The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1850-11-09
evi,rnsly prodoced great cffse. upon The mind.

/ al the audience. The yent!eiiians high profess
iaal standing, taken in cunncction with his labo
rious preparation for the occasion. as apparent
to all from his lengthy written brief before hin
while speaking, inspired implicit confidence IN The
CORRECTNESS Of his position.
! Nv answer TO the objection will be found II
the Consti,ution itself, which will read.
The President shall nominate. and by and witt
the consent Of the Senate, shall sppont anlbassa
dors, other public ministers. and consuls Judge
Of the Supreme Court and all other officers O
the United States. where appointments are moi
herein otherwise provided for, and which shall /,
Established BY law
Now il will be seen that the words inferior
courts are not mentioned in the Constitution.
The gentleman in his zeal against the law, and
his frenzy to resist il, nterpolated these words
and then made plausible argument upan them
| trust this was all unncnIional, or WAS done
with the view Of fulfilling the Higher Law, -
But there Is another sentence in this same clause
of the Constitution which have not yet read IL
is as follows:
But the Congress may BY law vest the APP
poutmeut Of such isJcrior officers a. they think
proper in the President alone, i" the Courts Of
Lar, or in the heads of Departments"
What is meant by "u.ferior officers whose np
pontmens may be vested in the courts Of lac
will be- seen by reference to the Sth Section OF
the Constitution, where the powers Of Congress
are enumerated, aud anon, them Is the follow
ing: To constitute tribunals iHfsTipr 10 the SH-
prsHe Court" Is the tribunal which Is To- carry
this act into effect inferior to the Supreme Court
Of the United States That is the ouly question,
and leave those who preach resistance TO the
law TO answer it. will remark however, that
these Commissioners are not appointed under the
r xrtt. Oh hu.
stood ON the Statute Book for many years II
tLnSe who denounced and msrcpresent this law
h,d ever read it before they attempted to enllgh,
ten the people upon it, they would have saved
themselves the identification Of exposure, as
will show BIZ reading the first section;
Sec. l. BE it enacted. &c, That persons who
may have been, or may hereafter be, appointed
Commissioner, in virtue of any act Of Congress
by the Circuit Courts of the Cnitcd States. and
who IN consequence Of such appointments are an.
,horzed 10 exercise the powers that u Justice oi
the peace or other magistrate Of any Of the UNI
ted States may exercise in respect to offenders
for ary crime ar offence against the United States
by arres,ng, mprisoning, or baiing the same nm
der AMI by virtue Of the thirty third section OF
the act oi the cath OF September, seventeen hun
drcd and eighty nine, enitl' AN act to establish
Judicial Courts If the Upitrd States. shall be
and are hereby authorized and required to exer'
else and dscha-g. all the powers and duties con
, frrred By this act"
Thus it will be seen that these Commissioners
have been in Office for wears, with their duties
prescribed by law, nearly all Of which were Of a
judicial character and that this new law only I'M
poses additional duties upon them and authorizes
the increase Of the number Why has not this
grave Constitution question been discovered be
fore, and the people informed how then rights
have been outraged in violation Of the supreme
law Of the land Truly. the passage Of the fug
tive bill las thrown a flood of light upon CUnst
tutional principles.
A gentleman RISE and said that he would like
| to ask another question which was this If the
new law was so similar to the old one, what was
the necessity OF passing any ut al since the old
one was still, in forcel
Mr. Douglas, in reply, saih that is the very
question was anxious some He s',oill pro
pound, because was DESTROYS Of an opportunity
| If answering it. Tie old law answered all the
purposes for which it was enacted tolerably well
until the decision by the Supreme Court 81 the
Ur tied States, in the case Of priggs Va, the State
Of Pennsy lvania, eight or nine years ago. That
decision rendered the law comparatively inoper'
alive, for the reason that there was scarcely any
officers left to execute L. 1t will Toe reco!lccted
that the act Of '9S imposed the duty Of carrying
it into effect upon the magistrates and other OH
GERS under the State governments These officers
performed their duties under that law, with hdci'
ity for about fifty years, until the Supreme Cour,
in the case alluded 20 decided that they were un
der no legal obligation To do so, and that Con
grcss had IN constitutional power to impose the
duty upon them. From that time many Of the
officers refused 10 act, and soon afterwards the
Legislature of Massachusetts,, and many other
States passed laws making it criminal for their
officers to perform these duties Hence the old
law. although efficient in its provisions, and SINH.
lar in most respects, and especially IN those now
objected TO- almost Identical with the new law,
became comparatively dead letter for the want
of officers to carry it into effect. The circuit and
district lndges Of the United States were the on.
" officers left who were empowered tocxecuta IT.
IN this state. for instance Judge Drunmond was
the only officer authorized TO try fugitive case
and resided in the extreme north ives: corner Of
the state, within six miles of Wisconsin and three
Of Iowa, and in the direction where fugi.ves from
labor were least likely to 20. II fugitive was
arrested at Shawneetovn, or Alton, three or four
hundred miles from the residence Of the Judge,
the master would attempt to take him across tn.
river to his home in Kentucky or Missouri, with
out first establishing his right to do so. This was
calculated to excite uneasiness and doubts in the
minds Of our citizens as to the propriety of per
hitting the negro to be carried out Of the state
without the fact Of his owing service, and having
escaped, being first proved, lest might turn out
tina, the negro was freeman, and the claimant a
kidnapper And YET, according to the express
terms Of the old law, the master was authorized "a
seize his slave wherever he found him, and to car
ry him back without process, or trial, or proof OF
any kind whatsoever. Hence it was necessary
to pass n new law. in order to carry into effect
| in peaceable and orderly manner, the provis'
| ions Of tho law and the Constitution on the one
hand and to protect the ifec colorcd man from be
| ing kidnapped, and sold into slavery, by unprinc
Piled men on the other hand The purpose u the
new law is to accomplish these two objects tc
appoint officers to carry the law into effect in ii,
| place OF the magistrates relieved from that dut,
by the decision Of the Supreme Court and t.
! guard agans. harrassing and kidnapping the free
blacks by preventing the claimant from carrying
the negro ON, Of The state until he established hi
| legal nshi 10 do So The new law, therefore, is
grrutnlpyovement ID this respect upon the old one
and is more favorable 70 Justice and freedom, an'
better guarded against ab.se
| A person present ntked leave 10 PROFOUND ano'h
er question oi Mr.. Douglas. which was this II III
new lay is more favorable tn freedom Than the OF