St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1859-06-16

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no right to hold him. And as your HON
or has repeatedly laid down. the law.sia
this Court, man is is; free until he is prol
en- to be legally restrained Of his libert5
and I believed that upon that principle 81
law those men were bound. to- takes their
prisoner, before tlssy first. magistrate
they found, and there establish the fact
set forth in their warrant; and that until
the y did this every man should presume
that their claim was unfounded, and to in
stitute such proceedings for the purpose
of securing an investigation as they might
find warranted by the laws Of this state
Now, sir, if that is not the plain, common
sense and correct view of the law, then I
have been misled both by your Honor,
and by the prevalent received opinion.
It is said that they had a warrant
Why then should they not establish its
validity before the proper officers? And
l stand here to day, sir, to say that with
an exception of which shall soon speak,
to procure such a. zawful Investigation. OF
the authority under aehich they eta med
to act, acas the part Itooh IN that days
proceedings, and tile only part. I suppos-
ed it to be my duty as a citizen Of Ohio
excuse me for saying that, sir-as au out
law ofthe United States, much sensa-
tion) to do what I could to secure at least
this form Of Justice to my brother whose
liberty was in peril % Whe,, more, than
that has been s,Uorn to on this trial, as act
Of mine, it is.ta1se, 7te1iculously false.-
When I found these men refusing to go,
according tc law, as | apprehcnded it, and
subject their claim to an official inspec-
ton and that nothing short Of ha6eas
corpus would oblige such an inspection. |
was willing to 60 even thus far, supposing
in that county, Sheriff, might, perhaps,
be found with nerve enough to serve it, -
In this I again failed. Nothing then was
left to me, nothing to the boy in custody,
but the confirmation of my first belief
that the pretended authority. was worth
less, and the employment Of those means
of liberation which belong to us. With
regard to the part took in. the forcible
rescue which followed, l have nothing to
say further than I have already said.-
The evidence is before you It is alleged
that l said ''acc will have him anyhow
THIS I NEVER said. Idid say to Mr..
Lowe, what l honestly believed to be the
truth, that the crowd were very much
excited, many Of them averse to longer
delay and bent upon a rescue at all haz-
ards; and that he being an old acquain-
tance and friend Of mine, I was anxious
to extricate him from the dangerous posi-
tion he occupied, and therefore advised
that he urge Jennings to give che boy up,
Further than this l did not say, either to
him or anybody else. :-.-.. 4: r...'
The law under which I am arraigned is
an unjust one, one made to crush the CO.
lored man, and one that outrages every
feeling OF humanity, as well as every rule
Of Right. [ have nothing to do with its
constltutionality; about that care but lit
tie. have often heard it said by learned
and good men that it was Unconstitutional;
l remember the excitement that prevailed
throughout all the free states when it
passed, and | remember how often it has
been said by individuals, conventions, ,coul-
munities and legislatures, that it never
could be-, never should be, and was never
meant to be intorced. ~ L had always be-
lieved until the contrary appeared in the
actual institution of proceedings, that the
provisions of this odious statute would
never be enforced within the bounds Of
thls State ~ aa-* >i 49," 'as1 ;~s:;.1t' i e
But L have another reason to offer why
should not be sentenced, J, and one /
think pertinent to the case. have not
had trial before a jury Of my peers. he
common laws Of England-and:. you will
excuse 'nes tor referring to that, since / am
but prlvate' htizen-was that every man
should be;st ed before a jury of men, occu-
pylng the same position in, social life. with
himself: That lords should be- tried be-
fore a jury Of lords that peers Of the
realm should be tried before peers Of. the
realm vassals before vassals, and al ems
b:1ore dzie,Ss, and they must nc not come from
the district where the crime was was commit,
ted, lest the prejudices Of either personal
friends or foes should affect the accused
The Constitution: Of" the United States
mot merely to its citizens, but
TO OPersoms q trial before, an $ pda1rttul
Jury. l have had no such triala a3o7eE 2es
The colored man IS istopp5r;e,s=ssed by6 Ger. e.
tain universal and deeply fixed ;pprgut2iices.
Those jurors are we'll known to have shar--.
ed largely in these prejudices; and I there.
fore consider that -they,were e.ther..~ Inn.
partial nor were they a jury Of. my: peers.
And tie pref iapdices : which white peonle t.
have against eslored men men grow out g. IF tbe.
facts that we have as as people - consentc1 l,
tor two bundled years u be s!ayes ,esl Of the.
whites We have been sscourg;esd. re crushed.
md cruelty 5d oppressed, and have submitted
e IT,! i, A ,!':ae !t'aneIy,. jmeeklly, peaeeably
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