Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-09-04

The Boston COuricr's Criticism.
An old proyerb says :-"Where the bee
sucks honey, the spider sucks poison" and
this almost always CONS to mind when we
read the Boston Courier. That journal shows
lis spiderish propensity in almost everything
it says on the slavery question, but especially
when, under the malicious mastery OF pro slav
cry zeal, it approaches the federal constitution
or makes formal profession of pro slavery
politics Last Saturday, the Courier had a
Characteristic article on that part OF Senator
Summers speech in which he maintains that
"the constitution does not contain the idea
that man can be the property of man." sneer.
ing at this doctrine as mo less curious than
original" and treating the whole matter
in style not at all creditable to either the
intelligence or the candor of the conductors of
that paper. The passage of Mr., Summers
speech which they quote and criticize, reads as
follows -
"But nothing is clearer than that in this
well considered instrument there is not one
clause or word which sanctions property in
man; not one clause or word on which any
such pretension can be founded. Wherever
there is any imagined reference to slaves, it is
at most only to their possible existence in the
states under the laws thereof, and then their
designation as persons shows that whatever
may be their condition in the states the con-
shtution does not regard them as property
Thank God the constitution does not contain
the idea that man can be the property of man.
1t was the declared purpose Of Mr.. Madison to
exclude this idea So completely has this
been done that it is among boasts often made,
that stranger in distant country or future
age, reading our constitution, and having no
other record of our history, would not know
that any human being had ever been claimed
as property within the limits of the republic.
The text at least of the constitution is blame
less. If men find slavery there it is only be.
cause they make the constitution reflect their
own souls"
This just and grand vindication of the fed
eral constitution is in the tone of the men who
framed the instrument-in the tone of Mr.
Madison, who would not allow chattel slavery
to be so much as named in it. 1t is true, as
Mr.. Sumner says, there is nothing more than
reference to 'the possible existence Iof slaves |
in the states under the laws thereof" and
those who go beyond this and find in the fed.
eral constitution a sanction for chattel slavery
reflect their own souls" But the Courier,
with the loftiest and bindest self conceit. de
clares like an oracle that this view of the mat
ter is "curious" and Original" and that Mr.
Summers argument is 'the merest bubble"
A famous trance.oracle once declared in our
hearing that certain well attested geological
facts had no existence, because he had, in
trance-state searched through and through
this solid globe of earth without being
able to find them" The Courier's learning
relative to the federal constitution appears to
US to be of pretty much the same kind.
Mr.. Summers doctrine is as old as the consti.
tuition itself; aud it has been as common
among those usually described as conserva-
tives, as among those whom the Courier is
accustomed to dignity by calling them radicals
For the edifcation Of the gentlemen who con
duct that journal, we cite one authority which
they may be inclined to treat with some respect
We mean George T. Curtis, Esq, who dis
cusses this point i'll one of the notes appended
to his pamphlet on THE just Supremacy of
Congress over the Territories" After stating
how the constitution is understood to take
notice Of the status Of slavery existing in the
states under state laws, he says
Now, what is there in all this, which looks
like a recognition of the right of the master
as right OF property, in the sense in which
that term must be used by jursts The
constitution neither defines, affects, nor deals
with, the right itself If it is the pleasure of
the state to abolish it, those who were its sub.
jects pass out of the scope of these provisions
Of the federal constitution. If the state chooses
to continue its sanction of the condition of SER
vitude, these provisions continue to operate
they continue to operate so long as there are
persons who come within the description,
whether the state treats them as persons or as
property, or as both. Indeed, under the pro-
vision relating to fugitives from service, there
is no pretense to say that the constitution looks
TO any property; for its terms embrace appren-
tees as well as slaves"