Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-01-11
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duty on the part Of the North, and in no meas
ured time denounced them. His views of their
conduct are interesting just now, when the
complaints of the South are snee'ed at, as II
they had no foundation. Heeaid 5
ave demand, In the next place, 'that persons
committing crimes against slave property in one
State, and fleeing to another, shall be deliver
ed up In the same manner a persons commit
ting crimes against other property, aud thatthe
laws of the State from which such persons fee
shall be the test of criminalty' The Consu
tuition of the United States, article four, section
two, says:
IA person charged in any State with treason,
felony, or other crime, who ehsll fee from
justice, and be found In another State, shall, on
demand of the executive authority of the State
from which he fed, be delivered up to be re-
moved to the State having Jurisdiction of the,
crime"
But the MISUNDERSTANDING States, treacherous
| 10 their oaths aud oompacts, have steadily re-
fused, if the criminal only stole negro, and
that negrowas slave, 10 deliver him up. IL was
refused twice on the requisition Of my own. State
as long as twenty-five years ago. TWAS refused
by Kent, and by Fairfield, Governors Of Maine,
and representing, | believe, each of the then
Federal parties. We appealed then to trater-
1
right has been practically dead letter from that
day to this.
The next case came up between US and the
State of New York, when the present sen
ior Senator Mr.. Seward was Governor of that
State, and he refused it. Why2 He said it
was not against the law of New York to steal
negro, and therefore he would not comply with
the demand. He made similar refusal to
Virginia. Yet these are our contederates; these
are our sister States! There is the bargain,
there Is the compact You have swore TO it.
Both these Governors swore to IL. The Sena-
tor from New York swore to it. The Cover
of Ohio swore to it when he was insugerated
You eGnnot bind them by oaths, Yet they talk
10 us of treason; and suppose they erp,ct to
tohip treemen into loving such brethren. They
will have good time iG doing 1t! 1t isnatural
we should want this provision of the Constitu-
tion carried out. The Constitution says slaves are
property, the Supreme Court says 60; the Cons
titution says so. The theft of slaves Is crime:
they are subject matter of felonous asporta-
tion. By thetext and letter of the Constitution
you agreed to give them up. You have sworn
to do it, and you have broken your oaths. OF
course, those who have done so look out fo-
pretexSs. Nobody expected them to do other
wise. / do not think l ever saw periurer,
however bald and naked, who could not in.
vent some pretexts topallate his crime, or who
could not, for fifteenshiilings, hire an old Bal
ley lawyer to invent some for him. Yet this
requirement of th eConstitution ia another one
of the extreme demands of an extremist and a
rebel.
nave already adverted to the proposition in
regard to giving up criminals who are charged
with stealing negroes, and | have referred to
the cases of Maine, New York, and Ohio,
come now to the last specification-the require.
ment that laws should be passed furnishing all
who aid and abet insurrection. These are of
lenses re eognzed by the laws Of nations, as in-
imicsl to all society; and will read the opin.
ions of an eminent publicist when get to that
point. said that you had aided and abetted
insurrection John Brown certainly invaded
Virginia. John Browns sympathzers, pre-
sumo, are not Democrats. Two of the accom-
plices of John Blown fed--oDe TO Ohio, one
TO Iowa. The Governors of both States refused
to give up the iugitives from justice. The
party maintained them. | am aware that, In both
olses, pretexts were gotten up to cover the shame
of the transaction am going to shom you that
their pretexts were hoilOtO, unsubstantial, Lot
against constitutional law. but against The laio
Of nations. l will show you that it was their
duty to seize them under the law of nations
and bring them to their confederate States, or
even to friendly State. The first authority
will read is Vattel on the law of nations. II
there had been any well founded ground, if the
papers had been defective, il the case had been
deiectiyely stated, what was the general duty
of friendly State without any constitutional
obigation2 The general principle is, that
one State is bound to restrain its citiEeus from
doing anything tending to create disturbance in
another State; to foment disorder; to corrupt
It's citizens, or to ALLEVIATE its allies. Vattel
says, page l62
"And since the latter 1.-The soyereign] ought
not to suffer his subjects 70 molest the subjects
of other States, or 10 do them an Injury, much
less TO give open, audacious otfeDse to foreign
Powers, he ought to compel the trangressor 10
make reparation for the damage or injury, II
possible, or to inaict on him an exemplary pun.
ishment; or, finally, according to the nature
aud circumstances of the case, to deliver him
up to the offended State, TO be there brought TO
Justice. This is pretty generally observed with
respect to great crimes, which are equally con-
trary TO the laws aud safety Of all nations. Ae-
sassins, incendaries, and robbers, are seized ev.
erywhere, at the desire of the sovereign in
whose territories the crime was committed, and
are delivered up to his justice. The matter Is
carried still further In States that are more
closely connectedby friendship aud good mel gh-
borhood. Even in cases of ordinary trans-
gressions, which are only sebjects Of
1
the recovery of damages, or the In
Fiction of slight civil punishment, the sub
jects of two neighboIiDg States are reciprocaly
Obliged to appear before the magistrate of the
place where they are accussd of having failed
in their duty Upon requisition Of that mag
istrate called letters rogatory, they are sum
moned in due form by their own magistrates
and obliged TO appear. An admirable insttu-
tion, by means Of which many neigbboring
i States live together in peace, and seem to form
only one Republic! This Is Ia force through
all Switzerland As soon as the letters roga-
tory arc Issued in form, the superior Of the ac-
cused ia bound TO enforce them IL belongs not
to him to examine whether the accusation be
true or false; he is to presume on the justice OF
his neishbors, and not to suffer any doubts on
his own part to impair an institution 30 well
calculated to preserve harmony and good un.
derstandino between the States"
That Is the law of nations, as declared by
one of It's ablest expounders; but besides, we
have this principle embodied in the Constitu.
ton; we have their the obligation to deliver up
fupitives from Justice; ans, though IL is in the
Constitution, though it is sanctioned, as l said,
: by all ages and all centuries, by the wise and
the good, everywhere, our confederate States
are seeking false pretexts to evade plain social
duty, in which are involved the peace and secu-
rity of all civilized society, II we had no Con-
stitution, this obligation would devolvs upon
friendly States. If there were no Constitution.
we ought to demand II. But instead Of giving
us this protection, we are met with reproaches,
reviling, tricks, and treachery, to conceal and
protect incendiaries and murderers.
This man Brown and his accomplices had
sympathizers. Who were they One Of them,
- IL. l. Il.