Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-07-06

pfelnalQn nY Whlon pfV4lef iAyeNlQlent h0nQH
| upon brother To ask these questions 4 hurnil
] iating; but IT, clear there can be but one re.
sponse There ia nosanction for such pFotenson
no ordinance for Il, or title. On all grounds Of
reason and waving all questions of "positiyei
statute, the Vermont Judge wac nobly right
when, "a releetlng the claim Of a slave master he
| sala; 80 not until you show = bill Of sale from
ne ne A1lmlightyn Nothing short ofthll impossible
Lnk N me ehain Of titlu would do. ! know some
| ihing OF the great judgments by which the juris
prudence Of our country has been illustrated;
6nl doubt II there Is anything In the wisdom Of
ness Of Kent, which Viii bFighten with Time NE
4 this honest decree.
The lntripsle iesbloness Of this pretenslon i
apparent "a the irtrinSc feebleness Of the argu'
| ment6 by which Il Is maintained. These are two.
fold and both have been put forth In recent de-
vIs)
The first ls the alleged inferiorlty Of the Ami
can race; an argument which, while surrendering
to slavery q whole race, leaves Il uncertain
whether the same principle may not be applied
70 other races, Rs TO the polished japanese, who
are now the guetts Of the nation, and even TO
persons Of obvious inieriority in the white race
Indeed, the latter pretensi0n is openly made IN
other quarters. The Richmond Enquirer, lead
ing journal Of siave masters, declares, THE prin-
eiple OF slavery Is In itself right, and does a de-
pend on difference Of eoRiplerfog.b And leading
| writer among slaVe-masters, George Fit1hugh, OF
Virginia In bis Sociology for tRe South declares
slavery black or 1Uhic, Is rlglt and necessary -
Nature has made the weak IN mind or body for
! slaVesn And In the same vein, democratic pa
per Of South Carolina has said, VSlaVery Is the
| natural and normal condition of the laboring
man, irhils on black p
These more extrayagant pFstentlons reveal sim
further the feebleness Of the pretentions put forth
by the Senator while instances, accuinulating
constantly attest the difficulty Of discriminating
between the two races Mr.. Paxton, of Virginia
tells us, that Ethe best blood of Virginia flows In
the veins Of the slave - and fugitive slaves have
been latterly advertized as possessing q round
face" "blue eyes" !" "faXen hair" and as ''escap-
ing under the pretence Of being white man"
This Il not the time 20 enter upon the great
question Of race, In the various lights otrelgiOn
history and science Sure l am that they who
understand Il best, will be least disposed to the
pretension, which on the assumed ground Of infe-
TiOrity would condemn one race to be the property
Of another If the African race be inferior as Is
J alleged then il Is the unquestiouRble duty of a
Christian civilization to Lift 1t from its degrade
this barbarous pretention of ownership but by
! generous charity, which shall be measured pre-
| clsely by the extent ofiu inferiority. -...
! The second argument put forward for this pre-
I tension and twice repeated by the Senator from
Mississippi Is, that the Africans the posterity
/ Of Ham, the son of Noah, through Canaan, who
was cursed by NOah 10 be the SERVANT that Is
/ the word employed-Of his brethren, and that
this mRledictiOn has fallen upon all his descend
/ ants, who are accordingly devoted BY God TO per
petual bondage, not only in the third and fourth
! generation, but throughout all succeeding time
! Surely, when the Senator quoted Scripture 10 en-.
force the claim Of fslayemasters, he did not intend
70 jest. And yet il Is hard to 5upposs himin earn
est. The Senator u Chairman Ot the Committee
/ on Military Affairs, in which he Is doubtless ex-
perieuCed He may, perhaps set a squadron IN
the field, but he has evidently considered very lit
tie the text Of Scripture on which he relies, The
/ Senator assumes, that II has fixed the doom Of
7 the cOlored race, leaving untouched the white
I race. Perhaps he does not know that in the
worst days OF the Polish aristocrscy, this same
gument was adopted rs the excuse for holding
white seFis in bondage, precisely as Il Is now put
I forward by the Senator, and that even to this
! day the angry Polish noble addresses his white
peasant as the ''sOn Of Ham. p .i#.- =.
/ Il hardly comports with the gravity of this de-
/ bate TO dwell on such an argument and yet can
not 20 wrong if, for the sake of the much injured
race, 1 brush it away, To justify the Senator in
I his application OF this ancient curse, he must
maintain at least i've different propositions, as es-
sential links in the chain Of the Afric- American
slave fySt, that BY tins maledietion, Canaan him
/ self was;acrually chRngedinto aichattel'' where
/ as he is simply made the servant of his breth
rem secondly, that not merely Canaan, but all his
posterity, TO the remOtest generation was so
changed, whereas the language has no such eS
/ tent thirdly that the Afric- American actually
| belongs TO the posterity of CHnaan-an ethnOlO
gical assumption absurdly difficult TO establish /;
tOuthlyi that each of the descendants Of Shem
and Japheth has right TO hold an Afric- -AIneri-
can fellow man n Achattel''--a proposition
which finds no semblance Of support and tflhly,
that every slave master Is truly descended from
Shem or Japheth--a pedigree which no anxiety
can establish This plain analysis, Which may
fifty excite smile, shows the hYefold absurdity
4 OF an attempt to found this preteDsion on
Any successive title, long and dark,
/ Drawn from the monldy rolls of Noahs ark
From the eharaeterof these two Arguments for
property in man, 1 an brought gain 70 its denial
It is natural that Senators who pretend that by
the law of nature man may hold property In man,
should find this pretensiOn in the Constitution =
But the PretsnsiOn is as much without foundation
in the Constitution as II Is without foundation in
nature. lt Is not too much TO say that there IS
not one sentence, phrase, or WOrd-not a single
suggestion, hint, or eQuiyoeation, eve1-out OF
( which any such pretension can be implied; while
great national acts and important conteInpOrane-
Gus declarations In the Convention which framed
the Constitution, In different forms OF language
and also controlling rules Of Interpretation, rem
der this pretention impossible. Partisaus taking
counsel of their desires find in the Constitution
as in the Scriptures, what they incline to find
and never was this more apparent than when
slave masters deceive themselves so far a. 10 find
In the Constitutions pTetensiOn which exists only
in their own souis
Looking juridically for one moment at this
question, we shall be brought TO the conclusion
! according to the admission of courts and jurists
first IN Europe and then in our own country, thai
slavery can be derived from no doubtful word OF
mere pretensi0n, but only from clear sn1 special
recognition. THE state of slavery p said Lord
Mansfield, prOnouncing Judgment in the great
case of Somer1ett, "is of such nature that il Ii
Incapable Of being introduced on any reasons
moral and political but only by postos ldO. 1t Is
50 Odious that nothing can be suffered TO support
| it but POSITIVE Law "-thRt Is, express words OF
q written text; and this principle which com,
mends itself TO the enlightened reason, has been
adopted by several courts in the slave States OF
course, every leaning must be against slavery
/ A pretension so peculiar and ofensiYe-sO hostile
to reason-so repugnnnt to the laws of nature
and the inborn rights Of man; which, in all lis
fVe-fold wrong, has no other object than to com
pei fellOw-men to work without wages such n
pretension 50 tyrannical, so unjust, 50 mean, so
barbarOus, can find no place in any system Of
government, unless by virtue ofP0atice SqnctioH.-
Ii can spring from no doubtful phrases. It must
be declared BY advantageous words, incapable OF
a double sense 4 H...sF sig..L
At the adoption Of the Constitution, this rule
promulgated in the Court of Kings Bench by the
voice OF the most finished magistrate in. Enplisb
history, was as well known in our country as any
principle of the common law especially was Il
known to the eminent lawyers In the Convention
nor is Il too much to say that the Constitution wal
. framed with this rule en- slavery as guide. And
:. the supreme Court of the United States ut a la
, ter day, in the case Of Cnilsd States =. FTsher
Cranch, 800, by the voice of Chief Justice Mar
3 shall, promulgated this same rule, 10 word
, stronger even than those Of Lord Mansfield, say
: ing: "Where rights are infringed where funda
: mental principles are overthrOWn, where the gen
eral system Of the laws is departed from, the leg
islatiye intention must be expressed with i1resifi
Ole oledTness, TO induce court of justice to sup
I pose & design TO effect such object.7l
II Is well known, however, that these two dee
: laFatiOns are little more than new forms for thu
| ancient rules Ofthe common law, as expressed By
FOrteseue ETaprills q eradlis jaeieaadHs est %
J, Lfbert1te non faqd He is 70 be Judged impiou
, and cruel VINO docs NOT IhVOr LlDerTy and, q
e expressed by Blackstone, "The law is alway
= ready to catch at anything that is In favor 0
y Liberty H-La ------
4 But as no prescription runs against the King
q 30 no prescription Is allowed TO run agains
) slavery while all the early victories Of Freedom
B. are set aside by the slavsmasters Of O-day, Tn
prohibition Of slavery in the Missouri Territory
and all the precedents, legislative and judicial
!, for the exercise Of this power, admitted froT
= the beginning until now have been overturned
but at at last, bOlder grown slave-masters do no
l., hesitate TO assa that principle of jurisprudenc
which makes slavery the creature of $ pOsitiv
3 laWp alone to be upheld only by words Of 'iFre
ID sistible clearness The case of S0msrset In whic
: this great rule was declared has been impeache
{; on this floor the Declaration of independents
I. has been impeaehed also And here the Senate
e from Louisiana [dr. Benjamin. has taken tn
ID lead. He hasdWelt On the assertion that, in til
Is history of English law there were earlier case
q where contrary principle was declared. Bu
'r permit ne to say that no such even If the
existin authentic reports, can impair the infu
I. / ence Of this well-cOnsidered authority. Tn
. Senator knows we'll that an old and barbarou
Il case Is poor answer to principle, which