Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1850-11-13
Fugitive Slave Law,

AS tnc JuTy laIlcu W dSTcc upon thc
facts in the case Of Oliver against Kauff-
man, in the U. s. Circuit Court at Phila-
delphia, (the trial of which was published
in the Chronicle two weeks since no
decision was made by the Court upon the
points raised with regard to the freedom
of the alleged fugitives but they will
probably be disposed of in the next trial
Of the case.
In his charge to the jury, Judge Grier
stated that it was " too plain for argument,
that the act of 1893 did not intend to
make common charity crime, or treat
that man as guilty of an offence against
his neighbor, who merely furnishes food,
lodging, or raiment to the hungry, weary,
or naked wandercr, though he be an ap
prentice or slave. On the contrary, it
contemplatcs not only the escape of the
slave, but the intention of the master to
reclaim him. 1t points out the mode in
which this reclamation is to be made and
it is for an unlawful interference or hind
rance of this right of reclamation, secured
to the master by the Constitution and
laws, that this penalty is imposed. The
harboring made criminal by this act, then,
requires some other ingredient besides a
mere kindness, or charity rendered to the
fugitive. There must be knowledge
that the person harborcd or concealed is
fugitive from labor; and formal notice of
the latter fact, from the owner, is not nec-
cssary. The intention or purpose which
accompanies the act Of kindness or chari-
ty, must be to encourage the fugitive in
his descrtion of his master, to further his
escape, and frustrate his reclamation. The
act must evince an intention to eludc the
vigilance of the master, and be calculated
to attain the object"
Judge Grier has also published a
semi judicial opinion, in reply to letter
on the subject from Charles Gibbons, Esq,
that the new fugitive slave law does not
require that judge should, without tiai,
surrender citizen Of Pennsylvania to a
kidnappcr. The provision I" that in no
trial or hearing, under this act, shall the
testimony of such fugitive be admitted in
evidence" is no more than the enactment
of an established principle Of the common
law, that no man shall bear witness in his
own cause. "Thc act contcmplatcs a
trial and decision of the Court or Judge,
involving questions both of law and fact,
and unless the rules of the common law,
as to evidence, be followed, when not
changed by statute, the tribunal would be
without rule, governed only by caprice, or
underlined discretion, which would be the
exercise of tyrannical, not judicial,
power. 1t is the duty of the Judge who
presides, to render equal justice both to
the claimant and the person claimed. If
evidence We're heard on one side only, and
that, too, without regard to any rule or
principle known to the law, gross oppres-
sion aud wrong would flow from it. Free
men and citizens of Pennsylvania might
be kidnapped into bondage, under forms
of law; and by the acton of a legal tri-
bunal, sworn to do equal and exact JUS
tice to all men. This much maligncd law
not only gives trial. before legal tri-
bunal, before the claimant can be author
lied to carry the fugitive out of the State,
but it takes away from the prisoner no
right which he would have enjoyed before
the act of Congress was passed"
As considerable feeling exists in this
community on the subject of the new fu-
gitive slave law, We have given place to
the above extracts that our readers may
know what aspect the law bears, under
the practice as laid down by the Courts.
1t will be seen that much of its supposed
harshness is thus considerably softcned.
But there are still other OdiOus and i'm
practicable features about the law that will
require material modification at the hands
of Congress, before the great body of the
people at the North will rest satisfied with
its nractical operation