xt79zw18kz39 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt79zw18kz39/data/mets.xml Clay, Cassius Marcellus, 1810-1903 1840  books b923264c5792009 English N. L. Finnell, printer : Lexington, Ky. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. A review of the Late canvass and R. Wickliffe s speech on the text A review of the Late canvass and R. Wickliffe s speech on the 1840 2009 true xt79zw18kz39 section xt79zw18kz39 
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S EPTEMBER 2 5 , 1 8 4 0 .

LEXINGTON: L . F INNEtiL, P rinter   lutelligencer Office, 1840.

  
  
TO

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PEOPLE.

Y ou are not unapprised, my countrymen, that since you presumed to elect me to the Legislature over R . W ICKLIFFK, J r. that I have been the subject of unceasing ridicule and denunciation, both in private and in public. So long as the W icklifles c onfined themselves to sneers and unfeeling depreciation, I have studiously d eclined noticing their unprovoked attacks; believing that such exhibitions of mortified vanity w ould, in the eyes of all honorable men, sink them   not me. But your late Senator, not satisfied w ith d enouncing me f o m the rostrum, and through his o rgan the Observer & Reporter, as if exasperated by my forbearance in nnt r eplying to his p hilippic against me, has undertaken to rostrate me in the favor of the people, by publishing what may e termed "a book to write R. W icklirfe, J r. into a majority, and to destroy me p olitically f orever.'' Has the Observer & Reporter forgotten that his ungentleman-like attack upon the Hon. R . H A W E S was resented by almost this whole people? Defamation o f that elevated gentleman has caused one Wick/iffe to be ostracised! T his last attempt to defame me, though "a p olitician o f l ow degree," can harJK elevate another W . in the affections of the same people. This is not the first time that y our late Senator, losing the dignity w hich partisan warfare ever imposes upon c hivalric g entlemen, has volunteered to pour out his poisonous malevolence upon the head of his destined v ictim, regardless of truth and decency. H is calumnious letter upon A mos K e n dall, d rew from that gentleman a retort of such bitter irony, s cathing sarcasm, and damping truths, that a ll parties, moved to p ity, c ried spare h im, Junius!   though Gods and men acknowledged the justice of the punishment. T he dead have not escaped the prolonged wrath of this destroyer of men; a ll his insidious compliments heaped upon the v irtuous and patriotic Green, cannot make amends to his manes for this attempt to damn him in the minds of posterity, by branding him w ith the modern epithet of "Abolitionist." B reckinridge too, has been summoned from his e xile, and borne in chains to grace y our S enator's shameless triumph. Infatuated man, how dare y ou conjure up the ghosts of your departed victims? H o w tell us that this, and this, and this noble and gallant son of our beloved S tate, has been struck down in the piide of \ outh, and usefulness, and glorious hope, by thy red right hand? Though all should.ia

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s errow admit tho justice of the sentence, unhallowed shall be the name of the executioner i n the hearts of Kcntuckians forever!    F ellow-citizens, 1 am young   a stranger, as yet l ightly g rounded i n y our confidence, long since deprived of the advice and protection o f a father, I stand unaided a nil a lone: the odds are against m e. Were I that, c reeping thing w hich y our Senator w ould make me, I might indeed tremble at the stern array of power w ith w hich this old and numerous, and wealthy f amily n ow threaten m e. But when I reflect, I have ever trusted to the justice of my cause and the good of my country as the true foundations of a glorious l ife; w hen I remember that the waves of popular i ndignation have r olled o ver me, and that I stood firm t ill t heir delusion passed and I was again restored to the favor of the p eople;   when, above all, I look upon the men whom I represent r - t h e soil upon w hich I t read, this old Fayette, this "breeder of noble bloods"   shall I falter? " shall I be frightened when a madman stares?" N o ! " B y all the Gods, though it do split him. he shall digest the venom of his spleen!" R . W ickliffe begins bysaying that he stands before you "for t rial." W h o arraigned him? h imself! W h o prosecuted? himself! W h o advocated his .cause? himself! W h o was the judge? who the jury? himself!   and at last who was condemned? "The gentleman from M adison!!" W i l l not the public be astonished at such a conclusion? W i l l y our Senator stand acquitted in your judgment, when under the pretence o f defending h imself from   no one knows what    charged by " a clique"   no one knows whom   he accuses me by i nsinuation o f perjury; calls me the "orator of inquisitors," the enemy of L exington; a secret personal foe; an agitator without s pirit; a l iar s ystematically; an A bolitionist at heart;   in a word, the enemy of my country, regardless of the property and l ives o f the people! If I do not unharmed, h url back these poisoned w eapons, and fix their deadly points deep in the bosom of him w ho so impotently cast them, then let me stand condemned in the e stimation of all true men forever! " A n d on such declaration o r oath w as permitted to vote at the election of 1839, for members o f the Legislature in that c ounty." (Speech* page 5.) I have a lready explained to the people of Fayette the circumstances under w hich 1 v oted. Suffice it to say, that h aving property and furnished rooms i n both counties, and having paid my general tax i n M adison and my c ity and poll tax in the county of Fayette, I b elieved at the tjme that I w as entitled to vote in either county I m ight select. I made no "oath, or affirmation" about it, tho judges k nowing me personally and all the circumstances of my residence, r eceived my vote without a question being ashed or an objection made. A fterwards, when desired to represent this county, I examined the whole ground, and came to the same conclur s ion to w hich y ou did, men of Fayette, that I was eligible here. I f tfo  rp w a   fault, any where, it was not. the guilt of design, but
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the error of voting without that mature reflection w hich men as   p iring to office should never fail to entertain. M r . W icklifi'e c an o nly reach successfully the purity of my motives through the w ounded sensibilities of.the generous people of Fayette. I have i n p ublic p roved by Messrs. Cuitn and C U R L E that I t. W icklifi'e, i n the very beginning of the late canvass, made secret war on me; and y et he calls me an "inquisitor." Is it an unheard of thing for candidates to answer questions made to them through the papers by their constituents? Yet because I thought proper to a vow m y sentiments upon a measure of State interest, I am branded as an "agitator and abolitionist." S hould I have deprecated this great Senator's w rath as his son did that of the people, by silence and concealment? I am even upbraided for running at all \ A m I a slave or the son of a slave? Did not my fathers bleed that I might seek honor at the hands of the people, and not bow the supple hinges of .the knee at the foot of' the tyrant? Y c u r S enator contends that 1 laid a t rain for the defeat of his son. His i nsinuation that I brought up the slave question, directly or i ndirectly, is proven by the letter of John L y l e , E sq. to be' false and malicious. T hat I appointed the speaking at the court-house, (p. 3 0 ) Messrs. Cunningham and L amb c an shew was also untrue; i t w as o nly at the urgent s olicitation o f those gentlemen that 1 consented to speak at all. That I attacked the Senator in the c ourt-house,,or alluded to him in any manner whatever, as i ntimated, (p. 7,) the whole audience there present w ill bear witness w hen I pronounce it to be utterly untrue. T hat I acted in an under handed manner, or said or did any thing concerning himself or son, in the canvass, that was not said or done on the stump, my w hole life and character w ill disprove; and I defy the Senator to the proof. M r . W . accuses me of being the enemy of L exington. T hough a member from another county ,1 voted for every measure Fayette ever asked, save one. 1 was the friend o f her l iterary institutions, her banks, her rail-roads, her turnpikes. A s a p rivate c itizen o f M adison, I subscribed to the Lexington a nd R ichmond T urnpike R oad. M r . W icklifi'e, o f Fayette, to the Frankfort and Lexington R ail-Road. I paid my s tock; he forfeited his, for the purpose of preventing payment; and thus b etrayed his fellow s tockholders. I gave the road every right of w ay through my land; he spent the winter in the Senate, w hich he owed to the p ublic, i n c r r r / i n g o n a private war upon the same r oad, because the directors w ould not let him have " exclusive p rivileges" by passing their gates t oll free! W h o then, is the enemy o f L exington   /, or the Senator? Y our S enator, by reflecting that a ll-pervading selfishness for w hich he is so notorious, says, so l ong as it was to pass through Richmond, W inchester and Paris to C incinnati, leaving out Lexington, I w as for the road, but when L exington became the terminus, I was against i t. A l l K entucky lenows that Richmond and Winchester never w ere made points
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i n the road. The whole Legislature knows t hat! n ever did vote against the road when Lexington w as made a point. I v oted against all amendments making tiny points i n the road, and finally w hen Lexington was made a point, \ voted still for the charter, as the journals will show! W ith his characteristic l iberality he asserts that w hen I found it w ould not pass my ferry, I voted against the R ail-Road B ank; at that t ime, if even now, the route o f the road was not located. T he man who has so short a memory should a lways -stick to the truth. T hen he did me the honor to say that I was opposed to the bank, because Dr. W arfield, my father-in-law, held shares i n the Kentucky B anks! B ut I weary you w ith a refutation of these m yriad slanders and malicious lalsc-. hoods! I w ill assign now my own reasons for my own vote. I voted for the road in the first place, because the South asked the charter m rely, professing to be about to make the road herself. T w o years afterwards, when I was again in,the Legislature, they a sked us to give them during the general suspension, a n ew bank w ith immense capital, controlled by Sou/hern men entirely; by those who saw monstrous oppression and uncSnshtuli naliti/ i n a National Bank, but yet wished us Kentuckians, the friends of a g eneral bank, to give to them, a ptirt o f the empire, the powers w hich they denied to the u-hole of the people! T hey wanted all this, and yet t ell us in their official report, that " each State was e xpected'to make its own road in its own border.''' I w ould not pledge my State to such a preposterous scheme. M r . W . does me the honor of having defeated it. I saw not o nly embarrassment and insolvency by an irreme liable deb'; pro-Ira tion o f all o ur home improcefivnts; the destruction o f the sinking fund i n o ur own banks. - B ut I saw then, what the gentleman now confesses, a project for a firmer union of the Southern States, antinational m a ll its phases, leading in the nature o f things, to the    iestruction o f the Federal Govrnment, the palladium of all our rights and g lory. " Liberty and union now and forever, one and i nseparable," was my motto then as it ever w ill be. I n ow ask the people to read the book w hich the Senator published d uring the year 1838, upon the rail-road, and w hich he c irculated through my old Congressional district for the purpose of b reaking me down there, and also to read this book w hich he now puts forth against me here, and stand by me when I pronounce h im i n the face of the whole U nion, an advocate of perpetual slavery, a nutlifter o f the most dangerous die, ^.southern conventiunist, a reckless disunionisl! " But on the contrary conventions should be held by delegates from a ll ^the slave States and R ULES adopted for their general safety. Nothing w ould c ontribute so m uch to defeat the machinations of England against them, as to break down all restrictions made by particular States, and thereby to extend the slave population over the whole face of the t erritory o f each and every State where slavery exists." (Speech,

  
p. 19.) The constitution of the U nited States, art. 1, sec. 10, clause 2d, has "no State shall, w ithout the consent of Congress, enter into any agreement o r compact iciih another Stale." Y e t hear your leader of a new party! W hat are "rules" but "agreements a nd compacts" forbidden by the charter of our liberties. Is this not high treason ? W hat can it mean but that the union, the constitution, have no "safety" i n them; that we must look to new alliances and compact's and adopt new rules for protection? W hen these " R U L E S " for their general safety shall have been consummated, nothing w ill remain to be done on the part of the H otspurs of the South, but to "take up their hats and w alk out of C ongress, and the Union is dissolved." I tell the Senator   I t ell the people of "old Fayette"   I tell A mericans   I t ell the whole w orld, that against such a scheme K entucky stakes her life, h er i ortune, and her sacred honor! She stands by the U nion, the w hole U nion, and nothing but the U nion; her flag is nailed to the m ast; under its broad stripes and stars o f fire she w ill l ive and d ie! T here are two classes of fanatics in these States   one, the anti-slavery fanatics, the "abolitionists," the slave fanatics, the " disunionists." I n one class are those reckless spirits who, to free the slave, w ould violate the N ational C onstitution and plunge the c ountry into a c ivil w ar. The other class are those enemies of human l iberty and the progress of c ivilization, w ho w ould destroy the same ever glorious palladium of freedom and equal rights a mong men, to perpetuate eternal slavery! They are both the o utlaws of nations and the enemies of mankind! The N orth has her abolitionists   her Garrisons, her Tnppans; the South her "   disunionists"   her M cDuffies and her W 'icklilfes! F rom such m align influences may Heaven in mercy preserve my native l and! R . W ickliffe and his son-in-law, A . K . W oolley, i n 1833 voted for the "law p rohibiting the importation of slaves into this State." T hen a ll was w ell! I n 1837 the Senator becomes acquainted w ith S outhern gentlemen; he finds the South "complaining of K entucky about that l aw;" he is won over, and we of less plastic stuff, who hold on to this child of his paternity   ice are "abolitionists;" and he denies that he ever heard such a law! and the Judge "comes down from the sacred seat o f justice, casts from him the ermine of the Judge," enters u pon the Hustings and declares the same law unconstitutional! T o the proof: " i left the S enate without, I think, ever reading or hearing this b ill read, until the year 1835, for the first t ime," (p. 20.) N o w , in the S enate J ournal, 1 832-'3, "from the county of Fayette, R . W ickliffe," (p. 1.) Surely this must be the same m;m! A committee of c ourts of justice was a ppointed, "consisting of Messrs. W ickliffe," & c . (p 173.) Thus we find him chairman of that c ommittee, before whom this law ought, as a matter of course, to have lw  en l aid. ' O n motion of W m . O wsley l eave was granted to

  
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b ring i n a b ill to amend the l aw prohibiting the i mportafioii o f slaves into this State;" i n the same hour "a b ill was reported from the committee by M r . W ickliffe," (p. 2 0 6 . ) T he b ill was a gain " referred (p. 2 3 ) to a committee of the whole house for to-morrow.''' A n d f inally, the veas and n ays being required o n the final passage, stood "yeas', M essrs. B eatty,Bibb, & c . W I C K L I F F E "     2 3 . ( p. 1, s. 266.) Surely this must he the same man! Y et this same W ickliffe n ow says Green succeeded i n passing the b ill i n the l ower house "without the Senate's being apprised of its contents.''' N o w the t ruth is, the bill of the loioer housenever ivas passed, but the b ill o f the Senate was reported to the H ouse a nd passed. I n the journals o f the l ower house, 1 8 3 2 - ' 3 , y ou find " a b ill more effectually to p revent the i mportation o f slaves into this State," w as introduced b y " M r . Thruslon" (page 2 1 , H . R.) and afterwards laid on the table. T he b ill from the S enate, brought i n by W m . O wsley a nd v oted for by It. W ickliffe, w as reported to the H ouse and passed   "yeas M essrs. S peaker, & c , W O O L L E Y     5 6 . " (p. H . R . 31,) a nd not voted for by R. Breckinridge at a ll! Y et l isten to this man "who has t oo'long l oved y ou:" " I have n o t o nly s hown you that its object and effect is e mancipation, but that the publications o f both Mr. Green a nd Mr. Breckinridge, the authors o f the act, n ail the present agitators" (Wickliffe and Woolley?) " to the c ounter," (p. 3 5.) Is it not most charitable to forget the v ictim o f Amos KenaalPs letter and c all this deluded m an a Fanatic? S o far as M r . W ickliffe a nd m yself are p ersonally c oncerned, I might rest this controversy here. Had he have permitted the w armth e licited by an animated canvass to have passed a way b y time, and had not attempted to r uin me in print, I should riot have been forced in self-defence to perpetuate those evidences o f his reckless malice. B ut a great measure o f S tate depends; I p roceed to the m ain question. In 1790 there w ere 6 6 0 , 0 0 0 slaves and 1 ,250,000 whites i n the slave States, being 1 9 0 whites to 1 0 0 b lacks. I n 1 8 3 0 , the last census, there were 3 , 7 6 0 , 0 0 0 whites to 2 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 b lacks, as 186 to 100. N o w i n K entucky, i n 1 790, there were 6 1 , 2 4 7 w hites to 12.430 slaves: i n 1 8 3 0 5 2 3 , 4 9 4 whites to 1 6 5 , 3 5 9 b lacks. Thus w hile i n the w hole slave States there was in 4 0 \ ears o nly a s mall increase o f the blacks upon the whites, r ising from 100 to V86 instead o f 1 9 0 , i n K entucky i n the same 40 y ears, there w as the appalling decrease of from 5 whites to 1 b lack, to'3 1-6 whites to 1 b lack, o nly; and in less than 4 0 years more the blacks w ould have out-numbered the w hites!! I n v iew o f these facts the l aw w as passed, more effectually to "prevent, the importation o f slaves i nto this State." The effect was as a nticipated, and it has ' rolled back the tide o f b lack population w hich, l ike a l ava flood, threatened sudden i uin to our beloved K entucky. Y our S enator admits that 60,000 b lacks* have been sent out of the S tate: a nd
   50,000 slaves carried out of the State, as Mr. W admits, at a fair averigs of' " S00 a piece, make a return in coin to our Plate of StR.000,000 in the last seven >

  
from the best evidence 1 h ave, the w hites are, instead o f 3 1-6 t   1. as in 1833, n ow 44 to 1 b lack, s hewing a v ery great decrease i n the slave p opulation i n seven y ears, under this wholesome l aw. T o n othing more than this l aw do I attribute the s olvency of our State,, w hen compared w ith M ississippi and L ouisiana, to w hom w e sold our slaves for the precious m etals. A n d from the w hole S outh our returns were made in m oney instead o f v icious s laves. R ead for y ourselves the C onstitution and this so m uch misrepresented l a w :
C O N S T I T U T I O N OF K E N T U C K Y . A R T . 7.    Concerning Slaves. S KC. 1. The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their owners, or without paying their owners previous to such emancipation, a full equivalent in money for the slaves so emancipated. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to this State from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the U . States, so Jong as any person of the same age or description shall be continued in slavery by the laws of this State. They shall pass laws to permit the owners of slaves to emancipate! them, saving the rights of creditors rind preventing them from becoming a charge to any county in this commonwealth'.    They shall have full power to prevent slaves being br ught into this Suite as merchandise. They shall have full power to prevent any stives being brought irrto this State from a foreign country, and to pre', ent those from being brought into this State who have been since the first day of January, 1 789, or may hereafter be imported into any of the U nited States from a foreign country. And they' shall have full power to pass such laws as may be necessary to Oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity; to provide for their necessary clothing and provision; to abstain from all injuries to them, extending to life or limb, and in case of their neglect or refusal to comply with the directions of such laws, to have such slave or slaves sold for the benefit of their owner or owners. 1833.   In force from its passage. A N A C T to amend the law prohibiting the importation of slaves into this State. Approved F eb. 2d, 1833     Session acts, p. 258. S EC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That each and every person or persons who shall hereafter import into this State any slave or slaves, or who shall sell or buy or contract for the sale or purchase for a longer term than one year, of the servico of any such slave or slaves, knowing the same to have been imported as aforesaid, he, she orihey so offending, shall forfeit and pay six hundred dollars for each slave so imported, sold or bought, or whose service has been so contracted for, recoverable by indictment of a Grand J ury, or an action of debt in the name of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, in any Circuit Court of the county .vhere the. offender or offenders may be found: Provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be CDnstrued to authorise a recovery of tho aforesaid penalty from any emigrant or emigrants to this State fur or onaceount of his, her or their having brought with them any' person or persons deemed slaves by the laws of any one of tho United States, if such emigrant or emigrants shall, within sixty days after his, lior or their arrival into this State, have taken before some Justice of the Peace the following'oath or affirmation, to-wit: I, -    , do solemnly swear (or affirm) that my removal to the State of K entucky was with intention of becoming a citizen thereof, and that I have brought with me no slave or slaves with intention of selling them   so help God;" and shall also within thirty days after taking such oath, have had the same recorded in the office of IheClerk of the count}- court of the county in which tho oath ot affirmation was taken. Nor shall

years. W ill any fine assert that this amount of money has had no influence upon the. present solvency.'of our State?

  
1   any thing herein contained authorise a recovery of the penalty aforesaid against any person orpersons fororon accountof his, her or their having imported into this . State any slave or slaves, provided he, she or they prove on the trial to the satisfaction of the jury that he, she or they were travellers or sojourners, making only a transient stay in this State, and brought such slave or slaves for the purpose of again carrying them out of the State. S EC. 2. Be it enaclcd, T hat this act shall not be construed to extend to any person or persons who are residents of this State, and who derive title to such slave or slaves by will, descent, distribution or marriage, or gift in consideration of marriage. S EC. 3. Relates to mode of enforcing. S ic. 4. The duty of the attorney. S E C 5. Be it further enacted, T hat it shall not be construed an importation within the meaning of this act, for the ownerorownc.rsafterhe, sheorthey may have hired their slave or slaves to any person or persons out of this State, to bring such slave or slaves to this State, if such owner or owners bo citizens of this State, and have in their possession in this State such slave or slaves at the time of the hire. S EC. 6. Relates to the mode of proceeding. Sec. 7 & 8 to the same, and repealing clause.

N o w , I t oo, am w illing to leave it to any sensible farmer, l awyer o r mechanic, if this law is not as conformable to the C onstitution as human language can make it. I omit the argument that the negation o f power in the first clause by special exception, yields i t in all other cases. T he C onstitution says emigrants s hall n ot be prohibited from b ringing slaves into this State, so l ong as the same shall be held i n this State. N o w , if slaves were l iberated here, evidently the Legislature w ould have power to'prevent them from b eing brought from abroad to this State in all cases w ithout e xception. Of course then, the o nly limits upon the prohibition a broad, is the extent of the p rohibition upon our own c itizens; so as in the language of the U nited States Constitution, "the citizens of each State may be entitled to all the privileges of the several States." But "emigrants" by our State C onstitution, shall not bo prohibited from b ringing slaves w ith t hem; neither does the law p rohibit them. M r . W ickliffe w ould make you believe that the oath is a v iolation o f the Constitution and a prohibition. M ost monstrous doctrine! The oath o r affirmation m erely ascertains the motive or intent of the emigrant, and does not extend to the act at a ll. It is a p olice arrangement merely to distinguish b etween the importer of slaves as merchandise and the bona fide

  
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emigrant. Government cannot, l ike O mnipotence, act without m eans; there must be modes of procedure to carry out all laws. F o r i nstance, morally speaking, the creditor has a right to his debt at the moment it is due, and by the Constitution "the obligations of contracts shall not be impaired;" yet replevin laws defer the collections for months; and even without them, it requires t ime for the execution, sale, and paying over the money. So this oath or affirmation is incidental and necessary i n carrying out the spirit and letter of the Constitution and laws. So much for emigrants or persons w ho emigrate to pur S tate as citizens. Next, w hat constitutes making merchandise o f slaves   whenever money or an equivalent is paid for a slave   when there is bargain and sale, then is. the domestic slave-trade carried on, and the slave is made merchandise; w hich by the law is forbidden, and by the C onstitution a llowed to be forbidden. I defy any man to set down and write a plainer g rant of power! But a llow, for argument's sake, that b uying a slave in South C arolina and bringing him home for "one's o wn use," is not "?nerchandise" i n the meaning of the Constitution, and the Legislature yet in its wisdom thinks p roper to forbid it   is there a ny thing in the Constitution to deny the power? I say there is not. W e have all power upon the subject   to which the Constitution looks when it says, "so long as a ny person of the same age or description shall be continued in s lavery by the laws of this S tate," clad no longer. B y all the p rinciples o f logic and common sense, w hatever can be predicated of the whole, c an also be said of the p art; the greater c omprehends the less. If by denying her citizens the entire power o ver slaves, Kentucky can prevent the importation of slaves in all cases altogether, a fortiori (much more.) can they prevent emigrants from importing slaves to sell, so long as she does not v iolate the Constitution of the United S tates b y permitting her citizens to import to sell, w hile denying the "same p rivileges" to the other States? T he law then, under the S tate C onstitution and the U . S . Constitution, is plainly allowed. It is framed with great c are   allows the admission of slaves in all cases e xcept when purchase is made, and except where fraud m ay be committed w ith i mpunity. Hence a father by will m ay give his son a slave, y et not by gift   hence a father-in-law in consideration of marriage, m ay give the son-in-law a slave; because a m an neither dies n or marries to commit fraud   neither could he do these things but once. B ut were the father l iving in V irginia a llowed to give to the son in Kentucky, he might give 100,000 slaves a y ear, and thus the domestic slave-trade be carried On with impunity. I f the S tate C onstitution grants the power of the law, does the Constitution of the United States forbid it? I answer, that the Constitution of tho United States has no control over the subject of slavery. Slavery is peculiar; it differs from all other property: it partakes o f the attributes o f citizenship; i t is the foun-

  
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elation o f representation': slaves have rights independent of the master; they are in many cases i n law regarded as persons and not property. T he States w ere jealous upon this subjeot, and d enied a ll power to Congress over slaves except when special m ention w as made of them in the grant or denial. I defy M r , W . to shew any power in Congress to license or forbid the slave trade between the States: if there is, they can force them upon O hio a nd N . Y ork as w ell as upon K entucky. T hat each State for itself has the sole control over this subject, I shall e ver contend: the opposite doctrine places the whole slave population in the hands of Congress, and in the power of the Abolitionists!    Is that the doctrine for w hich M r . W . contends? The o nly clause i n the Constitution w hich c an be tortured into any bearing upon this law, is, "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the p rivileges o f the several States." (Art. 4, sec. 2.) In as much t hen, as we don't permit   ur own citizens to import slaves, the S outh c annot complain that w e do not permit her to import slaves i nto our State. M r . W . ' s idea that w e can't prevent emigrants from b ringing slaves here for sale, is fully a nswered by the above r easoning. T o suppose that an emigrant, under the U nited States C onstitution c ould b ring in slaves for sale when our citizens clearl y c annot, w ould be g iving to emigrants what we denied to ourselves, w hich is absurd! A w a y t hen, w ith a ll this special pleading about the unconstitutionality of the l a w : the grant of power is as palpable to the understanding as to the eye arc the green leaves u pon the trees o r the bright sun in the Heavens. I cannot go o ver a ll M r . W."s ground in construing this law; his positions are too evidently untenable, and his arguments too flimsy to need any t hing but the mere statement o f the facts. He says, emigrants c oming i nto our State are forced to take the oath, whether they i ntend to become citizens or not. Not so. Persons coming here from other States w ith slaves, not intending to become citizens, c an stay as l ong as they please, and go when they please, and take t heir slaves, without v iolating the law or incurring its penalties. T hey are "sojourners''' i n the language of the law, and not "emigrants." C onsequently, all aliens, denizens, sojourners, travellers, steam-boat captains, students of law, Southerners r esiding here for health, amusement, or instruction of their children, are not and cannot lie affected in any manner by this l a w ; they may bring their slaves and keep and carry them out tcitli impunity, M r . W . ' s say so to the contrary, notwithstanding! S o madly bent is M r . W . upon misconstruing this law, for the purpose of deceiving the people, that he asserts that a person takiug his slave to Ohio o r N . Y o r k , a nd returning w ith him again to his home in K entucky, w ould be "importing" in the meaning of the l a w . So absurd is this doctrine, that e ven the conscientious Judge W oolley admitted in his instructions to the Grand Jury on M onday l as', that i t was not "importing." "Because import

  
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means to translate from a. foreign country or from one State to OH? other, (see lexicographers.) and as the slave is regarded in law as a ppertaining to t hedomicil o f the master, no matter in what country he may be, he is s till i n the eye of the law in K entucky." I g ive the substance of the argument. If that be the true construction, o f w hich I have no doubt, then a I\ cntuckian planting in M ississippi w ith slaves under his personal inspection or that o f his overseer, can bring them back to K entucky w