Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1851-04-19
l22
Senator Seward on the Fugitive Law.
AupuES, April 5th, 1851.


and to communicate in wiring my opinions
on thot statute i'll should he unable to attend
the Convention, hns been received.
While offering the pressure of duties here,
TOO long deferred, as an apology for non-ni-
tendance, pray YOU to assure the Commit,
tee in whose behalf you act Of my profound
sense of their courtesy and Kindness: II
would be an honor to be invited to address
the people of Massachusetts on any subject;
but il might well snisiy generous ambition
TO he called upon TO speak to that great and
enlightened Commonwealth on question of
Human Rights aud Civil Liberty.
! confess, Sir, that have earnestly dcsir-
ed not to nlinglc in the popular discussions
of the measures Of The last Congress. The
issue necessarily involves the claims of their
advocates aud adversaries in the public coun-
ellis to the confidence of the country. Some
of these advocates have entered the popular
nrenn, eliminating those from whom they
had differed, while others have endeavored
Wy extraordinary means either to control dis
cussion, or to suppress 1t altogether, and thus
they have shown themselves disqualified by
prejudice or interest, for practicing that inn
partially and cnndor which the occasion de-
,nanded. am unwilling even to seem TO
imply by reiteraing arguments already be-
fore the public, either any distrust of the po-
siton Of those with whom ] stood in Con-
gress, or Impotence for that favorable popu-
lnr verdict which believe to be noar, aud
know TO he ultimately certain.
Nevertheless there can be no improperly
in my declaring, when thus questioned, the
opinions which will govern my vote upon
any occasion when the Fugitive Slave Law
shall como up for review in the National
Legislature. | think the net sngularly um-
wise, because it is an attempt by a purely
federative government TO extend the economy
of slave States throughout States which re-
pudiate slavery ms n moral, social, aud politi-
cal evil, Any despOtic government would
awake sedtion from its proioundest slum-
bers by such an attempt. The attempt by
this government has aroused constitutional
resistance which will not cease until the Of
fort shall he relinquished. lie who teaches
other faith than this, whether seli-dccclyed
or not, misleads, ! think also that the at-
tempt was unnecessary; that political ends,
merely political ends and not real evils re-
sulting from the escape of slaves, constituted
the prevailing motives 70 the enactment. |
think also that the details of the measure arc
indelensible; that the denial to the alleged
fugitive of trial of his alleged obligation
10 labor, and of his escape from it by a court,
mud nothing less than court ofiuslice con-
situtionally organized aud proceeding nc
cording TO the. course of the common law,
within the State where he is claimed, is pal
pably in derogaton Of the Constitution that
the rules of evidence which the law pre-
scribes are oppressive oft weak and de-
ienceess; and that Christendom might be
searched in vain for parallel to the provi
sions which make escape from bondage n
crime by law retroactive in its effect, and
without limitations OF time TO favor the pres
sumption of freedom, which under rigorous
penalties compel freemen to mid in tho cap
lure of slaves, and which offer unnistakable
inducements TO false claims and false judg-
menis. Finally, whatever, changes of Opin-
Ion others may have undergone, retain my
earliest convictions that the constitutional
provision on which the law purports ~ bo
founded is merely compact hetwecn the
States, and that the Congress Of the United
Suites have no Jurisdiction of the subject
Nor is the law which is so obnoxious in
itself, commended to my favor by It's connoc-
ton with what are called the other measures
of compromise. Compromise implies a
mingling of truth and error, right and wrong,
One Of those affiliated measures denied the
admission of New Mexico, because size had
determined TO come ns free State, and ro-
manded her with permission TO come back
in the hnbilimcnts of slavery. Another dis
tinciy minated to the Mornons the consent
OF Congress that they should, il they could,
plant Slave State in the very reccsscs Of
the Continent. A third abolished n public
slave mart in the city of Washington, with
out abating either the extent or the duration
of slavery in the District of Columbia. A
fourth obtained peace on humllaling terms
from one of the youngest and tcehlest mem
bers of the Coniederncy in an attitude OF Sc
hition; while fifth only reluctantly admit
ted California as free State when she had
refused To contaminnte herself with slavery.
Which one Of these measures has superluous
merit TO he received in exteunation of the
Fugitive Slave Law? But we are told that
bad as these measures We're, they were the
best thai could be obtained On the contra
ny there were always votes enough for the
admission of California. The Thirty-First
Congress might have admitted her, aud left
The other questions 10 another Congress,
which, instructed by the People, might have
dono better, aud certainly could not have
done worse.
Nor do find the Fugitive Slave Law
growing in my favor on the ground of the
already falsified promise of an end of the
agitation Of slavery in the Republican ugi-
iation which, whelher beneficial or otherwise,
is as inseparable from our political organi-
zstion, as the winds and the clouds are from
Ihe atmosphere that encircles the earth.
have weighed moreover the prgument
sha; some portion of the people in some q
she States have mnde the perpeiuty of the
Fugitive Slave Law n condition of new de
rlsrations Of Loyalty to the Union. Tia
Loyalty is n duty resulting from the Consti
tuIion, and is equally due whether the nen
snres Of administration are satisfactory or I'm
satisfactory. regret that any thing shoul
have happened TO encourage a belief thG
loyalty could be accepted OH condition, All
especially on the condition Of iorbcaring I
yei,enI n renealable Statute But since il