The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1850-10-08
The Fugitive Slave Bill.

There seems TO be Il concerted effort, Just
u, this time, to get up an excitement, regard
in5 the act rccently passed by Congress, on
che suffice, of Fugitive Slaves. One day las;
week, every telegraph operator seemed 10
have cen bcsieged by somo agent of this
movement-an the papers were hllel with
stories Of " Fugitive Slave manias all over
the country. We're any confidence to be
placed in such accounts, and in the cxagcer-
n tons of the agitaiors who wish to make the
most of them, we should infer that a univcr.
sal panic prevailed throughout the Free
States, and that the dissolution of the I'm.
ion was at last really at hand.
According to lclcgraphic authority, there
is great excitement" at Pittsburgh, Pa.
on this subject "ijO fugitive Slaves have
left " tina, city " Tor the British Provinces :"
and "rumors are flying about that large par
ties oil slavc-catchers are in town! AT
Utica, n. Y, we hear that "lG fugitive
slaves bound for Canada passed through
recently, armed and determined to fight
to the last minute" We hear OF "excite-
mcnt in Oswcgo, n. Y. and that it is i'm
ugined that some slavc-ca,chcrs are on the
lookout that the blacks have Organized
and armed themselves, and are determined
to resist 10 the last any attempt on their lii.
eriy." In Springfield Mass, again, there i.
great excitement >" on account of the sup.
posed presence Of shareholders =" the
colored people are armns themselves "--and
great public meeting is held and addressed
by" the venerable DR., Osgood," who made
some warm remarks against the bill '-rcso
lutlons are passed-and Committee o
Safety appointed. Similar accounts reacl
us from Lowell, Worcester, New York city
and elsewhere.
we neither are, nor ever have bee n, adj
vocaies of any new Fugitive Slave law, un
less 10 ensure 4 greater security that ron,
Shall DC carried in'o bondage who arr no
legally bound to service" with the person.
claiming them. The Wing patty Of H.,
North, wi h great unanimity. opposed III,
present bill, which has now become a law
None other than Wing Congress, we fee
confident, will ever repeal it. While thu
opposed to the measure, however, we woul,
not have our readers deceived as TO its rca
nature and effect. The retaining of fuyi
i've slaves is no new thing, being exprcssl,
provided for by the Constitution, and bavip,
been constantly in practice under the la,
OF Congress passed in 1898, from that dat
to the present time. The act just passed a
mounts simply, in substance, to an increase @
the number of officers required to cnforc
We froAsons OF the law of 1880 pro
wac definite penalties for interference t
arrest the progress of the law-and to Il
more clearly the kind Of evidence on whic
amaSter's claim to his fugitive sla, shall i
established. We cannot discover that an
portion of the bill is liable even to lust su
picion oil uhconsttuiionalHy, and VIC see n
reason for any nep panic on its passage. A
that is most odious in the business of SLAVE
catching has been equally in force undt
previous laws as under this and must so cor
tnue, under the Federal Constitution ,
long rs Slavery exists in any part of III
Union,