The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1859-08-12

away from hor demolished cabin. murdered
husband and slaughtered childron, in tho
wlds of Africa, and did not perish in tho
horrors of tho middle passage. And this
felon right to tho stolen woman, transmitted
unimpnirod through hor descendants to this
claimant, constituted tho solo and exclusive
title to the boy John, and he hold him in
Kentucky, by the same robbcr hand that
tho ancestor was held with in Africa, the
hour Of his capture. And this John, thus
held, and under this obligation, with the
wrongs of generations burning in his veins
with his tacc towards thr North Star, and
as if polarized, fled--hed in tho night
frightened, as captivcs neo; over tho snow
whitorcd earth. under tho stars and, at his
approach, The Ohio RtUer congedird, that he
might flee.
Tho claimant pursued him. as tho mon.
steaIors pursued his ancestors, with shackles
| six shooters and knives, and by tho same
right alone. Ovcrtaking, thoy added the
sneaking artifice of tho thief to tho violence
of the robber, and seized him. As they thus
hold him in his agony, tho defendant and
his associates approached and. knowing
John was n slave in Kentucky, and how aud
by whom he was there held that no had es.
| capped. and how and for what purpose be
was then seized aud hold and, knowing al
this, thoy put forth their strong hands, and
wronching John from tho grasp of bis cap.
tors, consigned him to the boundlcss ronlm
OF freedom This 10 what they did, and il
so doing they obeyed tho laws of God ns
written in revelation, as writton in the free
creation, and stamped in the nature and
instincts Of man.
Don't be alarmed. your Honor; know
N hO h.,
of those principles horc. know that
this highest embodied achievement of the
Christian civilization of tho nineteenth
tho Fugitive Slave Act of September
Is, lS50-always to DO named with pro.
found gratitude and voneration, at one
perpendicular sweep, attempts to cloar tho
whole moral dcccloeuo. and scatter its
divided fragments, and know | may not
ask you to sot it aside, or tho Jury to disre.
gard it. But, warning ns it docs upon every
clement of tho common law and all primitive
notions OF right, am authorized 10 demand
OF you ns court, the narrowest corstruc-
ton of this act-for Law will not know
ipgly cnll t-for the very purpose of ex-
Guiding this case from its straightoned
scope; and may require at tho hands of
this jury, q liberal construction of oil tho
conduct of tho prisoner, so that his acts
may fall oatsido of its ponalty. In tho de-
fence OF such Gcts, arraigned under such q
statute, the arts and tinesse of tho bar, which
when exerted in favor of fragrant crime mp
proacb chicanery, come TO bo q sacred host
strking for boleaguerod innocence; and
that stale maxim, that "a man is presumed
innocent till proven guilty" that floats an
mponGersble formula in the legal atmos-
phorc of ordinary cases, arises around such
a defendant, an imprcenablo fortress. until
carried by overwhelming proof; and those
intangible entities, called reasonable doubts,
assume tho form of robed angels bearing as.
surances Of escape and safety; And if over
all a conviction must take place, let tho
blow fall in tho presence of averted faces {:
and when tho convict stands up for sentence,
he occupies a moral level above tho tribunal
that pronounccS judgment, and tho Judge
who dooms is abashed in tho presence of the
criminal he condemns.
Lot not these defendants now or ever be
denounced as fanatics, or bad citizens. If
it shall ultimately be found that they viola.
ted this your statute, they come to suffer
its penalties. They have not sought TO
place themselves beyond your jurisdiction.
Your marshal had but to notify them, and
10 they are horo, unresstingly to endure
ifthey must.
Yet again, repeat it, thoy must bc reach
cd only through "tho strait and natrow way"
of this act of Congress, unlike that Other
way, and leading to tho othor place. They
are guarded by fiery cherubim, armed with
the many bladed sword Of the common law.
that flashes overy way and all are to be
beaten down in this loyal conflict Gro they
can be reached.
! have nothing to do with onticing slavos
away nor sympathy with those who DO; but
if fugitive comes to mo in his flight from
slavery, and is in need of food and clothing
and shelter and rest and comfort and pro.
lection, and means of further tlight,-if he
needs any or all tho gentle charities which
n Christian man may render to any human