Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-04-06

ian az early as 1874 yes. two years after
that decision When they understood the |
decision. they did say, ''Now, this will not !
40 We cannot have our people subjected
- this sort of arrest. If these men have the
nower TO arrest him; if they are entitled to
= man as a slave, let there be due process let
there be given to our people some sort OF Sc
curitv. Therefore they did provide that
tbo taking of slave without process should
no nnlawful-illegal. Was there anything
extra ordinary in that? Can you see in that
nothing but enmity to that provision OF the
Constitution Clearly, not at all.
That case further decided, too. that State
MAGISTRATES might act under the law of 1913,
If thew pleased. not otherwise; but If the
States forbade it. they could not They de-
cided another thing that this subject OF the
retaining of fugitives from labor was pc
cpliarlv and exclusively the business OF the
| Ganeral Government They decided not on
" that the States had no right to interfere
With il. but they said they had ny right even
! To make n law to carry it into effect. know
/ that Judge Tanev and Judge Daniel dter as
! N that; thew dissented on that point; but
all the rest of the court. | believe-unless,
nerbas. Judge Mclean, certainly Judge Sto-
! nv and a majority Of the cOurt-dec'ded that
/ oil laws made BY the States, tending TO Sc
cure fugitives, were utterly null and void
! Therefore the States were, hv that derislon,
released from all obligations. They were
not expected to do anything about 1t, friend
IL or un friendly It does not seem to me
that there can he any good ground to COM
| plain in relation to the States not carrying
into effect the fugitive slave law, or that pro-
vision of the Constitution. when they were
distinctly and expressly told 1T was none OF
their business and that all the laws they
could pass about it. or in any wav lnconsist-
ent with that provision of the Constitution
were simply and utterly void
IT, legislation which was mada on tina {
occasion in nv State provided for the securi-
IL OF our citizens by the act Of 1874, of
which the Senator from Georgia complains,
though I DO not understand from his note
one thing. Tfe SAYS that our act denies to
the district court of the United States power
to entertain a ha5eas corpus. do not know
but that NAV be so. but it is out Of my
mind. and think 1t is not the fact. But
when our people said their sheriffs and just
ices should not interfere with it, and that
our people should not be taken without
process law, they further provided that
nothing in that act should be considered as
extending 10 any person that was acting as a
United States Judge OF marshal, or anybody
acting under him. 1t is true that other
legislation mas since taken place. When,
in 1850, the new fugitive slave law was
made. it is true that was received in that
quarter much as the Senator fOOm Ohio says
il was in his State 1t was obnoxious,
abhorrent: 1t was against the feeling of our
people. and especially that part OF Il which
required them to become aids and assistants
in following and running after alleged tuglt-
ives, under heavy penalties.
1t is said that this act was essentially the
, act Of 1898 We did not view 1t 50: we do
not now. By this act, certain men called
commissioners. who were appointed by the
district courts, are clothed with certain
powers Those commissioners had existed
before that They existed by law, appointed
by the courts for certain purposes. Those
purposes were to take dispositions, to bind
over criminals, take bonds-in short, all the
preparatory steps looking to a trial in some
court. But they were mere ministerial
{ officers, with no power of adjudication, no
, power of decision.
Under the law Of 1898. IN relation to fugit-
ives from Justice, all that Is done is to re
, turn the man who Is a fugitive from justice
to some other State, for the purpose of TAX
! | Ing DIS LEl1l There. II 4DthS u 4 llALA- IL
is a mere preparatory step. But when you
come to this law Of 1880, to all practical
purposes the commissioner is clothed with
final power Of adjudication. which is entirely
a new feature.
r know justices might send a man out
under the act of 1898, If they pleased TO act;
} but that was all safe, as they were our own
officers So far as the courts, the district
= Judges. or circuit Judges, are clothed with
: authority. the acts Of 1850 and 1898 are
9 alike: but. as respects the powers with which
the commissioners are clothed, they are
utterly unlike. When an application is
D made to a commissioner, and a man Is
brought before him, said to be a fugitive
t from labor, he hears and decides the case.
, He sends him, if you please, from New Eng
t land to Texas | do not know but that a
I man might claim another as a fugitive from
! labor who was an apprentice. The very first
T man, if YOU please, of the State of Virginia
r or Georgia, might find some one coming and
= claiming his son as an apprentice, for service
: due in California; and the commissioner
a must send him there. You will observe, tbs
Z commissioner does not, in this case, send bach
4 the man, as the fugitive from justice is sent
/ for the purpose of taking his trial in somt
. court He sends him definitely; it does moi
o look TO any court. 1t is not a ministerial
O act, preparatory to trial anywhere 1t /:
o not a step preparin. him to be tried by any
4 court 1t is ultimate, defnitive, to al
+ practical purposes. Our people look upor
e this as different entirely.
The gentleman all the while seems t,
presume that no man can be taken up under
that law, unless he Is a runaway slave
That is an entire assumption. A man, anC
especially cOlored man, in New England
a who never was out of the State of Vermont
a might be claimed as slave and arrested anC
Y brought before commissioner Those arr
+ the people we are trying to protect. anC
those are the people we are bound to protect
,. and those are people whom our law is meant
4 to protect The gentleman from Virgins
+ may state it as formally as he pleases; after
all, has not the commissioner to decide this
{ was John Doe. now standing before me, d.
5 facto, if the gen tleman pleases. not de Jure-
r | do not make that point, but | am put
ting it on his own ground-bound to service
? under the laws Of Virginia, TO the honorable
: Senator from Virginia " ere you, or wer'
{ you not That is the question. | do no
e say that the commissioner is to go into an in
: quiry of whether the law that bound him
$ was good or not That is not the point
( am at; but whel he is claimed to have ruI
= away from Texas as a fugitive slave, and h
A Is brought before the commissioner. the ques
= ton for the commissioner is, is this man {
fugitive slave and If he decides that he is
= goes to Texas into slavery without any trI a.
r That is not preparatory step. that Is not
D intr .ductOry to some other proceeding 1t Is
/ definitive. practically final.
VERMONT STANDS BY THE CONSTITUTION.
Another crisis cane Some time after
: wards it was regularly decided by the Su-
/. preme Court that rho descendant Of an Afri-
can negro was not entitled to any rights
which white men were hound 10 respect at
E all. Suppose a m4o comes after a fugitive
slave, as you choos' T. call him-perhaps
&C .-a,,- Slnrn -. -. do Sun harn