Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1861-06-14

OE14Os y JUNE IL, 1901.
JOhn Quincy Adams or Slavery as
affected by War.
In 1912 fApril l4tht, John Quincy Adams
made in the House of Representatives a speech
on the apprehended war with Great Britain
and with Mexico, whereof the following ex-
tract viii now be read with lively interest:
/ I said that, as far as I could under
stand the resolutions OF the gentle
man from Ohio Mr.. Giddings,I there
were some of them for which 1 was ready to
vote. and some which must vote against; and
l will now tell this House. my constituents and
the world of mankind, that the resolution
against which I would have voted was that
in which Ire declares that what are called the
Slave States have the exclusive right of con-
suliatioD on the subject of SlaverS For that
resoir tiaa I never would vote; because / be-
/ lieve that it is rot just, and does not contain
I constitutional doctrine. ] believe that SO long
as tie save States are able to sustain their
inst ufSonI without going abroad or calling up
on other parts Of the Union to aid them or
/ to act on the subject, so long l viii consent
rever to interfere. But is they come to the
! Free States and say 10 them you must help MS
/ TO keep down our slaves, you must aid us in an
! insurrection and civil war, then say that
with that call comes a full and plenary power
/ to this House and to the Senate over the whole
I subject. 1t is a war power. say it is war
power; and when your country is actually in
war, whether it be war of invasion or a war
of Instruction, Congress has power to carry
on tie war, and must carry it on accord
ing to the laws of war, and BY the
laws OF war an Invaded
country has all its laws and municipal
institutions swept by the board. and martial
law takes the place of them. 'Fhis power in
Congress has perhaps never been called into
! exercise under the present Constitution of the
United States. But when the laws Of war are
in force what I ask, Is one of those laws? 1t
is this: that when a country is invaded, and two
hostile armies are set in martial array, the
commanders Of both armies hare porer TO enlan-
cipaie all Stares in the inUaded teTr1tory Nor
is this mere theoretic statement The his
tory of South America shows that the doc
triue has been carried into practical execution
within the last thirty years. Slavery was
abolished in Columbia, first by the Spanish
General Morillo, and secondly by the Amer-
cat General Bolivar. 1t was abolished by vir-
tue Of military command given at the head of
the army, and lis abolition continues to be law
to this day. 1t was abolished by the laws of
war, and not by municipal enactments. The
power was exercised by military commanders,
under Instructions, OF course from their re-
spccliye Governments. Congress is now pas
sing grant to refund General jackson the
amount Of certain fine imposed upon him by
a Judge under the laws of the State of Louis
iaua. You are goirg to refund him the money
with interest; and this you are going to do be-
cause the imposition of the fine wa unjust.
And why unjust? Because General jackson
was acting under the laws of war, and because
the moment you place military commander
in a district which is the theatre of war, the
Lays or war apply to that district have a
| correspondence between Gen. jackson and the
! Governor of Georgia, during the Seminole
campaign, in which Gen. jackson asserts tht.
principle that he, as Governor of State
within his Gen. Jackson'sl military division,
had no right to give military order while he
Teen. jackson was in the field. The Cover
nor contested the power of Gen. jackson, and
said oil be could for State rights; but Gen.
jackson had given an order. an that order was
carried into effect, while the order of the Gov
ernor was suppressed.
l might furnish thousand proofs to show
that the pretensions Of gentlemen TO the sane
! tity of their municipal Institutions, under
state of actual invasion and of actual war,
whether servile, civil, or foreign, arc wholly un
founded, and that the laws of war do, in ali
such cases, take the precedence 1 lay this
down as the law of nations. | say that the
military authority takes for the time, the place
! Of all municipal Institutions SuUerg among
the rest. Under that state OF things, so far
| from lis beirg.true that the States where Sla-
| very exists have the exclusive management of
the subject, mol only the President Of the UNI
| ted States, but the commander of the armg has
polcgr to order the uRiUerS1l enrancip1 ION Of
! The Siares.
! have given more in detuil principle which
] have asserted Oh this floor before now, and
OF which have no more doubt, than that you,
Sir, occupy that chair. 1 give it in its drvel-
opment, i'll order that any gentleman. from any
part of the Union, may deny the proof Of this
position, if he thinks proper, and may maintain
his denial, not by indignation, not by passion
and fury, but by sound and spber reasoning
from the laws of nations and the laws of war.
| II my position can be answered and reluted,
shall receive the refutation with pleasure.
shall be glad to listen to reason, aside, as say
from indignation and passion. II, by the force
of reasoning, my understanding can be con-
vinced, here pledge myself to rccant what
have asserted.
Let my position be answered; let me be told
let py constituents be told, let the people OF
my State be told, IA State whose soil tolerates
not the foot of a slave), that they are bound by
the Constitution TO long and toilsome march,
under burning Summer suns and a deadly
Southern CLINE, for the suppression Of a ser
vile war. That they are bound to leave their
bodies to rot upon the sands of Carolina; to
leave their wives widows, and their children or
phansj that those who cannot march are bound
to pour out their treasures, while their sous OF
brothers are pouring out their blood to suppress
a servle war, combined with civil or foreign
war; and yet there exists no power beyond
the limits of the Slave State, where such wal
, is raging to emancipate the slaves. Let thi;
: be proved, say. 1 am open to conviction
: but till that conviction comes, put it forth
: not as a dictate of feeling, but as a settled
t maxim of the law of nations, that in such q
case the military power supersedes the civi
pow T.
q Tgr ATTACK on WAsHINeroN.-A friend o