The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-01-31
LETTER FROM THE GOVERNOR or
NORTH CAROLINA

LETTER FROM THE GOVERNOR or
NORTH CAROLINA.
The following letter was received from Governor
Ellis, in reply to circular sent him from this city,
STATE OF North CAROLINA, }
Executive Department.,
RALEIGH, August 10, 1850.
GENTLEMEN Il have the honor of acknowledging
the receipt Of your favor of the 9th inst enclosing
a circular letter to the Governors of all the South
States and others, upon the subject of "Direct
Steam Communication between the Chesapeake
Bay and Europe"
Agreeably to your request, herewith reply to
your communication as to the "amount of aid you
CD can consistently recommend your (my) State
to point to the enterprise
An independent Southern trade with Europe is
certainly much to be desired, and Baltimore is
tainly an eligible point upon which to concentrate
that trade; but there other considerations that
cannot well be lost sight of just at this time. "The
present position of our National affairs" which is
indeed most critical, is assigned by you as reason
for the movement referred to. Now, it cannot be
forgotten that Baltimore, through her Representa-
tive, has contributed her share towards placing
'our National affairs in their present position" A
Representative of the City of Baltimore aided in
ment, a member of the abolition party-a party
whose aim is the overthrow of Southern indepen-
dence and the destruction of Southern property.
do not say that this act of his is approved of by the
lily OF DdlumOTe. trust anu DelleNe InaL IL Is
not-but it remains to be whether it will be
condemned in a practical way.
In contrast with this, Representatives from the
City of New York used their influence to preuent
the result brought about by the Representative
from the City of Baltimore. Now, if the 'present
position of our National affairs be a reason for the
concentration of Southern trade, cannot see that
Baltimore has any preference over New York, as
the point upon which that trade should be concen-
traed; she having, in the way referred to, aided in
brinoinp ahOut tba pOsitiOO 0f Nation
al affairs" and New York having done her utmost
to prevent it.
Nor can l see how | could consistently give Bal
timore such preference over New York in any re-
commentator might make to the Legislature of
North Carolina.
In view of these facts, | cannot, at least at pre-
sent, recommend to the Legislature of this State
any appropriation whatever to the objects set forth
in your circular.
/ hope the time will be when could make such
recommendation consistent with my sense of pub
lie duy but, in my opinion, that time has not yet
arrived.
Having frankly and candidly answered your cir
cular, have the honor to be,
Very respectfully, yours, &C.
JOHN w. ELLIS.
Messrs. Fred Hickey, Jr., G. o. Gorter, Alex
ander Penn, c. S. Norris, VIM. McPhail
'[From the Phila Inquirer, jan 80
MARYLAND DID NOT ASK FOR THE ENACT
MENT OF THE 95TH AND GOTH SECTIONS OF
THE REVISED PENAL CODE OF PENNSYL-
VANIA.
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. Il, 1861.
HoN. L. f. CHAMBERs-Dear Sir:-As chairman
of committee appointed at meeting of number
of our citizens, to prepare memorial for the sig
natures of the citizens of Philadelphia to the Legs-
lature of Pennsylvania, praying for the repeal OF
such portions Of our Penal Code as obstructs the
rendition of slaves to their owners send You
copy of part Of the 95th and Goth sections, the
only portions the committee deem objectionable
From the fact that many of our people think that
those sections were enacted at the instance Of Ma
ryland, which, if so, you would most likely know,
having, if my recollection serves me, been commits
stoned by the State of Maryland, with the late Il.
ii. Goldsporough, many years since, to obtain le-
gisatOn from this and other States to facilitate
the recovery of your slaves, any information you
can give me on the subject, to be used as the COM
mittee may advise will greatly oblige,
Yours respectfully, 5. W. DE CorRsEY.
CHEsTERTowN, Nd, JAM lG, 1861
S. w. DE CoURsEY, EsQ.-Dear Sir: Yours of
the 18th inst, received this morning, is before me
in my sick room, to which have been confined for
ten days past.
to reply from my best recoll Election of the facts
In the winter of 1S25-2G the late Il. II. Colds
borough and the late Archibald Lee, on the part
of the House of Delegates, and myself the part
of the Senate of land, of which re-
spectively members, sent to the several States
of Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, to OBJ
tain such legislation as would better to the
Shareholders Of Maryland the means Of recapturng
their slaves escaping into those States.
In the execution of our duty we visited Harris
burg, and were received with the utmost courtesy
by the members of the Legislature generally, and
indeed by all with whom we came in contact,
excepting only an insignificant number of per-
sons
We were invited to make known to the Legisla
ture, in addresses to them, the peculiar proyi-
sions which we deemed necessary, and the reasons
for them, which we did. Amongst others, in
whom interest in the matter had been excited by
the well known fact of our mission, quite a
large and most highly respectable delegation from
the Society of Friends, with whom we freely ex-
changed views, and who fully concurred in
the prOprlety of the enactment we asked for, only
STIMULATING for such provisions for the security of
the free people of color of Pennsylvania as they
deemed necessary, and which we were free to intro
duce. My recollection is, we assented to any pro-
visions they suggested.
The law was passed as we desired, and while in
force was more effectual for purposes than any
system before or since. More fugitive slaves were
arrested and with less trouble and risk.
= Some ten years after the passage of this law
the case of Mrs. Ashmore's woman occurred
The woman ran away and had child or children
in nsylvania; Prigg, the agent of Mrs. Ash
more, seized the woman and children, and without
complying with the act of 1926, removed them to
Maryland.
He indicted, and feared, as did also his
friends that he to be sent to the penitentiarv
This of course produced great excitement; no one
doubted or denied that the woman was the slave Of
Mrs. Ashmore, or that Prigg was the authorized
agent of Mrs. A. The result was the Legislature
OF Maryland authorized the employment of counsel
to defend the case, which, after passing through the
Courts in Pennsylvania, was taken to the Supreme
Court of the United States. The counsel thought
the safest and surest way to secure the safety of
Prigg, to contest the constitutionalitv of the
Pennsylvania law. The Court declared it uncon-
stitutional, and Prigg escaped.
1t had been, IN my judgment, infinitely more to
the interest of our State, il the effort had not been
made. Now my recollection is that after that de-
cison (Which was l think in l84l or 1922 the
Legislature of your State repealed the law of 1926,
and enacted the law restricting State officers from
acting, creating penalties, &c. But it is rather an
odd notion that because were willing to haze
the strongest guarantees to your free negroes,
when you gave us the power and the means to dis
tinguish between them and our slaves, with ample
means and power to recapture our slaves when
identified therefore you are now justified in refus
ing to repeal the penal provisions when long since
the corresponding advantages have been lost to u.s.
am happy to believe your people are waking
up to full sense of our rights, and of the conse.
quences of the repeated injuries we have suffered,
not IN our property only but in reputation and
feelings, and in some few instances in the lives of
our citizens.
With my very best wishes that the efforts ofyour
committee, and Others who can estimate the value
OF this glorious Union, as far above the false phi
lanthropy and tanaticism of the day, may have the
effect to restore harmony to distracted country
Is my most ardent prayer, and has made me give
you this crude and hastily written statement
Yours, L. + CHAMBERS.
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 30, 1861
). w. De CoURsEY, Eso.-Dear Sir-In your let
ter you ask me to state whether the 95th and Goth
sections of the revised penal code (part of which
are now sought to be repealed were introduced