On motion of Mr. Eldred, section one hundred and five was amended by striking out in the eighth line, after the word "mortgagor," the words " or against his person."

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Mr. Eldred moved to amend section one hundred and four of said chapter, by adding the following proviso:

"Provided, The mortgagor or his heirs or assigns, upon the payment of the amount of said sale, with the costs thereof, together with twenty per cent per annum, in trust thereon, within one year from said sale, to the mortgagor or his attorney, shall have the same right to redeem as in other cases," which was de cided in the negative.

Said chapter was then laid upon the table.

On motion of Mr. Wing, the House took up for consideration the bill entitled "A bill to amend an act to organize and regulate banking associations."

Mr. McKeen offered a substitute to the whole bill, which the House refused to consider.

Mr. Felch moved further to amend said bill by striking out all after the word "liable," in the seventh line of the twenty-fifth section, to the word "four," in the ninth line, and insert in lieu thereof the words "in like manner," and to insert after the word "payment," in the ninth line, the words "of the full amount," which was, on his motion, decided in the affirmative, by yeas and nays, as follows:

Mr. Burbank,
Mr. Ballard,

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Mr. Martin,

Mr. Calkin,
Mr. Case,

Mr. McGaffey,

Mr. Eldred,

Mr. Herrington,
Mr. Kellogg,

Mr. McCamly,

11

Mr. Field,

Mr. Gilbert,

On motion of Mr. Lothrop, said chapter was further amended by striking out in the sixth and seventh lines of section eleven,

the words "at a rate not exceeding two-thirds its true cash value."

On motion of Mr. Burbank, the vote taken upon considering the substitute offered by Mr. McKeen, to the above entitled bill, was reconsidered, and on motion of Mr. McKeen, said substitute was laid upon the table and ordered to be printed. On motion of Mr. Lothrop, the House adjourned,

Thursday, December 21.

The House met pursuant to adjournment.

The roll being called, the following members were absent : Messrs. Felch, Levake, Martin and Wisner.

The journal of yesterday being read,

Mr. Wing asked and obtained leave of absence for Mr. Felch, Mr. Cressey, from the committee on the organization of towns and counties, reported a "bill to organize the counties of Eaton and Ottawa," also " An act to organize certain townships," which were read the first and second times, and laid upon the table and ordered to be printed.

Mr. Cressey, from the select committee to which was referred a petition from sundry inhabitants of Lenawee county,“ praying that the right of trial by jury may be extended to fugitive slaves, and for other purposes," made the following report, which, on motion of Mr. Alden, was laid upon the table and ordered to be printed.

The select committee to which was referred a petition from sundry inhabitants of Lenawee county, praying that the right of trial by jury may be extended to fugitive slaves, and for other purposes, report:

That several subjects upon which the petitioners solicit the action of the legislature, have been passed over in consequence of the advanced stage of the session at which the petition was received. Upon that part of the petition relating to slavery, however, your committee has been prompted to bestow more attention, as well from respect to the high character of the petitioners, as from a conviction that a large portion of community entertains erroneous opinions upon that important subject.

That slavery is not permitted to exist in Michigan, is conclusive evidence that the citizens of our state are opposed to that institution, and could the prayer of the petitioners be acted upon as an original proposition, little doubt exists that it would be promptly granted. To discuss the subject in this light, however, would be to lose sight of the true question at issue. With the benefits or evils, the justice or injustice of slavery, or the moral right of one man to hold another in bondage, we have nothing to do. The system is acknowledged and protected by our political institutions. It is based upon the same foundation that sustains the union of the states; and whatever is calculated to impair the constitutional rights of those states where slavery exists, must be perilous to our national existence. Under these circumstances, your committee feel it a duty to examine, not the merits of the original question, but the constitutional powers of a state to extend the right of trial by jury to fugitive slaves. The tenth article of amendments to the constitution of the United States, is in the following words, viz: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Your committee infer that Congress can exercise exclusive jurisdiction, from two features in the constitution, first, over "all powers delegated by it," &c., as for example "to establish post offices and post roads." It cannot be supposed for a moment, that state authorities can interfere in carrying into effect the details of the post office department; and second, over all powers "prohibited by it to the states:" as for example, the third clause of the second section of the fourth article declares, that " no person held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." However odious the existence of slavery may be to us, the above clause indicates that all discussion on the part of state authorities, is distinctly prohibited. The language, " shall be delivered up," is decisive, and any evasion on the part of state authorities, particularly in the present excited state of public feeling, would, in the opinion of your com

mittee, be trifling with rights secured to our sister states by the constitution; would pave the way to future and more decided aggressions; would necessarily disturb that harmony which ought to be preserved at all hazards, and produce a collision between the states which could only end in a dissolution of the Union. Your committee contemplate with deep emotion the first advance, though scarcely perceptible, in such a chain of

events.

Would extending the right of trial by jury to fugitive slaves, by state legislation, be such a step? Your committee will briefly state the grounds which have led them to an affirmative decision. The constitutional provision above recited secures to the person to whom "such service or labor may be due," the legal right of claiming the fugitive wherever found, and the power to prescribe the mode of enforcing the claim is vested in Congress. Any regulation to discharge from such service or labor, is distinctly prohibited, while the requirement, "shall be delivered up,” is imperative upon state authorities, and in the opinion of your committee, implies sufficient power in Congress to carry out and enforce the rule thus laid down in the constitution. If doubts are entertained of the correctness of this conclusion, the seventeenth clause of section eight, article one, may be quoted in its support : “to make all laws which may be necessary and proper, for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof." In accordance with this clause, Congress, in an act approved February 12th, 1793, provided as follows: "Sec. 3. That when a person held to labor in any of the United States, or in either of the territories on the north-west or south of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other of the said states or territories, the person to whom such service or labor may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take him or her before any judge of the circuit or district courts of the United States, residing or being within the state, or before any magistrate of a county, city, or town corporate wherein such seizure or arrest shall be made, and upon proof, to the satisfaction of such judge or magistrate, either by oral tes

timony, or affidavit taken before and certified by a magistrate of any such state or territory, that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the state or territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive from labor, to the state or territory from which he or she fled."

If the law above quoted, is constitutional, (and your committee do not doubt it,) it would be difficult for a state legislature to establish any different manner of proceeding, without doing manifest violence to that provision of the constitution, (article six,) which declares that "this constitution and the laws which shall be made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.

The petitioners ask the legislature to instruct our senators and request our representative in Congress to oppose the annexation of Texas to the United States. The impression that slavery would be one of the conditions of such annexation, would induce the committee to report a resolution in accordance with the prayer of the petition, were it not that the administration so recently and clearly pointed out the course to be pursued, a course fully concurred in by our senators and representative.

Your committee will conclude their report by recommending the adoption of the following resolution:

Resolved, That the legislature has not the constitutional power of extending the right of trial by jury to fugitive slavess.

Resolved, That this House cordially approve of the course pursued by the general government in relation to the annexation of Texas to the United States.

A. CRESSEY.

Chairman Committee.

Mr. Eldred, from the committee on ways and means, to which was referred the joint resolution "to authorize the Treasurer of this state to loan a certain sum of money," reported the same to the House without amendment.