Georgia telegraph. (Macon, Ga.) 1844-1858, July 13, 1858, Image 2

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ly recur to your charge that Mr. Rutledge, in ac cepting the proviso to Mr. Madison 8 amendment, aeted inconsistently with his previous declaration, that he would never consent to put it in the power of hostile States, to disturb Slavery and the Slave Trade, and that my argument is suicidal in citing Constitution gave power to Congress to prohi-1 &s cv ;d 0nc e that he did not hold Congress had hit the Slave Trade. But in your last, you deny I an y p 0wer to abolish the Slave Trade, without an you said they had the power to declare the Trade I am(; ndment of the Constitution THE GEORGIA TELEGRAPH. For the Telegraph The Slave Trade. Mr. Cusnv.—In your reply to my first, youst.id tires. Thev had been overborne by Abolition mem bers, and not supported at home with the proper piracy. You further *ay, you find the clause in I y ou w ;u rcm ark that the proviso did not cover the Constitution giving power to Congress to pro- tho g) are Trac]0j ; t on]j for bid stopping import* hlblt the Slave Trade, where Madison and <mr? I tions leaving the foreign Trade in Slaves aa before body else found it, until two years ago! | Madison’s amendments, to which the proviso was at- tached, put it in the power of the Northern States bv a three-fourths vote, to change the Constitution and abolish Slavery and the Slave Trado any time, in spite of Georgia and South Carolina, the only I Southern States in the Union, for North Carolina have been still more obliged, if you had told where Madison found that clause, for he could never tell, though repeatedly pressed to the wall as violating tho Constitution. And further, I concede that if Congress lias po a ■ er to prohibit the Slave Trade, they, ns a matter of/refgsc,] t0 CO nic into the Union. Mr. Rutledge course, have the power to declare it piracy, or l 3 ' I saw an Q appreciated his helpless position, and with filet any other necessary penalty to render the I consumma t e ability he met the emergency, he ac- prohibition effectual. As to all other* agrecii g I C cpted the amendment with the proviso, for it gave with Madison, that the Constitution gave Congress I the South a probation of twenty years, in which the power in question, I deny tJiat any Statesman, I time, with their vast Western Territory, out of South of Virginia, either in ‘ ho Federal Conven- wllic j 110 malje new g tate8> an d with the probable tion, or in the Congress that passed the anti-SLu e a ; d 0 f Maryland and Delaware, North Carolina Trade laws, ever agreed that tho Constitution con- joining them, they could prevent any change of ferrod anv such power; but on the contrary, ut-1 t i ic Constitution after 1808. Their anticipations •terly denied there was any such power confcrrec; wcrc rca v lzC( ] i and at that period the South had it and from that time to this, no two Jurists, nor Jn j, er power to hold Madison's amendment and Statesmen holding to the power, have agreed as to prov j so j n a nd harmless, and they would irbat part of the Constitution concedes it. Judge j laTC forever retained that power, had it not been Story, in the case of “The St. Lewis,” found it in f or t jj 0 unconstitutioual “ Wilmot Proviso*” after- the law of nations, that the trade in slaves being ward appplied to the Territories, of which heresy contrary to that code, CoDgress bad the right lo y ir g; n ; a ; st {, c mother. take cognizance of, and control it. The Suprem e Court of the United States afterward repudiated that notion, and adjudged the trado was sanctioned by the law of nations. Chancellor Kent found it in the prohibition forbiding stopping the import; i- tion before 1808; but this was so manifestly alt- surd, no one of any repute has followed him sine; There are certain important facts in History you seem to have forgotten, or entirely overlooked in your replies to my communications. First, that nt tho formation of tho Constitution, tho States and Territories South of Virginia, were designated ts Where, then, was the inconsistency of Mr. Rut ledge, or the suicide of my argument ? He had checkmated the Abolitionists, and they saw it af ter it was too late; he had tied the Gordian Knot ( which they could not untie, so they commenced to cut it, at the very next session of Congress.— What they could not do legally, they commenced to do by violence. Let us now trace tho history of this illegal violence, and see whether the South consented that it was constitutional for Congress to prohibit the Slave Trade; keeping in view the fact “the South,” or Southern States, and all North of that tho P rovis0 onl 7 a PP ,ied t0 the importation of .. I clnr-nn inf a tli a TTnit«/1 Ctotne nml nnt f a tlm T n.) .1A North Carolina, tho Northern States. Secondly, that Jefferson, Madison, and most of the leading politicians of Virginia, were rank Abolitionists.-' That tho first Abolition Societies in America, were in Virginia. That Jefferson put his hostile sent ment into his “Notes on Virginia.” That in his first draft of the Declaration of Independence, his denunciations of negro Slavery were too violent for the New England Delegates, and they struct it out. But ho succeeded in smuggling into that instrument, the wicked lie, that God created a I men free and equal! a fallacy contradicted by a I History and doily experience, and expressly deniei by God himself in His Word. Madison was but % protege and humble disciple of Jefferson. It is true that subsequent reflection, and maturer judg ment greatly modified their opinions, and wholly changed their action. The results of the Frenc’i Revolution,—the brutish capacity aud savageisn of Africans, as manifested in St. Domingo, fright ened Jefferson and his infidel followers into better sense, and Virginia Abolition Societies died out; and no more Delegates from Virginia attended the Quaker Abolition Societies in Philadelphia; and their once loved gabble got to sound to Jefferson, “like a Fire Bell at midnight!” Keeping these Historical facts in view, we can the better under stand the Journals of the Convention that framed the Constitution, and Journals and debates of the first Sessions of Congress, that passed the anti slaves into the United States, anil not to the Trade generally. At the first session of Congress, 1789, Parker, from Virginia, started the subject, and proposed a heavy tax, and declaring slavery was contrary to Revolutionary principles and regretted they could not abolish tho trade altogether. Jackson, from Georgia, was not surprised at the quarter whence the movement came. Virginia had a full supply of slaves. Sherman, of Connecticut, begged Parker to withdraw the motion, as it was creating great excitement among the Southern members. Park er protested he would not, and hoped Congress would exercise all their power to restore to human nature its Inherent right, and wipe away the foul reproach of Slavery resting on our national char acter. Madison supported him in an elaborate Abolition apooeb. Finally the ruVjcct iras laid over to Die next Session of 1790, when the war was renewed never to cease afterwards. A peti tion from an Abolition Qcaker Society was present ed, praying Congress “to enquire if they had not power to abolish tbe Slave Trade, and they had no doubt the enquiry would result in measures of jus tice and mercy.” This fire-brand, Hartly moved to refer to a Special Committee. This was opposed with great zeal, by all the- Southern members, and they told the Quaker petitioners in the galleries as spectators of the strife, that the Southern people wanted no lectures on morality, from men who had Slave Trade laws. Nothing but the great men of been notorious Tories, through the whole war of South Carolina and Georgia saved the South from the most pernicious measures. With zeal and a- bility never surpassed, they staid the Abolition flood that threatened to sweep away all the safe guards of the Constitution from the Southern peo ple. They could not prevent tbe grant of power to so change the Constitution as to abolish both Slavery and the Slave Trade after 1808, but they distinctly warned their opponents that any such interference would drive South Carolina and Geor gia out of the Confederacy. They felt, however, measurably secure, seeing that the Mississippi was our Western limit, and by the compact of Session, but five States could be made North-West of the Ohio. No one can read the Journals of the Con vention and the debates of Congress immediately following, and not perceive that the Delegates from South Carolina and Georgia never believed the power was given to Congress to prohibit the Slave Trade. There can be no doubt, had the power been given in express terms, those two States would have seceded from the Convention, and joined North Carolina then already out of the Union. The Convention knew and felt this dan ger; they made no secret*of their fears, of tempt ing those three States to form a separate Empire, more than double the size of any in Europe, ex cept Russia, stretching from Kentucky to Florida, and from the Western line of Virginia to the Mis sissippi. All the Compromises of the Constitution touching Slavery, are due to South Carolina and Georgia. So early as 177-1, a Convention of Dele gates of the people of Virginia resolved to stop the Slave Trade. And Jefferson and his follower, after the State Government was formed, tried to get a law passed abolishing Slavery prospectively. And Madison, in the very first Congress after t ie Constitution was adopted, suggested the prohibit ing Slavery in all tho Territories, nis words were: “Though Congress are restricted by the Consum mation, from immediately abolishing the Slave • Trade, yet there are a variety of ways by which ‘ they may countenance the abolition of that Traf- • fi c ; They may, for example, respecting the iidro- 1 d action of slaves into the new States, to be foim- • cd out cf the Western Territories, make regi la- • tions such as are beyond their power in rclat.on «to the old settled States; an object which I th nk ' well worthy of consideration!” So that if Mi.di- son had then had it in his power, lie would h ive made Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Missis sippi non-slaveholding States. In the next place, in every debate and always, tho opponents of Slavery and the Slave Trade, placed their opposition solely on the ground that both were equally morally wrong, and contrary to natural justice; neither Jefferson nor Madison as sumed any other ground. No one thought of drawing a distinction between the morality of hold ing slaves, and trading in slaves; if one were sin ful, both were. It was generally admitted -.hat the Trade could be got rid of sooner than slave- holding, but that a moral obligation rested upon all to get rid of both. We heard no such miser able nonsense, as that it is sinful for a Sea Captain to buy a slave out of the hands of Cannibals, but quite innocent for Cotton Planters to buy them of Christians, so as to make money out of them! A word as to great names as authority in Con stitutional questions. Abolition in Virginia, in ear ly times, led Congress and the country into many heresies, and the history of Federal Legislation proves that Congress is, and always has been the very worst and most dangerous school of Consti tutional expounders. The Congress immediately succeeding tho Constitution, passed many laws most dangerous to Liberty; among the rest, a law punishing any one by fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the Federal Judges, who should speak or write against the Government! and an other conferring on the President the power to arrest, and send out of the country, without trial, nay foreigner at his discretion. The Emperor Na poleon has gone no further. As to Mr. Calhoun, our political history, for forty years passed, shows him to have been at times the advocate of every political heresy ever started in the United States,— Rank, Tariff, Internal Improvement, Wilmot Fro- \ iso, and all. Nay, worse, he was a member of the Cabinet in 1820. The President required of the Cabinet a written opinion whether Congress had the Constitutional power to prohibit Slavery in the Territories, as lie had his doubts, and would not sanction the Missouri Compromise Bill without their approbation. The Cabinet, Mr. Calhoun among them, gave a written and decided opinion, that Congress had such power. Let me now brief- the Revolution. Madison and his Abolition crew came to the defence of tue Quakers end Hartiv’s motion. Scott, an eminent lawyer from Pennsyl vania, and one of Madison’s coadjutors, declared Slavery and the Slave Trade were equally abomi nable, and contrary to the principles of humanity and the laws of nature, and therefore within the power of Congress. All the members from Geor gia and South Carolina denounced the reference of the petition, for asking what Congress had no pow er to grant. Baldwin, of Georgia, declared Con gress had no more power to prohibit the Slave Trade, than to establish an order of Nobility, or a national Religion, and that the Quakers may ask as well for the one as the other. Madison again came to the rescue, and contended if there were no express powers, yet Congress could kill off the Trade by the exercise of implied powers. The South was over-borne by numbers, and the refer ence carried. The Committee consisted of a mem ber from every State but Carolina and Georgia.— After a month’s delay they reported seven Resolu tions, which gave visa to a debate of unsurpassed ability. But as the ulh is germain to this discus sion, the others need uot be given. This 5th, “Re solved, That Congress had authority to interdict or regulate the African Slave Trade, so far as it might be carried on by citizens of the United States for the supply of foreign countries.' On the motion to adopt this Report, Madison and his anti-slavery forces for, and the able men from South Carolina and Georgia against the mo tion, put forth all their great powers. Nothing new has been added by Boston Aboiuiomnt®, gainst slavery, to the showing by Madison’s forces, and no better defence of it has been made since the arguments of Jackson, Baldwin, Smith, Burke, and Tucker in those debates. And they complain ed bitterly that they and their constituents had been dragged to the Bar of the House and the world, by a band of Quaker Abolitionists, to de fend both their reputation and property against an unconstitutional exercise of power. They showed tho absurdity and injustice of thus following our citizens out of the jurisdiction of the United States, and then and there outlawing them while in the pursuit of a lawful Trade in foreign countries, and under foreign protection, and they contended it was a breach of the compromise of the Constitu tion. They pressed Madison so to the wall on the Constitution, that Scott had to come to the rescue, lie said, as to any understanding, or compromise in the Convention, that Slavery was not to be dis turbed, “he hoped there was no such trafficking," (t)iesc were bis words,) but if there was, he nor nobody else were bound by it,—ho should take the Constitution os it reads, and ho made out the pow ers of Congress, thus: 1st. By the law of nations all governments may prohibit tho introduction of hostile emigrants, or those infected with the plague. Slavery was worse than the plague. 2d. Congress has power to regulate Trade, ergo they may de stroy it. 3d. Congress has power to pass natural ization laws, ergo they may declare all blacks and whites free citizens, on treading our soil. 4th. Congress has power to define and punish piracies and felonies on the high Seas, ergo it has power to do it on the coast of Africa. Although these wcrc the best reasons offered for exercise of the power, they are so manifestly ab surd, that it was easy for tbe able lawyers from So. Carolina nnd Georgia to confute them, and Gov. Jackson complimented Scott upon liis candor, in admitting that the Resolution covered the whole subject of slavery, that there was no half-way ground; if tho one could not be defended, neither could the other,—if one was wrong, both were, and that those who tried to draw a distinction, were committing a fraud upon the Southern peo ple. In the midst ol the storm, Fisher Ames moved to lay the whole subject forever on the table, and regretted it had ever been introduced. Madison was not to be put by so. He would consent, with an amendment, that the Resolutions and Report be entered on the Journals; which after a further stormy debate was done. A great point was gain ed, a wedge had been made to stick, aud they were content to wait four ycurs longer, to see if the South would secede, as the members from Georgia and South Carolina threatened to do. As the ex citement died aw ay, the Quakers, at the session of spirit; they seem to have devoted themselves henceforth chiefly to political trafficking, a Trade that has ever since usurped the place of patriotism and Statesmanship. The great political war be tween the Democrats and Federalists had just be gun, and was becoming a death-struggle, and the Southern politicians had got to believe, that to make Jefferson President, was of paramount im portance to slavery, and it; would never do to raise a fuss about anti-Slavery, for the Federalists could prove Jefferson the earliest and rankest Abolition ist in the world. As the Quakers had pre-cured the passage of the first antl-tilave Trade law in 1794, the free negroes of Philadelphia took it into their heads to become alike notorious, by getting TValn, the Representa tive of the city, to draw a ad present alike petition praying a more stringent, law against the Trade, which was passed at the session of1800, and sanc tioned by Jefferson, in spite of the clear demon stration of its unconslitutiouality by Rntlcdge, Harper, Lee and Randolph. Thus the Quaker Abolitionists and free negroes are the authors of the two first laws ever passed against the Slave Trade. The next, of 1807, had a more dignified origin ; it was recommended by Jefferson in liis message, “for the prevention of a great moral and political evil." lie was always shremed enough to take carc not to undertake to point out where, in the Constitution, he found the authority for Congress to define and prevent mor al evil; like Dogberry, he held it mathematically true, that it is morally^ right for every body to up set every thing that is morally wrong,—quod erat demonstrandum. If Congress had such power conferred, there ought to be a Bench of Bishops setting with our Senate, to give advico moral and Theological, be fore they hang a man for being immoral, or doing what they call evil; for otherwise it may turn out the man had done nothing but what God had com manded and ordained, and what Jesus Christ and his Apostles sanctioned, and Christians and pious men, in all ages, have practiced. But Jefferson rejected the Bible, as a fable—like his disciples, Garrison and Parker, he could make a purer code than that! Had the Ghost that appeared to Eli- pliaz, put the fearful question to these self-sufficient philosophers,—“Shall mortal man be more just than God f Shall a man be more pure than bis maker?” They (to be consistent) would have an swered, “Yes, wc would have had no slaves in the world—wc would have made all men happy—we would have made all meu equal—we would have made no ‘Ethiopians, who cannot change their skins.’ ” This Bill of 1807 received the unanimous con demnation of the Southern members, as unconsti tutional, unjust and cruel. Holland, of North Car olina, put the moral phase in a strong light, thus: “Slavery, says he, is generally considered a politi cal evil, and in that point of view nearly all are disposed to stop the Trade. But has capital pun ishment been usually inflicted for offences merely political ? Fines and imprisonments are the com mon punishments in such cases. The people of the South do not generally consider slavcholding as a moral offence. The importer might say to the informer, I have done no worse than you, nor j even so bad. It is true I have brought these slaves from Africa, but only transported them from one master to another; lam not guilty of bolding * human beings in bondage,—you are, you have ‘hundreds on your plantation, in that miserable ‘condition. All admit, (he added,) that as slaves, * they are infinitely better off in America than in ‘Africa. How then can the trade be immoral?” But the Bill passed, in spite of the opposition of such men as Macon, Holland, Early, Randolph, who, in one of his ablest efforts, declared the alien and sedition and excise laws, however uncon stitutional they were deemed, were nothing to this. “It lays, (be exclaimed,) the axe at the root of all ‘ property in the Southern States; if Congress can ‘ thus abridge, alter, or modify the right of proper- ‘ ty in Slaves, they can go a step further and cman- * cipato them.” The Quakers again petitioned Congress, and the Act of 1818 was passed, but not without the strong opposition from Troup, of Georgia, and Barbour, of Virginia, as a violation of the Constitution. The last Act of 1820, making the Trade piracy, was, and is a separate section to a Bill of quite a different character, and seems to have been smug gled through, in the midst of the Missouri Revo lutionary Hurricane, when nobody believed the ship of State worth a six month’s purchase. It therefore received very little attention, and yet, any candid man, on reading its provisions, must pronounce the Law worthy of none but barbarians, an Algerine law in all its parts. And it is to be remarked of all these laws, they arc for the protection of Africans only. Whiteslaves from Asia and Constantinople may be trafficked in ad libitum,—whites are of no account, negroes everything with modern Pharisees. There is another significant coincidence ; the same month of March, 1807, tho American Con gress and British Parliament passed tbe same law; and tbe same year, 162.0, *om our infamous law outlawing our own citizens all over the world as pirates, and the British emancipation Act in the West Indies; and still more significant, that gath ering of blasphemous Tyrants, in 1815, at Vienna, called the Holy Alliance, to rc-adjust and re-rivet tbe manacles of the white slaves of Europe, Re solved, “That the African Slave Trade is immoral ‘ and unjust, and contrary to national justice, and pledging their governments to put it down,” and To the Editor of The Georgia Telegraph, Sir :—The Telegraph of the 29th June con tains an article over the signature of “John Hampden” which indulges in sundry strie tures on the speech of Col. Hunter, and certain remarks of yonrs accompanying its publica tion in your paper of Juno Q2d. I feel every respect for the excellent gentleman and able lawyer to whom rumor ascribes the authorship of the article in question, hut I must be ex cuscd for saying that the communication re ferred to docs not exhibit his usual accuracy of statement, clearness of perception and fa miliarity with tlio subject under consideration “John Hampden” introduces his article by de claring that he is “ in rinculis to support and defend the Constitution.’’ I was not [aware before that the mantle of Daniel Webster had fallen upon any other individual in this coun try. Mr. Webster when in life was regarded as the “great defender of the Constitution,” and it will be matter of profound gratification to the country to know that the Sage of Marshfield has left behind him an able repre sentative in the person of “John Hampden.” But what deadly blow aimed at the Constitu tion has thus aroused the indignation of Hamp den ? What desperate assault upon that sa cred instrument is the shield of Achilles in terposed to repel ? Let Hampden answer this question. Alluding to the speech of Col Hunter and the remarks of the Telegraph he says “ that the proposition is, that the acts of Congress prohibiting the slave trade are con stitutional.” That, he says, he denies, and holds all such acts a gross usurpation—nay more, a violation of the Constitution.” “John Hampden” denouncing as unconstitutional, acts of Congress signed by Thomas Jefferson and approved by James Madison his Secretary of State—signed by James Monroe, and approv ed by John C. Calhoun and Wm. H. Crawford, members of his Cabinet! Oh modesty where is thy blush ! But I forbear. Hampden, in his last communication published in yonr pa per of the Gth ult., says “you (that is the edit or of the Telegraph) in your last say that the Constitution gives such authority, (that is, au thority to prohibit the slave trade) but neither yon nor our friend Hunter point us to the part of the Constitution where it can be found.” Now, if Hampden will take the trouble to re fer to the speech of Col. II. he will find that the speaker contended that the slave trade was prohibited by the policy of the F. Govern ment, and the legislation of Congress founded upon the construction given by the authors of the Constitution, to the 9th section of the first article of the Constitution, and to the general grant of power contained in the eighth section (8th) of the same article of the Constitution, which declares “that Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with Foreign Nations, and among the several States and with the Indian tribes.” The ninth sec tion reads thus : “The migration or importa tion of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.” At the adoption of the Constitu tion in 17S7, negroes were admitted into the several States that were imported directly from the coast of Africa, and into none of them more freely than the State of Georgia— although as Hampden states—the Constitution of Georgia, of 1793, afterwards prohibited their introduction. Tho persons alluded then, in this section, were Africans imported from the coast of Africa into the several States. This traffic had been carried on for years, but principally in New England ship; Now, while, as Mr. Hunter admits in his speech, there is not to be found in the section of the Constitntion just quoted, an express pro hibition of the slave trade, yet it is undenia ble from tho language employed In tbat sec- tion, that it was the intention of the framers of the Constitution, by this ninth section to con fer upon Congress the power after the year 1808 to prohibit the African Slave trade. By this ninth section it is expressly declared that Congress shall sanction up 'to that time, tho African Slave trade, but no longer—which by necessary and unavoidable implication, gives to Congress the right to legislate upon the subject afterwards. It is a general rule which obtains in the construction of statutes that “a thing within the intention is as much within the statute as if it were in the letter, and such construction ought to be put upon it as does not suffer it to be eluded.” Bac Abr. Stat. 1—5—10. No candid or intelli gent mind can read this 9th section without coming to the conclusion that it was the inten tion of tho framers of the Constitution, by that section, to confer upon Congress the im plied power to prohibit the African slave trade from and after the period therein men tioned. But we need not resort to implica tion, however plain or strong it may be, to sustain the exercise of the power on the part Constitntion subject to be amended in that re gard after 1808” as asserted by Hampden ?— No, hut as “Hampden” very properly asserts “they were putting a veto on the power of Congress until 1803, and leaving them (Con gress) free to exercise it afterwards.” Hamp den proceeds to qualify this admission by add ing “if Congress had possessed or exer cised this power under the Confederation.”— “ But no one (he says) had ever claimed such power for Congress under tho Confedera tion, and when that league was broken up, all such domestic matters were left to be rcgula ted by the several States to suit themselves.” Again, (he says,) “they, the States, have cer tainly never ceded this dangerous power.” I have endeavored (and I think successfully) to show that the States did cede this very pow er to Congress, not under the Confederation, it is true, but in that clause of the 8th Section of the 1st Article of the Constitution already pointed out, taken in connection with the im plied power conferred upon Congress by the 9th Section. It is a general rule of construc tion, that wjierc an instrument consists of sev eral parts, the whole must be construed to gether, so as to ascertain the intention of the parties, and make every part take effect, if possible. The application of this sound rule of construction to the question under conside ration, requires that clause 28 th of the 8th Sec tion, and clause 43rd of the 9th Section of the Constitution, should be construed together, and being thus construed,, it will be found that the conclusions arrived at in this article, are the only just conclusions that can be fairly deduced from them. The power to prohibit the slave trade is derived from the general grant to regulate commerce, but the exercise of the power on the part of Congress is restrain ed for a limited period by the 9th Section, and upon the settled principle of construction, an exception to a power otherwise unlimited, shows that it was intended to be limited no further than is expressed in the exception.— The people vs. Utica Insur. Comp., 15 John. Rep. 357. A Delegate to the Montgomery Convention. (to be continued.) MACON, a-^. Tuesday Morning, July 13,1858 Weather. Wc arc having daily instalments of ramjiow, I and just about a quantum suff. has fallen in this I immediate region, we should judge, to meet the necessities of the crops. North aud South of Ma- I con excessive rains have injured the crops. In Northern Georgia and Tennessee we hear that [ Wheat has been materially injured by the wet weather. Important Deei S j 0u ~ In our last bsne we noticed : Supreme Court whi ing monthly wages Constitutionality of the Slave trade PROHIBITION. The space consumed by our able correspondent to-day, upon this topic, precludes, while it obviates the necessity of Editorial remark on the subject. Our space for general editorial matter is also very much abridged, but it is better filled. Hampden is always a welcome correspondent—no matter how much lie differs with us; and both the com munications exhibit a degree of care, ability and research which will hardly fail to command the at- lI ' i ”“ u:u ’ aU(l _ u P on this judgment g U j tentive consideration of the reader. wn * garnishment against | and weekly and daily 5^ ^ - I and garnishment in force. Since a ^ er case has been decided which is J* importance to the officers of the v governments of this State. Th 0 case to which we allude were aCts Mrs. Harriet E. Expcriem against John A. Holt one of 0 „ * - liccmcn, aud upon this judgment f C '. ,y as follows • ace held : <V S. W. Bail Road. A change in the morning schedules of this Road will be noticed in the advertising columns—to go into operation next Thursday. Iron Cotton Tics. It is a supererrogatory business to invite atten tion to the huge advertisement on this subject.— Little else can be acen. The Iron Cotton Tic, how ever, is destined soon to supersede tho bale rope, and the subject is just now timely and interesting. £=d^ J Mr. Wood invites the attention of visit ors to the city, during this Commencement week, to his splendid depository of specimens of the Photographic art. It will be hard to find better ones anywhere. Ocmulgcc Schottish. We find upon our desk, this morning, a piece of Piano Music, thus entitled, composed by Hermann L. Schreiner, and dedicated “to Misses Mattie and Emma Hurt and Eugenia Bass.” Published by Firth, Pond & Co., of New York. We hope our friends, the broth ers Schreiner, arc building up an Estate, while they are thus establishing a reputation as teachers and composers of Music. Council of the city of Macon for «.***• Holt. One of the officers of the chv***** ment having answered that they *1 to Holt, counsel for plaintiff moved t up judgment against the MayorZn** for the amount of such indebted ^ was resisted by Holt’s counselnaanth*’ that there was no law authorizing t h e • ^ garnishments against & municiwl for the salary of its officers. The m . rati( before whom the case was first tried tf 1 ^ defendant’s objections and entered on the answer. Holt’s counsel carried the case up on a writ of cm; • the Superior court. Here the certi overruled upon the grounds that the «" v" clause of the act of 1855-G repealed all othera? upon the subject of attachment and Z? ment—that of 1850 not excepted” ZTZ the body of the act of ’05-f, ’ d tl: in the same year, Great Britain, one of those ‘‘Ho- of Congress to pass laws to prohibit the Afri- ly” Robbers, requires our commissioners to put it in the Treaty of Ghent, that we agree and bind ourselves to put down the wicked traffic in Afri can Slaves. The object of all this is too transpa rent to escape the discernment of any hut Gulls.— AU our troubles with foreign governments, for the last forty years, have arisen from our permitting iorcigners to interfere or negotiate about our do mestic affairs: wc denounce our own honest citi zens as outlaws and pirates, to please and play into the hands ol the infamous and designing Despots of Europe. All these humiliating aud disgraceful treaties and laws, I would blot from the American Records. After that is done, it will he time enough to decide whether we w ill change the Constitutions of all the States, and admit slaves from Africa.— But I hold that if we arc to have any more tropi cal countries added to the Confederacy, such as Mexico or Central America, it will entail a curse tbat will destroy this Confederacy, unless wc open the Slave Trado to supply laborers that will invite an intelligent planting population into those coun tries where whites cannot labor in the sun. I thank you for this patient bearing, and will trouble you no more. JOHN HAMPDEN. From Humboldt's Cosmos. The Book of JTob. The Book of Job is generally regarded as the most perfect specimen of the poetry of tho He brews. It is alike picturesque in the delineation of individual of phenomena, and artistically skillful in the didactic arrangements of the whole work.— In all the modern languages into which tho Book of Job has been translated, images drawn from the natural scenery of the East leave a deep im pression on the mind. The Lord walketli on the height of the waters, on the ridges of the waves towering high beneath tbe force of the wind.” “The morning red has colored the margins of the earth, and variously formed the covering of the clomls, ns the hand of man holds the yielding clay.” The habits of animals arc described, as for in stance, those of the wild ass, the horse, the buffalo, the rhinoceros and the croekodilc, the eagle and the ostrich. TVe see “pure ether spread, during the scorching heat of the south wind, as a melted mirror over the parched desert.” The poetic literature of the Hebrews la not defi cient in variety of form; for while the Hebrew 1794, stirred up Congress again, with another pe- \ poetry breathes a tone of warlike enthusiasm, tition, and this time with better success; it induced from Joshua to Samuel, the little book of the glean er Ruth presents us with a charming and exquisite them to pass the first law against the Slave Trade, j picture of nature . GoetllC) at tIie p^od of his en and with hardly any opposition; the South had j thusiasm for the East, spoke of it “as the loveliest become discouraged, or rather their Represents-1 of epic and idyl poetry which we po°=es*.” can slave trade. The eighth section of the Constitution puts this question at rest. That section already quoted, declares “That Con gress shall have power to regulate commerce with Foreign Nations, and among the several States, aud with the Iudian tribes.” To “regulate commerce” meant that Congress should exercise the right to determine what were and wbat were not legitimate subjects of commerce with foreign nations, and African slaves having been the subject matter of com merce between the several states and foreign nations, Congress, by virtue of this general grant, wn3 directly clothed with the power and duty of determining whether this traffic in slaves imported from the coast of Africa should he continued or not. Taking the whole clause together it obviously amounted to an entire surrender on the part of the States to Congress of all power of legislation on tbe subject. It stood then, as it docs now, among the powers expressly delegated to Congress, and of course was not reserved to the States or people. In support of this po sition tho act of 1820 (signed by Mr. Monroe) is entitled “Ae -ict to continue in force an act to protect the commerce of the United States and punish piracy,'’ &c. See the report of the committee to which President Monroe’s mes sage of December. 1824, on this subject was referred. In this very able report the va rious ac^i of Congress, Treaties, &c., on this subject arc refered to and reviewed. The report bears date February 25th 1825, and is drawn up by some of the most distinguished men in tlio 18th Congress. This unlimited power of legislation on the subject of prohibiting the African slave trade having thus been express ly delegated to Congress by the 8th section of the Constitution,* when the framers of that in strument afterwards enmo to insert the 9th section they imposed words of restraint upon this otherwise unlimited power, by declaring “that the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to 1808.’ \\ hat, then, did the convention by this 8th article of the Constitution intend to do? “To leave the Knoxville Female Seminary Ex ' AMINATION. Mr. Editor :—On Friday, 25tli June, the Examination catre off in the Knoxville Female Seminary, and I propose to give you a brief sketch of the Exercises on that day. Tbe forenoon was consumed in the exami nation of the primary classes—in Reading, Arithmetic, Grammar, Geography, &c. In the afternoon the Classes in the higher branches were examined, viz ; Rhetoric, Phi losophy. Chemistry, Botany, Algebra, Physi ology and Evidences of Christianity, and for clearness, decision and promptness in answer ing the different interrogatories, I never in all my life saw them excelled. Proving conclu siycly that here at home, in our own beautiful village, a young lady may receive a far bet ter education than she can in many of the one horse colleges of the country. I venture the assertion, that many of the young ladies of this School can stand a successful examination with the Graduates of some of our Colleges. The examination of the Classes dosed about 6 o’clock, P. M. At early candle-light wo returned to hear the Compositions read. The room was bril liantly lighted, and decked from one side to the other with wreaths of beautiful flowers, where soft fragrance filled the room, making the very air we breathed sweet as the “dews of Herman.” The pupils occupied the stage and ante-chamber, while the balance of the house was filled to overflowing with ladies and gentlemen. There had been a large audience all day to hear the examination, but at night there seem ed to be a “ mighty host that no man could number.” And’the balmy breeze that stirred through the house, the sweet fra b ranee of a thousand flowers, the rich display of beauty, and the sweet songs of the young ladies, were doubtless calculated to make a young man feel an “aching void” somewhere near the Jlegio Cardiaca; but your humble correspondent being old, “careth for none of these things.” Compositions were read by eight young la dies, and they were as beautiful, chaste and elegant, as it has ever been my good fortune to hear. After the Valedictory, and singing by the School, Dr. Simpson proceeded to deliver the Literary Address." He spoke for about one hour; claiming for woman a high standard of Education, and pointing out some defects in tho proseut system. He claimed for Georgia the honor of recognizing in the Wesleyan Fe male College, the oldest Institution of the kind in the United States, and perhaps in the world. After the Address, the Exercises were announ ced as suspended till the first Monday in Au gust. This Institution has been for the last twelve months, under the control of Miss Lowinan, a young lady with a literary* education equal led by few. She is a high-toned lady, in eve ry sense of the term, and would doubtless be an honor to any Institution with which she might be connected. May the Knoxville Fe male Seminary live and flourish like a green bay tree. W. J. S Commencement Exercises. The Commencement Exercises of the Wes leyan Female College take place during the early portion of this week.. Yesterday (Sun day,) the venerable Dr. Lovick Pierce preach ed the Commencement Sermon in the Metho dist Episcopal Church, before a vast auditory, crowding the house much beyond its conveni ent capacity. His subject, as we understood, (for we were unable to be present,) was upon the appropriate ornaments of women, (a meek and quiet spirit) as contradistinguished from the excessive material adornments of the pres ent day. To-day. (Monday.) is devoted to the Junior Exhibition, and Examination of pupils in the Ornamental Department. The Regular Commencement Exercises take place Tuesday and Wednesday, and on the latter, the Hon. Washington Poe delivers the Annual Literary Address. nicipal as well as other corporations ‘ D f' ant’s counsel appealed from this decision!;' Supremo Court, where the judgment of ? Court below was reversed, fo delivering decision, His Honor, Judge LumpU that it was very questionable whether a mZ : ' pal corporation ever has been a snbject' ' garnishment; certainly not before the act!-' 1332, and that it was a legitimate const^ ; of this act to say that it referred only to vate and not to public corporations nicipal corporation is a A at TIie Supreme Court Commenced the third week of its session on yesterday. About thirty-five causes have been argued, and some fifty or more remain on the docket. We understand there are three mur der cases from the Chattahoochee Circuit to be argued. The Court will be in session three weeks longer. From what we can see and hear, the Judges earn the pitiful salary they are receiving, and doubtless realize the truth of the remark of the celebrated lawyer who said that “Lawyers work bard, live well and die poor.” We notice quite a number of the legal profession are in attendance on the Court, nd we iropc if this notice should strike their eye, tbat they will favor the Telegraph with a call, read the papers, and make themselves at home generally. TIie Independent South. We have received the first number of a new weekly journal with this title, recently estab fished at Griffin, by A. P. Burr, Esq., late of the American Union. It is as neat a specimen ofnewspaper typography as we have ever seen, and compactly filled with interesting matter original and selected. The leading idea of the paper, we believe to be, that the South will he more prosperous and secure as an indepen dent government, than in the present Confed eracy. A comfortable consideration this will be when necessity compels a separation. Young America’s Visit to Atlanta. IVe copy from the Atlanta Intelligencer a grati fying notice of their excursion. The Company re turned highly delighted with their reception, and speak in glowing terms of the generous hospitality of the Firemen and citizens of Atlanta. Wc understand that in the second trial, on Tues day morning, Young America threw horizontally, 173 feet and 6 inches. Tue Wav it is Done.—In the year 1772, man in England astonished the natives by having a loaded cannon fired at him at a dis tance of ten yards only, and catching the ball —a nine pounder—in the hand. On the pay ment of a considerable sum he divulged his secret, which was thus: When the proper charge of powder was ready, a little of it was put in the cannon, then the ball run in, and the rest of the powder put in after it. The wadding was then rammed tightly in ; when tired, the report was as loud as usual, but ow ing to there being a small quantity of powder behind the ball, it would only carry about twenty yards. Cannon loaded in this way and fired against thin pine boards, at a dis tance of twelve or fifteen yards, make no im pression. Devotion to Science. Our Savannah contemporaries the past week, have been deep in the discussion of Electricity as an anaesthetic agent in dental operations. Our friend. Prof. Loomis, who denies its effica cy, has been having it tested experimentally upon himself in the application of the forceps to stumps and sound teeth, too. Wc call that “the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties.” It illustrates a devotion to science, equalled only by Dr. Sitgreaves, in Cooper’s Spy, who broke his own hones in order that he might personally enjoy the beautiful harmony of sci ence co-operating with nature in the myste rious process of reunion. We like Dr. L’s. mode of investigation—we do. There is noth ing superficial about it—the results are certain, and a very definite and clear idea must follow the extraction of every stump and grinder.— But still, as there are certain limits to this par- . f . Tamp 3 ’ ticular field of inquiry, we beg our friend to TJle L> 1 J b An Editorial in the Talla™**^ o bei ;/" having all co-ordinate departments of a COa plete government and is something more & ' a private corporation. The second sctlic! of the act of 1850, conferring the power of cjr nisheeing the salary of the officers of JL corporations where such salary does not five hundred dollars per annum, cxprcsslm cepts municipal corporations from the proas of garnishment. Although the act of 18554 repeals all other acts upon the subject of i tacbment and garnishment, it has nothin;' do with that of 1850, which was passed ford, purpose of exempting effects from being ^ sheed. The case was argued with considerable aVil- ity by O. A. Lochrane and John Lamar, AfUir- neys for plaintiff in error, and Massey as,) Whittle for defendants. Our young friend and fellow townma John Lamar, was admitted to plead and pm- lice Law in the Supreme Court of thissta on Wednesday last. Can’t Learn. The New York papers publish the proceed ings of a recent meeting in Kingston, Islaidi Jamaica, called under the auspices of the get eminent, to invite free negro emigration fra the United States to that island, for the pat pose of restoring its ruined agricultural f< tunes. The Hon. Edward Jordan, Mayors Kingston, presided, and the chief luminary: the occasion was a certain Hon. Alesana; Barclay, who appears to have made a toon observation in the United States with a vie* to the developement of this particular proji lie narrates the result in a long speech, be which we take the following: a'ltaw a great many free colored rnlUack New York, whose improper habits resderti bat fat unsuitable; in fact they would be a iitpvct b': antntry ; but in the Southern States I ur umtoj U very best men who could be obtained. I inmedto' placed myself in communication trUi lie color* icople, by whom I was well treated, sodttejwa] >odyof whom I found were well disposed to hero.” Now let the reader mark the strikingm»| tration afforded by speaker aud meeting the old adage, “that none are so blind asth«: who will not see.” It is a meeting called import laborers into Jamaica, on islands*® ing with black vagrants who were valuta laborers, until emancipation gave them theh- berty of refusing to labor. Wholly demon! ized and worthless by being freed, they vt pests and burdens, and new laborers mot “ supplied. This Agent goes to New lort- and among the swarms of emancipated sept*. there, finds few or none suitable for hi= p®- pose—“i» fact they tcould be <i dtserstt / - - country”—and why ? Manifestly for ** reason that demoralized the blacks of —to wit: the liberty to be idle and Not until he gets “in the Southern St.-; where the free negroes five, for the most pl under the moral and legal sanction, i- ^ “ straints of slavery, docs he find snv f serve his turn. Now it is in the ^ i their own experience and the most inevita-^ deductions from the observations oft W J -peaker, that tfce meeting then solve that the Island would be great-! ted by the accession of this popul-* 10 ® American brethren”) from the States, promise them profitable labor oa ti e now going to ruin, and rt-sideuc*= J principal towns in stately dwe in £^l crumbling to pieces”—wealth indane] cial position in the Island of Jmn* e j' .| that freedom destroyed t e borer in Jamaica—and failing to n ■ the North, they cannot see that tre stroyed him there also. FmduBg ^ South, under the restraints ° * reC ,>:. cannot sec that their proposition him beyond those restraints is u ( of the same experiment which hr o, the ruin of their island, and sen in quest of laborers. —— t Fi» rii i restrain his ardor considerably within the point of exhaustion. Good Hits.—In the trial of “Jim Lane,” at Lawrence, Kansas, for the murder of Jen kins, the attorneys indulged in a good deal of pungent wit and sarcasm. One littlc/w-M be tween the counsel was so pointed and oppor tune that it is worthy of note: Col. Young insisted that In law, the man slain is supposed to be wrongfully slain. Mr. Coe—That is the law of England not of America. Col. Young—If there is any hook on God’s earth that contains any other doctrine, I’ll agree to eat it without greasing. (Laughter.) Mr. Coe—Then you’ll have more law in your stomach tliau you ever had in your head ! (Roars of laughter.) The Feood atOairo.—It appeavs the dam age done by the flood at Cairo, III., is far less than at first reported. The Mayor of that place ritmg to the Chicago Times: “Cairo is far from being destroyed. A considerable portion of our town is inundated, but no house of auy considerable size has yet been destroyed or is expected to be. The loss principally is in fen ces, outhouses, goods, furniture, &c. Princi pal bn Jnets houses still above the water, and ill continue so. The loss as yet is inconsid- able, and will soon be repaired. Gov. Brown ami the Wits. We seo by the opposition prints that a car- ricature of Gov. Brown has been devised, in which he is represented in the act of balancing bank hooks with a pair of scales—a desperate expedient, wc suppose, suggested by the im possibility of doing it in any other way. It will take heavier missiles than thU to disturb the public confidence in the old-fashioned in tegrity, fearlessness and independence of Gov. Brown. The versatility of the opposition press in their attacks upon the State adminis tration is admirable. Some months ago they were groaning over the “ prodigal expendi tures" on the State Road, and now they are groaning about “short sighted parsimony.”—* “It paid nothing into the Treasury,” and they lamented—it pays, and they weep or scoff as the humor seizes them. We are afraid they are hard to please, aud that no conceivable course of Gov. Brown, or any possible condi tion of public affairs out of their own hands, would give them satisfaction. It may be fear ed that the world will have to move on with out their endorsement, unless they get better. Journal of last Saturday, assure^ Ijg extertained before, that the s jjl mary execution of four men ne lishedin the Savannah position upon that paper. Journal says :— . tbis Gentlemen from ^V 3 !} 0 . Ww^’tzSI that piace since the date oft « f„j ge irf- dounce the whole stfctemen « g on j 0 1 to end. There is no T. Bowen,” and no sack P Lucwo a^dCoLX^SrooWt’ Rich Gold tc’'' | Dr. ittnwwd, taken from a mine lately discove^ ^ gjl ty, Georgia, near Altoona, an of his brother in connection : ' I ts Verdery. Two of these spe«® , , Jg e. * £l( I of quite V*** « "V fn d " else than pure virgin gold. - ^ it of remarkable richness. * /Oifor?*- * several gentlemen familiar with bearing quartz said they had ^ fs£J d them in that modern °P“ r ' le4( jiJ havobatjustcommencedan progro;; . v- increase m tichne;» * d f the 1 not say that the antieip- are not to he measure u b> n -