The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-02-26

} ton where the law attempted 10 be carried into
effect, haa not becn carried into effect N
} Mr.. MASON. Ii the senator will allow me
to Answaf that inquiry by eTuncixtlng my Ho-
! posi5On--}f he nseaps that the law has been
carried into effect every where whore it has not
bees successfully resisted by violence-if that
is his idea Of carrying the law into effect, he may
} be right when he says that it was carried into
effect everywhere except in the city OF Boston;
} but ask whether the law for the SestitutiOn OF
my property is carried into effect when although
not successfully resisted by violence, II is just as
successfully resisted by evasion and collision.
have said that this law cannot be carried
into effect unless it is executed with alacrity,
diligence, zeal, and good faith; and although
you may restore it ut q cost not worth the re-
clamat0n, "a has been done liz inumerable in
stances and cases in my section of the country.
7 might well instance the case Of the negroes
arrested in Harrisburg. in Pennsylvania, before
the law Of the last session passed, who were
surrendered under the law Of the last session,
which passed while they were in custody. II
was one Of. my own neighbores who went there
to recover these slaves, and | think Shat ne did
recover them after delay Of some two months
after being subjected to an expense of four
teen hundred and fifty dollars in the attempt to
do it-after having been subjected to incarccra-
ton in his own person. as well as those who
went as his assistants-and after having been
subjected TO trial for riot, which he had to 60
} back again to the State of Pennsylvania to at
tend. He recovered his two fuQtives, carried
} them home, aad sold them for fifteen hundred
dollars, the expenses being fourteen hundred
and fifty; and he had clear balance in his favor
of fifty dollars after that feat. IF that be snc-
cessful execution of this law, 1t is a successful
execution by which the claimant gets his prop
erty at the cost Of the whole Of it.
take the recent case of Long, in New York.
, What were the facts there! The law was exc
cuted but how? Why the claimant was sub
: jected to suit after suit-held to bail upon writ
after writ, until, according to my recollection,
he had been obliged to give bail in separate ac-
| tions to the amount of some fifty thousand dol
lars-a litigation not between him and his slave,
but between him and some of the people Of the
, city of New York, protracted for ten days or a
fortnight and it resulted that when his slave
) was delivered to him and carried home and sold.
the proceeds Of the sale barely, it at all, paid
. the expenses of that prosecution. DO remem-
: Der to have seen it stated in the papers, do
not know with truth--that committe of citi-
zens Of the city of New York actually contrib
!, uted five hundred dollars to tighten the ex-
!, penses of that case
. Now, Mr. President what / mean to say is
f this want my people to understand the actual
Z operation of this law. | am not satisfied, for
t one think that the obligation assumed by the
s free States on themselves when they became
t free, is not satisfied when they barely refuse to
resist the law by open violence. 1t is not salts
fled when onr citizens 90 there and are subjected
Y to suits and to incarceration, and yexat0n, and
$ delays, and terminate at last with an expense
: greatly exceeding the value of the property
: which they go to reclaim. That is not an exc
n cution of the law. 1t never can be executed IN
It the State of Massachusetts, so long as the spirit
u of the people exists there which passed this
statute and allows il to remain up to this day
f upon their statute books unrepealed. Sir, the
! State Of Virginia is deeply interested in this law
!. The citizens Of the State Of Virginia sustain
"a annually, losses to the amount of some hundred
4 or more Thousand dollars by the escape of these
! fugitives; and | need not say to the Senate i
n is no answer to inform those people, you have
70 a law now under which your slaves can be re
70 claned, but only at the full cost of the slave
g you 90 to reclaim.
Z Now, sir, as to the legislation that the Prcsi
70 dent suggests, have only heard it read, and o
,r course, have not had time to consider it. l dc
!. not know whether it is all the legislation by
Congress, in order to carry out the law, that the
r subject is capable of. But desire particularly
% that the attention of the appointing powermay be
q called to the evasons and delays Of the officers
e executing the law. with the remedies to be ap
!, Piled think that the most efficient mode of ex.
!, ecuting it would be, that instantaneous dismissal
n shall follow the least delay not properly &C
y counted for-the least disposition to evade it.
4 and, more than all, the slightest countenance
l given to those-properly denounced by the SEN
= ator from Kentucky--those white men who bind
4 themselves together in all the States to protect
h this species of property when it is arrested. Sir
y in the city of Cincinnati the only case that
!. have heard in the State of Ohio, the law was
q not contested. 1t was a recent case. A fug-
tive there as am informed, before the trial had
= progressed for an hour, admitted that she was
. slave and was carried off by her master without
h any attempt Mt resistance.
Mr. CLAY, Tin his seat.) 1t was the second
7 or third case.
Mr.. MASON 1t was the first case that arrest
l. ed my attention. do not to detain the Sem
e ate longer.
Mr. DICKINSON. The senator, apprehend
, is mistaken in some statements relating to the
! case Of Long. | believe he must have reference
i to the case of the Crafts in Massachusetts,
where so many vexatious suits were brought.
" have never learned that single suit was ever
,, brought against the claimant Of Long. Nor do
Y believe any suit was ever brought against this
l. claimant. The claimant of Long, unfortunately
in the outset, brought his case before person
claiming to be commissioner who was not
+ commissioner, and in that he may have incurred
S: some difficulty and some delay. But when that
y fact was ascertained the was brought before
II the district judge of the Southern district Of New
n York, and was made one Of the most patient and
10 laborous Investigations that has taken place
4 in any case Of the kind. The great issue was
!, made between those who determined to
= maintain the law and those who might possibly
resist the law, and it tried, and the fugitive
e was restored. Now, lapprehend that that single
> case was Of the best illustrations OF the neg-
n rty and force Of that law that possibly be
conceived. In the administration Of justice, Mr..
"a President, it is not the that decided that
:. have their beneficial influence upon the communi-
ty directly, it is the preventive service, If may
re be allowed to use the expressions thst they render
y that max es them vauable; and the investigation
Of that case, leading caae shows that the law
e will be observed and executed, and trust IL will
10 be long indeed before any one will undertake to
: | clear against them The case occupied weeks;