The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1860-03-15

sent message to his Legislature, de.
aouncing the Governor Of Iowa for
neglecting to give orders for the arrest
Of one Barclay Coppoc, w.o is charged
~ith completely in the Harper's Ferry
affair. 1t seems that the Governor of
Iowa was not satisfied with the sufici.n,
cy Of the documents on which the .cqui-
sition was made, and therefore declined
to issuH his warrant. The real question
between the two Governors is this: Who
is to be the judge as to the suficiency of
the documents in case Of requis,on-
the Governor Of the State, who is to act
in his own territory and under his own
laws, and in the case of one Of his own
fellow. citizens having claim on him for
protection or the Governor Of another
State, having different laws and inter
reach "a SSe Vi xl5 sp REqS G within his
The provision of the Constitution under
which alone a requisition may be made
is in article ", sec ,, as follows:
CSC 3 The citizens of each State
shall b. entitled to all the privileges and
immunities Of citizens in the several
States.
a person charged in any State with
treason, felony, or other crime, who shall
fee from justice, a, d be found in auoth-
er State, shall, on demand Of the exccu-
tive authority of the State from which
he fed, be delivered up, to be removed
to the State having jurisdiction y
Here it is plain that the ri yht Of re
quisition on the one hand, and the obi
ga,iou of delivering up on the other, per-
tains to the States, in their organic ca
pacity, as separate and independent gov
ernments. The responsibility for max
ing fraudulent or unfounded requisi.
tion, or for unreasonably refusing to
surrender fugitive, rests on the State
as such OF course, there is no power
to enforce the execution of this clause,
for there is no tribunsl with authority to
cocrce the government Of a sovereign
State, any more than there is to enforce
the performance Of the similar clause in
the Ashburton treaty between the Uni
ted States and Great Britain. One gov
ernment can exercise its own discretion
as to the issuing Of requisition, but the
other government has an equal right to
exercise its discretion as to the justice
or propriety Of delivering up the person
claimed. And if the two governments
differ, aud cannot by explanations be
made to see alike, there is an end Of the
matter. What would be thought of il,
( if when the President Of the United
States had decided that it was imprope,
to deliver up the person charged, Lore
Palmerston should still insist that the
President was bound by "comity" tc
make the surrender? Surely, the Amer
| lence Of such a demand
The Southern States never pretend to
be governed by any other rule than this.
No r-quiSi,ion from Northern State is
treated with respect when the surrender
conflicts with their own laws or with the
policy Of slavery, which is with them
always paramount to all other cousidera,
tions. Th. has been tried abundautly
in cases Of kidnapping, of which there
are many on record. The celebrated
Prigg case, between Pennsylvania and
Maryland, ori riginated in this way. Prigg
came over the line into Adams county,
Pennsylvania, and without any legal pro,
cedure, carried IF family Of children
who had been born on the soil, and were
free by the Jaws Of Pennsylvania but as
th.r re was some pretext that they were
slaves By the laws of Maryland, having
been born Of mother who had not been
manumitted with legal formality, (al-
though supposing herself free by the
verbal declarations her former master
the authorities Of Maryland refused to
deliver him up on the requsition Of the
Governor Of Pennxy wanna; and, after
much negotiution, sham case was made
up for the Supreme Court, which sus,
tanned the Maryland view.
In case between Virginia and New
York, when Seward was Governor here
u requisition was made from Virginia fol
o certain colored man on charge Of
stealing. The papers we're all regular
enough, but Governor Seward had rea
son to believe that the proceeding was
only trap to recover fugitive from
slavery, and that the only theft the mar
had committed was the bringing sway o.
his own body aud the poor rags Of cloth
ing which covered it. Sometime after
ward, when Governor Seward had occa
sion to issue requisition on Virgini'
for a noted horse thief, the chivalri'
Governor of the Old Dominion though
he retaliated gloriously by refusing t
deliver up the thief. A long correspond
ence ensued, 10 which Governor Sewar,
displayed the highcet qualities of cool
ness, dignity, 6rmness, and legal aoume'
and learning.
The Governor Of Virginia has tn
insoence to charge the Governor of low
with violation Of the laws Of Congress
which prescribe the method of delivering
up fugitives from justice, when he mus
know THAT it is well settled principle Q
law that no acts Of Congress can coerc
the official acti,n Of any magistrate Q
other officer of the State governments
still less can they bind the Governor Of
State, who represents the very soye,
eighty oc the State itself. This prime
pie is fully recognized in the Prisg cas'
and was the basis or prctext Of the F,
eitive Slave act Of 1850, which therefor
. provided species of cadior commissio,
ers to perform the function Of surrende
ing slaves.
If the Office Of surrenderine crimina
had been intended to be merely minist