Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1850-11-16

1
sufficient and abundant proof that you are
his property, while your own oath to the
contrary is excluded by law. That act gives
you no right TO demand a postponemeht Oh
the hearing, allows you no process 10 COM
| fnand the attendance Of witnesses, no unle
to send for counsel. However essential
these privileges may lie to your restoration
to freedom, to family, to happiness, you mus,
beg them as .farors to he granted OF denled
at pleasure, from a creature who has accept
ed the office of slave-catchng judge, and
who is to be paid ten dollars If he doonis
YOU to slavery, but only fire ii he sets you nj
| liberty And who is this Commissioner
Heretofore he was person appointed by
the United Stutes Courts TO perform certain
acts, us taking ailidavits, &c. .NoD lie Is
elected to the Office and dignity OF JUDGE,
aud the courts are expressly commanded
"to enlarge The number Of Commissioners, ielih
a vie,O 10 afford reasonable facilities IN relation
10 hlQiiiues from labor" Hence these Judg-
es are TO be appointed for the express and
only purpose of catching negroes, and tue
amount aud condition of their reward, iDdl-
cate the character of the men who It is en-
pected will accept the infamous office.
From the decision of one of these men,
given under the circumstances l nave de-
scrbed, there is no appeal to any court III
the United States. Yet this man, whose
judgment is too sacred TO be reviewed, ana
in whose awful presence the protection OF
liberty, are but as things of nought-tl's
high and mighty Judge, who sits III Judg-
ment upon the right to the souls aud bodies
of immortal beings, made in the image of
God, is deemed unworthy to decide on the
title to a horse. Such question is referred
TO higher court! And how are these ON
nipotent slavc-catching commissioner-Judges
appointed? No popular vote invests iliem
with their tremendous powcrs-no fresidellt
and Senate are responsible for their learning,
wisdom aud integrity, Notwithstanding the
Constitution entrtsis to them the appoint
nout OF federal judges. Among the Won
ters OF the times, is this discovery OF judi
cial generation. BY virtue of this new law,
judges procreate judges at pleasurc, Tor the
convenience of tue shareholders
Our commissioner.iudges are 10 have a
force at their command to maintain their dig
nity and execute their behests. They are
authorized TO appoint an unlimited number
of slaye-catcliers, and each OF these mis-
creunts is empowered, by law, TO roam
through the whole extent of the State, exc
cutting warrants, seizing alleged slaves,
white or black, ordering out the posse CONT
| tdtus, calling the citizens from their employ
| ments, aud commanding them to join IN
slave hunts. Should any dare TO refuse obe-
dience TO tlie satanic mandate, fine OF
| $1,000 and Imprisonment for six months VIII
vindicate the insulted authority of the slave
catcher. When the chase is ended, aud the
MAN is taken, he may be guarded and trans
ported TO the slave region at the expense of
| the NATIONAL TREASURY. Thus have our
donghihces-W and Democrats, in tax
ing their constituents, TO give jobs to slave
catchers, and TO rvet the ieticrs Of the bond
men, fallen down in the dust and licked The
very feet of the shareholders.
You ask me how you shall secure your
selves from the kidnapper? God only knows.
May He have mercy on you, for our law
makers have had none. Rumors have reach
ed me of an intention on the part OF Our
colored citizens to carry arms in sell-deience
| If have earned any title TO your confidence,
may not ask you TO ponder my advice, to
abandon such intention? Most freely do
confess my utter ignorance Of the system of
morals founded by Divine authority on the
color of mnn's skin. Whenever, for what
ever cause, God permits white man 10 take
life, believe he equally permits a black
man, in similar circumstances, to do the
same. Some, know, maintuin that life may
never be taken in self-detence, but il is not
on this ground that | urge you to abstain
from the use of deadly weapons. implore,
! beseecl you, not to attempt the life of the
kdnapper, first, because his death will not
secure your safety, and, being, therefore, un-
necessary, il would he morally wrong and
secondly because such an act of violence
would prove the source of great evil TO your
selves, and 10 your brethren.
The facilities afforded by this law to the
kidnappers are so great, tile means OF con
verting YOU into a slave are so plainly pre-
scribed, the physical force furnished him to
perpetrating the outrage is so abundant, thO
The whole yillainy will be done according
to law" aud under circumstances rendering
resistance vain. The fraudulent affidavit
will be regularly verified, warrant duly issu
ed, the seizure strictly legal. Hence, shoul'
death occur by your resistance, you woult
in law he deemed guilty of murder, for hay
ing slain an officer in the legal discharge @
his duty. Think you that, at time whel
parties are sacrificing truth and honor 10
Southern votes, aud their leaders openl
scofling At the "higher law" that you woul
{ be permitted to escape with impunity P
There would he mighty struggle amonI
} our politicians who should make the mos
Southern capital out of the slaughter of
=, sluve-catcher. The pro-slavery papers q
. New York and Boston would be seized witt
D fit of horror aud indignation against III
Q blood-tlIirsty negroes, aud of admiration 70
, the patriotism OF the departed martyr, an
A for the lofty devotion 10 "the compromise
: of the constitution" which had cost him hi
v life.
: The occasion would, moreover, be embrac
n ed for rendering new homage 10 the slave
r holders, by urging the iorcible expulsion 4
r Africa of all such negroes as unhappily hav
9 no masters to take care of them, and contro
i their savage tempers; and, not unlikely, hint
v would be thrown out, that, before long, sell
preservation would require the re-esiabIlsll
; ment of slavery AT the North. Such an nc
T" would also furnish an excuse for arme