The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-03-13
THE DIFFERENCE.

BosToN, Mass, March a, 1851.
To Tie Editor Of The National Era:
frequently hear it asserted that the law Of
1850 for the recovery Of fugitive slaves, does not
materially differ from that Of 1893 and that nei-
Their enactment requires anything more Of the
North than the performance Of its constitutional
obligations. Regarding both these propositions
as false and mischicvous, as tending TO reconcile
the public to the present state Of the law, wish,
if you will give me room in your paper to state,
briefly, the points of difference between the two
States and the points wherein the statute Of 1850
transoends the requirements Of the Constitution
/. The law Of 1893, Ms expounded by the Su-
preme Court of the United States, imposed no duty
upon free State, or upon any citizen Of a free
State, except upon certain officers and, as they
occupied their places voluntarily, it may with
truth be said that, under that law, man could
live in free State without participating in the
business of making men who, through deadly
peril, had won their freedom, slaves again. The
amount of the enactment Of 1893 was, that il a
slave escaped into free State, his owner might,
carrying with him from home, or engaging 10 the
State to which the slave had fed, such voluntary
cid as he should find ncedful, take him away,
without becoming liable to the penalties for kid
mapping. BY that law, freemen were not required
TO become ave-hunters or slave-catchers. They
performed their whole duty IL they offered no OPP
position when the slave-hunter would hunt his
prey upon their soil BY the law Of 1850, the
United States carries the fugitive back to slavery
and thus every citizen must participate in the
deed More than this-by that law every cti-
zen Is required when called upon, TO give his
strength---the labor Of his own free muscles--to
the work.
O. Under the law Of 1893, the trial, such as Il
~h.sL a.
were such, in fact, must be had in his presence
but by the law OF 1850, that question may be
settled thousand miles away from him, and, be-
fore he knows he is claimed, tribunal, Of which
he never heard, may have doomed him and his
posterity TO perpetual servitude. Already, II we
may credit the newspaper statement man has
been taken from one Of the Western States who
had been manumitted. The court before which
he was brought refused TO give him time to send
few miles for the documentary evidence Of
bis freedom, because trial, In the State from
which he was said to have fed, had already de-
cided that he was slave, leaving nothing bat the
question Of identity TO be tried ut the place Of his
capture.
g. There was nothing in the law Of 1893 to
prevent both the claimant and the alleged fugi
tive being examined at the trial but by the
law Of 1850, while the claimant may be heard,
the victim must be dumb
a. The law Of 1893 intrusted the trial Of
question, second In importance only to that which
involves life TO the lowest tribunals known TO the
law--to tribunals which, In Massachusetts,, and
believe in the free States generally are not per-
mittod to try OWL causes involving more than
twenty dollars, and that subject TO appeal This
was bad enough, bat there Was no premium or
fsred for corruption. The law Of 1850, In like
manner, intrusts the trial Of this question to .
tribunal that has final Jurisdiction 10 nothing else
beyond the taking Of deposition, and provides
for the commissioner fee Of ten dollars II he
shall come 10 the conclusion that the claimed ID
slave, otherwise, I'VE dollars