To THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE:
SIR,--Our country is opening up a new page in the history of
governments. The world has never witnessed such a spontaneous
uprising of any people in support of free institutions as that now
exhibited by the citizens of our Northern States. I observe that the
vexed question of slavery still has to be met, both in the Cabinet
and in the field. It has been met by former Presidents, by former
Cabinets, and by former military officers. They have established a
train of precedents that may be well followed at this day. I write
now for the purpose of inviting attention to those principles of
international law which are regarded by publicists and jurists as
proper guides in the exercise of that despotic and almost unlimited
authority called the "war power." A synopsis of these doctrines was
given by Major General Gaines, at New Orleans, in 1838.
General Jessup had captured many fugitive slaves and Indians in
Florida, and had ordered them to be sent west of the Mississippi. At
New Orleans, they were claimed by the owners, under legal process;
but Gen. Gaines, commanding that military district, refused to
deliver them to the sheriff, and appeared in court, stating his own
defence.
He declared that these people (men, women and children) were
captured in wars and held as prisoners of war: that as commander of
that military department or district, he held them subject only to
the order of the National Executive: that he could recognize no other
power in time of war, or by the laws of war, as authorized to take
prisoners from his possession.
He asserted that, in time of war, all slaves were belligerents as
much as their masters. The slave men, said he, cultivate the earth
and supply provisions. The women cook the food, nurse the wounded and
sick, and contribute to the maintenance of the war, often more than
the same number of males. The slave children equally contribute
whatever they are able to the support of the war. Indeed, he well
supported General Butler's declaration, that slaves are contraband of
war.
The military officer, said he, can enter into no judicial
examination of the claim of one man to the bone and muscle of
another as property. Nor could he, as a military officer, know what
the laws of Florida were while engaged in maintaining the Federal
Government by force of arms. In such case, he could only be guided by
the laws of war; and whatever may be the laws of any State, they must
yield to the safety of the Federal Government. This defence of
General Gaines may be found in House Document No. 225, of the Second
Session of the 25th Congress. He sent the slaves West, where they
became free.
Louis, the slave of a man named Pacheco, betrayed Major Dade's
battalion, in 1836, and when he had witnessed their massacre, he
joined the enemy. Two years subsequently, he was captured, Pacheco
claimed him; General Jessup said if he had time, he would try him
before a court-martial and hang him, but would not deliver him to any
man. He however sent him West, and the fugitive slave became a free
man, and is now fighting the Texans. General Jessup reported his
action to the War Department, and Mr. Van Buren, then President, with
his Cabinet, approved it. Pacheco then appealed to Congress, asking
that body to pay him for the loss of his slave; and Mr. Greeley will
recollect that he and myself, and a majority of the House of
Representatives, voted against the bill, which was rejected. All
concurred in the opinion that General Jessup did right in
emancipating the slave, instead of returning him to his master.
In 1838, General Taylor captured a number of negroes said to be
fugitive slaves. Citizens of Florida, learning what had been done,
immediately gathered around his camp, intending to secure the slaves
who had escaped from them. General Taylor told them that he had no
prisoners but "prisoners of war." The claimants then desired to look
at them, in order to determine whether he was holding their slaves as
prisoners. The veteran warrior replied that no man should examine his
prisoners for such a purpose; and he ordered them to depart. This
action being reported to the War Department, was approved by the
Executive. The slaves, however, were sent West, and set free.
In 1836, General Jessup wanted guides and men to act as spies. He
therefore engaged several fugitive slaves to act as such, agreeing to
secure the freedom of themselves and families if they served the
Government faithfully. They agreed to do so, fulfilled their
agreement, were sent West, and set free. Mr. Van Buren's
Administration approved the contract, and Mr. Tyler's Administration
approved the manner in which General Jessup fulfilled it by setting
the slaves free.
In December, 1814, General Jackson impressed a large number of
slaves at and near New Orleans, and kept them at work erecting
defences, behind which his troops won such glory on the 8th of
January, 1815. The masters remonstrated. Jackson disregarded their
remonstrances, and kept the slaves at work until many of them were
killed by the enemy's shots; yet his action was approved by Mr.
Madison and Cabinet, and by Congress, which has ever refused to pay
the masters for their losses.
But in all these cases, the masters were professedly friends of the
Government; and yet our Presidents and Cabinets and Generals have
not hesitated to emancipate their slaves whenever in time of war it
was supposed to be for the interest of the country to do so. This
was done in the exercise of the "war power" to which Mr. Adams
referred in Congress, and for which he had the most abundant
authority. But I think no records of this nation, nor of any other
nation, will show an instance in which a fugitive slave has been sent
back to a master who was in rebellion against the very Government who
held his slave as captive.