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Show 268 DESPOTISM round in Penrtsy1vania that it did in Virgini~, i.t '~as ~f too trifling a nature to ~ome under the des~npt.JOn of the term crime, as u sed in the_ Fed~ral co~u~tlt~tl?n· 2d That the demand was insnffir·wnt, Ill not cont~_Jmng an. roof that the persons demanded were Ill the stJe.p 3d. 'l'hat if the delive.ry and removal of the ersons dE"manded could be eflc~ted. at all, It must. be ~ndcr tbe authority of the constJtullon of the Un1ted States. but as neither the laws of Vug1ma nor those of c01;gress directed the ~ode, nor delegated any authority by which the mag1stracy of the state could acguire any legal control over the persons demanded, no ~uch delivery as requested could ~c made. . _ . This opinion having been transmitted to M1ffi1111 with Governor Randolph'::; regret::; ttn~.t no t~u·ans had C't been provided for carrying into eft~ct so 1111port~ nt ~11 article of the F ederal constitution, ~twas ~ortlnv1th laid before President Washington, With ropJCs ~ f ~II the other documents, en clos~d iu a letter !rom MdJlm, in which he pointed out Innis's a pJ?arent Jt?no!ance o~ the act of Pennsylvania under wh1ch the wchctments had been found, (and which indeed had only been en· acted March 29, 1788,) by wh•ch the forc1bly carry· ing a ny pcr~on ont of th~ state to be sold ~s a sl~v~ wa~ subjected to a fine of a hundred pound:,, a~d nn prisonment to hard labor for not less than ~;tx nor more than twelve months."' Was hington, thus appraled to, s.ub~i tted t~e case, and all the papers connected w1t.h It, to Edmund H.andolph, late go,•ernor of Virginia, tl~n atto~uey general of the United States, who, on the -Ot.h of July, gave a very lucid opinion upon it. And here let us observe that no contemporary authority could be greater 1lhan Edmund Randolph'R as to the true \n· 1erpretation of 1he constitution. N? mem?cr of!;~~ Federal convention, not even l\IadLson hunself, • This act hnd been copied from one pnsscd just l}cforc ~~ ~fas:~; chusctts where a great excitomcnt had been produdcc Y 1 in enticem~nt, at Boston_, of three colored p_ersons on 1~o;~ 81:,;~~' which they were earned to the 'Vest lndtes and so IN AMEIHCA, 269 taken a more active part in framing it, while, as a lawyer, he had the1~, and has since had, very few equal~, a nd no ~upen~rs. Randolph's opm10n em· braced the followmg pomt~ : 1st. That an indictment fuund was a sufficient charge on which to base a de· mand, under the cla use of the constitution of the United States, re~pccting fugit ives from juslice. 2d. '!'hat the matter charged in the Pennsylvania indict~ mcnts was a crime within the mean inc, of that clause and that Innis was mistaken in sup~osing that th~ defendant::; eould plead to t hose indi<:tmf>uts L>y attor· ney. 3d. That Rome proof would scrm to be nt•ce.ssary, rnore than had been ofiCred in this case, that the parties demanded had fled from justice, and had been found in the state on which t.he d~ma nd was made. 4th. Tllat, thes-e requisites being fulfilled, no law, either slate or federal, was necessaq; to authorize their arrest and delivery. " 'l'o deliver up," said Randolph,-and the argument appear. to be wholly unanswt•rable," to deliver up is an acknowl<'dgcd federal duty ; and tlte law couples with it lite right of using (tll incidente al measures in, m·der to discltm-gc it. 1 \viii not ine quire how far these incidental means, if opposed to the constitution and laws of Virginia, oug ht notw ilh~ ::;tanding to be exercised, because 1\'IcGuire and hjg a~sociates may be surrendered without calling upon any public officer of that state. Pri vate persons may be employed and clothed with a special authority. The attorney general [of Virginia] agrees that a law of the United States mig ht so ordain; and wherein does a genuine distinction exist between a power deducible from tlte cvnstitution, or incidental to a duty imposed by the constitution, and a power given by Con· gress as au:tilim·y to the execution of such, a duty? "From these premises I must conclude that it wonld have been more precise in the governor of Penm•ylania to transmit to the governor of Virginia an authentie catcd copy of the law creating the offenr.c; tha t it was essential that he should transmit s ufficient evi .. dence of McGuire and others having fle\1 from the 2:1• |
