The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1854-08-09
THE FUGITIVE SlAVE LAW.

the land. 1t is as follows
| There is difference between the opponents
OF the hgiiive slave law. One class oppose it
while admitting its const,tutinnali,y, and the
Other and larger portion deny alike its constiu-
tionaly and its binding force. The latte seem
to us 10 be the more honest of the two, if hon
tsty Can be the characteristic Of any man who
h'es into tae face OF plain mandate Of the law,
winch lie is just much bound to support
any other know n aud uhqueslionable >ta'ue.-
But when Judge o the court seeks {" pros' .tute
his position by trying to make the worse appear
The better REASON tres t. dishunor a law he is
sworn To obey, especially when he is nat called
up n 10 speak on the subjec', aud when by
train OF false and fee be volunteer reasto,n ng,
| wi hout aIay OF truth or logic To redeem it from
| conteupi-we confess We feel tor such man
| ms inctve loathing and scorn. There have been
such distances, but they happily very few
md lar between Even those who preud,c-s
I such judgr hopes encourage nv surrender
OF Judgment end of duty to malignity and to tao.
tloii, cannot fail to rrga him with pity From
an abolillonis y trade l. Ike Sumner, fanatic
by p. Ole ssion like Giddlngs, Spectator on the
xclt mrnts created by such agitators as Gree.
| icy nothing else Il /, be expected but The most
reasonable and bias emons assaults upon the
laws. But member ot the Judiciary who soils
beth his oath and his dice by catering TO pre-
tuary OF justice as so many iends-such being
| Is an object Of adherence 10 every citizen who
| loves his country
One Of these judges, residing in Wisconsin,
delivered G. recent opinion against the fugitive
slave law. Ii wac, we glad to say, greeted
with undissembled and nearly unanimous repro
baton. Without force sincerity, it was
bold and wick d attempt to fabrca'e opposition
to law of ne land So far was this sentiment
| tod a., l. -
| in this busn IS must have seen in how despica-
bic light he was made to appear
Hon. A. q. Miller, United States district
judge FIR he same att, toook occasion i'm his
addr, 10 the grard jury for the present July
erm held at Madison, Wisconsin,, to give his
opinion on tie subj ct Of the oonstitutionaliy
and binding free OF he fugitive slave law
| We have II at document before US n the Madi-
son Owls Argus and Democrat. 1t is a straig ht
toward, plan.sp"ken product" n, and will be
read with great pleasure. We give few ex
| tracts TO show how well honest man can
speak when console Gus that he is p, forming a
plain and positive duty
the constitution framed by the conven
| ton in the year 1857, and went into operation
in 1853 The State Of Pennsy lvania having
| then abolished slavery, no doubt was one cause
If the peculiar and exrress provision that no
person held to service or labor in one Sta e,
j unde, The laws thereof escaping into another,
! shall, IN cunst quenoe Of any law or regulation
therein, &c discharged The Unrest Of citizens
in slave or servants for life Is property, requir
ed some provision of his kind in the consti,u-
ton; but this is understood 20 embrace apprin
| Ices, whose extrndc ion, in pursuance thereof
and OF the laws passed to carry il OUT, has been
frequent In the opinion of the district court
of The U. s.. in Bosler rs Cummins, Law
Register, 657, il is remarked: know of no
words that could more clearly include apprinti
ces than those have quoted, for the plain effect
If every inden'nre IF apprenticeship is to hold
lie party TO service; and II | could go behind
the words of the acts Of Congress, and those of
the article of the constitution, should say that
every consideration Of policy would dictate
| euch construction, because Ia decide the CON-
trary would be to discharge every apprn'ice
that chooses to escape into another 5 ate and re.
| fuse to return to his duty.
''The mode of delivering up fugitives from
justice and Dor is not pre- sclbed in the const-
1 tuition, nor BY any law, until the act IF Congress
| respecting tugi,ives from justice end persons
escaping irom the service of their master, Feb
ruary II, l793-four years ait>r the adoption OF
| the constitution. That act was passed in the
| House Of Repre- sentatives with but seven mega
live votes from ditfe rent States north and south
and by the Senate without division; and was
signed by Jonathan rrumbelI, of Connecticut, as
Speaker of the House Of Representatives., by
| Jahn Adams, Vice President, ard approved by
George Washington, P.esident Of the United
| Sta.es !"
"'riI' rights Of master to arrest h fugitive
| sla, is not snlisary one in the laws OF IT. :
country. A muster may pursue and spprr h md
his fugitive apprintce, whose service ,.na labor
h IS rntited demand by virtue of rho de.d
OF lndrn'ure father may CO" .el his err,,,
MINOR child t" return to re' .tai protection I'D
to submit to paerntai auth .ui,y 4 su,.,y -, =
pursue and carry bach his alb = ,n,G, nr,n.;n,i
and commit hm u prisc,., IN discharge OF his f.
.'." All 10 Use things done daily
| r. 'u' ag excitement; and not one OF
~. us, except apprentices, can clam hy
J " III of any statute provision, an open, fair,
lad public ez imina ion upon disin eres ed est.
| nony before their removal is Effected, in the
case of fugitive slaves. The fugitive from JUS
tee, as We have seen, may be arrested upon a
warrant founded upon affidavit of the injured
Or interested party, a"d removed without pre-
iimnary hearing; and it frequently results upon
trial that the charge is unfounded While the
| 'aw under cons Geration is effective in carrying
out the Srovis ons of the constitution it is equal.
ly so in protecting free coorcd persons from Sc
cret or criminal deportation.
! This law has been in force sxty.une years,
and its constutionality has not been disaffirme
by any court, either State national, having
iurisdictiction of the subject-matter before it.
We have seen from the cases cited that the
preme court Of Pennsylvania aud Of Massachu-
setts have affirmed the cons,itutionaty and ex-
pedency Of the law, and have declared that
a writ or process emenatng from them, tending
to impede or interrupt its execution, is in W
olation Of the constitution Of the United States.
Also in the State of New York, the same doc
trne prevails in regard to this law, as reported
in the case of Gen Ds' Hodges, 9 Johnson rep
81 The plaintiff, Glen, was The owner of a
slave in the State of New York, who escaped
from him into the State of Vermont, and there
contracted debt with the defendant. The
plaintiff, by virtue of the act Of Congress, apprc
hended his slave in Vermont, who was rescued
by means of an attachment Issued against the
| slave at the suit of his creditor, the defendant
| Hodges. Suit was brought for the recovery Of
| the value of the slave. The court, composed
of Chief Justice Kent, and Judge Thompson.
Spencer, Van Ness, and Yates, (who were
among the most distinguished urists in this or
any other coun'ry,) in the opinion says ::
There is no doubt that the negro was the prop.
erty Of the plaintiff, and had run away from
service into Vermont. He,was held to service
or labor under the laws o this State, New
York, and the escape did not discharge him,
| but the master was entitled to reclaim him in
the State to which he had fed. This is accor-
ding to a provision in the constitution Of the
United States, and the act of Congress of the
18th February. 1893, which prescrbes the mode
OF retaining he slave. 1t not only gives a
penalty against any person who shall konwing
Iy and willingly obstruct the claimant in the act
Of claiming the fugative. but slaves to such
claimant his right Of action for any injury he
may receive by such obstruction Tue plaintiff
was, therefore, in the exercise Of right, when
he proceeded to reclaim the slave and the
single question is, whether the defendant is not
esponsible for rescuing the slave, though he
did it under the form and color of the attach
men for debt alleged to have been contracted
with him by the slave. The negro being slave
| was capable Of contracting to impair the
| right OF his master to T. claim him. A contrary
doctrine would be intolerable far as it
poets the securi y Of the owners right, and
would go to defeat the provision altogether.
The defendant, thertore. contracted with the
| negro, and sued out the altacim at his peril.
| 1t was fraud upon the masters right The
| fact being established that the negro was tug'
| alive slave, the attachmfnt was justification