The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-08-28

bear yon the lantern This is your charge You shall
comprehend all vsgrom men; you are to bid any man
| stand in the Princes name-much Ado About Nothing
| First C7oun-But is this law7
Second CI01H.-Ay marry ist; crownerSquest law.
! HdBilet.
| Buffalo promises to be famous in the history Of
| the Anti. Slavery movement Just three years
ago, Convention was held there, which consoli-
dated the opposition to Slavery in the Terrific
ries and within few days past, this thriving
town has been the scene of other proceedings,
which, contrary to the intentions Of the actors,
will most powerfully contribute to make slavery
odious, and its Northern supporters ashamed of
their course.
To Mr. Commissioner Ingraham Of Philadel-
phia, belongs the unquesiOnable in fanny of send
ing freeman into bondage Mr.. Commissioner
IL. X Smith of Buffalo, with defiant words now
comes forward to take his place by the side Of
his compeer of Philadelphia. A colored person,
by the name of Daniel, claimed as a slave, but on
the evidence a freeman, has been summarily DOOM
ed by this subordinate officer the hireling Of a
patry fee to he remanded TO a life Of servitude.
The atrocity of this judgment was introduced
by an atrocity without parallel, in the arrest Of
the alleged fugitive, who was serving at the time
as steward on board steamboat at Buffalo. The
son Of the claimant, Moore, flying at his victim,
drove him against heated stove, and felled him
to the deck with a blow from a billet of wood,
WHICH lAlu open the DdCk part OF his 0eau, anu
| rendered him senseless In this condition a free
T mad or the land wis competed, uudef tne rnUn-s
strOus provisions Of the Fugitive Slave Law, to
,ssssEGJ re chsPy- q '-i-7 sIsrN .....-a
Mr.. Commissioner IL x Smith was heartless,
as became the Office he had undertaken 10 per-
! form. He did not offer to postpone the proceed
ings until his victim could recover the possession
Of all his faculties needed for the defence Of that
freedom which was as dear to him as TO his judge,
and as justly his too, under the laws Of the land.
The proceedings were forced on at once. The
report in Buffalo paper thus chronicles the be-
ginning:
q The Commissioner, Mr.. H. X. Smith, then
called upon the negro by the name Of Daniel
to stand up, but the man did not answer TO the
name. He was reused by his counsel, (being
throughout in state of half stupor, and wholly
| unable TO communicate with his counsel from the
effect of the wound upon his SKULL and rose from
his seat"
The only witness examined in the case was the
son Of the claimant, fresh from the brutal assault
But even from his testimony it appeared that
the alleged slave, with the consent of the alleged
owner was originally cook and steward on
board a steamboat on the Ohio river; and that
while the boat was at Cincinnati, in Oho--a free
State, be it observed-he left it, as undoubtedly
by law he had right to do.
The report thus proceeds:
" Mr. Talcott here claimed that by the testi-
mony of the witness the alleged slave was proven
| free, as his escape had not been made from Ken
lucky, but from Ohio, andshat the act of taking
the slave to free State enfranchised him.
The Commissioned do not agree with you
on that point. Il man has a peyfeet yigM 10 bring
his Stare INTO free SAFE and does not enfranehise
him (D-and even if it was so, and | had to de-
eide upon the mere question Of fact should find
against you, as the master did not himself carry
the slave into Ohio, but hired him to another,
who carried him there But do not think any
how, he would be free. / hold that a master has a
perfect right TO take his Stare into through free
State, and ne as citizens OF free States are bound 10
protect the rights and the property Of people Of The
South. Is this all, or have you any evidence to
| offer7
1.-THE dsfence said that there mere witnesses on the
boat from hich The negro mas taken mho could prove
thqt he md bean IN free STATE JOy period aateCe-
dent 10 he date Of The alleged escape and he proposed
TO produce those witnesses. But he should now offer
medical testimony, to prove that the injuries in
tlicted were OF serious a nature as to partially
deprive him of his senses, and to prevent him
from giving such information to his counsel as
necessary for his protection and just defence.
| Upon this ground, and also to afford the defend
ant opportunity to procure the attendance of
Wi'hNooSo1
examination.
"The poor fellow was all this time in state Of
half stupor, unable to talk with his counsel, and
sat doing, with the blood slowly oozing out of
his mouth and nostrils.
Mr. Foster declared he had reason to fear
means would be taken to Illustrate the proceed
ngs, and he objected TO the adjournment
"The Commissioner decided that as the exami-
nation had commenced, he would 90 through with
Ill H. H.. Lo.-
testimony.
"a messenger was then despatched to the boat
for the witnesses
awhile the Court was waiting Mr.. Hawley
thought it was necessary, for the protection Of
| the rights of the defendant, that the examination
should be adjourned The man was even now in
half sleeping state and partially insensible
| from the blow on his head.
Mr. Talcott thought that the parties who so
brutally assaulted the alleged fugitive had better
for their own sakes, not only to adjourn, but put
the man under medical treatment Immediately
1t might turn out a little more serious than they
anticipated.
4" The Commissioner mould NOT adjourn. The only
question Nbmuted 10 HIM mas a question Of fact. He
had matted long enough for The pdnesseS for The de-
fence. II had been fully proven that the slave
owed service to the man described in the record,
| The son of the owner identified the slave rs the
property Of his father, from whom he Is alleged
to have escaped Nothing remained, therefore,
but to find, as he did find, that the man was flu
gitive slave from service and as such must be re-
turned to his master in Kentucky"
In reading this report, we are alternately
shocked by the inhumanity Of the Commissioners,
and amazed by his ignorance Of the law which he
undertook TO administer. The common reader
will at once confess the inhumanity. The bare
| faced Ignorance we shall easily expose
No principle Of law Ia now more firmly settled
than the locality Of slavery. An eminent Eng
lsh Judge has embodied this idea in familiar
words Slavery he says, is a local law, and,
therefore if a man wishes to preserve his slaves,
let him attach them to him by affection, or make
fast the bars of their prison, or rivet well their
chains; for the instant they get beyond the lin.
its where slavery is recognised by the local law,
they have broken their chains, they have escaped
from their prison, and are free" And the same
doctrine Is recognised in Louisiana la the case
Of Lunsford Us. Quoquillon, IA Martin, r. 4O2 !
| it il thus stated The relation Of owner and
slave is, in the States of this Union in which it
has a legal existence, creature Of municipal
law.o Kentucky, from which this alleged slave
is falsely said to have Escaped 9as also as
serted the same principle. This, indeed, is the
acknowledged rule of the common law.
But the Constitution Of the United States
steps in with limitation of this rule The precise
ertem of which is 10 be found IN th> very mords Of
that Instrument. Ii provides that "no person held
to service OF labor IN one STATE under the lars
thereof escaping into another shall, in consequence
of any law or regulation therein, be discharged
from such service or labor but shall be delivered
upon claim Of the party to whom such service or
labor may be duen Now, under this clause 1t Is
clear that the party claimed must owe service or
labor under the laws Of the State or Territory
from whieh he escaped and the authority is given
to remove such fugitive TO the State from whieh
he escaped II he 1" escapes from free State, the
words of the Constitution are inspplicable. But
in the proceedings at Buffalo, 1t was claimed by