Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-10-01
The Fugitive Slave Riot.

ter County, last week. The accounts
: receive of this deplorable transaction al
exceedingly contradictory. Some repr'
; sent the slaves as attacking the reclaim;
tory party-whilc others insist that th
d, expressed determination Of the master
have his slaves at any risk, was carried ou
by his firing first upon the party gathere
to defend them. Be this as it may,
subtracts little Or nothing from the terribl
and bloody features of the occurrence. Al
a!lray has actually occurred-a slave-holde
in pursuit of his "peculiar" human prop
erty has been shot down, his son mor;all,
wounded, while the officers appointed tt
execute the laws have been obliged to de
sist, and flee for their lives
1t is deeply to be regretted that sucl
an occurrence has taken place to darker
the fair character of the law-abiding anG
peaceful citizens Of this Commonwealth
1t is deplorable, indeed, that the execution
of any law should be resisted in such ! tu
multuous and reasonable manner, by q
large assemblage Of persons, with arms, and
that blood should be split in defying the
operation of an Act Of Congress. But in
expressing our Indignation at this treason
able and murjerous transaction-in assert
ing the necessity for stern and active en-
deavors to maintain the supremacy of the
insulted and outraged laws-we may in
quirc into the causes which have brought
about this result, so much to be deprecated
and regretted by every good citizen.
The brooding curse which, vampyre-lihe,
sits upon our nation, and rltlrds our prog
ress, and stirs up all the ill-feeling which
is ever engcndered in this Republic, is pri-
marily answerable for all tie blood which
ha,, or may be shed, in occurrences like
this. 1t is an institution so opposed to
all the instincts Of human nature-so hos
tile to the spirit Of the age-so flled with
horror and dread to the poor slave who
feels its burden, that it is not to be ex-
pected that the fugitive will quietly and
peaceably go back to the bonds and stripes,
when he has once tasted the sweets of ib-
erty. God has implanted different prin-
ciple in the breast Of every being, whether
he is high in the scale of intelligence, or
sunk in the lowest depths of harbarity and
ignorance. There is an incessant craving
for freedom in the breast of every one of
Gods creatures, fashioned after his image.
No Ignorance, no cruelty, can eradicate
the longing, which "springs eternal in the
human breast.' Aud So long as efforts
are made to recapture those who have es-
capped from slavery into the free states, We
fear very much that similar scenes will be
enacted
We believe in the faithful execution of
all laws. We are bound, as good citizens
to respect and observe laws which are con-
stitutionally enacted. Yet We believe that
the Fugitive Slave Law is unnecessarily
harsh in its operation. This late bloody
transaction, is one of the legitimate fruits
of that law, which has been published as
being so benefcent and just in its provis-
ions for the protection of the fugitive from
labor There is no wonder that in neigh
borhood where Mr. Commissioner INGRA-
HAM was in such haste to consign free
man to Slavcry-whcre advantage has been
taken of it to hurry colored persons, with
out warning, back to the South-thc exc
cution of the law should be looked upon
with terror by the persons sought, as afford
ing them no chance.
There Isl great and natural repugnance
in every community to see man sent back
toSlayery. Nothing but well defined esti-
nation of the compromises of the Constitu-
ton and of the duty of every citizen under
those Compromises, rcccnciles them to
such a sight, which is painful at best, and
only endured from the feeling that it is
due to our southern brethren, promptly
and cheerfully to allow them to reclaim
their fugitiyes from labor. Any law to
be acquiesccd in, and to become efectual
must, by its operation and provisions, sat
isfy community that the persons returned
by it, are clearly and rightfully owing SER
vice to their claimants. Any other law
will be imperative from the force of popu-
lar sentiment, and if executed at all,
must be carried out at the poin. of
the bayonet. Such resort would sink
the authors and supporters Of the law, in
the lowest depths of political disaster
You must respect the spirit of Freedom,
which, inherited from our forcfathers, and
strengthened by the remembrance of their
struggles and the blood they poured out
against oppression, demands that freeman
shall not be enslaved, whether he be black
or whitc,-you must not ask that &c parte
and unsatisfactory testimony shall be taken
as proof that a man shall be consigned to