The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-03-20

MIN, Mr. Fillmore, then VICE President, furnished
him with list of Northern nominees, under
stood to be hostile to the compromises, to the
end of their being rejected for that reason by
the Senate, which operation was accordingly
effected; and that, presently after his accession
to the Presidency, he withdrew such nomina-
tons of the same class as still remained to be
acted on.
In the spirit of that delusion and hypocrisy
which had been practiced throughout, these
shocking measures were called measures of " ad
justment," of " compromise" of Specification"
"When they have made desert" said the old
historian, "they call it peace" But, notwith-
standing the marvellous spring with which in
ten months the Slave Power had arisen from
condition of apparent discontinue to the most
palmy greatness it had ever known, some ex-
element was reasonably looked for among the
disappointed and outraged freemen of the North.
And the apprehension proved well founded,
when, in large and enthusiastic meetings held
| in many Northern cities, the law and its pro-
| motors were condemned in the most earnest
terms.
Proper pains were taken to manage the cri-
| sis. AS to part of the ruin which had been
wrought, it was obviously irremediable; it was
impossible to recover to liberty the tens of
thousands of miles of territory which had been
taken from New Mexico for Texas. Part was
still, in sense, contingent; there was still fair
reason to hope that Slavery would not get into
New Mexico and Utah, though the bars which
should have excluded it were thrown down.
The most serious immediate apprehension which
was felt was for the effect that would be pro-
duced by the actual operation of the Fugitive
Slave Law. For terrible misery, actually pre-
scented to the view, will move human hearts.
In some parts of the country. this required
delicate treatment; and some of the Northern
papers in the interest of the Administration, to
retain their partisans, appeared to fall in with
the prevailing feeling, insisted that the Admin
istraton was not responsible for what had been
done, and encouraged the hope of repeal, or,
more commonly, of what they called "amend-
ment and modification" at some future time.
But among the foremost politicians the current
set the other way, and all serious expectation
of that kind was discouraged by the vigorous
displays which were made ofdetermination to
maintain the ground which had been won.
Forty or fifty members of Congress- quarter
of them from the free States-entered into what
they called " Union League" pledging them
selves to vote for no man for office who was
not an advocate of the compromise Meas
ures." And in several of the cities were held
what were called Union Meetings, in which
those measures were extelled, and opponents
Of them denounced, in speeches by members
| VI Doth Oiu pOHIiSdi pttItico.
Rarely, in all the ages of recorded time, had
any event spread such wide distress and dismay
as the passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill. Large
numbers of fugitives, who for long years had
considered themselves out of danger, who had
reared families, acquired some education and
property, and formed the habits and characters
of freemen, found themselves compelled to
choose between fight to another county, and
hazarding the unutterable sorrow of being re-
turned to bondage. How widely spread was
this misery, may be partly judged from such
facts as that hundred and thirty communi-
! aeu.r.rf church in Buffalo, New York, left
| their homes at once tor exile in Osriaue 49,
the Colored Baptist Church at Rochester lost
all but two of a hundred and fourteen commu-
nicants; and the Colored Baptist Church at
Detroit, eighty-four communicates, in the same
Way.
Nor was the CONSERVATION confined to fugi-
tives The nefarious law had taken away ev-
erytbng that can be called security, even from
colored natives of the free States; and men, as
free by all titles as the Governor of New Y rk,
reasonably trembled night and day, before what
placed them and their wives and children at
at the mercy of any kidnapper who would but
make false oath. Nor is trihing account to
be made of the burning sense of wrong on the
part of men of thought and of honor, in view
of the disgrace brought upon their country, the
insult offered to every principle they revered,
the hideous service which the law undertook to
impose on themselves.
The mischief was done, the shame was COM
plete, so far as depended on legislation. But
the DEGREES of the Devil work weakly, where
there is a moral sense in people. When
twelve months had passed, after the Fugitive
Slave Bill went through the forms Of law, not
twelve fugitives had been carried back by force
of it from the free States.
They tried the experiment first in New Y ork
and Philadelphia. In eight days from the date
of President Fillmore's signature to the Bill,
Hamlet, a mulatto communicate of the Metho-
dist Church, was. arrested in the former city,
and, having been adjudged fugitive by the
) Commissioner, was put in irons, and by grand
son of Colonel Tallmadge of the Revolutionary
War, acting for the Marshal, was conveyed
his wife and children being still ignorant OF
his fate) to Skaters slave Jail in Baltimore.
This was too bad for the hearts OF Wall Street
} to bear, and money was presently raised for
{ his liberation,
Adam Gibson vas next carried from Phila.
delphia, agreeably to a, decree Of Mr.. Commits
sioner Ingraham, who said he had no doubt
of the prisoners identity" But, ON arriving in
!, Maryland, it termed out that the Commissioner
was mistaken; that Gibson was not the man
sent for; and he was allowed TO &c back.
Then Henry Long, who by the help of good
legal counsel had got clear of one Hall-who
had taken jurisdiction of his case in New York,
pretending to be a Commissioner, but who turn.
ed out to be none-was, by the decree of a bet
ter qualified magistrate, transported to Virginia.
thence to be sold into Georgia, there to make
trouble by preaching freedoms" as we learned
from the local prints.
man claimed in Detroit asked for time to
send for his free papers to Cincinnati, where
he declared that they had been left. But the
J Commissioner said that, if they were in court,
} he had no right to look at them, and that he
must proceed to make decree on the affidavit
, OF the claimant.
, William and Ellen Crafts, the latter persona
ting, IN male attire, young planter travelling
with his servant, made their way to Boston,
, where pursuers found them out Crafts declared
that ne meant to have jury trial, and armed
: and fortlhed himself accordingly. This under
stood, the Marshal and his people let him alone;
D and the hero Crafts, and the heroine. his wire,
: are now il safety and honor in England. With
: Shadrach, the second Boston case, things went
: no better. mob of people of his own color
t took him out of the hands of the Narabal's
0 force in the Courthouse, and he is now said
to be enjoying his freedom in Canada. His
s escape occasioned proclamation by the Presi
4 dent of the United States. For Sims, more
/ machinery was set in motion. Boston was a
t garrisoIed toyn while the poor boy was in Gus
tody. The Judges Of Massachusetts went to
e their seats under the chains stretched around
e his prison in the Courthouse. For him, pro
I cess of the august Commonwealth remained un
!. executed in the Sheriff's hands. At peep O
s dag, the Mayor marched at the head of tbs
!. procession which accompanied him to the EN-