Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-01-06

| required TO form Statef they VIII then proceed
in regular manner, and in the exercise of the
rights of popular sovereignty, to form constitu-
ton preparatory to admission into the Union
After this has been done, to employathe language
of the Kansas aud Nebraska act, they .''shal be
received into the Union with or without slavery,
as their constitution may prescribe at the time
of their admission" This sound principle has
happily been recognised, in some form or other,
by an almost unanimous vote of both houses OF
the last Congress
| All lawful means at my command have been
employed, and shall. continue to be employed, to
execute the laws against the African slave trade
After most careful aud rigo4sas EXAMINATION OF
our coasts and thorough Ia; stigation of the
subject, we have not been aDiesto discover that
any slaves have been imported into the United
States except the cargo by the Wanderer, mum
| bering between three and four hundred. Those
engaged in this unlawful enterprise have been
| vigorously prosecuted; but not with as much sue.
| cess as their crimes have deserved. A number
| of them are still under prosecution. a
| Our history proves that the Fathers ofthe Re-
public, in advance of all other nations, condemn,
| ed the African slave trade. 1t was, notwith-
standing, deemed expedient by the trainers OF
the Constitution to deprive Congress of the pow
er to prohibit ''the migration or Importation OF
such persons as any of the States now existing
shall think proper to admit s'prior to the year
one thousand eight hundred and eight"
1t will be seen that this restriction on the pow
or OF Congress was confined to such States only
as might think proper to admit the importation
of slaves. It did not extend to other States or
to the trade carried On abroad. Accordingly
we find that so early as the 22d March, 1894
Congress passed an act imposing severe penalties
and punishments upon citizens and residents Of
the United States who should engage in this trade
| between foreign nations. The provisions Of this
act were extended and enforced by the act of 10th
May, 1900
| Again: The States themselves had clear
right to waive the constitutional privilege intend
ed for their benefit, and to prohibit, by their
own laws, this trade at any time they thought
proper previous to 1903. Several Of them exer-
cised this right before that period, and among
them some containing the greatest number Of
slaves. This gave to Congress the immediate
power to act in regard to all such States, because
they themselves had removed the constitutional
barrier. Congress accordingly passed an act on
2Sth February, 1903, ito prevent the Importation
Of certain persons into certain States where, by
the laws thereof, their admission is prohibited
| In this manner the Importation of African slaves
into the United States was, to great extent,
prohibited some years in advance of 1903.
As the year 1908 approached, Congress deter
mined not to suffer this to exist even for single
| day after they had the power to abolish it. On
the I'd of March, 1907, they passed an act to take
effect "from and after the 1st day Of January,
1905" prohibiting the Importation of African
slaves into the United States. This was follow.
ed by subsequent acts OF q similar character, to
which need not specially refer. Such were the
principles and such the practice of our ancestors
more than fifty years ago in regard to the Afri-
i can slave-trade.
| 1t did not occur to the reverend patriots who
had been delegates to the convention, and after
wards became members of Congress, that in pass
| ing these laws they bad violated the Constitu-
ton which they had framed with 50 much care
and elaboration. They supposed that to prohibit
| Congress, in express terms, faom exercising a
specified power before an appointed day, neces.
sarily involved the right to exercise this power
after that day had arrived.
If this were not the case, the trainers of the
Constitution had expended much labor in vain.
Had they imagined that Congress would possess
no power to prohibit the trade either before or
after 1903, they, would not have taken so much
care to protect the States against the exercise of
this power before that period. Nay more, they
would not have attached such vast importance
to this provision as to have excluded it from the
possibility of future repeal or amendment, to
which other portions of the Constitution were
exposed. 1t would, then, have been wholly I'M
necessary to engraft on the fifth article of the
Constitution, prescribing the mode of its own
future amendment, the proviso, "that no amend
ment which may be made prior to the year one
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any
manner Affect the provision in the Constitution
securing to the States the right to admit the i'm
portation of African slaves previous to that pc
Rod.
According to the adverse construction, the
clause itself, on which so much care and discus
sion had been employed by the members of the
convention, was an absolute nullity from the be-
ginning, and all that has since been done under
it mere usurpation. s4
1t was well and wise to confer this power on
Congress- because, had it been left to the States,
its efficient exercise would have been impossible.
In that event any one State could have efectually
continued the trade not only for itself but for all
the other slave States, though never so much a.
gainst their will. And why T! Because African
slaves when once brought within the limits of
any one State, in accordance with its laws, can
not practically be excluded from any other State
where slavery exists And even if all the States
had separately passed laws prohibiting the i'm
portation of slaves, these laws would have failed
of effect for want of naval force to capture the
slavers and to guard the coasts. Such force no
State can employ in time of peace without the
consent of Congress.
These acts Of Congress, it is believed, have,
with very rare and insignificant exceptions, ac-
complished their purpose. For period of more
than half century there has been no percspti-
BILE addition to the number of our domestic slaves.
During this period their advancement in civil
zation has far surpassed that of any other por-
ton of the African race. The light and the
blessing of Christianity have been extended to
them, and both their moral and physical condi-
tion b as been greatly improved.
Reopen the trade, and it would be difficult
to determine whether the effect would be more
deleterious on the interests of the master or on
T those of the native-born slave. Ofthe evils to
the master, the one most to be dreaded would
be the introduction of wild, heather, and igno-
rant barbarians among the sober, orderly, and
quiet slaves, whose ancestors have been on the
soil for several generations. This might tend to
| barbarize, demoralize, and exasperate the whole
mass, and produce most deplorable consequences.
The effect upon the existing slave would, if
possible, be still more deplorable. At present
J he is treated with kindness and humanity. He
is we'll fed, we'll clothed, and not overworked.-
His condition is lncomparably better than that
of the coolies which modern Dations of high civ
lizaton have employed as substitute for Afri-
can slaves. Both the philanthropy and the self