The Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1850-1852, 1851-01-09
cir Rttlau0 ljeralh
THURSDAY MORNING, JAN. ., 1851.

$4,000
THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW |
OF VERMONT AND THE UNI
TED STATS.
We do not profess to be lawyer
excep, in the ,ense in which every
Vermonier is ns-, who, rs \ boy. alien
ded u district .chool 10 learn, and as
n man has ccNnucd the practice to
listen, to decide and TO vote who as .
Vermont Freeman has made il u duty
to attend those seminaries Of practical
liberty, accompanied so far as our ex'
perience goes, ti,h thorough and en-.
tire devotion tolaw--the New England
Town Meeting In addition to this, as
an editor, from iime to time we have
run over Mt least, il we have not read
and understood, the newspaper reports
of law cases, and newspaper discussions
of legal questions, and occasionally II
has been our fortune to hear such mat
tiers discusss6eY the living limbs of the
law. We non propose to say a few
words upon the provision in the Consti.
tuition of the United States, under
which the right to reclaim fugitive
slaves is claimed, the law Of the last
session of Congress and the law Of Yer
mont passed at the last session of its
Legislature, upon the same subject. -
The provision in the Constitution OF
the United States is in these words:
mo person held to service or labor
in one State under the laws thereof, es-
Gaping into another, shall,in consequence
of any law. or regulation therein, be
discharged from such service or labor
but shall be delivered up on claim OF
the party to whom such service or la
Dor may be due"
This in term, and in spirit applies 10
all persons black or white, bond or free,
who may come within the scope Of its
provisions. 1t has been usually held
to embrace those persons described as
slaves, and also indented servants, and
in its terms embraces all minors who
have parents living. 1t is then, a most
comprehensive power, and in its exer-
else for veal or for woe may reach ma.
nv who have never deemed themselves
within the scope Of its provisions. In
practice, except as an occasional irri-
tant, or as u bounty for the professional
slave.catcher, it has been Il dead letter.
In order that this provision may apply,
the following circumstances must cock.
ist-the person claimed must have been
held to serriee1or labor in one state UNI
der the laws thereof and must have es-
capped into another. The word held is
here used in its known and settled legal
sense as the equivalent Of legally bound
or Obliged. What is, then, the stipula.
tion,and the only stipulation entered in
10 with regard to the person who is thus
legally held to service or labor in one
State n"Icr the lauS Mereof and has
escaped into another? 1t is, and it only
is, that such person shall not be dis
charged from such service or labor in
of any law or regulation
in the State where such person is claim
ed; and farther, rs legal conclusion
from those premises that such person
shall be delivered up on the claim of
The party to whom such service or Ia
Dor may be due. Now we ask, in what
single particular is the law of Vermont
in conflict with any Of these provisions !
In all the abuse that has been heaped
upon Vermont in regard to that mat
Ter, we have never seen any specific
particular in which it violated. or in
any way contravened the provisions of
the Constitution of the United States,
or the laws of Congress, or the decis-
ions of Courts made in accordance there
with. We have understo cd that some
of Vermont's favorite sons, whom she
has sucked, and is sucking with her
choicest milk have, as a consequence of
the passage of this law, hung down their
heads for shame but we could never
learn that they or any body else knew
what they were ashamed Of.
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TIE POSTAGE BILL.