The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1859-06-03
spcccIn Of Mr.. Lnnrston.

Mr.. Langst on, one ofthe Oberlin "res-
cuers" (colored) was tried q the late term
of the U. S. District Court, at Cleveland.
Before sentence was passed upon him, he
made short speech by permission Of the
Court, which for eloquence and true pat
riotism, has rarely been excolled. we
have not space for the entire speech, but
give only two extracts, which will serve
to show its character:
"The law under which am arraigned
is an unjust one, one made to crush the
colored man, and one that outrnges every
feeling of humanity us well as every rule
of Right. l have nothing to do with its
constitutionality; about that | care but
little. have often heard it said by learn
ed and good men that twas unconstitu-
tional; / remember the excitement that
prevailed throughout all the free States
when it was passed; and l remember
how orJen IL has been said by Individuals
conventions, communities and legislatures
that it never could be, never should be,
never was meant to be enforced. / had
always believed until the contrary appear
ed in the actual institution of proceedings
that the provisions of this odious statutc
would never be enforced within the bonds
of this State.
But have another reason to offer why
/ should not be sentenced, and one that /
think pertinent to the case. / have not
had a trial before jury of my peers
The common laws of England-and you
will excuse me for referring to that,since
/ am but a private citizen-was that ev-
cry man should be tried before Jury of
men occupying the same position in the
social scale with himself. That lords
should be tried before a jury of lords -
that peers Of the realm should be tried be-
fore peers ofthe realm: vassals before
vassah and aliens before aliens, and they
must OF come from the district where
the crimc was committed, lest the preiu-
dices of either personal friends or foes
should affect the accused. The Consti-
tuition of the United States guarantees
not merely TO its citizens but to all per-
sons trial before an impartial Jury.
have had no such trial.
The colored man is oppressed by GER
tain universal aud deeply fixed prejGdicss
Those jurors are we'll known to have shar-
ed largely in these prejudices and there
fore consider that they were neither i'm
partial, nor were they jury of my peers.
And the prejudices which white people
have against colored men grow out of the
fact, that we have as people consented
for two hundred years TO be SldUes Of the
whites. We have been scourged, crush
ed and cruelty oppressed, and have sub
mitted to it all tamely, meekly, peacea-
bly,; l mean as a people, and with rare
individual exceptions,-and to day you
see us thus, meekly submitting to the pen
alties of an infamous law Now the A
mericans have this feeling, and Il is On
honorable one, that they will respect those
who will rebel at oppression, but despise
those who tamely submit to outrage and
wrong; and while our people as a people
submit, they will as a people be despised.
Why, they will hardly meet on terms of
equality with us in a whisky shop, in a
car, at a table, or even at the altar OF
God. So thorough and hearty contempt
have they for those who viii meekly lie
stu under the heel Of the oppressor. The
jury came into the box with that feeling,
and SO the Court knows now, and knew
then. The gentlemen who prosecuted
me, the Court itself, and even the eoun-
sci who defended me, have that feeling.
was tried by jury who were preiu-
diced; before Court that was prejudic-
ed; prosecuted by an officer who was
prejudced, and defended, though ably, by
counsel that were prejudiced. And there
fore il is, your Honor, that / urge by all
that is good and great in manhood, that ]
should not be subjected to the pains and
penalties Of this oppressive law, when
have not been tried, either by a jury oi
my peers, or by jury that were impair
tial.
Ono more word and / have done.
went TO Wellington, knowing that color
ed men have norights in the United States
which white men are bound TO respect
that the Courts had 80 decided; that Con,
gress had 80 enacted; that the people has
so decreed
There Is not a spot in this wide eoun
try, not even by the altars of God; nor il
the shadow Of the shafts that tell the i'm
perishable fame and glory of the heroes o
the Revolution; no, nor in the old Phila
delphia Hall, where any eolored manmal
dare ask mercy Of a white man. Let mi
stand in that Hall and tell a United State
Marshal that my father was aRevolution
ary soldier; that he served under Lafay
etfe. and fouOht through the whole Wal