Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-12-28

reasonable grounds for that complaint
mean when they arc really informed as to our
position
Northern Democrats have sometimes said
that we had personal liberty bills in some few
Of the States of the North. which somehow
trenched upon the South under the fugitive
bill to recapturc their runaways slaves
position that in not more than two or three
cases, so far as ] can sec, has the slightest
foundation in fact. and even Of those where
it is most complained Of, if the provisions OF
their law arc really repugnant TO that Of the
United States. they are utterly void, and the
courts would declare them so the moment
you brought them up. Thus it is that ! am
glad TO hear the candor of those gentlemen
on the other side that they do not complain
of these laws The Senator from Georgia Mr.
lverson himself told us that they had never
suffered any injury, TO his knowledge and be-
lief, from those bills, and they cared nothing
about them. The Senator from Virginia Mr.
Mason said the same thing; and ! believe
the Senator from Mississippi Mr. Brown.
You all. then, have given this bone of contcn-
ton, this matter Of complaint which northern
men have set forth as a grievance more than
anybody else.
Mr. Mason. VIII the Senator indulge
me one moment?
Mr. WADE. Certainly
Mr. MASON. | know he docs not intend
TO misrepresent me or other gentlemen here,
What / said was, that the repeal of those laws
would furnish no cause Of satisfaction 90 the
southern states. our opinions Of those laws
we gave freely We said the repeal of those
would give no satisfaction.
Mr. WADE. Mr. President, | do not intend
to misrepresent anything. understood those
gentlemen to suppose that they had not been
injured boy them. understood the Senator
from Virginia TO believe that they were enact
ed in a spirit of hostility 10 lho institutions
of the South, and TO object TO them not be-
cause the acts themselves had done them any
hurt, bnt because they were really stamp
OF degradation upon southern men, or some
thing like that do not quote his words.
The other Senators that referred to it proba-
bly, intended to be understood in the same
way but they did acquit these laws Of having
done them injury to their knowledge or be-
lief
do not believe that these laws were, as
the Senator supposed, enacted with view to
oxasperate the south, or 10 put them in a po-
sition of degradation Why. sir. these laws
against Kidnapping are MS old as the common
law ITSELF as that Senator well knows TO
take freeman and farcbly carry him out of
the jurisdiction of the State, has ever been,
by all civilized countries, adiudgod To- be
great crime and in most of them, wherever
] have understood nythng about it, they have
penal laws to punish such an ufrcnse. ] be-
heyo the State of Virginia has one to-day as
stringent in all its provisions as almost any
other Of which you complain. ! have not
looked over the statute books of the South
but do not doubt that there will be found
this species Of legislation upon all your stat
ute books
Here let me say, because the subject occurs
to me right here, the Senator from Virginia
seemed not so much to point out any specific
acts that northern people had done injurious
to your propesty, as what he took to be a dis
honor and degradation. | think | feel as
sensitive upon that subject as any other man.
If | know myself am the last man that
would be the advocate of any law or any act
that would humliate or dishonor any section
of this country, or any individual in it and,
on the other hand, let me tell these gentle
men | am exceedingly sensitive upon that
same point, whatever they may think about
it. | would rather sustain an injury than an
insult or dishonor and would be as unwil-
ling to nfict it upon others as | would be to
submit to it myself | never will do either
the one or the other, if know it.
have already said that these gentlemen
who make these complaints have for a long
series of years had this government in their
own keeping They belong to the dominant
majority. | may say that these same gentle
men who rise up on this floor and draw their
bill of indictment against us, have been the
leaders of that dominant party for many years
past. Therefore. if there is anything in the
legislation Of the Federal Government that is
not right, you, and not we, are responsible
for it; for we never have been invested with
the power to modify or control the legislation
of the country for an hour. know that char
ges have been made and rung in our ears, and
reiterated over and over again that we have
been unlaithlul in the execution of your fugi-
tive bill Sir, that law is exceedingly ode 40
to any free people- !. neprlves us OF all the
old guarantees of liberty that the Anglo-Sax-
on race everywhere have considered sacred -
more sacred than anything else.
Mr. GREEN. VIII the Senator from Ohio
allow me to say word
Mr. WADE. Certainly.
W. ~ Ni+tNf ~ - Hlihlil WIS ~ nus Dttu
said that the practical operation Of the so-call-
ed liberty bills of the North has not affected
anybody but they do act as evidence Of a
public sentiment adverse to the execution OF
the Federal law to reclaim our slaves under
the Constitution and a repeal of those law.
would not be worth one single straw while
the sentiment remains. | know from practi-
cal observation that in nine cases out Of ten
you cannot catch fugitive slave and | know
more than that; you forfeit your life wheney-
er You make the attempt.
One word more when it is said that this
fugitive slave law is obnoxious to the North
and runs counter to these old guarantees con.
corning personal liberty, | say that the recov-
cry of fugitiyes from justice is, under the law
just as summary without trial by jury, and
must of necessity be so. Why is not the
same complaint made about forgers, and muir
derers, and scoundres that steal Not d
word Of liberty bills in their behalf; but all
for the negro Applause in the galleries
The PRESIDING OFFICER, Mr. Foster IN
the chair The chair will feel called upor
to enforce the order to clear the galleries Il
any disturbance occurs hereafter,
Mr. WADE. Never mind, Mr. President
let them cheer the fugitive slave law if they
please have no objection to it,
Mr. MASON. | ask the Senator to allow m,
one instant | wish TO say that if this disor
der again occurs-if this indignity is again Of