The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-08-02
Yreo ~ New York 1tleaos,
Law AND LOYALTY.

,e sm ,i,,sI f Srsns =. "a. -, sr,st'cc =
much = o. fireman. T. b does N a. which
would Do treason Il done 81 : free man, It will
b treason in bin, Neither hia na.tss's order,
nor the State Law excuses hin, for his allegiance
- The United stsses Il parsaounsI 70 tAs 81
tbority Of the masoeeo Or Of ~ State.
"a II ID ,fanillis pripoipls of law, thsA any
ore who knowingly receives traitor, Of tvel
aid and comfort Is ) traitor, beSSnes thessby Z
traitor-guilty Of ~ same Treason assthe per.
con he receives or aidG q, n rebel Il traitor
fhe law, Therefore, pfohibitsg Ahy ono ffo1l
kDswnglyrscsivine In, OF giving him tidAhd
comfort. TO do 20 10 to commit the hghees1ll
crime known to the Law.
It prohibits any ones even eohcealipg the
tfl&os u bohd p =
t0s ma istrate forthwith.
And from t6sss and Other Nh settled princi.
pies Of law, II fellows that Il ID The duty Of ev.
6zy oos Whotkn Of treason TO sppreheAd tie
traitor IL he can, md deliver him TO justice.gS
8. The slave. Of rebel, therefore, cannot
lawfully receive his master, Or give him id Or
comfort but is bound to apprehend him, or at
least to inform against him before magistrate.
He cannot work for him mon seiys him, for this
would be receiving him or giving him aid and
comfort Every act imposed on him by State
Law becomes instantef unlawful BY the supreme
Law Of the land.
- subject cannot even pay srdebt. to an alien
enemy during the var; a jortloyi, he cannot earn
money for traitor, The disability of an alien
is indeed only temporary, because tn. Jaw con-
templates the restoration Of peace; but IN net
of treason, and che penalties and disabilities
thereby incurred, are. in Legal estimstion, per.
nanent and irfsversible. It 10 not merely while
he is in actual rebellion that al persons ate for
hidden to receive, or aid, or comfort him. The
legal prohibition TO do this iaperpetual. Y ,a9 +,
The slave, therefore, can ne,'er legally receive
or aid and comfort bis master, and the relation
Of master and servant h necessarily terminated
By the masters treason, being Incompatible with
the paramount law Of the land. The Law does
not permit him t0serve bis master; it condemns
him to death If he do 90. Of course, therefore,
he must be free by mere operation of Law. By b
law paramount to all State laws establishing or
Regulating the relation Of master and slave, he
ceases 70 be the slave Of bis master, and, as he
is the slave of no one else, he becomes . free
man. ,~xr.xsn..r,,,,t 1zg..eses
The crime Of receiving Or giving aid and COM
fort to traitor, exists only where the party re-
ceivipg OF giving aid and comfort knows, or has
reason to believe, that the other person Is D
traitor. To constitute the crime, therefore, two
facts must concur: first, the person received or
aided must in fact be . traitor; secondly, the
other person must know, or have reason TO be
lieve, that he is traitor. But it is not neces.
sary that he should have been convicted, or
even apprehended. The slave of one in open
rebellion becomes legally free, therefore, by bis
masters act, whether his master be apprehend.
treason succeed or fail; whether the slave make
his escape, or continue held to service.5
In contemplation Of law, according to the
course of decisions in every Southern State, the
slave has no power of volition on any point af.
fecting bis relations to his owner. He has no
right or capacity even to elect whether he shah
receive his freedom or not, where such right of
election is sought to be given him by the will of
his proprietor. he has no function, Office, fac.
ulty or capacity or, in other words, rendering bis
master aid and comfort An overt act of trea-
son by the master makes obedience or aid and,
comfort to him q crime. But the law will not
recognize or enforce relation or a contract
which obliges either party to the commission Of
q crime tg frlerE "a .sEa
But if the master repent-take the oath of
allegiance, and honestly keep it, or receive full
pardon from the Executive-what effect will
this have upon the condition of his former slave?
None ct all. His treason emancipated the slave
by operation Of law. His penitence or bis par.
don cannot cnslave free man, black or white.
II may be replied that, according to this
reasoning, the treason of the husband must dis.
solve the relations Of husband and wife. The
answer is obvious. The wife can decide for
herself whether she will aid and comfort her
husband IN the crime Of treason and thereby
make herself criminal. The slave has no
such capacity. The only function Of which he
is legally capable is that Of aiding comforting
his master The exercise of this function
becomes crime the moment his master be-
comes traitor, and the relation which impos..
es this Obligation upon him instantly.
/ These considerations deserve careful stten.
ton. Their abstract soundness or unsouniness
will not directly affect the actual status of any
slave in Mississippi or North Carolina. But If
they are sound, - they seem to be they may
materially affect the views Of loyal people q to
the way in which We should wage war against
the Rebellion. Many wise and good men of un.
questionable patriotism, are honestly and con.
scisntiously unwilling that Government take
any measure for the overthrow of the Rebel
lion for, which express authority cannot BE-
found IN the Constitution, Kents Comments.
taries, and the reported decisions Of the Su-
prene Court ct Washington. Qpinions may
differ - to the practical wisdom Of this policy,
but their convictions like oil honest convic-
tions) are founded in part on truth and right,
and should DO respectfully treated even BY
those who believe them in the whole wrong.
Such men viii gladly be satisfied that there 10
no need oftlksets Of Emancipation and Con-
fscstion, whA they consider unconstitutional
and revolutionary; that such acts, when pass.
ed, are merely declaratory of what the Com,
mon Law-the Law Of the whole country North
and South-has already decided, and that
every slave whose master has committed an
overt oct Of treason against the United States
il thsacetorth free man by operation Of the
Common Law. ~,.t,,Tr c.-ra ,,,,es--Tr
Our serupulous, lsw-abiding Northern peo-
pie need not hesitate to treat the slaves Of
Rebels ~ free men, for the grand old Common
Law-inhsrited by America from England lin
England's better days, when she loved Free
dom more than Cotton)-hss made them free
irrespective Of the recent oct Of Congress.
How A NoRTHERN TRAITOR WouIp Do.-The
rebel.sympathizing editor Of the DUBUQUE Her
aid, who deserves to be arrested q an enemy
Of the United States If any man ever did deserv.