St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-06-16

IN the indictment, the Judgment {
the District Court of the United State
under which the relators are held,
cordm nan jndtcc and void they ar
| illegally restrained of their liberty
and they ought to be discharged.
III. |. The indictment against Busl
nell contains but one count, whic
charges the rescue of John from tn
custody of an agent of the claiman
of his labor and service in kentuck,
having been arrested and hell
in custody without warrant or any
color of legal process.
1t appears, then, on the face of The
record which is made a part of the
return to this writ, that here was ;
person domiciled or sojourning il
Ohio, free State, and therefore pre-
sumed in law to be free man "un
reasonably seized" and deprived o
his liberty" not only without due
process Of law" but without the pre-
tense or color Of any process whatev
er. This arrest and custody was il
direct contravention of the fourth and
fifth articles of the amendments tc
the Constitution of the United States
The rescue Of person thus "unrea
sonably seized" and "deprived of his
liberty without due process Of law,
cannot be a crime and any statute
or Judicial procedure which attempts
to make or treat it as crime, is uncon
stitutional and void.
I'd. The indictment against Langs
ton has two counts the first of which
is entirely similar TO that agains,
Bushnell /; and the second of which
alleges q similar rescue Of John while
arrested and held in custody under a
warrant issued by Commissioner oI
the Circuit Court of the United States
authorized by act Of Congress to is
sue such warrant, and, under the au
thority thereof, to arrest, hold, and
remove the person described therein
to foreign jurisdiction as slave.
The acts Of Congress referred to
clearly attempt to confer on these
the powers and func-
tions of court to hear and deter.
mine questions Of law and of fact,
and to clothe their findings and deter.
minations with that conclusive au.
thority which belongs only to judicial
action. And the issue Of the war
rant mentioned in the indictments was
judicial act
These provisions of the acts of Con,
gress referred to, and all warrants is
sued under them, are unconstitutional
and void, for the following reasons
These Commissioners are appointed
by the Circuit Courts of the United
States only hold their Office at the
will Of such courts and are paid by
fees. Whereas, by the express pro-
visions Of the Constitution of the Uni
ted States, Cart. ,, sec. 2, and Art.
>, Sec. l. the Judicial functionaries
of the United States must be appoint,
ed by the President, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, hold
their Offices during good behavior, and
receive fixed compensation which
may not be diminished during theil
in office.
The warrant Of such a commission.
er, therefore, is nullity it could at:
ford no authority 10 hold John in Gus
tody aud to rescue him from such il
legal custody could not, by the law OF
the land, be a crime and therefore
the Imprisonment Of Langston by way
of punishment Of such pretended
crime, is an illegal restraint of his lib
erty, and he too, ought, therefore tc
be discharged.
~. These relators ought to be dis
charged, because they have been in
dicted and convicted under an act Of
Congress upon subject matter in
reference to which Congress has, un
der the Constitution Of the United
States, no Legislative power whatever
AS to the correctness Of this propo
sition, there does not rest on my mind
the shadow or glimmer of a doubt.
The federal government is one OF
limited powers, and all powers not ex
pressly granted to it, or necessary tc
carry into effect such as are expressly
granted to it by the terms of the Con
stitution, are reserved to the States OF
the people. Amendments, Art. 10.
"No person held to service or labor
in one State under the laws thereof
escaping into another, shall, in conse
qucnce of any law or regulation there.
in, be discharged from such service Oh
labor, but shall be delivered up Oh
claim of the party to whom such ser
vice OF labor may be due" Art. 4
Sec. 2.
This is the only clause of the Con
stitution from which any body pretends
to divine, or in which anybody pre-
tends to find grant of power to Con
gress to legislate on the subject o
the rendition Of fugitives from labor
| can find in it no such grant. TIL,
first part of it simply prohibits State
legislation hostile to the rendition o
fugitives from labor. Such fugitive
shall not be discharged "in conse
qucuCS VI any law VI reg uidtlol u
the State into which he shall escape
but shall be delivered up" By whom
BY Congress By the Federal au
thorities There arc no such woyds
and no such idea is limited at This is
evident from an inspection Of the
whole of the preceding portion OF this
article.
Art. 4, Sec. l. "Full faith and cred
it shall be given in each State to the
public acts, records, and Judicial pro
ceedings of every other State. An0
tie Congress mag By general laws presuiJ,
tie manner in ,ehich such acts, records am
proceedings shalt Be prOred, and the eBtc
Mereof" Here, in the first place, is d
compact between the States res
pectively - an agreement Of the
several States to and with each other
and the "public acts, records and ju
dicial proceedings" of each shall "hav,
full faith and credit" given to then
in all. Had this section closed here