Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-05-03

tor the avarice pleasure of another to attaint
the blood and send it cursed with hereditary tain
through succeeding generations, would have been
repelled with indignation. Here, sir, is direct
and positive prohibition of slavery, and cuts it up
root and branch In the same tenth section it is
also written ''No State shall pass any bill impair
ing the obligation of contracts" Now that slavery
not only impairs the obligation of con tracts by
wholesale, but actually depriyes n large class Of
persons of the power of making contracts at all
and void-.herc again slavery meets a rcpulse, and
is driven from the Constitution. Again, article
one, section nine: "The privilege of the writ Of
habeas corpus shall not be suspended in time of
peace" the fugitive slave law to the contrary not
withstandng Now, sir, what is this writ Of
habeas corpus, the privilege Of which shall not be
suspended Says Blackstone
"The Object of the writ is to bring the body of
the prisoner who has been restrained of liberty
into court, who shall determine whether the cause
OF his commitment be Just, and thereuron do as
justice shall apperan. 1t is to be directed to the
person dctaining another, and demanding him to
produce the body Of the prisoner, with the day
and cause of his capture and detention, to do, sub
NIT to, and receive whatsoever the judge court
awarding the writ shall consider in that behalf"
1t is for the special protection of personal, indi-
vidual liberty. right to ihe privilege Of which all
are entitled who claim they deprived of it with
out due process of law. All, without discrmina-
ton of caste or color ALL male and female, citizen
and alien. 1t is the body-guard of PERSONAL indi-
vidual liberty, in this country. Sir, the hand that
is raised against it aims blow at the heart of
liberty itself. This the fugitive slave law has
done. Here again slavery finds in the Constitution
successful rival, and is forced to yield. Sir, this
potent privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, this
all-powerful protector of individual personal liberty
must be suspended, or slavery can be no longer
tolerated. Sir, there is not n slave in this Union
who is not entitled to the privilege of this writ,
and not one who, with a fair and impartial trial
under it, would not, like Somerset, obtain his
freedom.
"Ths writ "says Blackstore's commentor makes
slavery impossible in England"
| say, sir, this writmakes slavery impossible in
America.
| If he could say thus much of it in monarchy,
May not say much Of it in a republic?
| Sir, the writ of habeas corpus and slavery can
not exist together
They cannot breathe the same atmosphere;
One or the other must perish.
Again, sir, at section ninth, the Constitution
reads as follows:
"The United States shall guaranty to every State
a republican form of government"
A State constitution that expressly authorizes
slavery, and legaliz"s Institution that allows
one man to ensaye another-that chnttezes
human beings, and makes them marketable like
horses ana swine-that man has no right to his
vile. his CIllurel, nay, uOcS not own nlWSell, Du
can be sold execution, and made to follow like
dog and obey his master--a constitution like thai
has, in my view, very little claim to a republican
character. Perhaps may be called on to vote fol
the admission of State with such constitution
When | vote for it, sir give due nOticeit will be
after this.
If there still remains doubt how the Constitu.
ton should be understood on this subject ask it.
! Ask it, sir, and it will tell you IL gives no I'M
certain sound, Listen, sir, and hear its expla-
nation
1--WE, the people of the United States in order to
form more perfect Union, to establish Justice, TO
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, protect the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posteriydo ordain this Constitution for the United
States Of America"
Here, sir, you are expressly told by the Consti-
tuition ITSELF that it has liberty, not slavery for
its object. Sir, this is language that cannot be
| trfed with. And lest there might be some that
hesitate, and perhaps claim that the Constitution
made not for freedom out for slavery, codicil
was subsequently added, explaining qualifying,
overruling, nay, SIR, everything inconsistent with
it in the original instrument. / will read it, sir,
from the fifth article of amendments to the Cvnst:-
tutcn:
"No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process Of law"
No person-owing labor or not--no person shall
be deprived of liberty without fair trial for his
ofenses. There it is in letters of iron. 1t stands
out in bold relief, The all-pervadng sentiment of
the Constitution. Sir, this alone, if there was
nothing else in the Constitution to sustain it, settles
the question and seals the deathwarrant Of slavery.
No State has power to save it, even within its own
borders. No State rights, State sovereignty has
power to protect it, And so declares the Consti-
tuition:
mo person shall be deprived of life. liberty or
property, without due process of law"
Sir, was ever language more emphatic
Was ever law more decisive? Article sixth sums
up as follows:
This Constitution and laws of Congress, and
treaties made pursuant to it, shall be the supreme
law of the land, constitutions of the States, anG
laws of the States 30 the contrary notwithstand
ing"
As against all these positive provisions of the
Constitution in favor of liberty, and against slavery
the advocates Of slavery present us with the second
section article fourth, which provides for the
turn of persons owing service or labor and who
have abscolded and left the State And it pro-
vides for nothing else. 1t reads as follows:
"No person held to service or labor in one State
under the laws thereof escaping to another, shall
in consequence Of any law or regulation therein
be discharged from such service labor, but shall
be delivered up on claim OF the party to whom
such service or labor may be due"
A person owing labor in one State and fleeing
another, shall not be discharged from such labor
by any law of the State to which he goes, but
shall be given up--to whom To the person t
whom such labor may be due. And If that is not
70 be ascortaned by fair trial. by due process Of
law, then you may well take one man anoth
er If you not to ascertain by due process Of
law who the person is that owes labor, and tc
It,hp ha than wall tnke
one person as another. Mark, sir, color has moth
ng to do with it, So far the question of slavery
is concerned, this section is of very little conse
quence, one way or the other. That it means
slaves deny 1t does not describe their condition
1t cannot mean slaves for the trainers Of the Con
stitution objected to the word slave and President
Madison, the father Of the Constitution, said: at
is wrong to admit into the Constitution the idea
that there can be property in man )" and even the
word "servitude" was, on motion Of Mr.. Randolph
l. aloA and thn ord