The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1860-10-20
The defendants were brought before the
sourt forssentence having been tried and


cv''"'oteo fv-r rsscuing fugitive slave at
Ottawa. on the 2)th of October 1882
he Court said that inasmuch as some
of the que-tions Of law which had been
presented IN these cases were new IL was
the wish OF the Court TO consult the Judge
of the Supreme Court for this circuit. Nr
Justice ~ Lean. upon the points involved
before sentence was PRONOUNCED. The whole
history o. the case. Including all the te-ti-
mouy, the ruling Of the Court, and the ar
gument ofthe counsel upon the questions OF
Law had been presented TO him and by
him considered and he had expressed his
entire concurrence upon every point ruled
II only remained, therefore 10 pass the
sentence Of Ia. law upon the defendants.
john Hossack, one OF the defendants in
answer 10 the question why sentence should
not be pronounced, then requested leave
10 state some reasons why sentence upon
him should not be passed. and on the
Court granting the permission asked, read
a loa- written protest against the action
of the Court which has been publishcd -
When Ho>sack concluded, the Court ad
dressed him substantially as follows;
1t is proper 10 premise that though Hos
sack had int;mated to the jude person
ally Immediately before the meeting of the
Court. that he wished To say something
and the judge had stated he might do so
provided he did not abuse the privilege
the Court did not expect such paper Is
was read. and consequently what was said
bv the Court was said at the moment with.
out notes, and there was no reporter pres
ent II i possible, therefore. in the state
ment of what follows, as ii is given from
memory. there may be & few sentences
which were not actually spoken, and there
may nave been some spoken which are not
here set down The object has been merely
To give the leading ideas of the Court in
the remarks which were made.
The Court-Judge Drummond.-It is
rather an abuse OF the privilege allowed TO
YOU to read such q document as We have
Just heard. If | understand it correctly,
the substantial part Of it is that YOU insist
that the law, under which you have
been convicted. is unconstitutional That
! point was fully considered by the Court,
even though it was not made by your
counsel; indeed the binding force of the
law was conceded by them. They in
terms admitted the law was constitutional
And it is one of the most remarkable ca
ses of the halluciuation which will some
ines come over the mind on certain sub
iects that after what has occurred you Will
still insist the law under which you have
been convicted is contrary to the coustitu-
ton Let me recall the leading facts of
the case. The slave had escaped from
Missouri-he was in the custody OF an Off
Ger, who held him by warrant from a
Commissioner, obtained by the person to
| whom the service was due, and who was
there at the time of the rescue claiming
him You knew al! this by express inf"r-
nation communicated to you at the time
bv the highest judicial officer of the State,
| who appealed to you in the strongest man
! uer not to attempt a rescue. on chose
to disregard all these warnings and under
| the dictates of your conscience, As you call
! it. to set them at defiance, and TO rescue
| the slave by violence from the hands of
the officer of the law.
| The allegation that the law of 1850 is
unconstitutional is mere preteXt-it is a
cover to conceal an attack upon the Con
| stitution itself 1t is true the Constitution
does not use the word slave. 1t left slave
ry where it found it, in the States and de-
clared when fugitive escaped from one
State to another he should be surrendered
up to the claimant There has never been
any difference of opinion among sensible
men who understand the subject, that the
provision in the Constitution which de
clares NO person held to service or labor
in one State, under the laws thereof, esca-
ping into another, shall, in consequence
of any law or regulation therein, be dis.
charged from such service or labor, bu'
shall be deliv.red up on claim of the party
to whom such service or labor may be due
included negro, who, by law, was held
rs n slave in the State from which he es
capped. If, then, this be so, and words car
be used so as to express a meaning in the
case contemplated, an Obligation was inn