“It is also agreed, That, if any servant run away from his master into any other of these confederated jurisdictions, that in such case, upon the certificate of one magistrate in the jurisdiction out of which the said servant fled, or upon other due proof, the said servant shall be delivered either to his master or any other that pursues and brings such certificate or proof.”[352]
Here, by words of agreement, less frank and unequivocal than those of the earlier time, fugitives are restored. But this compact, like its Russian prototype, long since ceased to exist.
Unquestionably the fugitive clause of the Constitution, whether applicable to fugitive slaves or not, was never intended to confer power upon Congress, but was simply a compact, to receive such interpretation as the States where it was enforced might choose to adopt.
AUTHORITIES AGAINST THE POWER OF CONGRESS.
The Committee do not leave this conclusion to rest merely on unanswerable reason. Authorities add to the testimony.
Here is the judgment of Chancellor Walworth, of New York, pronounced in 1835, before this subject had become the occasion of political strife. The testimony of the learned Chancellor is the more important, when it is considered that he has always acted politically with the Democracy, which has been the support of Slavery.
“I have looked in vain among the powers delegated to Congress by the Constitution for any general authority to that body to legislate on this subject. It certainly is not contained in any express grant of power, and it does not appear to be embraced in the general grant of incidental powers contained in the last clause of the Constitution relative to the powers of Congress. The law of the United States respecting fugitives from justice and fugitive slaves is not a law to carry into effect any of the powers expressly granted to Congress, ‘or any other power vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States, or any department or officer thereof.’”[353]
Here, also, is the judgment of Chief Justice Hornblower, of New Jersey, pronounced in 1836. Having shown that the clause in question confers no power on Congress, he proceeds as follows.