The republic., 1851-04-16


pendent and satisfactory evidence, and Is open to
contestation, as long as doubt can exist about IT.
The provision Of the statute which prescribes the
mode in which claimant may make this conciu-
sve proof of the fact Of an escape by person ow-
ing service to hiI,. has already been read.
II is not at all difficult to the reason for the
introduction of this provision into new law, de-
signed to furnish more effectual remedy than the
old one for the reception of fugitives from service
Congress evidently considered that from the great
extent of the Union there must be vast multitudes
of cases in which the Of fugitives could not
personally leave home, or send in person the wit
nessos who might be able prove the Iact that some
one had escaped who owed service II was, there-
fore, necessary to make some provision py wnioh
nesses from end Of the Union to the other; Tor
this fact lies at the foundation, in every case, OF
the right to arrest and remove an alleged fugitive.
This provision made in the section above
cited and to my mind there is great security TO
liberty in its requisitions In the first place. it is
no inconsiderable safeguard TO have judicial in
curry into the fact before the claimant sets forth in
pursuit, that some one who owed him service has
esca ped. 1t has a manifest tendency to increase
the difficulties of setting up fictitious and unfound
ed claims. 1t furnishes to the tribunal in a free
State called upon to make arrest, the satifacto-
ry assurance that respectable tribunal of the vi
cnage has verified the fact that there was Ger tain
slave, and that that slave has escaped. Any one
who has been called upon in free State to issue
process to arrest of these fugitives must have
felt the force and value of such verifcation.
In the next place, the statute, by requiring the
claimant to make description OF the person who
he says has escaped, and by requiring that descrip
the tribunals in free State, making arrest. an
additional safeguard against imposition mistake
A written description, made with all tho convent
ent certainty that the case admits OF, and made,
too, at time and place, when and where the claim
ant cannot nicely adapt it to the exigences Of the
arrest which he intends to make, is placed before
the court or Commissioner here the very ground
work Of the case In the third place, the statute,
tho It,aiv aiOft thc of
cape and that the service Of the party escGping
due to the claimant, makes the recorded dcscrip-
ton also conclusive The claimant cannot alter 1t,
or amend it, BY making one hair white or black
He comes with record in his hand, and to that re-
cord he is bound, soon as he presents it to the
Commissioner. He must bring the person arrested
within that description to the satisfaction of the
mind of the Commissioner, by competent and in
dependent proof, by the opportunities -of inspec
tisn, examination, and comparison, or he fails to
make out his case.
elusive, the description of the party who has
escaped, can work no prejudice to the party
rested for if he 10 not the party intended to be de-
scribcd, il is OF no consequence to him whether the
the party intended TO be described, any mis- de-
scrption must only increase the chances of his
cape. Whatever others may say, or think, there
fore, Of this provision Of the statute, feel quite
confident that there is no right minded in this
country who has been, or is likely to be, called
upon to discharge judicial duties under it, and who
has not felt or will not be likely to feel inexpres-
sible satisfaction and relief that the law has been
made in this particular what it is.
Let me suppose, for moment, that the statute
had provided no such record, or that, being pro.
vided, it were not resorted to, but witnesses are
sent here to establish both the propositions which
warrant must be granted; without any certainty
that the first proposition, viz that there GER
tain slave, and that he has escaped, can be esta-
blished. In the next place, the witnesses who are
n Rre tn IN
identity Of the person arrested, and they testify to
both propositions after the arrest has been made.
1t is manifest that, under this form of proceeding,
theopporunitics for perjury and misrepresentation,
in ali their infinite variety of shades are vastly in
creased.
There is no check upon the witnesses, on the
question of identity, because there is standard
to which that question can be brought. The wit
nesscs may adapt their description Of the party
whom they say they knew slave, to the ap-
pearance of the party under arrest; they may do
this wilfully or unconsciously; but whether i is
done from corrupt design, or from the mere effect
of eagerness and ZEAL 1t is very easy TO see, that
on nice and critical question of identity, the dan
gers that would arise from the blending of both the
propositions into might be appalling. But
the statute has provided a form OF proceeding
which keeps these propositions clearly and logi-
cally distinct and makes the one, in some degree,
check upon the other; and this is the most con-
venent form of proceeding for the claimant, there
is every to expect, there certainly is to
hope, tina, it will generally if not universally, be
resorted to-
In the case before me- the agent of the claimant
has presented TO the transcript of record, duly
authenticated, made by and before the Hon. Hem
ry r. Jackson, judge Of the superior court of the
eastern district of the State of Georgia, from which
it appears that, about the 22d day of Februa-
ry last one Thomas Sims escaped from the State
of Georgia, while owing service or labor to James
Potter, the claimant. The record also contains
description of the said Thomas Sims, which it is
not necessary to rccite. This branch of the inuui.
ry is therefore, fully made out namely, that there
was certain person named Thomas Sims, who
owed service to James Potter in the State Of Geor
gia, and that he escaped from that State on or
about the 22d of February last.
tremains only to inquire, whether the claimant
has sufficiently established the second proposition
namely the identity of the prisoner at the bar with
the person described in this record as having es-
capped from Georgia while owing service to James
Potter. The evidence upon this point is of three
kinds. /. The evidence Of the prisoners appear
ance, which corresponds entirely to the description
ofhim furnished by the record. 2 The evidence of
witnesses who knew the prisoner in Savannah as
the slave of James Potter. 3. Facts sworn to by
other witnesses, which tend to corroborate the pre-
vious testimony.
The witnesses who swear directly to the prison
er's identity two Edward Barnett and John
b. Bacon. Barnett testifes that he has known the
prisoner for the last ten months, in Savannah un-
der the name of Thomas Sims; that he worked az
bricklayer on the same scaffolding with him in
August and September last; that he once asked the
prisoner If he was a slave, and he replied that be
was, and that he belonged to James Potter, rice
planter, who lives ten twelve miles from Savan-
nah, and that he had to pay his wages to Mr. Pot
ter monthly, to the amountof about 10 per month.
This witness also states that he knew the prisoners
mother and sister in Savannah.
The other witness, Bacon, is the agent of Mr..
Potter, who came here to make the arrest. He tcs-
titles that he has known the prisoner, as the pro.
perty of Mr.. Potter for fifteen years; that he last
saw him in Savannah on the 22d of February; that
during the last ten years the prisoner has general
ly lived with his mother in Savannah, accounting
to Mr. Potter for his wages; that he knows the pri
soner did so account for his wnges from being pre-
sent both when they were paid to Mr.. Potter by
the mother and by the prisoner, and from repeat
edy seeing his mother go after him for his wages;
and that there is not shadow Of doubt with refer
ence to his identity He also testifes thnt he left
the mother in Savannah a week ago last Saturday
He adds fact which has no legal signifcan
here but which certainly disarms this case of any
unpleasant features, that the last thing which the
mother said to him, the eve Of his departure
to beg him, whether her son was in free State
or a slave State for Gods sake to bring him back
again.
Both of these witnesses are entirely unimpcach-
cd. Both have appeared upon the stand to be re-
spectacle, candid, and fair witnesses. They were
DrODeriy subjected a re hin m