Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1844-09-20
U MRE r. SO.

My open residence in Baltimore. with railroad
to winchester, whence am charged with aiding
this man to fee looks Uery much like flight, to be-
sure! am also charged with aiding two women
and boy to escape from an obscure person nthiy
city. 1t is said that have been humane enough
to help these persons to escape to some free State
To do such acts of kindness TO the pennilcss slave,
| am told has been ny statute, made penal Of
fence, in these two States. Whether the facts are
truly charged or not, is of very little moment to-
any but the poor people themselves Ifhey are free,
there is room for ttcice four more free Laborers,
south of 'Mason's and Dxon's line To myself
while am neither martyr or Il stole to pretend
to be insensble to the evils of a separatou from
my family, from society, from all opportunities Of
gaining knowledge and of henehting society, bV
an imprisonment with the felons OF your peniten-
tiaries yet say, without hesitation, had rather
be the prisoner, than the Judge who may sentence
me.
What are the legal issues? /. One is not pc
cuIar to my case. 1t is, whether mere requisi-
ton from the authorities of another State, unsup-
ported by evidence of the commission Of any crime
or OF the identity of the person, shall be deemed
sufficient warranty to drag man from his homey
his family, his friends, into foreign jurisdiction,
to he tried by strangers? lfso, we have gained
little by the revolution of 1776. 2. The second
issue is, is it felony or other crme,' within the
meaning of the constitution of the United States,
to aid slave to escape to free State2 The To-
cal laws of one half of even the SLAVE States do not
make it So g. Has stGyery any constitutional or
legal existence in Maryland or Virginia? or does
it exist by mere suHerance, the subject of restric
! ton and regulation, as gambling is in Hamburg,
and was IN New Orleans at very recent period:
A. Is it a crime at all, by he law of COP, by the
common law, or the constitutions of Maryland and
Virginia, to help man out Of slavery? If not,c eau
a mere local statute law make it so? Can laws
make acts of humanity and mercy to the helpless
and poor, become crimes by the words written on
r I,,or md h, ID ~ M.
land, who voted public thanks and swords of hon
or to those who delivered few of our country
men from slavery in Trpoh, make it crime to
help her native born citizens to escape from sGue
~ on her oCn soil?-Do the waves of the Allan
tic change the nature Of justice, mercy, humanity,
and make them crimes and felonies?
8. Here then, are the issues not stated with Ie-
gal form and precision, as my learned counsel may
do before the proper tribunal, but plainly; the is
, sues on which TIL STATES OF MARYLAND
AND VIRGINIA WILL GO TO TRIAL BE-
FORE THE TRIBUNAL OF MANKIND.
The issue as not whether have or have not aid
ed four or four thousand slaves to escape from
slavery in Maryland elsewhere. Had done
4 the last, Maryland, with her population kept
sparse, her resources diminished and her proud
name dishonored by slavery, should hold me pub
lie benetactor. But, not without mature delihera-
ton aver it, an not on trial. shall not be in
f the eyes Of mankind This thing cannot be, shall
not be done in corner. 1t is no obscure fanatics
. reckless of right and duty, with whom the ques-
n ton is brought to an issue No Judge O'Neili
+ can SANDER me as he has poor Brown, not only in
e that parody on pey his judicial sentence, hut in
recent letter to the British public, thro' the Glasgow
5 Argus; and endeaVor to lessen the niamy OF maxi
ing it crime to help men out of slavery, by show
ing that the personal character ofthe man, in 9TH
er respects, is such as justly to deprive him of eve
: ry ones sympathy. No, THANK COP! Mary
), land and Virginia must go to trial before the tr-
!; bunal of the civilized world on this broad issue
Y "WH you IN order TO maintain Slavery, (Which
II lives in your impoverished States only by the an
= nua sales of its increase in the southern sham
n bles,) CiH yoU condemn of bGmeless life and
l. unSpOted Christian character 10 your prisons
It common .feion?"
/, When the foreign secretary of state of Great
10 Britain, Lord Aberdeen, from his place in Para-
e ment, seconded Lord Brougham in procaiming
Al the infamy of Browns judges, he uttered no mere
g British philippe against any thing Americans; he
n spoke the sentiments of all the enlightened part of
S, mankind, save narrow and daily decreasing cir
Gle in our own slave States, in respect 10 the sys-
re tenn of slavery, and in regard to all who attempt TO
9r make it crime to relieve its victims. Already
" scores of public meetings in the free states, num-
d herring from one to eli ht Thousand persons each,
= have spoken of my imprisonment in terms like the
ir following. These resolves were passed Mt 4tfl
rs of July celebration, Mount Pleasant, the spot
fortified by the Americans after the battle of Bun
oil kef I1lll3 ny the talncrS OF many OF tnOSe present,
g to my personal knowledge. About two thousand
persons were there:
lie "ResoIved, That we have heard with mingled
feelings of Indignation and sorrow of the arrest s.
n Imprisonment in Maryland of citizen of Massa-
Mt chusets, Rev. Charles I. Torrey, through re-
Mt QUESTION of the executive of Virginia, charging
of him with having carried out in practice the doc
m trne of the Declaration of independence, that all
" men are created equal and endowed by their Gre
nd ator with an analtenabie right to liberty, and with
e, literally obeying the injunction of holy writ
ST. Slide the oucast and betray not him that gander
on eth"
be "Resolued, That as citizens of State whose
bill of rights recognizes slave in the universe
on God, assembled upon the grass-grown remains o.
IS, one OF the first entertainments thrown up by thC
ne men OF IT'S, within view of the first battle fields
h. the revolution, and of the old cradle of liberty or
he the anniversary of the declaration Of ndependence
lat we protest in the name of that declaration agans
nd this denial Of its truths and violation of its princi
pies on the part of the authorizes Of Virginia ant
Ike Maryland, in the case of our fe0w-citizen, Mr.
I'm Torrey; and VIC call upon all who love liberty ant
nat hate oppression, to unite with in indignant rep
st. rotation Of system which can only exist by ma
m KING humanity crlme-a practical belief in tn
ire doctrines Of the revolution felony--and obedience
will TO the commands Of God, ponitentary offence :
ny Nor are the persons who express such view
ra- aholuoniSs merely. Few men can he found u
&c the entire North who cherish, none who viii avov
any other sentiments, unless ii is to serve tom
my base purpose OF partisan political nature
OF may be tried convicted of doing that whic