New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-08
ALLEGED SLAVE CASE.


of the speeches made yesterday for and against
the man Henry Long, who stands accused Of
being a slave, or politely speaking, owing ser.
vice" in plain terms being chattel thing o.
commerce, piece of property qualifying vir-
ginian to vote, &c. &c. as hogs and horses may do
The words of the Preacher, Son Of David, King
OF Jerusalem.
"If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and
violent pervertiBg of Justice and Judgment in a
province, marvel not at the matter; for He that is
higher than the highest regardeth; and there be
higher than they"
| L. S. CIRCUIT COURT.-Before Judge Judson.-
| In the case Of Henry Long, claimed by VIM. Par
her of Richmond Va. on behalf of John I. Smith,
as fugitive from slavery. This case was con-
| Guided.
Mr. Jay, in his opening for the defense at form.
err meeting, alluded to the words Of the Constitu.
ton on which the acts OF 1898 and $3.50 claim to be
based, which say that persons held to service or
labor in one State and escaping to another shall be
delivered up to the person to whom such labor is
| due.
Some question has been raised as to the class
of persons to whom the clause refers. In the Con-
| vention by whom il was framed attempt was
made to introduce slave in its own term, but il
was objected to, and the clause put as it now
| stands.
|
stance the acceptance Of the Constitution was
urged because it gave them an opportunity to re.
cover their slaves, which they had not at common
| law Other arguments may have been had in
| other States IL may be that allusion to slaves
| may have been the intention among the Southern
| States but nothing is shown to make as suppose
it so understood by the free States rather from
| those who have since become free States we be.
| lieve the whole of the then thirteen States held
slaves, and that eight OF them have abolished the
| sy stem The general impression of free States
| was that it referred to persons bound to labor by
| some contract between themselves and the mas
ter aud bad the Supreme Court of the United
| States adopted the language of the Constitution,
according to the rule more than once laid down by
| it, it would have been so decided. The general
doctrine which that Court has recognized in con-
STRUNG the Constitution of the Uhited States aud
| of the several States, is that of never going out
of the words of the law or the Constitution, and
altogether disregarding historical records. Judge
Story in p. 534, vol >, Commentaries, in speaking
| of going away from the words says such doc
| trine would be novel and absurd, and Congress
| could never pass a law without an inquiry into
the mind of every member of the convention, and
| no government on earth could rest for moment
| on such Constitution. In lst St., p. 367 to 392
| he saws the Constitution adopted and sub
mitted on the test itself, and opposite interpreta-
may be presumed to hare no To- be ores|meS
that even in the convention the clauses were held
| by all the members in the same sense.
| Mr.. Webster, in letter Of 9TH March, 1850,
| admits the word held in the Constitution is sy-
| nonymous with the word bound The Consti-
tuition, therefore, says persons bound to labor,
| shall be given up. The Supreme Court has adopt
ed different Interpretation from this, in violation
| of all its other decisions and said persons were
held to service without contract by local laws.
But even in that sense your Honor will be jus-
tilted in deciding in favor OF this man, and TO say
L. L1A- 3aI1wu Nhok Lob
Smith is the person to whom he legally holds SER
vice. A large body of Free State citizens find
| themselves compelled to sustain an instrument to
which the Supreme Court, by a historical record,
| contrary to all its other decisions, has given a
meaning different from the plain words themselves
Property in this man must be shown by posi-
tive and irrefragable proof of the very best kind
Secondary evidence cannot be allowed without
| good cause forithe non.production of better evil
dence; and unless the testimony fully makes out
title, and shows him to be a slave, your Honor is
| to adiudge him free.
| Some attempts have been made to prove him a
slave by acts and declarations while he is said
| 10 have been a slave. Your Honor has decided
that such proof shall be received ntSi, to be adj
mitted or excluded, as your Honor may see fit.
The value Of slaves is $500 TO 81 900 and 81 200
| piece, and sometimes a portion of our
people, and | regret among them a number Of our
divines, are in the habit of representing slavery
in the South, SUPERIOR in certain cases, to freedom
at the North so that in these two points of view,
their value in the market and superior condition,
it becomes a matter not only of benevolence but
of profit to kidnap persons Of color and carry
| them to the South.
In South Carolina, if free negro entertans q
slave he becomes a slave. In 1927 a free wo-
man, and her three children, were made slaves
for entertaining two colored children, and
years old.
In Virginia manumitted or freed slaves are re-.
turned to slavery again by the law, unless they
leave the state within twelve months. This Is
against every principle of right and common law.
In Maryland free negro, who marries white
woman, becomes a slave.
In the District of Columbia, and generally in the
slave States, negroes not known to be free, are
presumed to be slaves.
In Georgia, a free colored man coming into
the State and unable to pay fine of 800, be-
comes a slave for life
In Florida. insolvent debtors, if coored persons,
are sold to pay their debts.
In the District of Columbia, free persons Of COL
or, imprisoned on suspicion of being slaves, are
sold as slaves TO pay their jail fees.
In 1899 report was made inthe Massachusetts
legislature, stating one instance in which %
colored citizens were confined in one jail at the
South liable to be sold into slavery, and in another
where IS free persons OF color from different
States were confined, alike exposed.
MANY persons from free States have been re-
duced TO slavery under the Fugitive Laws. A
few years since Mary Gilmore was arrested in
Philadelphia as a fugitive slave from Maryland,
and testimony brought up in support Of it. But
it was shown by proof that she was OF Irish pa
rentsge, her father drunkard; her mother died IN
a hospital, and the girl was brought up in col
ored family.
In 1889 a colored man was arrested in Philadel-
phia on charge of having escaped from Slavery
25 years before, and four witnesses gave evidence
of the fact under oath. By q singular coincidence
New England captain was in The same prison
with the man, who knew him % years before,
when he sailed with the captain between eastern
ports, and bis testimony, with that OF others Sc
cured the mans freedom.
Mr. Jay also related other circumstances where
free nersnns Of color by laws Ct the South are