The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1860-05-30

but that 1t had tie sFtct o. eaaOblin9 both ra
ces, the rhite and the black
I And another Virginian on this foo,
Mr. Pryor avows that the antislavery
impulses Of his State have been stiAed. and
that the traditional ideas Of bis ances.
tors have been contravened," with the
fact, to use bis own language:
Discovered and demonstrated. that negro
slavery, instead Of being accidental evil which
men tolerate merely for want OF practical REM
edy is an institution which exists in virtue OF the
most essential human interests, and the highest
| sanctions of the moral law"
might multiply quotations and extracts
Of undoubted Democratic authority, to
show that the position Of the Democracy is
a living denial of the great truths and prin-
ciples which underlie the foundation Of this
Confederacy; but the fact will not be dis.
puted that it has changed its ground, and
abandoned the path of its fathers. because,
while they deplored the existence Of slave
~ as an evil, TO be restricted and discour.
aged, modern Democracy is compelled to
subscribe to a contrary doctrine namely,
that slavery is an institution to be fostered
and encouraged as blessing to the black
man as well as the white.
And now. having demonstrated that this
party is false to the impulses and convic'
tions which strengthened the faith and
nerved the arm of our fathers, proceed tc
show that it is also faithless to the obliga
tions of that Constitution which was the
crowning glory and result of their toll and
suffering
! The second section of the fourth article
of that instrument declares that
''Thc citizens of each State shall be entitled
to all the privileges and mmunities OF citizens III
the several States"
| Here is provision which guarantees te
the citizen of South Carolina the same pro
lection, when in Michigan. which the SOY.
ereignty Of Michigan extends to her OWL
citizens; and, on the other hand. it enti
ties the traveller from the North to the
privileges and immunities ~ which attach
to Southern citizen under the shield oi
his own State sovereignty. 1t is a provis
ion essential to and growing out Of the
comfy and good fellowship which should
exist between confederated States. Blu,
how is this obligation regarded and full
filled in the different sections of this Un'
ion ? Why, citizens Of slave States car
travel outside of those States with more
safety and less risk than they can inside Of
them. The Republicans of the free North
tolerate no institutions which are inconsis
tent with the spirit of the Constitution
they recognise the obligations Of that in
strument, and live up to them. But or
the contrary, we have witnessed in the
slave States striking down for the consti
tutional guarantees Of the citizens by enact
ments which contravene alike the letter
and spirit of our common bond. Laws
have existed for forty years. in some Of the
Southern States, which forbid the entrance
of f-on "iti,nnS nnaAr rnnal.y Of imr-;Snn
ment and sale-laws which are direct, az
open, palpable infringement Of the right
of Northern men and yet our Democrat
ic Administration, while its clamors so loud
ly and persistently about the rights Of Amer
ican citizens in Mexico or some other fee
ble Republic, whose territory it covets, ha
not a word to utter in vindication of th,
constitutional prerogatives of the citizen OF
his own SOIL
Every attempt which had been made t
test the constitutionality of these laws ha
been resisted BY force The Constitution
prescribes an arbiter. tribunal, where th
citizen may assert his rights as against th
legislation of another State and the Leg
isature of Massachusetts, sent two of her mos
worthy citizens to Charleston, to test in th
courts the validity Of these laws. Blu
these men not only set at defiance the plair
{ est provisions of the Federal compact, bu
: they refused them the privilege of bring
, ing suit, even in South Carolina cour
! The men who went there from Massa:hr
; setts, on a peaceful. a legitimate errant
, were compelled, through fear Of person:
, violence, to abandon their mission and leav
: the State and the men who constitute th
3 life, the essence, the perfection of moder
a Democracy, boldly avow the fact that th
: clause of the Constitution is dead lette
q and that the decisions of courts are nothin
j to them.
AS an evidence of this fact, l call atte1
t ton to the language which Democrat
e Senator from South Carolina used durir
f this session, when commenting upon th
). incident in the history Of his State. Z
d said:
/ "The State found it necessary FOR selfprote
3 ton TO pass these police regulations, to preve
:. those persons who were hostile towards us fro
manifesting their hostility by the transmission
their emissaries through the pretended rights
l. citizens, under the Constitution. The State 4
it due TO herself, TO her own safety, to consid'
and she was authorized to consider, that this "
q but another mode to bring that question befc
the Supreme Court, rhere re did not knou h
it ,could be decided, nor did we care. We kn'
le the right to pass such laws was inherent in {
E. sovereignty of the State, and re did not inte
/. to submit 1t to any tribunal"
d The States of Virginia has enacted |.
n. which places the coasting vessel whi
u. seeks the refuge of her harbors under
d surveillance of her police, and compels {
of vessel itself to pay the expense and endu
of the delay of an examination. And wh
this law is complained of, as unfair, upju
- and unconstitutional, Senator Mason
N. plies:
e. sit is police law of the State; and whetl
of the State has right to pass it or not, is ma,
be which the State riH determine for itself and
re itself"