The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-07-25

ninety mine, that is an indefinite number of slaves
should escape, than that one free man should be
delivered into bondage
Besides, | think no State legislated on the sub
lect for the protection Of its own citizens, until
ls42. This was after Congress had neglected
for more than fifty years to do its duty Why,
then, should Mr.. Webster cast the blame upon
the States which forbore for more than fifty years
to act protectively for themselves, when Congress
OF which he had been leading member for nearly
forty years, had endangered, instead Of securing
the liberty of their citiaensl When he said that
" every member Of every Northern Legislature is
bound by oath to support the Constitution of the
United States" why did not the retort suddenly
rise to his mind that he was bound by oath not
less than they; and that his oath embraced the
men that owned freedom, not less than the men
that owned aavesl Besides he charges only
part of the free States with being guilty of un-
just legislation Shall the innocent States suffer
because Of the others offence Rather shall not
Congress first supply the means Of protection to
the citizens of all 2
IT seems to me, too, that the fourth amendment
has an important bearing upon the subject" be-
cause II shows that the master-thought of our
fathers, in forming the Constitution was to Sc
cure the liberties Of the citizen. 1t provides
against unreasonable seizures" of persons
| suppose the main idea Of this amendment was
TO secure the citizen against unreasonable seiz-
ure," even in cases where he should afterwards
a 49, 4 - - o. 80 ~:
the forms the common law. nut
nren can be more unreasonable than one
whose object is, not an ultimate trial, but bondage
forever, without trial 2 Can mortal Imagination
conceive of any seizure less entitled than this TO
be called "reasonable7n With what indignation
did our fathers frown because they were trans
ta1 49, L. H. nat hu
emit law, and by the law which MIR. Webster
promises to support, free man may be trans
ported, if not beyond seas, at least beyond lands
and beyond States, not 10 be tyisd, but to be held
in slavery forever without trial IL a free citizen
of Massachusetts, should be seized and plunged
into Massachusetts, prison, to be kept there for
life; and his children, consequence of his fate,
were put into the same, or into other prisons, as
fast as they were born, to be also kept for life;
and such was the original object and ayowed pur-
pose of the seizure would not this conflict little
with the "spiraD of the fourth amendment
And does this proceeding conflict with this
spirit" any the less, because the prison is
Southern rice swamp or cotton field, where the
nearest door or outlet of escape is more than a
hundred miles from the spot Of confinement? In
common law actions, trover, detinue replevin, &c,
&c. the trial is to be in the vcinage except there
is some overpowering reason for changing the
venue or place OF uiaL rs a'efhfsfer
of the party, not for trial. but for evadng trial
| submit then, to the public, that here are
three provisions OF the Constitution each one of
which does have "a bearing on the subject
Each strengthens the other. They form triple
implication, if not a unOda neceSSuaS, which no
man, however powerful he may be, can break.
The argument which the lawyers call db neon
uenienti,--the argument from inconvenience, has
been pressed into the service of the stakeholder TO
endanger the liberties of the citizen | answer, |
there are two sides to this argument; nor was it |
wise in the stakeholder, or his Northern friends |
to name ii. IL seems 20 me quite as mconUenieR |
for free man to lose his liberty, as for slave
holder to lose his slave. If Southern man sues
O Northern one for the value of bale of cotton |
or barrel of rice, must not the plaintiff await
the next term Of the court before he enter his
action abide by the rules of the court respecting
continuances, and submit to the order of business
in taking his turn before jury2 To obviate
this inconvenience, has any legislature or any |
court ever proposed to set aside or annul at once
all the securities by which we hold property and |
life And how stands the question respecting
evidence or proof2 If difficult for a slave
claimant, from Texas, to prove title to his slave
in Massachusetts, how infinitely more difficult for
a citizen of Massachusetts, to prove title to him
self in Texas. But Mr. Webster says there are |
luubptuueUJ COURTS W tue COutu, dlWhyS open |
and ready to receive and decide upon petitions or
applications for freedom" Suppose this to be |
true; how is man woman, whose master
knows that he or she is Free to get to the courts?
Mr.. Webster seems to think that as soon as a
kidnapping siave-deaier shall transport his human
prey to the South, he will at once take him to- or
allow him to 20 before court Of justice, or will
sell him to some brother Samaritan who will do
so. Does not everybody know that any man,
who is capable Of the enormous guilt Of seixing or
buying freeman, win chain, and scourge, and
starvc and mutilato that freeman, if he but 30
much as open his lips in audible prayer to God
for the restoration of his birthright?
Mr. Webster says, persuasvely, that the alleged
slave lis only mited, for inquiry into his rights
to the State from which he ledn But suppose he
had never fled ~ but was demeaning himself as
a peaceable citizen under the solemnly pledged
protection Of the Government, on the soil where
he was born! This is the false idea that underies
the whole of MIR. Webster's seductive letter, that
under such bill as Mr.. Buffers, nobody but a
slave would ever be arrested.
have no doubt that what Mr. Webster says
about Southern courts being " fair and upright
is very generally aud extensively true; but have
had little personal knowledge of Southern courts,
and have no hesitation in saying that there has
been one, at least, before which if slave were
suing for his freedom, and any popular clamor
against him should exist, he would have no more
hope Of obtaining his liberty through the +" fair
ness of the court, than, if thrown overheard in
the middle of the Atlantic ocean, he would have
of saving his life by swimming ashore.
MASSACHUSETTS, PRINCIPLES THOUGH RIDE
CULED, YET RIGHTEOUS
Mr. Webster holds Massachusetts up to the
ridcule of the world, because she "grows fervid
on Pennsy lvania wrongs J" and he has deemed it
his duty to inquire how many seizures of fugitive
slaves have occurred in New England within our
time. Is this the Christian standard by which to
estimate the evil of entertainments upon the most
sacred rights of menu If repose in oontentment
and indifference, because my own section, or State
or county, is as yet but a partial sufferer, why
should ! not continue contented and indifferent
while myself Am safe2 In providing for the
liberties Of the citizen, under a common Govern
ment, | think Massachusetts, worthy of all honor,
and not Of ridicule, because she does "grow fervd
on Pennsylvania wrongs and on the wrongs Of
an entire race, whether ia Pennsy lvania or Cali
fornia or anywhere within the boundaries Of our
own country. | see no reason why my sympathies
as man, the obligations Of my oath as an Off
GER in regard to the nearer or the remoter States
should be inversely as the squares of the distan-
ces. Even with regard to foreign countries, did
Mr. Webster think so, in those better days, when
his eloquent appeal for oppressed and bleeding
Greece reused the nation, like the voice Of a
clarion Did Mr.. Webster deem it necessary TO
make inqusitions through all the New England
States, to learn how many Hungarian patriots
they had seen shot at the tap of drum or how many
noble Hungarian women had been stripped and
whipped in their market-paces, before he thrilled
the heart Of the nation, at the wrongs of Kossuth
aud his compstriots, and invoked the excavations
of the world upon the Austrian and Russian des-
potsl | see no difference between these cases,
which is not in favor of our home interests, of our
own domestic rights, except the difference of their
bearings upon partisan politics and Presidential
rivaries. MIR. Webster quotes and commends
Mr. Bissell, who said that those Southern States