Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1857-03-31

Parker's speech, selected the following articles
for this mornings paper, and recommend them
to the particular attention of our readers
Ex;rsci fram SPEECH
Detcersd IN the city Hal in Worcester, Nor s
1850, By
HON. CHARLES ALLEN.
Iventurc, to express my belief. that this law i,
unconstitutional; or rather, ask you if it be not
The constitution provides, that if those bound
to service escape, they shall be delivered m Ad.
hitting for moment, for the sake Of the areu.
mont that slaves are intended to be designat.
ed ms those who are bound to service, admitting
also, and only for the arguments sake for should
be far from making the admission without tho
qualihcation-that the Congress of the United
States Is bound to legslatesill the question arises
IN what manner shall it legislate By what pro-
cess shall the slave be returned to its bondage !
The letter of the constitution is silent Consult
then its spirit. Mark all the passages in that in
strument which treat of personal rights and
which contains provisions for their protection
On one page you find the right of trial guaran-
teed in all cases of criminal prosecution, on the
other page, that in all the ordinary controversies
which arise respecting the rights to property if its
value shall exceed twenty dollars there shall also
be the Intervention of a jury. And now when
the Congress of the United States is called upon to
provide laws for the protection of the slave holder
IN the enjoyment of his property in men shall
notthose laws be constructed in harmony with the
general spirit of the Constitution Shall not the
trial by jury, which is secured to any citizon in all
ordinary cases, when life, liberty or even prop
erty, is ct hazard, be granted to him. whose life
and liberty, and all whose rights are staked on one
fearful issue Is it ia harmony with the spirit of
the constitution, that he should be taken, not be-
fore Court of Justice but before someCommission-
er, the creature Of Court and then without A
and bV OrOOf which bon
Court Of Justice where the value of a shilling is
at stake be consigned to hopeless and unmitigated
= bondage Gentlemen, the people who ordained
+ the constitution under which we live would never
have given to it such Interpretation. They were
Jealous, above all things, of any eneroachment
upon the right of trial by jury 1t was an iustitu-
ton which was dear to our ancestors from the ear
lest period of our history.
Trace them back, through many generations, on
the soil OF England, and you will find that in all
ages, they have held the right of trial by Jury to
be the dearest privilege of Freemen. In a state of
comparative barbarsm, not far from six hundred
and fifty years ago, the people of England ex-
torted the acknowledgement of that right from
their monarch, on the battle field And every
English Statesman and lawgiver points to that day,
and to that act, as the day, and hour, and manner
In which the foundation of English liberty was
anew and securely laid. The rights thus guaran-
teed, of which trial by jury was the chief, was
called, then and since, the Great Charter of Eng
fish Liberty. Its principles were transmitted from
sire to and Liberty grew in strength under its
support and shelter. Our fathers brought that in
sttution of the right of trial by jury with them,
across the ocean. And there never has been a
day, when the people of this country, and espec-
tally the people of Massachusetts, did not most eal-
| ously guard that right. 1t is right too sacred
to be given up, to the keeping of any man or body
of men, but to the People themselves. Its original
design, its great design, was to protect the People
against the government, against oppression on the
| part of the government. And, therefore, it bas
been regarded, both in England and America as the
| Palladium of Liberty. 1t must not be left in the
| keeping of statesmen. 1t must not be left in the
keeping of the courts of judicature. 1t is one of
| the fundamental principles which the people I'M
| derstand, and which they must take care Of, and
| guard for themselves.
| My friends, remember, wherever q citizen no
matter what may be the color of his skin, is de-
| priyed of his libery and of his rights, that a
blow is struck against that buwark of your liber-
ties that breach is made in that strong defence,
/ and no matter, repeat, whether the man, who is
deprived of his liberty, and carried into slavery,
be of one color or another, no matter whether he
be William Crafts, or Daniel Webster even, the
deprivation of the trial by jury is a blow aimed
at the dearest privilege of every freeman in the
land. Do you believe that wanton outrage can
be inflicted upon that right, that sacred right and
10 suomltG0u 10 ny INC people, WITHOUT enQanger-
ing the existence of the right itself 1t is impos
sibe. 1t is impossible. One permitted encroach-
ment upon that right, destroys its inYiolability
and weakens all its defences.
ask you, my friends, not to believe that the
Constitution, which the people made for them
selves is sealed book which you may not open;
an oracle, which the priests only can consult-but
to regard it, an instrument made by the People,
consequently understood by the People who made
it-intended for the government of the People,
and to be understood by tee People who are to be
governed by it. And 1 trust the People of this
country will be induced by the interest which this
law has created to study the Constitution for them
selves, to Judge for themselves to determine for
| themselves.
l have said that this right, guaranteed by the
| Constitution, you must guard for yourselves. You
must not trust, implicitly, even to courts of jus
tee. You must not leave tvs question of the con-
stitutionality of the Fugitive slave Law, to the
tnal decision even Of that high tribunal, the Su-
| preme Court of the United States. And yet am
far from bringing disropect upon courts Of Justice
Know the high character of our own State tribu-
mails. Iyield all due respect to that other tribu-
nal, constituted though it be, in part, of slave
holders-the Supreme Court of the Udited States
Generally its decisions will be in conformity with
the right. But there are some questions, vital to
liberty, which you must not entrust in any repos-
tory Of delegated knowledge. They are safest
with THE PEOPLE.
The Stamp Act, which your fathers resisted was
that declared to be illegal and put down by a
| Judgment Of court No no my friends. The
highest court Of the Province sustained the Stamp
Act But the people did not. The tax on tea
did the courts decide it to be illegal, or did tho
people annul it ! Well, my friends, go back as
lar as you can trace the blood of your ancestors
and you Will find, that, while they yielded obedi.
ence to law and held in high respect the courts Of
Judicature, yet, that there were some questions on
the other side of the water as we'll as on this that
they kept in their own control, and you will find
there, that while liberty has made great advances
In the right direction, she has made them net
through the agency of courts of Justice but
through the action, and by the decree of the peo-
pie themselves.
In closing, let mo illustrate my position, by 70.
ferring to an occurrence in the mother country.
more than two centuries ago. The name of John
Hampden is as familiar to the memories of this
audience, as the name Of your own John Hancock
or Benjamin franklin. An early champion n
liberty against oppressive power, he was called
upon to resist the enforcement of an illegp act OF
the government. 1t was no new thing in the prac
tice Of that government. 1t had been at time,
submitted to for long period, but our father,
held an opinion that the practice of injustice how
ever long continued, does not convert il into ,
right. The government had been accustomed tc
exact tax called ship money, for the purpose Of
equipping the Kings feet John Hampton wa,
called upon to pay his portion Of that ship money
lie resisted and appealed to the courts But be-
fore his cause was decided, the king himself nj
pealed to his judges, and demanded their opinion
whether, in case Of necessity for the defence d
the kingdom, he might not impose this taxation.
and whether he were not sole Judge of the neces
sity." The historian says, that these guardian,
Of law and liberty replied, with great complai