The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-02-06

the Federal judicial tribunals and commits
sioners to issue summary process for the
arrest of such fugitives, and author zing thu
marshals to execute these mandates with
force--to employ the power of the country
Tor the armies of the Republic, for this pur
pose and declaring all who resist their exc
cution guilty ola high offense against tht
United States, punishable by fine and i'm
prisonment. 1t is true, sir, that some of tn,
provisions of this law a. e offensive to the in
stincts and:impulses of a free people. l shal
delay, now, to mention but one or two O
them.
1t is painful to freeman, unaccustomet
to the local institutions that have been allu
ded to to-day, to be compelled to aid ir
running down" human being who is fly
ing from the land of the task master. H,
could agree to stand neutral; to allow tn,
claimant to run down his own slave; but al
his honorable impulses rebel against being
compelled, with his own hands, TO aid act
lively in re.riviting shackles and chains or
the limbs Of human being who had thrown
them off, and is flying from the pursuer.-
He cannot avoid feeling, and perhaps saying
"Had been in his condition, | would, al
the risk of life and all else dear to me or
earth, have done as that poor slave is doing.
And, sir, I find these impulses are not pecu
liar to the people of the free States. Wha,
honorable man in the South has not du
plicate copy Of these impulses in his owr
heart Where is the honorable man, any.
where, whose impulses and instincts take
sides with the strong against the weak
with the oppressor against the oppressed p
Such man would be an anamaly in Gods
creation. And when he sinks the common
impulses of humanity, ignores the human
origin of the fugitive, and regards him mere.
ly as a runaway beast, and reflects on the
subject, he can see no reason for making
himself a criminal for refusing to run down
another mans animal As an act of good
neighborhood or friendship, he might cheer
fully aid even stranger in recapturing his
runaway horse or mule but what right has
the owner to make him felon for declining
Where is the reciprocity In aiding to arrest
felon there is reciprocity his own safety
requires it. But taxing time and courage tc
arrest another's property, is withou, reciproc
ity. Since civilization commenced, show
me an example of such law. Nor is there
justification in the averment that this de-
mand is not made on the quiet dweller ir
the free States to leave his daily avocation ia
pursue the alleged fugitive, until the pursued
resists the pursuer. If he were horse
vicious and dangerous to the pursuer, you
would never dream Of coercing your neigh
Dor for aid on that account, or of making him
felon for declining. Nor is there Legis
lature under the sun that would justify such
demand. Ifthe recapture requires risk OF
life or limb, the risk is the owners, not his
neighbor's let him take his property at his
peril, if he can do so without breach of the
peace.
But, if the alleged fugitive may be consid
cred as a man, as "person," to adopt the
language of the Constitution, as well as prop
erty by the laws. ..ofa State, he has the indefea
sible right, in every State in the Union, tc
assert his manhood. He may deny the
claim of the pursuer to ownership over him
he may deny that he is slave; or, ifa slave
that he is the slave of the claimant. This
would raise an issue of fact and, according
to our notions of Magma Charta and consti
tutional liberty, every issue of fact joined in
our courts of law may be tried by jury Of
freemen. The naked claim of the pursuel
ought not to be conclusive against him who
denies its truth he ought not to be conclu.
ded by affidavits, by purely er parte testimo
ny he las the right to be confronted with
the witnesses who testify against him, tc
cross-examine them, and to introduce rebut
ting testimony. Norought the decision on
the questions of fact involving the freedom
of human being to be irrevocably intrusted
to a petty magistrate, appointed by a foreign
jurisdiction.
Your reply to this view of the subject
that "to provide ajury trial for an alleged
fugitive slave in free State would be equiv.
alent to an abandonment of the claim" in
wolves an accusation that is distinctly often.
sive. We deny your right to frame Fedora
laws on the distinct assumption that the
people Of eighteen States of the Union can,
not be trusted as jurors in your courts Of
law.
But waving the needlessly offensive char
acter of some of the provisions of this law, il
has been held to be constitutional by the
Federal and State Courts with singular una
nimity--but one adverse opinion having
been rendered in period Of ten years follow
ing its passage and that has since beer
overturned by the Supreme Court of the
United States. And the people have gene
rally acquiesced in its execution, and obeyed
its provisions, and quietly submitted to its
penalties, civil and criminal And when you
examine the platforms Of the Republican
party, you find no demand for its repeal OIL
its modification.
You have, therefore, laws in full force 70,
carrying out this provision of the Constitu
ton, conceived by your own brains, ant
framed with your own hand, still held by it
author, the Senator from Virginia, Mr.. Ma
son,l to be perfect which no organized po