Year: 1862

ted, and to recover from it. with interest and
damages, the amount paid by them for such
fugitive slave And the said county after it
hos paid said amount to the United States,
may, for its indemnity, sue and recover from
the wrong-d -doers or rescurse by whom the
owner was prevented from the recovery of
his fugitive slave in like manner as the own
er himself might have sued and recovered.


ART. 6. No future amendments OF the Con-
stitution shall affect the five proceeding ar
ticles nor the third paragraph of the second
section of the first article Of the Constitution
nor the third paragraph of the second sec
ton Of the fourth article of said Constitution;
and no amendment shall be made to the Con
stitution which shall authorize or give to
Congress any power to abolish or interfere
with slavery in any ofthe States by whose
laws it is, Or may be, allowed or permitted.


And whereas, also, besides those causes of
dissension embraced in the foregoing amend
ments proposed to the Constitution of the
United States. there are others which come
within the jurisdiction of Congress, and may
be remedied by its Legislative power and
whereas it is the desire of Congress. so far as
its power will extend, to remove all just cause
for the popular disconsent and agitation which
now disturb the peace of the country, and
threaten the stabilitics of its institutions /:
Therefore, aa... ..


/. Resolved by the Senate and House of
Represe ntotives Of the United States Of Ameri-
ca in Congress assembled That the laws now
in force for the recovery of fugitive slaves are
in strict pursuance of the plain and manda.
tory provisions of the Constitution, and have
been sanctioned as valid and constitutional
by the judgment Of the Supreme Court of the
United States that the slaveholding States
are entitled to the faithful observance and
execution Of those laws, and that they ought
not to be repealed, or modified or changed as
to impair their efficiency; and that laws
ought to be made for the punshmentIof those
who attempt by rescue of slave, Or other ille-
gal means, to hinder or defeat the due execu-
ton of said laws


2. That all State laws which conflict with
the fugitive slaTe acts of Congress, or any
other constitutional acts Of Congress, or which
in their operation, impede, hinder, or delay
the free course and due execution of any Of
said acts, are null and void by the plain pro-
visions of the Constitution of the United
States yet those State laws, void as they are
have given color to practices and led to con.
sequences, which have obstructed the due
administration and execution Of acts of Con-
gress, and especially the acts for the delivery
of fugitive slaves, and have thereby contribu-
ted much to the discord and commotion now
prevailing. Congress therefore, in the pres
ent perilous juncture, does not deem it ira.
proper, respectfully and earnestly to recon-
mend the crpeal of those laws to the several
States which have enacted them, or such
legislative corrections or explanations of them
as may prevent their being used or prevented
to such mischicvous purposes.


3. That the act fthe 18th of September,
1850, commonly called the fugitive slave law,
ought to be so amended as to make the fee
of the commissioner, mentioned in the eighth
section Of the act, equal in amount in the
cases decided by him, whether his decision be
in favor of or against the claimant. Aud to
avoid misconstructions the last clause of the
fifth section of said act, which authorizes the
person holding warrant for the arrest or
detention of a fugitive slave, to summon to
his aid the posse eomitatus, and which de-
clares it to be the duty of all good citizens to
assist him in its execution, ought to bc so
made as to expressly limit the authority and
duty to cases in which there shall be resist
ance or danger of resistance or rescue.


4. That.the laws for the suppression of the
African slave trade, and especially those pro-
hibiting the importation Of slaves in the Uni
ted States, ought to be thoroughly executed ;
and all further enactments necessary to those
ends be promptly made.


McGREcoR, Iowa, July 10, 1862.


EDS. TIMES BY request, hand you the
copy of correspondence which explains
itself. Its publication in your excellent pa
per is desired, if not incompatible with your
wishes or the state of your columns. ! may
ohsorve that the Rank Check was for Sll6