of jurisdiction, because the plaintiff was not a citizen of Missouri, as he alleged in his declaration. Into that judgment, according to the settled course of this court, nothing appearing after a plea to the merits can enter. A great question of constitutional law, deeply affecting the peace and welfare of the country, is not, in my opinion, a fit subject to be thus reached. But as, in my opinion, the Circuit Court had jurisdiction, I am obliged to consider the question whether its judgment on the merits of the case should stand or be reversed. The residence of the plaintiff in the State of Illinois, and the residence of himself and his wife in the territory acquired from France lying north of latitude thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, and north of the State of Missouri, are each relied on by the plaintiff in error. As the residence in the territory affects the plaintiff's wife and children as well as himself, I must inquire what was its effect. The general question may be stated to be, whether the plaintiff's _status_, as a slave, was so changed by his residence within that territory, that he was not a slave in the State of Missouri, at the time this action was brought. In such cases, two inquiries arise, which may be confounded, but should be kept distinct. The first is, what was the law of the Territory into which the master and slave went, respecting the relation between them? The second is, whether the State of Missouri recognises and allows the effect of that law of the Territory, on the _status_ of the slave, on his return within its jurisdiction. As to the first of these questions, the will of States and nations, by whose municipal law slavery is not recognised, has been manifested in three different ways. One is, absolutely to dissolve the relation, and terminate the rights of the master existing under the law of the country whence the parties came. This is said by Lord Stowell, in the case of the slave Grace, (2 Hag. Ad. R., 94,) and by the Supreme Court of Louisiana in the case of Maria [Transcriber's Note: Marie] Louise _v._ Marot, (9 Louis. R., 473,) to be the law of France; and it has been the law of several States of this Union, in respect to slaves introduced under certain conditions. (Wilson _v._ Isabel, 5 Call's R., 430; Hunter _v._ Hulcher [Transcriber's Note: Fulcher], 1 Leigh, 172; Stewart _v._ Oaks, 5 Har. and John., 107.)