'"
Mr. Grimshaw's coolness in the matter became so intolerable, that
the colonel could stand it no longer; so, getting up while Mr.
Grimshaw was reading the law, he left the office, perfectly
satisfied that further endeavors at that source would be fruitless.
After Mr. Grimshaw had concluded, he looked up, perfectly amazed to
find that he was enjoying the reading of the act to himself. "Had I
not given it all the consideration of my power, and seen the
correctness of the law, I should not have given so much importance
to my opinion. But there it is, all in that section of the Act, and
they can't find no convention in the world to control the
Legislature of South Carolina. There's my principles, and all the
Englishmen and Abolitionists in Christendom wouldn't change me. Now,
I've the power, and let 'em get the nigger out of my place, if they
can," said Grimshaw, shutting the book, kicking a good-sized,
peaceable-looking dog that lay under the table, and deliberately
taking his hat and walking into the street.
Here is an Act, bearing on its face the arrogant will of South
Carolina, setting aside all constitutional rights, and denying the
validity of stipulations made by the United States in her general
commercial laws. She asserts her right to disregard citizenship, to
make criminals of colored men, because they are colored, and to sell
them for slaves to pay the expenses which she had incurred to make
them such.
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