The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-09-14


quence of any law or regulation therein, be
discharged from such service or labor, butshall
be delivered upon claim of the party to whom
such service or labor may be due" 4Ra
Is there any mistake about that ? Is there
any forty shilling attorney here? No. will
not disgrace my profession by supposing such
a thing. There is not in or out of an attor-
ney's office n the country of Erie or elsewhere,
one who could raise doubt, or a particle of
doubt; about the meaning of this provision of
the constitution. He may act as witnesses do
on the stand. He may wriggle and twist, and
say he cant tell. I haves.see many such exhi-
to falsify, and betray the faith. But there is
no man who can read these words of the con-
stitution of the United States, and say that
they are not clear and imperative. "No per-
son." she constitution says, .'held to service or
labor in one State, under the laws thereof,
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of
any law or regulation therein, be discharged
from any such service or labor, but shall be de-
liyered upon the claim of the party to whom
such service or labor may be DUE"
Why, you are told by forty conventions in
Massachusetts, in Ohio, in New York, in Syra-
cuse and elsewhere, that if colored man came
here he came as free man. That is a non seqai-
ter. If he came fugitive from labor, the
constitution says he is not a free man, and that
he shall be delivered up to his owners who are
entitled to his service. Now, gentlemen, that
is the constitution of the United States. Gen
tlemen, do we, or do we not, mean to execute
that part of the Constitution as well as the
rest of it suppose there are before me here
members of Congress. I suppose there are
here members of the State Legislature, or Ex-
ecutive officers, under the State Government.
suppose there are judicial magistrates of New
York, executive officers, assessors, supervisors,
justices of the peace, mad eonsta bles before me-
Allow me to say, gentlemen, that there is not
that there cannot be any of these officers in
this assembly, or elsewhere, who has not, ae-
cording to the form of this obligation, bound
himself by a solemn oath, before his God to
support the constitution.
They have Ia ken their oaths on the Holy
Evangelists of Almighty God, or by uplifted
hand, as the case may be, or by solemn
severation, as in the practice in some cases.
But one and all of them, there is not man
who holds, nor is there any man who can hold any
office in the gift of the United States, or in
this, or in any other State, who does not be-
come bound, by the solemn obligation of an
oath before God that he will support the Con-
stitution of the United Stases. Well, is he to
tamper with that? Is he to falter? Gentle
men, our political duties are as much matters
of conscience as any other duties-our sacred
domestic ties, our most endearing several rela-
tions, are no more the subject for conscien-
tious consideration and conscientious discharge
than the Duties EEe=erter- into under the Con-
stitution of the United States The bonds of
political brotherhood are the bonds which
hold us together from Maine to Georgia
Now, gentlemen, that is the main story of the
Constitution of the United States on the ques-
ton of slavery
Well, gentlemen, we have race of aeits-
tors all over the country some connected with
the press some, am sorry to say, connected
with the learned professions. They agitate-
their livelihood consists in agitating-theirfree-
hold, their copyhold, their capital, their all and
all, depends on the excitement of the public
mind. Gentlemen, these things went on at
the commencement of the year 1880. There
were two great questions before the public
There was the question of the Texas boundary,
and of government for Utah and New Mexi-
co, which consider as one question; and there
was the question of making provision for the
of fugitive slaves.
x
Gentlemen-that was the great question,
Tthe Texan boundary, the leading question at
the commencement of the year 1850. Then
there was the othar, and that was the matter of
the Fugitive Slave Law. Let me say word
about that under the provisions of the consti-
tuition. In Gen. Washington's administration
in the year 1913, there was passed law for |
the restoration of fugitive slaves, by general |
consent. No one opposed it at that period
it was thought to be necessary to carry the con-
stitution into effect. The great men of New |
England and New York all concurred in it
it passed, and answered all the purpose expect
ed from it, till about the year lS41 or 1912,
when the States interfered TO make enactments
in opposition to it. The law of Congress said
that State magistrates mi ght execute the duties t
Of the law. Some of the States passed penal
snactments involving penalty on any one who
executed authority under the law--others of
Them denied the use of their jails to carry the
aw into effect; and generally atthe commence
nent of the year 1850, it was absolutely
,ay it was Observation-Disclosures that Con-
sress should pass some law for the execution
If this provision of the constitution, or else
sive up that instrument entirely ely-that was the
question.
: I was in Congress when the law was pro-
,osed-I was for proper law--I had indeed
proposed different law-I was of the epin-
on that summary trial by jury might be
lad, which would satisfy the prejudices of
he people but left the Senate, and went TO
mother station, before the law was passed.
The law of 1850 was passed. Now I under
axe as lawyer, and on my professional char
cter. to say to you and to all that the law of
$50 is decidedly more favorable to the fugi-
i've than General Washington's of 1913; and
tell you why: In the first place, tho pres
mt law placed the power in much higher hands
of independent judges of the Supreme Cir
uit Courts and District Courts, and Commis-
toner's who are appointed to Office for theirlaw
earning. Every fugitive is brought before q
tribunal of high character, of eminent ability,
f respectable station. /,
Well, then, in the first place, when claim
MT comes from Virginia to New York to say
hat one or one B has ran away, or is fugi-
i've from service or labor, he brings with him /
record of the county from which he comes,
nd that record must be sworn to before mag
strate and certified by the County Clerk as to j
IS correctness-the affidavit must state that A
r B Gas the case may bs,) had departed un-
er such circumstances, and had come here,