The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1860-01-06
BIDDEFORD ME-, FRIDAY MORNING, JAN UARY>6 1859.

nor Territorial Legislature nor any human
power has any authority to annul or impair
this vested right. The supreme judicial tri6
unal of the country, which Is co.ordlnat
branch Of the government, has sanctioned ant
affirmed these principles Of constitutional law
so manifestly just in themselves, and so vel
calculated to promote peace and harmon!
among the States. IL Is striking proof o
the sense of justice which Is inherent in ou
people. that the property In slaves has neve
been disturbed, to my knowledge, in any o
the Territories. Even throughout the lat
troubles tn Kansas there has not been any at
tempt. as / am credibly informed to interfere
in a single instance. with the right Of the mas
ter. Had any such attempt been made, th'
judiciary would doubtless have afforded ai
adequate remedy. Should they fail to d.
this hereafter, II will then be time enough 4
strengthen their hands by further legislation
Had II been decided that either Congress o.
the Territorial Legislature possess the powe
to annul or impair the right to property il
slaves, the evil would be intolerable. In th'
latter event there would be a struggle for I
majority Of the members of the Legislature a
each successive election, and the sacred righti
Of prof. lerty held under the Federal constitu
ton would depend for the time being on the
result. The agitation would thus be render
cd incessant whilst the Territorial condition
remained, and its baneful influence would
keep alive dangerous excitement among the
people Of the several States.
Thus has the status of territory during the
intermediate period from its first settlement
until it shall become State, been irrevocably
fixed by the final decision of the Supreme
Court. Fortunate has been this for the
prosperity of the territories,as well as the tran.
guilty Of the States. Now, emigrants from
the North and the South, the East and the
West, will meet in the Territories OH com.
mon platform, having brought with them tina,
species of property best adapted in their own
opinion, to promote their welfare. From nat.
ural causes the slavery question will in each
case soon virtually settle itself; and before
the Territory is prepared for admission as q
State into the Union, this decision, one way
or the other, will have been foregonc con.
cluson. Meanwhile the settlement Of the new
Territory will proceed without serious inter.
ruption, and its progress and prosperity will
not be endangered or retarded BY violent po.
litical struggles.
admission efSev States.
When in the progress Of events the inhab.
i,ants of any Territory shall have reached the
number required TO form State, they will
then proceed, in regular manner, and in the
exercise of the rights of popular sovereignty,
to form constitution preparatory to admls-
sion into the Union. After this has been
done, to employ the language of the Kansas
and Nebraska act, they "shall be received in.
A. q, -. ,.,;th ,,,;f hn slauary fhaif
constitution may prescribe at the time OF their
admission" This sound principle has happi.
ly been recognized, in some form or other,
by an almost unanimous vote of both houses
of the last Congress.
The african Stare Trade.
All lawful means at my command have
been employed, and shah continue to be EN-
ployed. to execute the laws Against the AT.
rican slave trade. After most careful and
rigorous examination of our coasts and a
thorough investigation of the subject, we
have not been able to discover that any slaves
have been imported into the United States
except the cargo by the Wanderer, number
ing between three and four hundred. Those
engaged in this unlawful enterprise have been
vigorously prosecuted; but not with as much
success as their crimes have deserved. A
number of them are still under prosecution.
Our history proves that the fathers of the
Republic, in advance OF all other nations,
condemned the African slave trade. II was,
Notwithstanding deemed expedient by the
trainers of the constitution to deprive Con-
gress Of the power to prohibit "the migration
or importation of such persons as any OF the
States now existing shall think proper to adj
nit" prior to the year one thousand eight hun
dred and eight"
1t will be seen that this restriction on the
power of Congress was confined to such
States only as might think proper to admit the
importation of slaves. 1t did not extend to
othef States, or to the trade carried on abroad.
Accordingly, we find that so early as the 22d
March, 1894, Congress passed an act impo.
sing severe penalties and punishments upon
citizens and resident of the United States
who should engage in this trade between for
eign nations. The provisions OF this act OF
10th May, 1900.
Again tho States themselves had clear
right to waive the constitutional privilege in
tended for their benefit, and to prohibit by
their own laws, this trade at any time they
thought proper to previous to 1908. Several
of them exercised this right before that pe-
riod, and among them some containing the
greatest number Of slaves. This gave to Con-
grcss the immediate power to act in regard to
all such States. because they themselves had
removed the constitutional barrier. Con-
gress accordingly passed an net on 2Sth Feb
ruary, 1903, "to prevent the importation OF
certain persons into certain States, where, by
the laws thereof, their admission is prohibit
ed" In this manner the importation of
African slaves into the United States was. to
a great extent, prohibited some years in ad.
vance of 1903.
As the year 1903 approached, Congress de.
ternined not to suffer this trade TO exist even
for a single day after they had the power TO
abolish 1t. On the I'd of March, 1907, they
passed an act to take effect "irom and after
the LIST day Of January, lsOS," prohibiting
the importation of African slaves into the
United States. This was followed by subse.
quent acts Of similar character, to which
need not specially refer. Such were the prin-
ciples and such the practice of our ancestors
more than fifty years ago in regard to the
African slave trade. -
II did not occur to the revered patriots
who had been delegates to the Convention,
and afterwards became members of Congress,
that in passing these laws they had violated
the Constitution which they had framed with
so much care and delberation. They sup
posed that to prohibit Congress, in express
terms, from exercising specified power be-
fore an appointed day. necessarily involved
the right to exercise this power after that day
had arrived.
II this were not the case. the trainers of
the Constitution had expended much labor
in vain. Had they ina sined that Congress
would possess no power to prohibit the trade
either before or alter 1908, 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 at
tached such vast importance to this provision
as to have excluded IL from the possibility Of