Litchfield enquirer., 1843-05-18

I ty of Bristol. being appointed in 1910, and resignation on the approach ofhis eightieth year. He has been Collector of the U. s. Customs. from the establishment of the Fed eral system of Revenue, until the year pre- cecing that when he was made Judge. In every public situation be was worthy of the confidence of the Government and people whom he served; ia private life, the Chris ] tian character was always in alliance with the gentleman.
 A WHITE FUGIrIvE FROM SI.AvERF.-A Mir Lee of Maysville, Ky, adveriises seven run- away slaves, and among them is female, whom he thus describes:
 Fanny, the mother of the four children, is about 2S years of age, sChite as most svkite .Oorsen .Oith streieh kgit hair l'' In reference to this extraordinary para. graph the editor of the New York American very truthfully and spiritedly comments as "White as most women, with straight light hair !' And this is the desription of a runaway slave and such slave. or 0ny one ansaOering such description, and cLGiaaed Gs c slGue, MT. Jones. of New York, and brother serpiles. in the New York Assembly, would authorize any slave owner to Seize in the streets of New York city, or in the peaceful hamlets of the interior,-at the freside ofthe farmer, or in the precincts of the temple of God,-and without the necessity of proof, without trial, without identification other than the declaration of the interested claimant, to carry her off to chains, or worse to pollution.
 Is 1t an exaggerated or unreasonable sup position that some imperious southern slave holder, accustomed to the unrestrained indul- gence of his passions Gas how few slave hold- CTS, from the force of position and circum- stances, are not-walking through our streets and casting licentious eyes upon some young woman, might, if Mfr. Jone's bill had prevailed, for repeating the law assuring to fugitives from slavery the right of trial by jury-at once claim her as his slave; and though "whi;e as most women and having straight light hair," hurry her off to infamy and despair?
 That, it is admitted, is not a probable oc- currence {; but it is certainly possible one in this city, where ready instruments to aid in perpetration of every villainy are to be found, and where the forms of law might, if MT. Jones bill had passed be invoked to sanction even violence in the abduction of the desired object.
 And if it be possible, is it not due to free. dom, to humanity, to the ishts and security of persons, to interpose the sAeid of the law -of the courts-so much evidence, at least, as would be required to identity dog, or a horse, or barrel of four, or bag ot coffee, claimed to belong to another!
 But no. The serUile spirit of party would place the most sacred personal rights beneath the meanest rights of property and, under the guse of complying with the Constitution ofthe United States, nuliify all that gives val ue to that, or any Constitution, personal lib- erty.
 We reverence the Constitution of the Uni. ted States, with an affection in wh ich fiEiat feeling mingles with love of country-for an honored father bore prominent part in the formation of that Constitution; but the con- sessions which it makes to oslayery-although the damning word is nowhere to be found in it-are exceptional-contrad of its gen. eral purpose and import, which was the se- curity of freedom, and not the hopeless per- petuation of bondage-and, therefore, are to be construed with great strictness. and af- ways with leaning towards the largest lib- erty.
 But our modern bastard democracy, Is SO much in love with "the peculiar institutions of the South.that instead of strict construction where personai freedom is concerned. they are for knocking down at the bidding of Vir- gnia, all the barriers that law, reason. and justice, throw around women. "white as most women," and trampling under foot at once the principles of the Declaration of IndePen- dence, the immunities of the Constituti on, and the indestructible rights of human na- ture.