The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1860-05-17

And another Virginian on this floor
Mr.. Pryor. ayows that the anti-slaye
ry impulses of his State have been sti-.
| fed, and that the traditional idsas''
of his ancestors bave been /" contra
vened," which the fact, to use his own
languaget = s9ss'''fiJ ~ spf" i.
Discovered and demonstrated that negro slave.
~, instead OF being an accidental evil, which men
tolerate merely for want of practicalremedy is an
institution which exists in virtue Of the most essen.
tai human interest, and the highest sapctions Of
the moral law" 811ie 9FItISEi 10 SCf'fis
Imight multiply quotations and ex.el
tracts of undoubted Democratic aug 6
tliority, to show that the position of the
Democracy is living denial of the J
|greattruths and principles which under. .
lie the foundation of this confederacv. !. 0
but the fact will not be disputed that Il q
has changed its ground, and abandoned
the:path ofits fathers, because, whiletheylJ
|deplored the existence of slavery az at, B
evil, to be restricted and discouraged. q
modern democracy is compelled to [
subscribe to a contrary doctrine; natne.i
ly, that slavery is an Institution to be
fostered and encouraged as blessing
to the black man as well as the white. ,
And now, having demonstrated that
this party is false to the impulses and
convictions which strengthened the +
faith and nerved the arm of our fathers.
i proceed to show that it is also faith-lB
less to the obligations of that Constitu.b
ton which was the browning glory and
result Of their toll and suffering : o3 -
The second section Of the fourth ar
ticle of that instrument declares that-o
.'The citizens of each State shall be entitled to
all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the
several States"3 hfir .uolfi-vttvf fi>SI9t
Here is aprovision which guarantees
to the citizen sef South Carolina the
same projections, when in Michigan
which the sovereignty Of Michigan ex-
tends to her owircitizens and, on the
other hand, it entities the traveller from
the North to the privileges and immu-l
mites" which attach to southern citi-
zen under the shield of his own State
sovereignty. 1t is aprovision essential
to and growing out of the comfy and
good fellowship which should exist be-
tween confederated States. But how
is this obligation regarded and fulfilled
in the different sections of this Union?s
Why, citizens Of slave States can travel
outside of those States with more safe-i
ty and less risk than they can inside of
them. The Republicans of the free
North tolerate no institutions which
are inconsistent with the spirit Of the
Constitution they recog lie the obi
cations of that instrument, and live up
to them. But, on the contrary. We
have witnessed in the slave States a.
striking down of the constitutional
guarantees of the citizen by enactmentso
which contravene alike the letter and
spirit of our common bond. Laws
have existed for forty years in some of
the southern States which forbid the
entrance of free citizen, under penalty
OF imprisonment and sale-laws which
are a direct, an open, palpable in
fringement of the rights of northern
men; and yet the Democratic Admin
istration, whilst it clamors SO loudly
and persistently about the rights Of
American citizens in Mexico or some
other feeble Republic, whose territory
it covets, has not a word to utter in
vindication of the constitutional pre.o
roga:ive Of the citizen ON his own soil.
Every attempt which has been made
to test the constitntionality Of these,
laws has been resisted by force. The
Constitution prescribes an arbiter,
tribunal, where the citizens may assert
his rights as against the legislation of
another State; and the Legislature of
Massachusetts, sent two of her most
worthy citizens to, Charleston, to test
in the courts the validity of these laws
But these men not only set at Defiance
the plainest provisions of: the Federal
compact, but they refused them the
privilege of bringing suit, even in a.
South Carolina court. The men who
went there from Massachusetts, on
peaceful, legitimate errand, were
compelled, through fear of personal
violence, to abandon their mission aud,
leave the State; and the men who con-
stitute the life, the essence, the perfec-
ton of modern Democracy, boldly
avow the fact that this clause of the
Constitution is dead letter, and that
the. decisions of courts are nothing to
them. li .si ~ iiisf ~ is%-A :. .lNini-sisL
AS an evidence Of this fact, l call at
tention to the language which Demo-.
cratic Senator from South carolina used
during this session, when commenting
upon this incident in the history of his
State. He said:
The State found it necessary for self-protection
to pass these police regulations to prevent those
persons who were hostile towards us from mani
testing their hostility by the transmission Of their
emmissaries through the pretended rights of citi-
zens, under the Constitution. The State felt it due
to herself to her own safety, to consider and she
was authorized to consider. that this was another
mode to bring that question before the supreme
Court sChere did not kaow hoie 1 scoutd be de-
csded nor did care We knew the right to pass
such laws was inherent 10 the Sovereignty Of the
State, and zoe did not intend TO submit 1t to any tr
6unaz''' t.ie. :. 81. 1...-f..,-
The State of Virginia has enacted
law which places the coasting vessel
which seeks the refuge of her harbors
under the servillance Of her police, and
eompels5 the vessel itself to pay the ex-
pense and endure, the delay of an ex-
animation. And when this law 1is
complained Of, as unfair, unjust, and
unconstitutional, Senator Mason re-
niles. r-s f..a