The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-08-19

platforms, or, what is the same thing, the Fu
gitive Slave Law, and an offender should escape
into another State, would it be right to return
such fugitive? | answer no The Federal
/ Government was formed by those who believed
in the " supremacy of God the equality OF man
and freedom of speech" that laws were insti
tuted to protect these rights, and that when.
ever they become destructive of such ends. it is
! the right of the people to alter or abolish them
Were the Federal Government to conspire or
cooperate with a State in such tyranny. il
would prove itself recreant to every rule of JUS
tice and to the great principles that called il
into being. MIR. Lieber, of South Carolina, in
his Political Ethics discusses this question in
regard TO the duty OF. obedience to unjust laws
with great fullness. Here is an extract
We must not forget that laws may be passed in
regular and lawful FORM and yet be clearly against
the painest rights of the citizens although outward
~ coniormablc to the fundamental law There is
however, fundamental law superior TO any funda-
mental charter-that is, reason. right, and nature
and that superior fundamental law of all humanity
requires, in eases of high conflict first to be obeyed
An immoral law Is no law. and my yielding to it or
no Is mere question of expcdency just l may or
may not yield to the demands of n r0bber"
The exercise of constitutional power, then.
vested in Congress is matter of discretion
to he active or inactive, as the general good
requires. This exposition is fortified by the
opinion of Judge Thompson, of the United
States Court. In the celebrated Prigg case,
where the jurisdiction of Congress was in
volved III the extradition of persons held to
service or labor, escaping from one State to
another he says:
This legislation, think, belongs more appropr-
atey to Congress than to the States for the purpose
of having the regulation uniform throughout the
states; but there is nothing in the subjeet-mater
that renders State legislation unfit 1t is no objcc-
ton to the rights of the States to pass laws on the
subject, but there is no power anywhere given to
compel Thorn do it, Neither is there to compI Con-
gresS TO pass any law the subject The legislation
must be uolHntary in both, and gorerRed By sense
Of 6aay"
Mr.. Chairman, know it will be said that
human laws, even in their greatest perfection,
in many instances work injustice, and that it
is impossible for the General Government in
the administration of law, to provide for such
contngences-tha the laws of Congress pro-
coed upon general principles and must be
faithfully enforced. But am speaking of laws
upon the statute books of some of the States,
which stand out in as bold relief, and far more
barbarous, than the stamp act of l776--laws
that deny certain portion of their population
the benefits Of common education, by making
it penal offence to impart instruction-laws
that permit one class to trespass on the rights
OF another, even to sensualism and prostitution.
and then order the visitation of the death-pen-
atty on the innocent victim who, in the act of
dares to strike the offender These
are the laws that Congress is called to make
operative on the poor African, when he tries
through flight to place himself in a condition
of civilization and Improvement Sir, should
not Government, established to promote the
general welfare, encourage such noble aspra-
tons of the mind, rather than conspire with
those who seek to suppress them, and to blot
out Gods image from the soul! | am bold to
say, MIR Chairman, that Congress, in enforcing
the Fugitive Slave Law, under such circum-
stances, is indirectly Violating the letter as
well as the spirit of the Constitution, which
provides that cruel and un ust punishments
shall not be inflicted. to say nothing of the
fifth article of the amendments, which declares,
that "no person shall be deprived Of life, lib
erty, or property, without due process of law"
| repeat, that the law of Congress requiring its
officers and the people to aid in rccapturing
those who have become free, as did our fathers,
by their own noble exertions, under the Heaven
approved love Of liberty, is contrary to justice
and the law of God, AND OUGHT NOT TO BE
oBEYED! submit a few extracts from the
best writers on natural law and the rights of
men in defence Of this position. Mr.. Dane, n
distinguished jurist of Massachusetts, who
acted with Jefferson and Washington in adopt
ing the provlso against slavery in the North
west Territory, endorses this principle
Statutes against natural justice or equity rs
whore one makes man Judge in his cause, is
yoid,'-5 Danes Abr, ch. l4S, a. I, s. /.
He states this clear settled law, without
exception or qualification.
Mr. Dane IN another place says:
Natural law, the foundation Of ethics being die
tated by the Deity himself renders all human laws
invalid contrary to it DaneS A5,., ch 49, $. AZ
Again, Mr.. Lieber says
" nd hJpi0 n1mO Obhgat0. No one is bound to
do what is nhiuitous. Mankind have uniformly
agreed in applaudng resistance to that which is mi
quIlOus, because they have always either acknowl-
edged or at least felt that man lose his own
moral value his Independent moral indiyduality,
and that authority oven If supposed to rest upon
Divine origin may be and ought to be either dis
obeycd or opposed, if il perverts its character and
demands things against Gods laws, as expressed by
Revelation, Nature, feeling Of humanity, morals
reason, physical necessity. When Charles IN, or
his mother, issued orders to slaughter the Proesants
in the provinces they had been murdered in Paris
on tue eve OF ~ BARTHOLOMEW, several governors and
other ohcers-Sully mentions seven--doclinod ODE
dencc. Niscount Orthcz, or Ortez commandant at
Bayonne, wrote back Sire, | have found in Bay
onnc honest citizens and brave soldiers only but not
one executioner Therefore, they and myself suppl
cate your Majesty use our arms and lives in possi.
bic ttefSiH in the orignal) things He was right
To call this demanded murder impossible an un.
feasible thing for an honest man. Ubiquitous things
UH,pia) as to obedience impossible (impossi-
b,hO ms physically impossible things. - POiticai
Hhics, Book 4, S. II.
The Mirror of Justice is an ancient work of
considerable note, In a preface by William
Hughes, to translation of this work, publish
ed in l6l2 he says:
Sure | am that every law. custom usage priyi-
lego prescription act OF Parliament or prerogative
which doth exat itself above beyond the law of
God the law of Christ, or the law of Nature, hath
ever by the worthy sagos of our laws been declared
to be void
In Noy's Maxims, the work of great law
yer, first published in l64l, which has passed
through many editions on the very first page
we have the following:
II any general custom were directly against the
law of God, or if statute made directly con.
trary to the law of God, for instance if il were
enacted that ore should not give aims to any object
IN over so necessitous n condition, such custom or
such nm act would be void
+. p. Hurlbut one Of the Judges of the Su-
preme Court Of Now York, in his Essays on
Human Rights, published in 1915, says;
There is then, fundamental law the law OF
mans mental constitution, to which the framework
OF Government and all human legislation must con
form The citizen under Government has a right to
look beyond the written constitution to that higher
nobler, and diyncr work he constitution of man
Herein lies his protection against tyranny and he
is bound to seek it, lest by rendering blind icalty to
Government. he may become traitor to humanity
for resistance TO tyrants is obedience to God
Written constitutions often regarded with as
profound reverence rs if they we're the offspring of
Divine inspiration. The people are taught that they
are sacred and involablc and are exhored to bring
all laws TO their high test and to note every dcpar
ture from their principles This is WELL if these con
situations well otherwise not So that ,bo frat