The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-02-07

u
timidated,l and ( township trustee and . JUS
tice of the peace were found base enough to
lend themselves to his persecution, by afraign.
ing him to answer for the offence Of breathing
Gods free air in the free State Of laws. The
r.h4sti&-Heaven cave the mark--committed Ar
chic, and in the custody Of the Sheriff (who
was nothing 10th 70 lend himself 70 the psrsecp-
ton Of y poor man, whose sole offence Was that
he could not change the color Of the skin which
! che Almighty hsd given him. ~asi brought to
the County, Jail. He was forthwith released BY
writ Of Aa6eas corpus, issued BY Judge Gray.
The case came mp for . hearing several days
since was argued by JEFF. Polk for the prosecu-
tors and 8. Sibley for the defendant The
Judge gave bis opinion, to-day, and You viltrs-
ceive it by the mail that conveys this lettef 1t
was elaborate and forci6le, covering all the
ground necessary to . conplete vindcation of
the right Of every man 70 liberty Who has not
forfeited il by crime. With q frankness and
Fboldness thit does him honor, Judge Gray met
the case before him. " BE irejoiced in the oppor-
tunnity to establish, in this case, the upitylof
Justice and Law We hail the decision d .
prelude to that awakening sense Of equity that
has 90 long slumbered in portions Of the country
The prosecutors in this case relied upon an old
legislative actof 1861, that bad never received
legal publication, and, from some oversight
mover found ! place in the Code. 1t was pub.
lished with. . few special laws. but never re-
ceived the newspaper publicity ordered BY the
Legislature, to five II legal force. This, ho~ev'.
e.. did not inyalidate it Ito inherent rotten,
ness and enthusiastically struck it dow %. IL
has been suffered to sleep; ito authors being too
much ashamed of it to seek itsrssurrection. It.
WAS designed to exclude colored men from the
State, By making it crime for such to enter it,;
subiecting them to arrest, hne, imprisonment,
&c. 81 ,@"s ~ 10 He'5it1pa 2a' EasA.' "a
The trainers Of the new Constitution (ss also
of the old) Of lows, had too much respect for
the Divine Code, too much reverence for those
great principles of Justice and Liberty upon
which the American Government 10 based, to
leave door open for the practice Of such mon
strous wrong a. that contemplated BY the act Of
1851, and the prosecutors in this case The
people of Iowa will thank Judge Gray for vim
dicating the charter of their liberties, and
throwing the shield of the Law over the weak
and helpless who have sought refuge in our
"lossg on go Dzrsy TF-,T' Il
b There il no need Of misapprshending the ami
mas Of the outrage attempted BY base hearted
men in this county, Archie Webb, as crawl
ing slave, doing, the bidding Of = ,taek-m.ster,
would be the right man in the right, place, in |
the estimation Of those who seek to enthrone
slavery sbove all law, to sanctify and defy it -
Archie Webb, as free man, penjoyng the right
to himself and the fruits Of his own labor, they
will not tolerate. So long % il, is supposed
there may possibly be parsizan profit in mimic
tering to base born passion and prejudice-the
offspring Of ignorance-men will be found ready
to trample upon the moral sense of community,
by shutting out the light Of Heaven from the
sable sons of Africa. 1t is useless to sak such
men, What if Gods economy provides for and
recognises the humanity Of the black man p
God has no place in their politics. Justice and
Liberty are myths not recognized in their
schemes for party agsrandisemsut. They scent
party profit in bounding the negro, and party
successis the highest end of their labors. Let
them once realize that popular sentiment has
risen above this base-born prejudice; that there
is no longer gain in tranpling upon any portion
of Gods children that Justice and liberty are