was charged with no crime, his confinement was a violation of the commercial convention with Great Britain. Colonel Hunt, besides arguing the question on general grounds, to which we shall shortly advert, called in question the jurisdiction of the Court, maintaining that as the State was a party, the case was not before the proper tribunal. The case proceeded, and the decision of the Judge, which is quoted as authority in the message of the Governor of Massachusetts now before us, was unquestionably against the constitutionality of the law. This decision of the Federal Judge, however, was not acquiesced in by the State of South-Carolina, and made no change in her legislation in respect to free negroes and persons of color. In pursuance of the policy she had previously adopted, and with a view to convince the Federal Government, the Federal Courts, and all foreign States and nations, that she was not disposed to recede in the least from the position she had taken,-convinced, as she was, both of its justice and necessity,-she availed herself again of the first opportunity that presented itself to enforce the law, and one occurring about a year afterwards, upon the arrival at Charleston of the British ship Marmion, from Liverpool, four colored seamen, belonging to that ship, were promptly arrested and detained in prison till the departure of the vessel, when they were released, upon the commander's paying, according to the terms of the act, the expenses of their detention. On this occasion, the commander, Petric, addressed a letter to the President of the British Board of Trade, setting forth the circumstances of the case, which he represented as a grievance, and the intelligence having been communicated formally by the British Secretary of State to Mr. Addington at Washington, the latter addressed a communication to Mr. Madison, President of the United States, in which he enters very fully into the details of the case of the Marmion, refers to the previous case, which had been the subject of complaint and remonstrance,-asserts that the law of South-Carolina, and the acts done under it, were direct and unqualified violations of the faith of treaties entered into between the United States and Great Britain and other friendly nations, and insists, in very pressing terms, on a repeal of the act. The constitutionality of the obnoxious law being submitted to Mr. Wirt, the Attorney General of the United States, he gave his opinion against it, on the ground, that it was a regulation of commerce by the State of

South-Carolina, in violation of that clause in the Constitution which confers on Congress, in certain cases, exclusive jurisdiction over that subject. These several papers, together with a letter from the Secretary of State, the Hon. John Quincy Adams, conveying, on the part of the President, a hope that the inconvenience complained of would be remedied, were transmitted to the Governor of South-Carolina, the Hon. John L. Wilson, and by him communicated to the Legislature, then in session, with a message accompanying. In his message, Governor Wilson says:

"The reflection which I have given this matter, brings my mind to the conclusion, that South-Carolina has the right to interdict the entrance of such persons into her ports, whose organization of mind, habits and associations render them peculiarly calculated to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the State, in the same manner as she can prohibit those afflicted with infectious disease, to touch her shores. The law of self-preservation derives its authority from a higher source than any municipal or international law, and it should be the first policy of government to prevent, if possible, such encroachments as eventually would lead to the injury and destruction of all the citizen holds most dear. This necessity of self-preservation is alone to be determined by the power to be preserved; it therefore rests with those whose rights are to be affected, to judge how long such laws shall exist, as were enacted for the peace and security of the community."

In a subsequent message of Governor Wilson to the Legislature, during the same session, occurs the following memorable and eloquent passage touching this subject:

"There should be a spirit of concert and of action among the slaveholding States, and a determined resistance to any violation of their local institutions. The crisis seems to have arrived, when we are called upon to protect ourselves. The President of the United States and his law adviser, so far from resisting the efforts of foreign ministry, appear to be disposed, by an argument drawn from the overwhelming powers of the General Government, to make us the passive instruments of a policy at war not only with our interests, but destructive also of our national existence. The evils of slavery have been visited upon us by the cupidity of those who are now the champions of universal emancipation. To resist, at the threshold, every invasion of our domestic tranquillity, and to preserve our independence as a State, is strongly recommended; and if an appeal to the first principles of the right of self-government is disregarded, and reasons be successfully combatted by sophistry and error, there would be more glory in forming a rampart with our bodies on the confines of our territory, than to be the victims of a successful rebellion, or the slaves of a great consolidated government."

In this message, Gov. Wilson also pointedly called the attention of the Legislature to the fact, that the British government, in its own legislation, had distinctly recognized the principle contended for by the State of South-Carolina. In December, 1778, the Roman Catholics made a protestation of their principles, on which occasion Parliament framed an oath to be taken by that body of men, excluding them from the country, under the severest penalties, provided they did not take the oath. The right of Parliament to make this enactment having been referred to the Solicitor General, that officer gave the following opinion:

"A State or Constitution has the rights of self-defence, as well as an individual; and it is competent to each community, to make such regulations and stipulate such conditions as appear, on their best consideration, to produce the greatest good, and to avert the most evil from society. For no man has a right to remain in, and be protected by the laws of, any community, that is plotting its destruction. On this simple and plain ground, I think every Legislature ought to proceed; and I trust it will be thought neither injurious to the civil rights, nor offensive to the consciences of peaceable Catholics, to comply with it. Pretending to no subtle casuistry, I cannot see how any man who can take the oath of 1778, can rationally object to the proposed oath."

This opinion of the Solicitor General, given in December, 1791, was confirmed by Mr. Charles Butler, the learned commentator on Coke upon Littleton, and Governor Wilson, in presenting this authority to the Legislature, as indicating the settled policy of Great Britain in respect to her own Catholic subjects, very pertinently insisted, that the same principle applied with still greater force to the case of persons, who might reasonably be suspected, from a repeated knowledge of past facts, to be the secret emissaries of insurrection among the slave population of the South; and that Great Britain was bound to recognize the justice and force of the same principles, when acted upon by South-Carolina, under circumstances of still greater urgency.*

That South-Carolina was right in passing the law in question, was, we learn, a short time afterwards, acknowledged by Great Britain herself; for Mr. Canning, then Prime Minister, having been interrogated as to whether the government intended to prosecute still further the South-Carolina matter, arose in his place, and in substance said, "That the law complained of was a local and municipal regulation of South-Carolina, essential to her own protection, with which the government of Great Britain would not interfere." And no notice has since been taken of the matter by the British government, although arrests, under the law, of colored British seamen, coming into the port of Charleston, have frequently taken place, from that time down to the present. 35

VOL. VII.-NO. 14.

In accordance with the recommendations of his Excellency, the Governor, the following spirited resolutions were introduced into the Senate by the late Dr. John Ramsay, on the 8th December, 1824, and, being taken up in committee of the whole, were, after an animated debate, adopted, with some slight alterations, by that body:

"Resolved, That the State of South-Carolina is desirous of complying with any measure necessary to promote harmony between this State and the government of the United States and foreign nations, and will cheerfully comply in all cases which do not involve a surrender of the safety and inherent rights of the State.

"Resolved, That the Legislature of this State has carefully considered the documents transmitted by the President of the United States, being a correspondence with the British Minister relative to a law passed December, 1822, regulating free negroes and persons of color, and can yet perceive no departure from the duties and rights of this State, or of the United States, in that law.

"Resolved, That the Legislature sees, with profound regret, the alarming symptoms of an unconstitutional interference with her colored population, whose condition, as it existed at the establishment of the present Constitution of the United States, is expressly recognized (paragraph 3 of sec. 2 of Art. 1,) and distinctly guaranteed by

that instrument.

"Resolved, That it is as much the duty of the State to guard against insubordination or insurrection among our colored population, or to control and regulate any cause which might excite or produce it, as to guard against any other evil, political or physical, which might assail us. This duty is paramount to all laws, all treaties, all constitutions. It arises from the supreme and paramount law of nature, the law of self-preservation, and will never by this State be renounced, compromised, controlled or participated by any power whatever.

"Resolved, That this Legislature sees, with surprise, that the attention of the British Minister was not directed to the numerous acts which have been passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, within the last twenty years, for the expulsion of aliens, and for the repeal of the Habeas Corpus act, founded on the suspicion that foreigners were interfering with the domestic tranquillity of the country, and justified in Great Britain by the very law of self-preservation to which we now appeal.

"Resolved, therefore, That the Legislature of South-Carolina protests against any claims of right of the United States, to interfere in any manner whatever with the domestic regulations and preservatory measures in respect to that part of her property which forms the colored population of the State, and which property they will not permit to be meddled with or tampered with, or in any manner ordered, regulated or controlled, by any other power, foreign or domestic, than this Legislature."

These strong and dignified resolutions indicate, that up to

that point of time, there was no doubt, hesitation or wavering on the part of the State,-that she had taken her position firmly, and was resolved, at every hazard, to maintain it. The subject was daily assuming a deeper interest. It was admitted, on all hands, that since the formation of the government, a graver question than that made by the correspondence published between the United States and the British government, and the communication of it to the Executive of this State, had not agitated the Union. The public sentiment of the State was every where with the Legislature. The subject was freely and fully discussed in all circles, and a stern determination felt and expressed to defend the rights of the State against all unjust claims,-to resist every species of foreign aggression upon them,--and to pursue steadfastly the policy which she, in her wisdom, had adopted, un awed by, and regardless of, the attempted encroachments of Federal power. The Southern States generally sympathized with South-Carolina on this occasion, and were disposed to make common cause with her. The question was regarded as a Southern question,-one of vital importance to the South, one in which the non-slaveholding were arrayed against the slaveholding States of the Union, and, as has been the case in most controversies between the North and the South, the latter insisting on the compromises of the Constitution, and struggling for the inherent rights of the States, and the former being less reluctant and even predisposed, as it would seem, to disturb those compromises aud to enlarge the powers of the Federal government. That, thenceforward, there might be no pretence of a claim on the part of the United States to interfere in this matter, the State of Georgia passed Resolutions, at this time, proposing the following amendment of the Constitution, to be submitted to the Legislatures of the several States,-viz:

"That no part of the Constitution of the United States ought to be construed to authorize the importation or ingress of any person of color into any one of the United States, contrary to the laws of such State."

What action was taken on this subject by the Legislatures of other States we do not know, but South-Carolina passed a resolution, in which she expressed her readiness to concur in the application of Georgia, though, at the same time, her chief executive officer stated his conviction, that the