Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1851-04-07
VindicatiOn Of the LAWS.

yindicatiOn Of the Laws.
From the excellent charge of Judge
Sprague to the grand jury of the United
States District Court, in the case of the par
ties who rescued the negro Shadrack from
the officers ofjustice at Boston, we make
an extract below fuIl of good sense. 1t is
fact worthy OF notice (says the New York
Journal Of Commerce) that 'almost, if not
quite all our eminent jurists, in whatever
part OF the country residing, vindicate the
consttutionality Of the Fugitive Slave law,
and insist upon its faithful Observance
They who at this day, pronounce the law
unconstitutional, are chiefly persons whose
means Of forming a correct Judgment in
the case are extremely limited. An excess
Of modest assurance" answers them in
stead of law or logic. Judge Sprague
says:
"For more than sixty years, indeed from
the foundation of the government, it has
been criminal offence torcsist or oppose,
or obstruct the Marshal IN the execution Of
a warrant or other legal process, and SO
plain is the utility and necessity of this pro-
vision, that during all time no voice had
been raised against it. So far from i'm
pairing the energy with which the laws
are to be executed, the people by their
Legislation have added new sanctions.-
Thus by Statute of March I'd, 1851, Chap
ter 80, Sec, 2, it is enacted, "That if any
person or persons shall corruptly, or by
threats or force, endeavor to influences, in
timidate or impede any juror, witness or
officer, IN any court Of the United States,
in the discharge Of his duty, or shall cor
ruptly, or by threats or force, obstluct or
impede, or endeavor to ohstruct or impede,
the due administration of justice therein,
every person or persons so offending shall
be liable TO prosecution therefor, by in
dictmcnt"
lhls salutary enactment TO secure the
free course Of laws, has been in force for
nearly twenty years without objection
But we have recently heard that not only
should the Courts be impeded in admins
tering the law, butfhat the Marshall should
be obstructed and even resisted by force
in the execution of legal process, because
OF recent statute providing for the arrest
and delivering up Of fugitivcs from labor.
1t Isto be observed that this statute sub
Iects no person to arrest who was not before
liable TO be seized and carried out of the
State; for ever since the adoption of the
Constitution, these same persons have been
liable to be taken and carried away BY
those from whose service they had escap-
ed. For by processing right, created
by the Constitution, and affirmed by the
Supreme Court Of the United States, Con
gross has provided a new remedy by lc-
gal process to be executed by public Of
ficer, and has added penal sanctions more
eficctually to ensure the execution Of the
law.
ali 1t have not all the safeguards we
could wish, so neither had the statute of
1898, passed by the fathers of the Consti-
tuition, with the appreciation Of Washing
ton, and sustained by the people for more
than halfa century. The Constitutioncom-
mands that fugitivcs from labor shall be de-
hvered up. r supreme Courts have
decided that .gs to Congress to pro-
vide the means. Congress have enacted
this law. rs imperative audit will be
enforced. Let no man mistake the mild
ness and forbearance with which the Grim
inal code is habitually administered, for
weakness or timidity. Resistance must
take it sternly inhexible.
discussion is free. Men of all classes
and of every shade of opinion may, by ar
gument or defamation addressed to the
reason or the passions, endeavor to impress
new views upon the public mind But if
in their opposition to the expressed will of
society they pass from words to deeds, and
cmbody mischievous doctrines into criminal
acts Of resistance to law, whoever they may
be, and whatever they may be, their posi-
ton or their ultimate purposes, they must
sooner or later find that the law is irresisti-
bic and overwhelming. The people have
been SO long accustomed to absolute repose
and security under the quiet administration
of law, that they are not easily brought to
believe that it can be obstructed, much less
to contemplate the consequences Of its
overthrow
But let them be startled by acts of vio-
lence and systematic resistance, let it be
broughthqme to them as a practical ques-
ton, whether they will under law, admin
lstered by responsible public agents, or I'M
der the dominion of a mob, impelled by
passion, guided by no rule, and subject to
no restraint, and they will rush to the sup
port of the constituted authorities, and in
dignantly repress the spirit Of anarchy"
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