Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1860-10-20
SPEECH OF JOHN HOssACK-C CONVICTED
OF VIOLATION OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE
LAW, BEFORE JUDGE DHUMMOND, OF
THE U. S. DISTRICT C0uR OF CHICAGO.

4 a z ". ?, DsSAnACA CUIAA OF ChtNAGO.
May it please the court: | have few
words to say why sentence should not be
pronounced against me. am found gull
ty ola violation Of the Fugitive Slave Law,
and it may appear strange to your Honor
that have no sense Of guilt. / came sir
from the tyranny Of the Old World, when
but a lad, landed upon the American shores
having left my kindred and native land in
pursuit of some place where men of toll
would not be crushed by the property hold
ing class. Commencing the struggle oflife
at the tender age Of twelve years, a strs n
ger in a strange land, having to earn my
bread by the sweat Of my brow, your Hon
or will bear with me, unaccustomed as
am to appear in courts, much less to adj
dress them. / have feared that might fail
in bearing myself on this occasion worthy
of the place and the position | occupy, and
the great principles involved in the case be-
fore you. say to your Honor, therefore,
if fail II Observing the usual forms of the
place, it viii be from a want Of judgment
and error Of the head and not Of the heart.
Therefore do not think / shall fare worse
at the hands Of your Honor, if / state
plainly my views and feelings on tile great
question Of the age the rights Of man.
feel that it is a case that viii be referred to
long after you and | have gone to meet the
great Judge Of all the earth.
1t has been argued by the prosecution
that /, a foreigner, protected by the laws Of
my adopted country, should be the last to
disobey those laws; but in this find moth
ing that should destroy any sympathy foi
the crushed, struggling children Of tpil in
all lands.
Surely have been protected. The fish
IN the rivers, the quail 10 the stubble. the
deer in the Forest have been protected
Shall Ijoin hands with those who have
made wicked laws, in crushing out the
poor black man, for whom there is no pro-
lection, but in the grave, where the wicked
cease from troubling and the weary are at
rest.
tits true. sir, am foreigner. | first
saw the light among the rugged but free
hills of Scotland; land, sir, that never was
conquered, and where slave never breath
ed. Let a slave set foot on that shore, and
bis chains fall off forever, and he becomes
What God made nina man. In that far
off land | heard Of your free Institutions,
yourprairie lands, your projected canals and
your growing towns. Twenty-Five years
ago / landed II this city. | Immediately
engaged on the public works on the canal
then building that connects this city with
the great river of tle West. In the process
Of time the State failed to procure money
to carry on the pIolic works. | then open
cd prairie farm TO get bread for my fami-
liz, aud / am one at the men that made Chi
cago what it is to day, having shipped some
Of the first grain that was exported from
this city. / am. sir, one Of the pioneers Of
Illinois, who have gone through the many
hardships Of the settlement of a new coun-
try. / have spent my best days, the
strength Of my manhood. | have eleven
children who are natives Of this my adopt
ed country. No living man, SIR, has great
er interest in its welfare; and t is because
| am opposed to carry out wicked and IN
cody laws, and love the freedom of my
country, that stand before you to-day.
Again, sir, ought not to be sentenced
because, as has been argued by the prose
cution, / am an Abolitionist. | have nc
apologies to make for being an Abolitionist.
When | came to this country, liketh mass
from beyond the sea, | was Democrat
there was charm in the name. But, sir,
/ soon found | had togo beyond the name
of party, in this country, N order to
know anything Of its principles or practice.
| soon found that however much the great
parties of my adopted country differed up
on banks, tariffs, and land questions, in one
thing they agreed, in trying Which could
stoop the lowest to gain the favor of the
most cursed system Of slavery, that ever
swayed an iron rod over any nation, the
Moloch which they had set up, to which
they offered as human sacrifice millions OF
the children Of toll. AS man who had
fled from the crushing aristocracy Of my
native land, how can / support worse
aristocracy in this landl was compelled
to give my humble name and influence TO
party who proposed at least to embrace 10
its sympathies, all classes Of men, from all
quarters Of the globe. In this choice !
found myself in the company OF Clarkson
and Wherefore in my native land, and
Washington and Franklin, and many such
IA this boosted land OF the free; and more
than all these, the Redeemer in whom !
humblv trust for acceptance with my God,
who came to heal the broken hearted, to
preach deliyerance to the captive, to set at
liberty those who We're bruised, yea, this
very religion binds me to those n'bonds as
bound with them. Tell Inc, sir, with these
views, can | be anything but an Aboll-
tionistg Surely for this | ought not 70 Be
sentenced.
Again, sir, ought not to be sentenced,
because the fugitive slave law under which
| am torn from my family and busine By
the subtle tools of the slave power. the slave
breeder and the slave hunter, is a variance
with both the spirit and letter Of the Con
stitution. Sir, | place myself upon the
Constitution in the presence OF a nation who
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