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The "personal Liberty" Laws

The "personal Liberty" Laws image
Parent Issue
Day
30
Month
November
Year
1860
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

We havealways held the "personal bjrty lawg" and nther legal obstructions thrown ia the way of tno rei.dition fel 'ugitivo fclaves to be useless and pernicious To present this view now rrmy ju miainterpreted iuto a pusillunimous }'ieldiug to southurn clamor. Bui no matter; it is magnanimnus to confeqe and repair a wrong, and, if tho tree States have been wrong in this matter, U will be honorable in them to correct the error. Wo do not suppose t will be done under the present exciternent, because it will look like an atternpt to conciliate tho disunioni-ts ; jut there is no harán in looking at the 'acts as they are, and preparing to act when the proper time comes. It Í8 very wcll understood that on this point alone is the öoutll able to muke out a prima facie case, either of violation of .ho constitution or of injustice to thö slave States on the part of the North. And here they do rnako it out. It is of no use to quibble about it, and attompt ;o iorce auother construotion upon the anguago of tha constitution ; there is no Bhadow of doubt that the fraraers of ;he coustitution intended to próvida and did provide tha rendition oí slaves, and although the present fugitiva slave law contains provisions relugnant to all the est.abli.ihed principies of law, and repulsivo to all the seniments of humane and Christian men, t is constitutional in lts intent and soope, and ia so pronounced by all competent and judicial authorities. It is lot strango that a law so barbarous iu ta spirit and so regardless in sorne of ts provisions of the rights of the race exposed to its influence should encounter resistánco, and that men and women evprywhere should U80 all the means in their power to shield and protect tho negroes. Tliis fáoling, so uniei'.sal iu the free States, will prevent, as it alway h:s, the return of any considerable number of fugitivos who havo once touehed free soil. The personal iberty law were not needed to make this fact certaio, and they do not in the slightest dogree contributo to it. Ou the contrary, they hinder it, by prompting ,he slave-owners to a more obstinate detonnination to recover their property, and by enlisting the more euergetio. el'orts of the general g vei-nment. Un der the most stringent of these "personal liberty"' laws nngroes proved to be slaves are just as inevitably returned to their masters, aud the only ditfereiice is ,hüt they make the process more exjensive and aunoyiiig. These noithjrn retaliatory laws, thereforo, whilo ;hey do not prevent the return of a single nogro to slavery, have the effect to exaspérate the South, and give her occasion to coiuplain that we refuso to 'ulfill an article of the compact rnost es8en:ial to them. Wo have not touehod the moral argument that slavery beiug wrong, ws cannot assist in tho return of a slave, or allow it, if we can prevent it. I'or an individual acting on his own private rosponsibility, that mode of treating the questions "may suffice. But the State can take no euoh position with any honor or consistency. If we cannot stay in the Union as it is, and fulfill tho contraet as it is, tüen the only honorable course ia to go out oí the Union by revolution, as South Carolina proposes to do. Daniel Webster said, in a speech in 1851, at Oapon Springs, Va.: " 1 do not hesitate to sa'y and repeat that if the northern States refuse willfully and deliberately to carry into iect that part of the constitution which re8peots thb restoration of fugitive slaves, the South vvould no longer be bound to ob-erve the compact. A bafgain brokon on ono side is a bargain broken on all sides." All the New England States, and New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Miohigin, Wiseon.siu, and Iown, havo laws, designed to embarrass the aetion of llio iugitive slave luw, those of Massaohusetts, Vermont and New Ilampahire being the most stringent. W o suppose none of theni are so drawn as to be in direct violation of the constitución of the Uriited Siatfes, and certatöly no onc of them is so cuuningly compacted that il xvill prevent the rendition of a negro who is proved to be a fcluvo. What is the use, then 1 Why should we provoke the other section of the co.federacy by 18 whioü meana nul,ificatio.i,vhieh are unconstitutional in spirit, while we have uot the Gourage to go ihe whole, una nulliiy the constituiion boldly and gquarely V It is a mischievoua iolly, and we believo it has been otie of the ohief obstructoina to the growtli of tho republiuan cause, and it is palpably the source of the worst practical diflSouIty with which the party has now to contund. It tliitssurt oí sentimental legislation ware out of the way, the South vvould not havo left a solitary grouuc of complaint that would baar examiuation. We quote froin Daniel Webster's speech at Búllalo, N. Y., May 22, 1851: "Under tlia provisions ot the constitution, dunng Washi.gtion's adininistration, in the year 1793, thore was puBsud by güDoral consent u hiw for the restoration of fugitive slaves. Hardly any one opposed t at that period ; it was thought to be neces-?ary n order to cairy the constitution into effoct ; the groat men of New England and JNaw York all coueurred in it. It passed, and answered ill the purposes uxpeoted from it, till about theyeai 1811 or 1812 wlien the States iuto rfered to make euaclments in opposition to it. The act of Congress said that Stato magistrates inight execute the duties of tho law. Somo of the States passed enacttnents imposing a panalty on any State officer who exorclsed authority under tho law, or assistfed in its oxecution ; others denied tho ase of tlieir jails to carry the law into effect ; and, in general, at the comrnencement of the year 1850, it had bcoorne abeolutelv indispensable that (Joiigressshould pass somo law for the exeeution oí' Ibis provisión of the constilution, or else give up that provisión entirelv. That was the question. I was in Congress vvhen it was brought forward. I was for a proper law. I had, indeed, proposed a different law ; I was of the opinión that ' a stimmary trial by a jury might (e had i which would Patisfy liio people ol the North, and produce no harm to tbse who claimod the ssrvioc of fugitivas : but I left tho Sonate and went to another station beforo any law was pussed. The luw üf 1850 passed, Now I un dertake, as a lawyer, and on my professional chnractor, to sy toyou, and to all, thattho law of 1859 ü dcuidedly inore favorable to the fugitivo lh:in General Washington's law of 1793 ; and 1 will toll you why : In the first place, thu preseat law places the power in much higher hands; in the hands ol independent Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts and District Courts, and of Oommissioners wlio are appointed to office for thoir legal learning. Every lugitivo is brought before a tribunal of high character, of eminent ability, of rtsspectablo station. ín the second place, when a claimant comes froto Virginia to New York, to say that one A or one IJ hasrurmway, or is a fugitiva f rom service or labor, he bfitijjs with hirn a record óf the court of the county from which he comes, and that record must be sworn to botore a magistrate, and certiüod by the County Clerk, and bcar an official scal. The affidavit must state that A or B liad doparted under certain circutnstances, and had gono to arjother State; and that record under seal is, by the'oonstitution oí the TJüitod States, entitled to full credit in every State. Well, the claim ant or his agent comea here, :.nd he presents to yon the so il of the court in Virginia, affixed to a record oí his dec laration that A or B had escaped from Service. Ho must Uien prove that the fugitivo is hero. He brings a witness; he is asked if this is the man, and ho provea it; or, in nine cases out of ton, the faols would be adinitted by the fugitive hirnself. "Sueh is the present law ; and, much opposed and maligned as it is, it is moro favorable to the fugitivo slave than the law enacted during Wa.-hington'a admini.stration, in 1793, which was sanetioned by the North as well as the ■íouth. The present violent opposition hassprung up in modern times.' From whom does the clamoreóme? Why, ook at the procoedings of the anti slavery conveation ; look ut their reso utions. Do you find arnong thoso lersons who opposo this fugitivo slave :uv any admission whatever that any aw ought to bo passéd to carry into ef'ect the solemn s;ipulations of the con'it.tution ? Teil me any such oase ; toll me if auy resolution was adopted by ho convention at Syracuso favorablo to carrying out of tho oonstitution. Not one ! The fact is, gentlemen, they oppose the censtitntional provisión ; hey opposo the whole! Not a man ol ,hem admits that thore JUght to bo any aw oa the s iljject. Thoy d.eny altotogether that the provisión of the constitution ough to be carried into effect. Look at the prüceediugs., of tho antislavery conventious ia üh o, Massaohusetts and at Syracuse, in the Stato of New York. What do they say ? - That, so help them God, no coloree! man shali be sent from tho State ot New York back to his inaster in Virginia !' Do not thoy say that ?" And to thé fulfillmeut of that they 'pledg'.' their lives their fortune?, and thoir sacrod honor.' Their sacred honor! They pledge their sacred honor to commit treason against the laws of their country ! 'I havo already stated, gentlomen, what your observation of these things must have taught you. I will only recurto the subject for a moment, for the parpóse of persuading you, as public men and private men, as good men and patriotic men, that you ought, to the oxtent of your abilily and influence, to see to it that such laws are establishec and maintained au shall koep you, anc the South, and the West, and all the country, together, on the terms of the constitution. 1 say that what is de manded of us is to fulfill our oonstitutional dutios, and do for the South what tho South has a right to demand."

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus