United
States, it was very plain slavery could have
no existence outside of the States wherein it
might be established by positive local law -
Being against all General Law, nothing but
Particular Law could create or sustain it.
The Union had in no way created any such
laws, and hence, slavery was thing of local.
ities The following decision of the Supreme
Court of the State of Louisiana shows the
view formerly held of slavery extension by
the South:
"The taking of slave to any country, by
the owner, where slavery is not tolerated, op-
crates on the condition of the slaves and pro-
duces immediate emancipation."-[S 9th
Louisiana Reports, p. 475.
Here is decision by the Supreme Court
of South Carolina:
C. A slave taken to free State, is FREE
[Court of Appeals South Carolina, 10 Leigh
697.]
Judge Story, from the Supreme Court of
the United States, in Priggs case, reported in
the 10th volume of Peters Reports, page GIL,
said:
"The state Of slavery is deemed to be
mere municipal regulation founded upon and
limited to the range of the Territorial laws"
Hence we 60 step farther. If slavery
could not exist, except where previous law
justified it, all new Territories, being lands
without laws, were, from their very nature,
devoted to freedom! That they were so ab
lnitio, or from the beginning, there is no doubt.
That they were so regarded by the trainers of
the Government is evident, from the United
States Ordinance of 1889, prohibiting slavery
in the Territory north and west of the Ohio,
the only territory then held by the UI.ited
States
But slavery, or rather the shareholders for
it, soon began to claim the right of extension
into any and all Territories of the United
States, from the line of Canada to that of Mex
leo. The struggle that ensued resulted in
Compromise, in which the undoubted rights
of Freedom were sacrificed to the unjust de-
mands of the South. 1t was agreed, that
the Territory of the Union should be divided
into two parts, by the extension of the south
ern line of Missouri westward; the north half
thereof should be forever forbidden to the en-
croachments of slavery; in the south half
slavery was to be permitted. This was what
is generally known as the Missouri Compro-
mise.
Here then was the First Encroachment of
the Slave Power:
An Institution, at war with Humanity and
Liberty, grasps the one half of the untainted
Free Lands of the Unionl An institution
that was expected to sting itself, like the scor
piOn, to death, grows and thrives and extends
over Free Soil A Wrong, unrecognised by
the Constitution, elevates itself to the grade
of constitutional Right, and is permitted to
place itself shoulder to shoulder with Freedom
in the March of Humanity across the Cont
nent!
But this was not enough. The unbounded
stomach OF slavery had no limit. 1t was not
satisfied with region for its development as
large as all the Atlantic States put together
1t must have all or none! The willing instru-
ment is found in Stephen A. Douglas, dis
tinguished Democrat and U. S. Senator from
the State of Illinois. Anxious, by excelling
all his predecessors in subserviency to the
South, to elevate himself to Presidential pow
er, he became the Northern Instrument of a
United South, to obliterate the Line which gave
even part of the National Domain exclusive
ly and undoubtedly to Freedom The Kan
sas-Nebraska Act was introduced by him
the Missouri Compromise line was abrogated
and the Territories were all thrown open to
the advances of Slavery!
In conjunction with this, the Power Of the
Supreme Court of the United States, previ-
ously regarded as the highest and most dig
nified tribunal in our land, is brought into &C
ton. That Court, to the astonishment of
mankind, decides that Freedom aud Slavery
are Twin Inheritors of the Nation-joint pos
sessers of the Inheritance of the Revolution
Brothers whelped in the same hour,
And Slavery the elder and more terrible -
That wherever the foot of freedom can 60,
the manacled foot of slavery can follow
That wherever Liberty can rear its temple,
Slavery can build her mart! That no spot in
our broad territorial domain, from the Koo-
tonais to the Neuces, can be interdicted to this
protege OF the Constitution, slavery !-(Coop-
er)
A great, startling revolution is thus effec-
ted in the policy Of the country. The Dec
laratlon becomes "a string Of gittering gener-
allties; our liberty" thing dependant
upon the shades of the complexion.
The north is to be hemmed in bv the harri-
er of slave states on the south and west
"Universal liberty" pronounced by the south
"a failure" is to be walled up against all fu.
ture growth. The pure, worldwide senti.
ments of the Declaration, crossed by southern
logic, are to bring forth progeny Of monsters
more fearful than those which followed the in
tercourse of sin and death.
But great Wrongs, bring bold remedies
The south was unconscious of the dormant
power of the north. The first field of strifi
was Kansas Here northern and southern
energy met, and the conflict was long ant
fearful one. But the yeomanry of the norti