Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-01-08
GOV. HARRIS TO GOV. pENNrsoS-
Nashville. Tennessee June I2th ISso I

= -. q
Izssss ExEcTrs DEPARTMENT,
Nashville, Tennessee. June 18TH 1861
His Exeellency, W, DESNsoS, Governor Of the State
L Of Ohio: ~ s.
s. SR;sI have the honor to acknowledge the receipt
of your Excellencys communication of the ID inst
in answer to which must be permitted to express
my profound astonlshment as wellas my sincere re-
greet, that the principle announced by it, should
have been adopted and ayowed by the Executive OF
sister State. who from his elevated and response
BILE position, is supposed to reflect not merely the
sentiments Of an individual but the calm and dis
passionate judgment of great Commonwealth
+ Your Excellency says that the crime Of negro
stealing not being known to either the Common Law
or Criminal Code of this State, tOhio) it is not of
that class of crimes contemplated by the Federal
Constitution, for the commission of which, am
authorized as the Executive OF this State to sur
render a fugitive from the justice of a sister State
and hence declined to issue 3 warrant upon the
requisition of your Excelleney for the extraditon
of Stephen G. Kennedy and Mary Ann G. Hatch.
alias Mary Ann c. Calhoun, charged with that Of
fence
The principle asserted by your Excellency in the
above paragraph is, that as the offence with which
the fngitives charged is nota crime he I,rs
of Ohio the duty OF :surrendeFing them upon the
demand of the Executive of Tennessee does not de-
Yolve upon you as the Executive Of Ohio. however
highly criminal the offence may be under the laws
of Tennessee, where it was committed
Your Excelleney must permit me to say that this
decision efSeotualIy, utilities the second clause Of the
second section of the fourth article of the Federal
Constitution we'll the act of Congress- of Feb
ruary 18th 1893. The clause of the Constitution re
ferred TO. provides that "a person charged in any
estate with treason felony or other crime, who
"shall flee from justice, and be found in another
Estate shall on demand of the Executive authority
"of the State from which he fed be delivered nm
to be removed to the State having jurisdiction Of
the crime" and The act of Congress passed for the
express purpose of carrying into eHeot this proVi-
sion of the Constitution, provides; THAT whenever
"the Executive authority Of any State in the Union
"or either of the Territories" q
shall demand any person as fugitive from justice
"of the Executive authority of any such State or
"Territory TO which such person shall have fled and
shall moreover produce the copy of an Indictment
'found or an affidavit made before magistrate of
"any State or Territory as aforesaid charging the
Hperson so demanded with having committed traa-
son, felony other crime, certified authentic by
''the Governor or Chief Magistrate os the State or
TERRITORY from which the person so charged fed.
sit shall be the duty of tbs executive authority of
"the State or Tertiary TO which such person shall
"have fed tc oause him or her to be arrested and
secured and notice Of the arrest to be given to the
executive authority making the demand, or to the
agent of such authority appointed to receive the fu
gitive and cause the fugitive to be delivered up
'such agent when he shall appear"
Frsm the above extracts, does it not appear too
clearly to admit of argument doubt or cavil, that
the constitutional duty of delivering upN fugitive
must depend alone apGA the criminality of the of
fence charged under the laws of the State where it
was committed! In my judgment. it is impossible
for unparalleled mind to arrive at a different
conclusion.
Kennedy and Hatch were echarged with crime, =
the crime of negro stealing sin the State" of Ten
nessee by ian affidavit made before magistrate Of
that State which was certified authentic by the
Governor of the State. They f.e, fIOIa justice,
"and were found in aGQShoY Syate,' (the State of
OhIo) They were demanded by the Executive
ANTIQUITY OF the State from which they fed" and
the agent appointed by the Executive of Tennessee
to receive he"fugitves appeared at the Capitol of
Ohio for that purpose.
But instead Of obeying the plain letter and spirit
of the Constitution and the Act of Congress refer
red 10, by delivering them to be removed to the
State Got Tennessee) having jurisdiction of the
crime" your Excellency refuses to do SO upon the
ground that negrostcaling, not being crime under
the laws Of your State, you assume that cannot or
shall not be crime any other State, or at al
events you will not recognize it such, in your
opinions 1T is not of that class of urine oontepplat
ed by the Federal Constitution for the commission
OF winch yaR are authorized to surrender u fugi-
tive.n j
l cannot imagine the authority upon which your
EXcellency undertakes to distinguish between
classes of crime, determine upon any. class of
crime which ia not contemplated by tho Con-
stitution' since neither the Constitution the act
of Congress for the rendition of fugtives from JUS
tiee make any such distinction. nor do they under
TAKE 10 determine what snail constitute crime, the
language employed in the Constitution being: A
person charged in any State with treason fe0ny or
other crime" DC, most clearly intendea to, and
does apply to every description of crime. and was
adopted for no other purpose than that of securing
a remedy, plain full and adequate to all the States
of the COnfederacy, by which they might capture
such fugtives as had violated their respective cr
minai l4wa. Hence evelY spt that u criminal under
the lave OF the State wbepe it is committed is clear
ly of that class of crime contemplated by the Fede
raj Constitution"
Your Exceilency win not, am sure, controvert |
the fact thai each of the sovereign States of this
Union has the right to determine for itself what |
shall and what shall not be criminal within the limits
of its jurisdiction. |
In the exercise of this right, Tennessee has, by |
statute, made negro-stealiDg high crime, while |
Ohio, in the exercise of the right. has seen
proper to regard the act of stealing negro within
the limits of her Jurisdiction perfectly npooent
yet nethef haS tue right directly or Indirectly, to
intenfeDe with the local policy of the other and the
fact that negro-stealng il not crime under the |
laws of Ohio certainly confers upon the authorities
OF that State no power or right to prevent its being
made a crime in other States and punished as such.
The practical effect of the decision of your Excel
lency in this must be, if adhered to. to make
the State of Ohio "city of refuge" for the negro
thieves of fifteen of her sister States, where they
may. with impunity, defy the violated law and of
Tended justice of those States and riot security
upon the pcsceedS " tue sales of the negroes which
Are the people of Ohio ready to assume position
unjust, so lawless and antagonistc to the rights
and interests of other States-a position that can
only be maintained by multiplying and totally disre
garding the plainest provisions of the Constitution,
while we even cannot avail ourselves of the poor
privilege of resorting to the law of retaliation be-
cause that Constitution which your Excellency end
myself have each salempIY sEorn We would sup
port laakes 1t M duty Shen your bxcelency shall
demand "a person charged with crime in Ohio, who
shall have fed to Tennessee to deliver him up. and
this duty shall be promptly. fully and in good faith
performed, so long as hold the position which de-
Yolvesit upon me;
have thus briefly alluded 10 SEINE or the aFga-
ments which he upon the surface of this question,
and which are too plain not to be eemprehended at
glance, with the hope that your Exceleney may
be induced to reconsider and revise your decision;
for if the policy declared by your Excelency is to
be persisted by those States where the institution
of slavery does not exist your Exceleney cannot be
insensible to the fact that it must tend rapidly to
the ties of fraterna feeling which should bind
US together as people, destroy the harmony Of our
Federal Union. and pTGcjRit9ie ? state Of afara
which every nhiastiaT and patriot should depiorc,