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Show 326 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY. As we hm·e aleeady seen,* there cannot be, in the strict sense of the terms, "property in man ; " for the soul is the man, and no one, except God, can own the soul. lienee Mr. Madison acted wisely, we think, in wishing to exclude such an expression from the Constitution, inasmuch as it would have been misunderstood by Northern men, and only shocked their feelings withotlt answering any good purpose. When we say that slaves arc property, we merely mean that their masters have a right to their service or labor. This idea is recognised in the Constitution, and this righl is sccul'ed. We ask no more. As Mr. Madison, and the whole South, had the thing, he did not care to wrangle about the name. We are told, again and again, that the word slave does not appear in the Constitution. Be it so. We care not, since our slaves are there recognised as "persons held to service" by those to whom "such service is due." It is repeated without end that the " Constitution acts on slaves as persons, and not as property." Granted; and if Northern men will, according to the mandate of the Constitution, only deliver up our fugitive servantB, * Cbn.p. ii. ~ X. TUE FUOITIYE SLAVE J~AW. 327 we care not whether they restore them as persons or as property. If we may only reclaim them as persons, and regain their service, we arc perfectly satisfied. vVe utterly despise all such verbal quibbling. Mr. Madison was above it. lie acted wisely, we repeat, in refusing to shock the mind of any one, by insisting upon a mere word, and upon a word, too, which might not have conveyed a correct idea of his own views. But that Mr. Madison conic!, as he understood tbc terms, rcgat ·cl slaves as property, we have the most incontestable evidence. For in the Convention of Virginia, called to ratify the Constitution of the United States, he said, "Another clause secures us that property which we now possess. At present, if any slave elopes to any of those States where slaves are free, he becomes emancipated by their laws, for the laws of the States . are nnchac-itable to one another in this respect." lie then quotes the provision from the Constitution relative to fugitives from labor, and adds : "This clause was expressly inserted to enable owners of slaves to reclaim them." So much fo t· 1\Ir. Sumner's main argument from the language of the members of the Conventicn of 1787. |