with free colored persons on board to thirty days' quarantine; as if freedom were as bad as the cholera! Any person of color coming on shore from such vessels is seized and imprisoned, till the vessel departs; and the captain is fined five hundred dollars; and if he refuse to take the colored seaman away, and pay all the expenses of his imprisonment, he is fined five hundred more. If the sailor do not depart within ten days after his captain's refusal, he must be whipped thirtynine lashes; and all colored persons, bond or free, who communicate with him, receive the same.
In Georgia, there is a similar enactment. The prohibition is, in both States, confined to merchant vessels, (it would be imprudent to meddle with vessels of war;) and any colored person communicating with such seamen is whipped not exceeding thirty lashes. If the captain refuse to carry away seamen thus detained, and pay the expenses of their imprisonment, he shall be fined five hundred dollars, and also imprisoned, not exceeding three months.
These State laws are a direct violation of the Laws of Nations, and our treaties; and may involve the United States in a foreign war.
Colored seamen are often employed in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English vessels. These nations are bound to know the United States Laws; but can they be expected to know the enactments of particular States and cities? and if they know them, are they bound to observe them, if they interfere with the established rules of nations? When Mr Wirt pronounced these laws unconstitutional, great excitement was produced in South Carolina. The Governor of that State in his Message to the Legislature implied that separation from the Union was the only remedy, if the laws of the Southern States could not be enforced. They seem to require unconditional submission abroad as well as at home.
The endeavor to prevent insurrections in this way, is as wise as to attempt to extinguish fire with spirits of wine. The short-sighted policy defeats itself. A free colored sailor was lately imprisoned with seven slaves: Here was a fine opportunity to sow the seeds of sedition in their minds!
