other free coloured person was playing, he should be fined not exceeding five dollars; that if he should have a dance in his house, without permission from the white Mayor, he should be fined not exceeding ten dollars; that should he take the liberty to go out of his own house after ten o'clock at night, without a pass from a Justice of the Peace, or "some respectable citizen," (!) he might be compelled to pass the rest of the night "in a lock-up-house," and the next morning be fined ten dollars; and should any dark complexioned free man be guilty of drunkenness or profane language, he should be fined not exceeding three dollars. Thus we see with what zeal the Washington Corporation endeavours to prevent the coloured citizens from affecting the manners and fashions of their white brethren. But there are still more serious matters. A coloured citizen from any of the States, taking up his residence in the Capital of the Republic, is required within a certain time, not only to be registered, but also to find two freehold sureties in the penalty of five hundred dollars, for his good behaviour; and if he does not, he is to be imprisoned till he consents to leave the seat of the Federal Government; and if he does not prove that he is a freeman, he shall be sold as a slave to pay his jail fees!!

Such are the abominable and iniquitous means used by and with the sanction of Congress, for the degradation and oppression of coloured citizens. We are next to take a view of

SLAVERY UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

It is well known that Congress is the local legislature of the District of Columbia, and of all the territories belonging to the Union, and with powers far exceeding those possessed by any State Legislature, being unfettered with constitutional restrictions. The authority vested in Congress over the District and territories, is virtually despotic, being an "exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever." Yet we have long had slaveholding territories.

The vast domain acquired by the purchase of Louisiana, has, under the authority of Congress, been stocked with slaves, excepting so much as is north of 38° north latitude, which is, by act of Congress, specially protected from the pollution. This very law is one of the most profligate and decided acts of the Federal Government in behalf of slavery; for by means of it, the immense territory south of this line was deliberately surrendered to all the cruelties and

abominations of the system; it was moreover an express acknowledgement by the Government of its power to prohibit slavery throughout the whole territory, and that it had made a COMPROMISE, a bargain between humanity and cruelty, religion and wickedness; and had erected on an arbitrary line, a partition wall between slavery and liberty.

But it is in the District of Columbia, and under the shadow of the proud Capitol, that the action of the Federal Government in behalf of slavery, is exhibited in its most odious and disgusting forms. We shall have occasion presently to exhibit the seat of the National Government, as the great slave mart of the North American Continent, “furnished with all appliances and means to boot." The old slave laws of Virginia and Maryland, marked by the barbarity of other days, form by Act of Congress, the slave code of the District. Of this code, a single sample will suffice. A slave convicted of setting fire to a building, shall have his head cut off, and his body divided into quarters, and the parts set up in the most public places! But let it not be supposed that Congress has not itself legislated directly on the subject of slavery. An Act of 15th May, 1820, gives the Corporation of Washington, power

to "punish corporeally any SLAVE for a breach of any of their ordinances." Happy would it have been for the honour of our country, if the sympathies of its rulers in behalf of slavery, had been exhibited only on the national domain; but they pervade every portion of the confederacy, as is but too apparent in

THE INTERFERENCE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERN

MENT FOR THE RECOVERY OF FUGITIVE SLAVES.

The federal constitution contains the following clause : "No person held to service or labour in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due."

At the time this constitution was adopted, the cultivation and manufacture of cotton had not so far progressed, as to paralyze by their profits, the conscience of the nation, or to divest it of the sense of shame; and hence this clause although relating to slaves, forbears to name them. It was inserted to satisfy the South; and its obvious meaning is, that Slaves escaping into States in

which slavery is abolished by law, shall not therefore be deemed free by the State authorities, but shall be delivered by those authorities, to his master. This clause imposes an obligation on the States, but confers no power on Congress; and the Constitution moreover declares, that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Hence it follows that as the power of recovering these fugitives is not delegated to Congress, it is reserved to the several States, who are bound to make such laws as may be deemed proper, to authorize the master to recover his slave. Nevertheless, the Federal Government in its zeal for slavery, has not scrupled to assume power never delegated to it, and has exercised that power in gross and contemptuous violation of every principle, which in free countries, directs the administration of justice. If a Virginian enters New-York, and claims as his property a horse which he finds in the possession of one of our citizens, an impartial jury is selected to pass on his claim, witnesses are orally, and publicly examined, the claimant is debarred from all private intercourse with the jury, he may not be alone with them for a moment, nor may a whis

W