Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-04-15
rrr.enrl I.Iberty Rlll.--.The World nIovesI

oular attention pad 70 blank work Every descrptonso ~
sies 8lsFss Rseeig ginr Boeks'S &C.
Pcrsonsi Liberty BHls---The world MOvesl
The frequentirruptions by slave.hunteTs into
the FREQ ST. tes, and the "aid and comfort" rem
dered them by U s. political Courts and Off
GERS under the Fugitive Act and the Dred Scott
decision, are fast arousing the People to the
necessity Of State legislation to protect Person
al Liberty Vermont, State in which Slave
cannot breathe. set the noble example last year,
and by emphatic majorities in both branches of
her General Assembly, passed personal lber-
ty law containing the following plain and not
to be mistaken provisions, which was endorsed
by the Governor, Approved, Nov. 25, 1882
Read the sections
Ses.I. No person within this State shall be
considered as property, or subject, az such, to
sale, purchase or delivery; nor shall any person,
within the limits of this State at any time, be
deprived ofhberty OF property without due pro-
cess Of law.
Sec g. Neither descent near or remote from
an African, whether such African is OF may
have been slave or not, nor color of skin or com
plexion, shall disquahfy any person from being,
or prevent any person from becoming citizen
of this State, nor deprive such person OF the
rights and privileges thereof
Sec. 6. Every person who may have been
held as slave, who shall come, OF be brought,
OF be in this State, with or without the consent
of his or her master or mistress, or who shall
come, or be brought, or be, involuntarily or in
any way in this State, shall be free.
The People of Massachusetts took the mat
ter in hand, and pelitioned their Legislature by
tena of thousands for the enactment Of Per
sonal Liberty Law, virtually like the Vermont
act. The memorial circulated was brief and to
the point as follows:
The undersigned, citizens of Massachusetts,,
respectfully ask you to enact that no person,
who has been held as a slave, shall be delivered
up, BY any officer or court, State or Federal,
within this Commonwealth, to any one claim
ing him on the ground that he "owes service
or labor to such claimant, by the laws OF one
of the slave States of this Union.
In some of tue towns every legal voter sign
ed the memorial In others three quarters, in
others two-thirds A bill in conformity with
the petition was introduced into the House,
and considered from time to time until near the
close of the session, when the vote was taken,
and the Personal Liberty Bill lacked only three
votes of passing The Freemen of the Old Com.
monwealth will see that the act is put upon
the statute-book of the State at the next ses
sion. They will choose Representatives to
enact that the moment a man sets his foot in
Massachusetts,, he is free against the world
New York, the Empire State ofthe Union, has
taken a step in the same direction. The Peo-
pie pettioned from all portions of the great
State for the enactment of a Personal Liberty
Law. The memorials were referred to a spe-
cal Committee, and that Committee reported
"an Act to protect the rights and liberties of
the citizens of New York" 1t contained four
teen sections, covering the whole ground The
billprohibits the imprisonment of fugitive slaves
in any of the jails of the State, and secures to
them the right of trial by jury, upon the point
whether or not they are fugitves from labor,
liable under the Constitution of the United
States, to be removed out of the State It to-
tally prohibits the holding of any person as a
slave in the State, or the exercise over any per-
son therein of any right of property, either by
sale, purchase, delivery or otherwise. On the
hISt NubS Ia 4AOuhCi blAC AdllCe ny
majority. The vote was afterward reconsider
ed, the bill amended in some points where a
portion of the friends of Personal Liberty
Bill thought it might come in collision with
the organic law, and was passed in the House
on the 9th inst. by the strong vote of yeas s4
nays 20, and 2l absent or dodging. OF the
yeas 80 were Republicans and A Americans, OF
the nays 20 were Democrats, one American,
and one Republican. OF the absentees, 8 were
Republicans, Democrats, and Americans.
The Personal Liberty Bill has yet to pass the
ordeal of the Senate That the action will be
favorable can scarcely be doubted The Buffa-
10 Express is confident that public sentiment in
New York is such that the enactment will be
in response to the popular heart.
The Old Keystone is also arousing to the i'm
portance and necessity of Personal Liberty
Law, Pennsylvania moves slowly, but the re-
cent kidnapping outrage at Harrisburg, by
Slave hunter and U. s. officials has only to be
repeated few times to secure the passage of
the stringent bill before the House When
Daniel Webster was seized on the I'd and drag
ged OIL to Philadelphia, MIR. Irish moved, as an
appropriate act, that the House take up, and
Immediately pass the Personal Liberty Bill, to
prevent such occurrences in future. The House
refused to suspend the rules by yeas 40, nays
34 but agreed to fix the next Wednesday for
the consideration of the Personal Liberty Bill
1t is too much to expect that the present Legis-
islature will pass the bill, but Pennsylvania ere
long will protect her citizens and vndicate her
State Sovereignty.
Michigan, State which has politically exc
cuted leading doughfaces from Cass down to
Stuart and Felch, protects her citizens by
Personal Liberty Law; and Wisconsin presents
an impregnable bulwark for Freedom in her
Supreme Court
May Ohio soon present an equally glorious
record, and extend over all her citizens the pro-
tecting Egis Of tho Ordinance of Freedom
Northern Lunatic Asylum.
Az ba late sas.;or oe tha tho