Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-07-04
[Fo the Tntelligencerl
SECTIONAL sTRIFE--NO. Is.
THE DRED SCOTT DECISION.

OhEO SCOII DECISIONs
4NeSsrs Ed'tOrs:-The necessity fora clear
understanding of the constitution of the
Union on the subject of Slavery, has be-
come urgent, imperious. Basing their
clnims on the Dred Scott Decision, a large
and influential party in the Southern States,
demand the complete Africanization of
the North American continent, they de-
mand every inch of National territorial do
main for Slavery, they demand statutory
protection, rs they cali it. for their proper
ty in the territories. In short words, they
demand stringent, Congressional slave
| code for the territories. And to do them
Justice, they are not slow to warn US of the
consequences of our refusal. They con-
tlnually make the sword oglitter and the
bAyonct CLEAN in our eyes. If devastation
and bloOdshcd shall come, as they seem
likely to come, we ut least cannot say that
| they come without warning. Let justice
be done, if the Heavens fall. If the Sou
thcrn men arc making just and Constitu-
tional demands upon us, grant their dc.
nands instantly; no delay, no hesitation,
no evasion. The weakest, if not the wick
edest conduct, which we could adopt,
would he to acknowledge their constitu-
tional claims and then to propose to drive
| their ebony hosts out of the territories by
"unfriendly legislation" These demands
make the bred Scott decision, on which
they are founded assume immeasurable
Importance. In their light it looms up in
to gigantic proportions. That case occu-
| pies two hundred and forty one closely
printed pages of Howards Reports 1t is
not to be supposed, therefore, that any man
could adequately discuss such a question
in few paragraphs. If the discussion
shall throw any light on the subject, it
must be a work of time and labor. be-
speak the patient attention of the reader.
1t is time that the citizens should thor
oughly understand question out of which
hack politicians are manufacturing feel
ing of inextineuishabIe hate.
The subscriber does not object indis .
criminAtcly to everything contained in the
Dred Scott decision. Some portions of the
syllabus have our hearty assent "Con-
gress has no right to give privileges" in
the territories, ''to one class of citizens,
which it refuses to another" The terri
tory is acquired for their equal and COM
mon benefit, and if open to any, must be
open to all upon equal and the same
terms" If this principle had been carried
out by all the branches of the federal gov
crnment, including the Executive and the
Supreme Court, we should not now be on
the brink of dissolution and civil war;
II Mr.. Tnncy had set himself to work to
find apt language, in which to describe
free soil sentiment, here it is: Every
Northern man will instantly disclaim any
idea of asking any, the least or slightest
advantage, preference or privilege in the
territories for himself or his posterity,
which is denied to the Southern man or
his posterity. But Mr.. Tnney's intentions
are the direct reverse of what his words
indicate. He intends to employ all his
power, all his influence personal and judi
cial, to set up over the entire territory of
the Union, close and exclusive ariStoc-
racy, whose vital idea is inequality of
rights and privileges, and which treats the
poor white man, as the non-slavehOlder is
called, with more contempt, with more
cOntumely, with more scorn, if possible,
than is heaped upon the sore, and scourged
and trembling slave. Inconsistency is the
badge of error son what ground" it
may be asked "docs the Supreme Court
arrive at such conclusions?" The Judges
are not slow to tell you. On this subject
they speak out. However cloudy and
misty, and incomp! ehensible their Ian
guage on some other points, may be, on
this it is clear and unmistakNble. They
proceed upon the principle that divers
States, having excluded the African from
the pale of humanity, and made him
property; Congress, as they say, has no
power to exclude the property of any
citizen from amy portion of the National
Territory. Judge Campbell says: "These
States, at the adoption of the Federal Con-
stitution, were organized communities,
having distinct systems of municipal law,
which, though derived from common
source and recognizing in the main similar
principles, yet in some respects had be-
come unlike, and on a particular subject
promised to be 0ntdgOnistic." Then he goes
on to cnumerate divers powers oS the
Federal government, such as the power to
| coin money, to regulate its value, to regu-
late foreign and federal commerce, to
grant patents to authors and inventors,
'and to make rules concerning captures i'll
war;" and he affirms that, "withln the
limits of these powers, it, (Gongress) has
exercised rightly to a greater or less ex-
tent, the power to determine what shall
and what shall not be property" In the
next paragraph, he proceeds: "But the
great powers of war and negotiation,
finance, postal communication, and COM
lncrcG in general, when employed in re-
Spect 10 the property of citizen, refer
to and depend upon the municipal laws
| of the States, to ascertain and dstermine
what is property and the rights of, the
owner, and the tenure by whichitis held"
"Whatever these constitutions and laws
(that is the constitutions and laws of the
States 'validly determine to be property,
it is the duty of the federal government,
through the domain of jurisdiction merely
federal to recognize to be property" See
10Th Howard, page SIS. Then after some
further observations, he adds on the next