East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1861-01-10
Ehc President Of the Chicago Con-
vention on the Personal Liberty

The President of the Chicago conven'
ton which nominated Mr., LINCOLN for
the Presidency was GEoReR AsHAuS, Of
Massachusetts,. He has recently written
letter, in reply to one addressed to him
by Hon. II. G. WINTHROP, on thequestion
of the repeal of the personal liberty law
Of has own State, We subioin the es-
sential portions of his letter, and COM
mend it to the attention of the Legisla-
ture of Michigan, simply res,arliing that
the Objectionable laws Of Michigan and
Massachusetts are nearly identical Mr..
AsnMuN writes: '~i
81 say, then, without hesitation, that
in my judgment the enactments of our
Legislature which are intended or oalcu-
lated to impair the force and effect of the
fugitive slave acts of Congress are wholly
unconstitutional and void They should
never have been passed, and ought not
be permitted to remain on sour statute
book. denounced them when they were
first projected, and have never failed to
feel and express deep regret that any
of our people should have been led. by
acts of injustice on the part of any of our
sister States, to retalate by an act of in
defensibe wrong on our own part. The
personal liberty act, as it is commonly
called, was first passed over the veto of
Governor Gardner in lS55--at time
when the wild surge of the 'knownothing
tempest was sweeping through all our
halls of legislation. Many of its most
obnoxious features were stricken out at
the earnest recommendation of Governor
Banks in 1858. There was an intention
of entire repeal manifested in the Legis-
lature of 1856, and bill for that ipur-
pose had actually passed the trial stage
in the House of Representatives, and
with every prospect of final success, when
the news of the assault on Mr.. Sumner
so moved the public Indignation as to
, arrest for time every useful effort IN
that direction. BY this means some of
the obnoxious provisions of that act still
remain and are incorporated into our
general statutes, and stand as a reproach
to the usually Just and conservative
character of our State legislation. No
case has arisen under them, nor is likely
to arise, which would enable our judiciary
to pronounce on their validity; but have
no doubt, if case should be presented,
that our own highest judicial tribunal
would declare them null aud void, so far
, as they 90 to defeat or impair the true
intent and purpose of the acts of Con-
gress. uaI
"The fugitive slave acts Of 1893 and
1850 were passed in execution of a
; clause of the constitution of the United
States, to which all the people Of the
Union gave solemn assent; aud though
they contain provisions which are ncces
sariy harsh and though, in my Judgment
, they would be more eifeotuai to protect
, the interests of the claimant if the right
of trial by jury, upon the question OF
identity, had been given, yet those laws
have been held by all our courts, State
: as wei! H. Federal, to be binding on us,
, as having been enacted strictly within
the constitutional powers Of Congress
7 Our own Supreme Court ofMassachusetts
with its five republican judges, has SO
+ recognized them; and probably no one
S Judge has had so frequent occasion to
execute and enforce their requirements
as that learned, upright and humane re-
t publican, Mr.. Justice Mclean, of OHIO.
Mr.. Douglas, the other day, in the Senate,
G did no more than justice when he said
that Judge Mclean, republican Judge,
had always executed the fugitive slave
! law with entire fidelity ..aa f..
. "No State, then, can be right in at.
e tempting by legislative enactments to
I nuillify or evade those laws, or in retain
] ing any such enactment when its wrong
4 full quality is made to appear. :
"While it is true that these enact
b. ments have never been enforced in our
State, unquestionably general public at
, tention has been called to them Just now
for the reason that some of the promo
# tiers Of disunion have paraded them as a
@ pretext for the treason which they pro.
pose to commit in the South; and un-
doubtedly they are stumbling block IN
: the way of the many true friends of the
Union WHOoc NOlCc II, lOl llS plcocili AZ
4 most drowned in the general howl which
the conspirators have contrived to raise
- | would not counsel their repeal for the
n mere purpose of attempting to please the
l. plotters of treason at the South; nor
,. would refrain from it to crafty fanatic
ism which is equally hostile to the con
= stitution in the North. The former class
r openly declare that they care nothing
d about them, and that their repeal would
o change no purpose of theirs, You have
seen the Senatorial declarations of liver
g son, Clingman, and their compeers tc
,, that effect, And the mischie f-makers Of
If the North, of whom there are too many
= who desire to keep up an ,inflamed con
=" dition of public sentiment, will, of course
l. oppose repeal. But they should be re
5, pealed because they'are wrong; and, be
q ing wrong, our own good cause is weak
ened by their continuance, and the SINGERS
Z friends Of the Union in the South are
It weakened because there is this single anc
4 only vulnerable point which they canno
"a defend Let our own State DC right, anc
1t 4 III