The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-09-16
WASHINGTON. ID. G.
SPEECH
SPEECH
OF
HON. HORACE MANN, OF MASSACHUSETTS,
ON

lcoNcLupEDl
And besides this the proofs which the law
provides for and declares COnciu9Ue are abhOr-
rent to reason. to common sense and to the
common law 1t provides that evidence taken
in Southern State, at any time or place
which claimant may select. without any no.
tlce, or any possibility Of knowledge on the
part of the person to be robbed and enslaved
by it, may be clandestiney carried or sent Ia
any place where it is 10 be used. and there
sprung upon It's victim as u wild beast springs
from its jungle upon the passer-by and il
provides that this evidence, thus surreptitiously
taken and used shall be conclusive proof OF
the facts of slavery and Of escape from slavery
10 does not submit the suihcency of the eyi-
deuce TO the judgment of the tribunal but il
arbitrarily makes it cOncitiaUe, whether suiii-
cIent or not. IL abOlishes the common law dis
hncuun between competency and credibility.
Indeed it aholishes the elementary idea of IA
court of justice itself considered as a tribunal
whose functions are, first and chielest, to hear
both sides, and then to discern between truth
and ialSehood. The heather emblem of JUS
tce was that OF goddess, holding balances in
her hand. and weighing with holy exactness
all conflicting probabilities and testimonies
The true emblem If this law would DC that Of
some Glo>sin lawyer, clutchng at ten dollars
rs a bubn, and trampling the sacred balances
under foot
What would the Southern gentlemen who
hear me say, if while attending to your duties
in this Hall, a miscreant in any Northern city
or State, without knowledge or possibility of
knowledge ON your part should now be suborn-
ing witnesses to obtain evidence that your
house, your plantation or cotton crop. was his.
and by and by should make his appearance on
your premises demanding instant possession.
and IN case of refusal or demur should drag
you before some tcn-dollar magistrate, read his
CONCLUSIVE proof, while you are forced to be
dumb, and then thrust you out Of estate. house.
and home And yet this Fugitive Slave Law
Is a. much more atrOciOus than that would be-
rs liberty is more precious than pcf
The cruel fruits Of this law have been such
as might be expected to grow on 80 wicked
stock. The first man sent into slavery under
1T, Adam Gibson, was n free man When the
claimants agent brought Gibson to him. hc
refused to receive him for he knew, and he
knew that all his household and neighbors
would know, that Gibson had never been his
slave And so after this free man had been
seized rs slave and sentenced as a slave and
dragged fnrcibly away from home to Mary
land as slave by the authority and at the
expense Of the United States he was set adrift
and left to find his way back rs he could.
VI the first eight persons doomed to slavery
under this law four were free men.
When this dreadful law was first preached
1t was SAID that we might rely upon the intel
hgence and the integrity of the Southern courts
10 send into the land of freedom no certificate,
that would doom men 10 bondage unless found
ed upon competent and undoubted testimony
But IN the case Of Daniel, who was tried be-
fore Mr.. Commissioner Smith, at Buffalo the
slave claimant never carried single witness
before the court that made the record of sa-
very and of escape. The Southern court made
the record on aiidavts only, and then gave the
claimant certified copy of it, without ever
seeing or hearing witness in the case. These
afidavts were gwen by nobody knows whom
and sworn to by nobody knows whom-pcr-
haps not sworn to at ALL but forged for the occa-
sion; yet on sight OF them the commissioner
pronounced Daniel to be IA slave 1t afterwards
turned out on hearing before Judge Conk-
ling, of the United States court, that there
never had been one particle or scintlla of eyi-
denGe before the commissioner on which his !
ten-dOllar certificate Of slavery was founded
In another case in Philadelphia. Commits. |
soncr lngraham decided some point directly |
against law and authority and when decs- |
ion of Judge of the United States court was
produced against him, he c0olly said he differ
ed from the Judge, made out the certificate
pocketed the ten dollars, and sent human be-
ing to bondage There could be no appeal
from this iniquity for the law allows none,
In another case, before Mr. Commissioners
Hallett Of Boston, where white persons were
examined, on charge Of rescung an alleged
slave he admitted this foreign evidence of
State court taken in secret against the native
born citizens of n free State.
And yet, with all these denominations on the
face OF the law, and after this long train of
Ourages in it, administration the Baltimore
Wing resolutions which, perhaps are the less
iniquItous of the two. declare that the law shall
not be modified Unless time and experience
shall drmou.tratc some abuse of it's powers
How low down must these men live that they
do not call what has already happened an
abuse
A story Is current respecting the origin of
this law, for whose authenticity | cannot per-
sonally vouth bat II certainly carries verisi-
Multitude on IT. face The bill is said TO have
been cOncoctrI by Il Southern disunionist anx-
lous for some pretrXt to break up the Repub.
lie; and who therefore prepared a bill 80 un.
constitutional 50 abumnahc and iendish, that
a. he believed even the rcckessncsS of North
crn scrvliity must spurn it. He would then
make its rejection his war-cry for disunion
But, alas he had not lathomed the basencss of
Northern politicians What Southern fire
eater thought too unrighteous for any human
being to touch the Northern aSpirants for the
Presidency adopted with alacrity," and roll.
ed as II sweet mOrscl under their tongue Now
both Wing and Democratic Conventions reaf-
firm the law, aud attribute to it sacrcdness
and permanently unknown to the Consttu-
ton itself
Sir, when ! survey, one alter another. tho
horrd features Of tins law-its pnl pable viola
ton both of the letter and the spirit of the Con-
sututOn Its contempt aud defiance of that
great organic law. the Declaration of mdepend.
ence, and OF the whole spirit and acts and lives
OF our revolutionary fathers its repugnancc 10
all the noblest maXms and principles of the
British Consultation, consecratcd and halowed
AS these have been from age to age by patriots
struggles and by martyrs blood: its fabrica.
ton Of such u code Of evidence ms was never
before placed ON the statute. book of any civil.
ized nation; its provisions for deciding c0lclu-
Nreiy the question of IA mans liberty, in whit
~ to him foreign State and before what is Ia
him foreign tribunal, without the possibility
Of ms appearing there To confront witnesses or
even OF knowing what the conspirators against
INN are DONG It's pcremptOry orders 10 seize
man, and try the unspeakably precious qucs-
uOn OF las freedom and seli.ownership, IN
summary manner when even robbers pirates
and murderery must have notice of their accu-
sat'On adequate time 10 prepare for defence
and counsel Tor assistance its bribing mags-
trates to decide against liberty, aud in favor of
slavery, aud its creation of II set Of officers
some ut whom have an decided az tn nrnVa fba,,