Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-05-19

upon the organic law and actual results are
safer standard by which to measure abstract
principles Besides times have changed since
TINS Government was first inaugurated as an ex.
pertinent nor yet satisfactorily tested. Then
there were but little over half mi llion slaves
and scarce pound Of raw cotton exported.
African slavery is now great fact--a po.
litlcal, social, industrial humanitarian fact Its
cher product is king, and freights northern
vessels, drives northern machinery feeds northeu
la6orers' and clothes the entire population.
Northern, no less than southern, capital and
labor are dependent, in great degree, upon it,
ana these results were wholly unanticipated by
The good men who are so industriously paraded
as clouds OF witnesses against the institution.
slavery has altered, and mems opinions have
altered"
Senator Mason, of Virginia, in debate
upon the Presidents message, at this ses-
sion, in the Senate, said
"rhe opinion once entertained, certainly in
my own State, by able and distinguished men
and patriots, that the condition of African
slavery was one more to be deplored than to be
tostered has undergone a change, and that the
uniform, might almost say universal, sentiment
IN my own State upon the subject of African
bondage is, that it is a blessing TO both races
one to be encouraged, cherished, and fostered !;
and to that extent, the opinion Of Virginia is
different from the opinion entertained by those
distinguished men who have gone but who
we beleve-best knowing their sentiments-if
they lived at this day, would concur with us.
That is the present opinion
In impressive contrast with this scnti-
ment which, Senator Mason says: "is the
present opinion" of Virginia statesmen.
refer to the opinion of one of her earlier but
not less distinguished statesmen, George Ma.
son, the grandfather Of the present Senator,
member of the convention which framed
the Constitution of the United States.
Senator Hunter, of Virginia, in the
same debate, admitted the same fact as to
the state of pubc opinion in theIearlicr days
OF the Republic, K that public opinion in the
South had undergone a change Honora-
ble Alexander Stephens of Georgia, one
of the ablest mcn Of the South, in a speech
delivered to his constituents after his re-
turn from the last Congress admitted the
same fact The Republican party, then
has the opinion Of the fathers Of the Re
public on its side, that slavery is an evil
more to be deplorcd than to be fostercd;"
but the gentleman from Alabama SAYS,
"these were but mere sp4culations, and
were not ingrafted upon the organic laws,
and actual results are a safer standard by
which to measure abstract principles" The
Congress of the Confederation gave prac-
teal effect to its sentiment of hostility TO
slavery, by prohibiting it in all the terri,
tory that Congress then had jurisdiction
over by the ordinance of 1887. The first
session of the First Congress- in order
that the provisions of the ordinance might
continue and have full effect, adopted it, and
enacted certain provisions to adapt it to
the Constitution of the United States
These "were actual results ngrafted up
on" the legislation of the country. The
fathers Of the Republic, by opinion and ae-
ton, treated slavery as contraband wher-
ever they could without violation of exist
ing relations and arrangements At the
second session of the First Congress an act
was passed for the government of the ter
ritory of the United States south of the
Ohio river. This act was passed May
26, 1890, and extended over this Territory
the ordinance Of 1881, Except so far as is
otherwise provided in the conditions eX-
pressed in an act of Congress of that ses.
sion accepting a cescssion Of the claims
of the State of North Carolina to that
territory" The conditions of that act, so
far as the same related to slaves, were as
follows
"Prouided al,cays, That no regulations made,
or to be made by Congress, shall tend to eman-
cipate slaves
l refer to these acts for two purposes f;
first, TO show that Congress, in extending
over this southern territory the ordinance
of 1887, except the auti-Slavery proyiso,
would probably have extended the entire
ordinance, had it not been for the proviso,
in the act Of cesssion Of North Carolina
and second, to show that Ihe Legislature
of North Carolina supposed Congress had
the power, under the Constitution, TO pro-
hibit slavery in the Territory. This act of
cession was passed in December, 1870.
The first session of the FIRST Congress
commenced March 4, 1889 so that the
Constitution was in full force when this
act of cession was passed and the State
of North Carolina had but recently ratified
it, and her statesmen who composed her
Legislature in 1890 were presumed to
know something about her provisions Of
the Constitution aud if they had not sup
posed that Congress possessed the power
to abolish slavery in Territory, they would
not have inserted this proYiso.
Following up the distractions of the
fathers that slavery was an evil ''moro to
be deplored than to be fostered," and to
show, "actual results" that they intended
to prohibit and restrict it wherever they
legally could, refer to the act Of March
22d, 1894. The object of this law was "to
prohibit any citizen or resident of the U
States from equipping vessels, within the
United States, carrying on trade or traffic
in slaves to any foreign country" Il
Wash G. G. r. 522.) The next act tC
the same purport was passed May 10, 1900
This act extends the prohibitions of the
act of 1894 to citizenso of the United States
ip any manner concerned in this kind o.
traffic, either by personal service on board
of American or foreign vessels, wherever
equipped, or to the owners Of such vessels
citizens of the United States.
Next in the order Of time was the act o
February %, 1903 The object of this
act was to prohibit the Importation OF ne
groes, mulattoes or other persons OF color
~ L.