Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1852-11-27

| strolling slave merchants, who chose to marcl
their manaclcd victims through our borders.-
And the slave state is to decide the right Of tn,
free. This is the respect the learned and piou
Judge Greier has for the sovereign rights of hi
own State of Pennsylvania. OF course he i
not expected to have any for the rights Of indi
viduals. lie treats quite as cavilerly, the lega
authority which should govern him. Lord
Mansfelds famous decision was somewhat IL
his way. OF that he dsposes in the following
summary manners
"On this subject Lord Mansfield has said
some rery pretty things lin the case Of Summer
seD which are often quoted as principles Of the
common law. But they will perhaps be found
by examination Of later cases, to be clased with
rhetorical hourishes rather than legal dogmas."
The Tribune commenting upon this says;-
Will any body be guilty Of accusing Judge
Greier of saying "Uery pretty Mingsr' Hea-
ven grant that the day be far distant when his
rothoricai fourishcs' shall be accepted as sle-
gal dogmas = Yet they have had the effect of
stripping an honest, hard-working Pennsylva.
mia farmer of all he is worth for obeying the
the iniunctions Of Christ in the treatment of
the weary and hunted fugitive. Verify, we
have fallen on evil days.
This Judge Grcicr is man fit for any official
villainy. Trampling under foot patriotism, law
and gospel, he is at the same time prominent
member of the Presbyterian church. and has
figured somewhat largely in her councils
Since this Philadelphia decision, he has cndea-
vored to cover up his past offences, and qualify
himself for further outrages upon liberty by ex-
tolling the purity and incorruptibiity OF the
courts, which can make such decisions.
In a charge delivered to jury in Pittsburgh,
last week, in the case of Hester Richardson for
the murder Of her step son, in the Allegheny
Arsenal, he has tho following in regard to the
rights of the jury and the justice Of our courts !:
II is because n verdict of guilty or not gull
~ involves this complex application of the
law TO the facts, aud is not mere finding of
the truth Of n Judgement, that il has been
said that the jury are the Judges both of tho
law aud the facts, aud not because the Jury
are justified in substituting their own notions
OF what the law is or ought to lie, in place of
the instructions of the Court. II is true,
that the history of former times has many
instances in which an honest jury have with
stood aud dsregarded the instructions of
corrupt Court, who, MS the instrument OF the
vengeance aud oppression of the crown, en-
deavored to trample upon the rights and
liberties of the subject or citizen. But in
modern times, aud under our institutions
the necessity for such resistance TO judicial
tyranny seldom or never occurs, we eau
hardly inngine case in which the Govern
ment would desire, or Judge be disposed,
To wrogiully Oppress or crush an innocent
individual 10y perverting the law made for
his protection iuto an instrument of cruel
vengeance or oppression.
II We understand this paragraph, it is the
opinion Of Judge Gricr that there is no nccessi-
ty now, as in "many instances in former times"
for the jury to be judges of law and facts, be-
cause our courts are now so nearly Immaculate.
They may be trusted for the law. Why not
also with the facts 1t would DC economical.
And yet only the week before, this same Judge
Grc.er perverted law end justice by the opinions
above quoted, and then fearing his failure to
corrupt the jury bullicd them into verdict,
(f tho Philadelphia papers report truly,) by
thrcatning them with imprisonment in the jury
room over Sunday, after previously protractcd
confinement. Thus he induced verdict mpo-
sing fine of S2,S00. A penalty sufficient to
ruin almost any of our prosperous and comCor-
tably living citizens. And the object of this
verdict was to facilitate the return of men,
women and children to worse than Egyptian
bondage.
The people cannot we'll afford to forget the
many instances in which an "honest jury have
withstood and disregnrdcd the instructions Of
corrupt court" Such "disrcgard and rcsis-
tance," we arc happy to say is not confined to
+" former times" We have had some recent
instances as the escaped victims at Christana
and Boston can testify. Judge Greier may not
be "a6io 10 imagine case in which judge
would be disposed to crush an innocent indivi-
dual by pcrvcrting tho law" but those who
shall learn from the record, what part Judge
Grier has borne in the trials Of tho Christiana
prisoners, and the more recent trial of Caufman,
will have no occasion to make drafts upon their
imagination. The judges attempt to veil his
own soiled erminc and the prostitutcd Federal
Court, will never succeed while the memory OF
these Philadelphia trials shall remain. Surely
it is time for the people to suppress the internal
system of slavery, which can so corrupt the
appointed agents and forms of justice, and
worse, its only true source, the intelligent hon
esty Of the masses.