Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-11-02
IFrom the proyilenec Journnl.l

JUDGE KANE AND PAssulRE WlLLrAMsoN.-
When Judge Kane first issued the writ Of
hahcas corpus, requiring Passmore William.
son to gryc account of his aiding to carry
away or ais dettining in custody Jane john.
/ son and her two culdren. we presumed in
/ common with most Others, that it was for th"
/ splc Dement, OF the negro mother and children.
/ thcy had been suddenly rem wed from the
custody Of Colonel Wheeler, their ALLEGED
master, and it seemed To- US but itht that i
court OF law should inquire into their wher.-
dbnuts and condition. and should ascertain
whether their Tree action uad been di>trdincd
or any OF their rights had been violated hv
Williamson and his coadiutors On this sun.
position we approved the course originally
adopted by Judge Kane. for We dl not see
that Plssnore Williamson and the others
hdd any better right to compel the negroes to
h1 Tree than Colonel Wheeler had to compcl
them to be slaves But the subsequent prn.
t'cdlhSs ut this magistrate. and espcci ily
enc monstrnus opinion which he has recently
pronounced i'll the case, ahundantly prove
that We were entirely mistaken in the objects
when he had in view when the writ WAS
first issued. We now consider it settled. be-
yond all question or doubt, that lis only pur.
pose IN seeking u obtain possession OF these
negroes ny hapeas corpus WIS IT, remand them
OF pennsylvania, has that great writ, which
in all ages of Eng ish and Am ric..n history
has been the effective instrument of personal
freedom, been prostituted by IA judge Of the
United states to the support and promotion
OF slavery Jane johnson and her children
are to he rescued by Judge Klne's wit of
hdheis corpus from tine custody of their abo-
lition friends, but only to he returned to the
hopeless and endless custody of their pre
tended master and owner. The persons
whose freedom the writ was designed osten.
sihly to se,ure, have long since made affidavit
IN open court that they were not at anv time
dlstrained oitheir liberty, either by Passmore
W llllansOn or any of his coadlutors in Phi
ladelphla, and that they left Colonel Wheeler
ol their own Tree will and choice There
was then, IN the testimony of the only party
whose liberties are in any way involved in
the case, neither abduction nor detention.
but only aid and protection, in doing pre
cisely what that party most desired ana had
resolved 10 do At IL later period Jane John
sou hled with Judge Kane an affidavit that
the writ which had been issued in her behalf
was not desired by her, that the application
OF Colonel Wheeler, who acted as her next
Trend III the matter, was wholly unauthor-
I'd and disApproved by her, and pra wing
that, inasmuch US no wrong had been COM
mltted, the entire writ and all the proceed
lnss upon 1t might be quashed and MIR viii
l"mson liberated from his confinement
IL is upon this affidavit and petition that
Judge Kane has delivered his latest most ex-
traurilnary opinion, an opinion composed in
nearly equal parts OF learning and logic.
Ignorance and ialiacy, ianaticism and wrong
h'adedness. lie claims jurisdiction in the
case on the ground that Colonel Wheeler
noI come to Philadel phia with his property
h' issues the writ OF habeas corpus to obtain
Possession OF the slaves, and imprisnns Pass
more W Nilliamson for contempt of the writ
oo fNo ground that these slaves are persons
Who's rights he is bound to protect and
then, ltst and worst of all, he asserts the
rIsht OF every citizen of n slaveholdng State
to carry his slaves into States where slavery
- prohlnlted by law, as freely as he may
carry the horse he rides upon, his great
coat or his carpet bag or, to use another Of
tine Judges illustrations, no State can CON I
trol the rights of Shareholders to their slaves
while passing through its territory any more
than TO their sugar, their cotton, or their
New England rum. lie thus not only re-
verses Lord Mansfeld's famous Judgment in
the case OF tho negro Somerset, that slavery |
has no preSumptions in its favor that, being |
against natural law, 1t can exist only by |
local law; hut he puts forth a doctrine |
which, 1t acquiesced in, annihilates tho inde- |
pendence OF the free States, and makes slave
ry an inevitable institution and fixed fact
In every State in the Union. A slave, ac- |
Ccording to Jul ge Kane, is piece of abso-
lnte property, in the same sense and to the |
same extent and may be carried wherever his |
master chooses to trayel just as freely, as u |
nale OF cotton OF a barrel of rum. So long,
therefore, as human beings are held in bon
dage In single State of the Union, they are
to no carried, without let or hindrance. into
every other State and into all the territories
ana there held as property, in spite of the le-
8lslatlve enaetments that have been passed
against slavery, and in spite of tho judicial
opinions that have been given in favor of