Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1851-08-22
THE DAILY SPY.
Suppressing agitation,

Mr.. George II. Moore of Louisville, KY, recent
ly arrived at Buffalo, in State, charged with a
special mission connected with the much desired
suppression of Slavery Agitation Mr. Moore
claims to be son Of George J. Moore, who claims
TO be owner OF fellow named Daniel dan in the
Vugate who stands accused ofthe crime of having no
other skin than that which God gave him. and that is
OF most undemocratic color for American latitudes
Sad Daniel or Dan was attempting to earn an hon
est livelihood by his labor as cook on a steamboat
when Mi Geo. Ii. Moore, In pursuance of his COM
mission as suppressor of Agitation as aforesaid
employed (among others devoted conservator of
Law and Order named Rust, who, finding Dan on
the boat, IN the act OF ascending ladder to 90 on
deck, proceeded to administer to him dose of Law
and Order in the shape of blow with billet of
wood on the back of his head, as it emerged from
below through the Deck knocking him down the lad
der upon the hot stove In the cook-Ioom, where he
lay senseess bleeding, and burning until he was ia
ken ott badly fried, with the blood running fiom his
nose, mouth and ears. Thus, helpless and stupifed
he was carried before Mr. Henry X. Smith, (Pok
Postmaster, and Cass orator inEl64S,) before whom
1t was proved by the witness for the claimant that
Dan had been repeatedly sent by said claimant into
the tree State OF Ono, whence he ultimately came
away to Buffalo, that it was utterly false that he
had escaped from Slave State, as the constitutional
requslllon contemplates. Having been sent by his
master into a Free State, he thus became free. as
|
could not be remanded into Slavery. We mistake
he could not be so remanded by law, but he acqs
| ny Mr.. Henry IL. Smith, In pursuance of law a
good deal lower than any other we ever heard Of
namely, his own will. Commissioner Smith closed
the case with the following spirited address to SYM
Pathslng blacks IN attendance, with reference to
lawyer Iacot's advice, that they should 90 quietly
home, as telegraphc despatch had been sent to the
master, who would probably allow him to be ran
somed:]
| g And have few words to say to the colored
people here. If there is no telegraph sent at ALL
that slave shall go back to Kentucky to his master,
according to my decsion and if any of you dare to
oppose that decision by force, you will be SHOT
DOWN %
If the Union and Safety Committee don't vote
this patriot particularly large medal, besides send
ing him package OF sermons from every d. d.
they PATRONAGE they will evince melancholy lack
of perspicacty and gratitude.
Ian was in bad spot He did not even deny
the fatal charge that of his remote ancestors
had been treated by ayowed pirates and kidnappers
In heather Africa just as he had now been treated
10 Christian America, at the enlightened and poll
P Ss Of the hdd States IFS oay s25abe
defense was the fact that, having been sent into a
Free State by the man claiming to be his master, he
had thereby reganed his natural liberty, even under
American laws, and could not legally be remanded
into Slavery. That his was just sufficient, con-
elusive defense, we have no doubt 1t did not, how
ever, prevail against the bludgeon and fiat of Messrs
Rust and II. X. Smith Dan is to be forced back
into Slavery, there to mediate on the blessedness
of having been born and reared in the great Model
Republic, where the truth is soemny recognized
as 'self-evident that 'all men are created equal
and endowed with inaenable rights to life, liberty.
and the pursuit Of happiness '-to mediate, that is
if the aw-loylng club of MIR. Rust has not rendered
meditation on his part henceiorlh impossible
w r,,o .h,.o. Il
the lmpudence, of the pretense that the Right of
Trial by Jury is conceded reserved to alleged ft1-
gltlVes by the new saye-catching law. every one
have trial by jury he wishes it, say the Cot
ton oacles, only he is to have ii in the State whence
he escaped All Can he but suppose he didn't
escape thence, but is claimed by kidnapper in or
der TO be sold-and such cases have been and NAV
be-how then? Having been hurried off some
Slave State where he is an utter stranger, how will
he 60 to work there to prove himself freeman p
His witnesses are all a thousand miles away; he
has money, friends, no rights if he had ten
brothers roady swear that they knew he was born
free in New Hampshire, he could not communicate
with lhem and if they were all present, their testi-
mony could not be taken against a white man. The
man is utterly and hopelessly betrayed into Slavery
by virtue of the law of 1850.
But suppose Dan could obtain trial in Kentucky,
and could manage to fee lawyer, procure Witness
es and prove his defense-namely, that his master
had practically enfranchsed him by sending HIM into
Free State whence he could not be legally retaken,
since he had not gone there as 'fugtve'-what of
it? Who would be his jurors? kentucky slave
holders, three-fourths Of whom had in like manner
lost the Constitutional right to reclaim their slaves by
voluntarily sending them across the Ohio. What
weight would they be likely TO give to such de-
Tense? What chance would he have of an Impair
tial verdict Is not the whole too transparent:
What madness, what futility, TO talk ofrespecting
such an act as this Fugitive Slave Law Not even
a kidnapper slave-trader really respect it;
Humanity and the sense of Justice innate in every
heart imperatvely forbid it. The most that con-
scientous undertake 10 do is not to oppose
it by force. certain measure of respect is due to
subsistns law merely SUCH without regard to its
intrinsic character. hat respect we paid to the
Mexican War, though we execrated and sought to
arrest it from the first. We admitted its existence,
and expect to be paying taxes towards the cost of it
for many years yet. But we never wished evil, dis
aster nor death to the people of Mexico; and we do
moi now desire the capture of any fugitive from Sa-
very. How could we or should WEI The Consti-
tuition is not altered since MIllard Fillmore gave Mil
ton Clark money to aid him in his flight from Sla-
very, and we heartily approve the deed. We think
it reflects more credit on Buffalo than all that her
Rusts and II. X Smiths do in the way OF mani
Testing their peculiar zeal for Law and Order fer
the next ten years. We trust Mr. Fillmore's gener-
osity will have many imitators, and Rust's Consttu-
tionalism very few.
The Fugitive Slave Law, we hear, cannot be re-
pealed. Perhaps not. But it may be portrayed,
and it shall be. 1t is the most Internal libel on the
name of Law, which any Legislature has enacted
within lifetime. IL an act from which Cbristen-
dom recoils with abhorence--the shame and grief
Of Republicans, the exultatOn and glory Of ArisO-