Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1859-05-18

curing. A letter vas lot long since
found upon the person Of a counierfeiter
when arrested, addressed 10 him by some
Southern gentleman in which the writer
says:
$50 among the nisgers; find cut their
marks and scars: max goo descriptions
and send 10 me, and ri mud masters FOR
'em."
This is the way men are carried "back"
TO slavery.
But IN view of all the facts, | say, that,
II ever again a man is seized near me,
and Is about TO be carried southwayd as a
slave before any legal investigation has
been had, | shall hold it to be my duiy
as ! held it that day, 10 secure for him if
possible a legal inquiry into the character
OF the claim by which he is held. And |
30 further; | say that if it is adjudged
Illegal to procure even such an invesiiga-
lion, then we are thrown back upon those
last defences of our rights which cannot
be taken from us, and which God gave
Us that we need not be slaves. ask
your Honor, while ! say this, 10 place
yourself IN my situation, aud you will
say with ME, that if your brother, if your
friend, il your wife, if your child, had
been seized by men who claimed them as
fugiiives, and the law OF the land forbade
you to ask any investigation, and prec'u-
ded the possibility of any legal protection
or redress-ihen you would say with me
that you would not only demand the pro-
teclion OF the law, but you would call in
your neighbors and your friends, and
would ask them 10 say with you, thai
these your friends, could not be taken in
to slavery.
And now, | thank you fer this lenien-
cy, this indulgence, in giving a man I'M.
justly condemned, by a tribunal before
which he is declared to have right, the
privilege of speaking in his own behalf.
! know that it will do nothing toward nit.
igating your sentence, but it is a privilege
TO be allowed 10 speak, and | thank you
for it. | shall submit TO the penalty, be
il what ii may. But | stand up here TO
say, that if for doing what | did DO on
that day at Wellington; | am 10 90 in Jail
six months, and pay a fine Of a thousand
dollars, according TO the Fugitive Slave
Law, and such is the protection the laws
of this country afford me, | must take up
on myself the responsibility of self pro-
lection, when ! come TO be claimed by
some periured wretch as his slave; | shall
never be taken into slavery, And as in
thar trying hour | would have others do
to me, as | would call upon my friends to
help me, as | would call upon you, your
Honor, 10 help me; as | would call upon
you. to the District Attorney TO help
me; and upon you, ITO Judge Bliss and
upon you, to his counsel so heip me
GoDi | stand here to say that | will do
all | can, for any man thus seized and
held, though the inevitable penalty of six
months imprisonment and one thousand
dollars fine for each offence hangs over
mel We have all a common humanity,
and you all would do that; your manhood
would require it; and no mat or what the
laws might be, you would honor yourself
for doing it, while your friends and your
children 10 all generations woHld honor
you for doing it, and every good and hen
est man would say, you had done right |!
(Great and prolonged applause, in spite
of the efforts of Court and Marshal