New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-12-27
Constitution aud Fugitive Slaves. No M,

Constitution aud Fugitive Slaves No III.
TO the Editor Of THE Tribune
In this number We design to offer some obser
vations, in respect to the MANNER of carving into
execution the provision for the reclamation of Fu.
gitive Slaves. The e1ccntirc agency is q distinct
question by itself. What is the proper mauner
Of that agency? The capture Of human being
in order to carry him back into hopeless bondage
is bad enough cruel enough to make humanity
weep when done in the best possible manner-
No person of humane feelings can think of it
without horror 1t is crue-crue to the very
last degree. On the soil of freedom, and in the
bosom of freemen, it is an inconsistency, than
which none under heaven can be greater. Yet
as we have admitted, our foretathers entered into
covenant, which gave their assent to this strange
incongruity-an assent not yet repealed, still ex-
isting in the national character. There it is in
black and white, the standing disgrace of repub
licanism.
If then men must be captured and returned to
the horrors of Slavery, the naqaner OF the act is
question OF no minor interest. The Northern
States certainly cannot permit race of Slave
hunters lOhIl w * tuS S'iS via
munity, and seizing men at their discretion
This is not their construction of the Constitution.
They do not understand the compact as implying
this power There are two principles In relation
20 this subject that are peculiarly dear to a
Northern BOSOM and which must be respected in
this effort to reclaim Fugitive Slaves.
The first is, that every human occupant OF the
soil be he black or white, is preSumpt1geiy free
AZ North color the badge oil n
freeman or a slave. Many coored men are citi-
zens; and all carry with them prlmQ tacle evl-
depce of sefownershp This is the legal and
practical doctrine of the North irreversibly fixed
in the convictions and sense OF the people.
Hence when man is claimed as a stare at the
North the presumption IS against the clalm-a
presumption remaining good until set aside by
special evidence. This, as in all Justice ought to
be the fact throws the 6urden Of proof upon the
claimant He is to prove all the facts recited IN
the Constitution as the antecedents OF the obllga-
ton to deliver up q Fugitive Slave lie Is to
show that the man whom lie seeks to recover, IS
a slave under the laws of one of the States-that
he the claimant is the owner, or the authorized
agent of the latter-aud that this slave Is tng1-
tire andhas made his escape from his master $ pos
sesson. He must establish all the facts supposed
in the Constitution, in relation to the particular
man he claims, SO as to identify his person. This
is obviously Just rule. There is question OF
to be SelClSu, DtlOlc Tue PlO
vision can touch the case; and all the facts
alphabetically set forth in that provision, are to
he proved To reverse this doctrine would place
the colored people of the North in the greatest
peril and leave them exposed to the rapacity and
plunder of kidnappers This would be state OF
things, neither the laws nor the moral sense oil
the community can tolerate.
The other principle respects the judtciaf asccr-
tanment of the fact, that given man tails under
the provision which requires his delivery as Il III
eitiye from slavery Hon. is this fact to be ascer.
tanned? By what the Constitution denomlnates
a due process OF law, providing, as u uoes'
that no person shall be deprived OF his HE liberty,
or nropertv without such process What at
least in the Northern States, IS due process OF
law? Il is q triel touching the question OF tact
to be ascertained, before legally constituted
tribunal, having jurisdiction In the premises and
consisting OF Judge and JURY. This IS the
Northern idea of such process. 1t applies to
life. liberty and property-to all legal issues arrs
ing between parties. Before such tribunal there
are parties, having cause, undertaking to show
it's nature, and invoking the rule otaw. To make
out case elldence becomes necessary as part OF
a :" due process Of law The use OF this legal
instrument is the common privilege oil both par
ties, each beirg entitled to hearing through tes-
tmony before verdict is rendered. BY obvious
propriety neither is n competent witness in his
own cause If it be civil issue, no one is COM
petent to testify who has any property.interest
to be affected by the result OF the verdict. All
these ideas belong to "due process OF law. =
And if in any instance under the sun they should
be held sacred it is when human being IS tried
for his freedom The trial ought to be conducted
according to the established principles of legal
Investigation practiced in the State where 1t oc-
ours A man is claimed as slave perhaps he
is cUieen; at any rate he Is presumed to be a
freeman on Northern ground and shall ne be
taken, from the State, and sent oil into hopeless
bondage, without the protection OF 2 trial before
8 jury ot hiA "'"(,"lntrymen Shall he be denied
the right and full opportunity of legal defense,
simply because Slave catcher claims him as
property The Constitution ordains no such enor-
nifty The obligation to deliver becomes real not
when the claim is made, but,establishedj and
until so established, the person canedis entitled
to all the protection the law gives to any citizen
or subject. For aught that appears to the con
trary the claim is spurious the reverse is not to
he assumed, but proved before Jury by the or
dnorv ussees of trial Let the evidence De forth.
coming; let there be full opportunity to respond
to that evidence and rebut it let Jury OF twelve
men hear all the testimony and p!eadings, and
then decide the question OF tact according TO eYl-
dence Justice demands this. Public teelng
demands it, The Constitution does not, by the
remotest hint imply any other mode OF procedure.
No other mode ig reconciable with the principles
of the Federal Constitution no other s IN har'
mony with the Constitutions OF the lfee 0tates'
The free States neither toleratlng nor approving
slavery, and unaccustomed to witness its cruel a
ties cannot quietly consent to anything less both
from a sense of justice and sense OF salety.
II NAV be said that such a mode OF carrying
out the provision Of the Constitution would in
volve so many inconvenience to the claimant, as
to amount to practical denial of his claim and
therefore that he ought to have some more sum.
mary and shorthand method for catching runaway
slaves. In reply, let it be remembered that the tn
provision itself specifies no method n "non Tue
principles of the Federal and State Constitutions
ought to determine the mode; and if So it will
most certainly be trial by Jury. The neon Il
yeniences to the claimant no greater than
Justice requires. If in the free States, not gov;
erned by the laws of Slavery, be demands legal
possession of man az his properly 9nei iet .l,n,