Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-04-27

violates your constitution and .mlne.~ 1t VIC
fates every dictate of humanity. 1t violates
every sense of right, every sense of deceney
| speak in no passion. | am not going tC
try to prove this or illustrate it. | ask il
from ong-established conviction l ask any
candid man to read it and look at its provis
ions, and point out its parallel in iniquity on
the statute books anywhere. But monstrous
b, as it is, it has been executed throughout all
the States of this Union wherever they have
! tried to execute it. 1t has been executed in
Wisconsin, executed in Massachusetts,, exc
cuted in New York, executed in Ohio. One
| of the last acts of the late President of the
| United States was to pardon citizen of Wis
consin who then lay in Jail for violation OF
one of the provisions Of the fugitive slave
| law of 1850.
The Senator who made this statement seem
ed to complain of the people of the North be-
cause they had not discharged the duty which,
as he says, and which others say, the Consti-
tuition imposed upon them for returning
fugitives from labor.
Mr.. SALISBURY. If the Senator will al
low me moment as he seems to be quoting
from what he supposes to be some remarks
that made, and as / have a copy of those
| remarks before me, will read to him Just
one sentence of what did say:
3. Had political abolitionists refrained from in
termeddling with the just rights of the South in
regard to slavery there would have been seees-
sionists."
The fugitive slave law was not mentioned
in that connection.
Mr.. HOWE. l took down the words as l
understood them to fall from the Senator; but
certainly | accept the correction. Neverthe-
less, think the argument has frequently been
made by others. l do not propose to 90 into
any discussion of the merits of that fugitive
slave law. simply state the fact here that
that law was executed. Infamous as it was in
its proyisions,it was executed. / will say here
| that the Constitution ought to be indicated
by single word. 1t imposes no duty unon
you or upon me to retun any fugitive from
labor. 1t commands you not to interfere with
the owner who comes to take him, but it does
not tell you to take him back, nor furnish the
owner any aid whatever in taking him back
But you have seen the whole power of the
United States employed in the rendition of
fugitiyes from slavery under the law of 1880 :;
your Navy employed and your Treasury de-
pleted to pay the expenses of taking back
persons who have escaped from slavery.
declare, sir, if slavery had been that sacred
| fire which used to be kept burning in the
| temple of Vesta at Rome, and we had been
the virgins who guarded it, our vigilance
could not have been greater than it has been
oven the slaves of southern masters. That is
the fact. do not brag of it. 1 state it.
JOHN BROWN.
few years ago man by the name of
John Brown, with, | think, twentv-one 9th
crs, made a little expedition into the State of
Virginia tor some purpose or other. As |
| understood from him, his purpose was to give
freedom TO a few slaves, or TO good many
slaves, in the State of Virginia, in violation
of the law of that State He failed in that
enterprise. He and his twenty -one compatri-
ots Tba1,
Jail They were indicted, think, for trea-
son against the State of Virginia. They were
tried, one after the other; and / believe ev-
cry man of them was hung They were con-
vlcted OF treason; AID so, | suppose, / am
estopped legally from denying that they did
commit treason, estopped by the verdict of
| the jury, or by the judgment of that court
Nevertheless will say they did not intend
to commit treason. They meant to leave the
government of Virginia just as it was. They
| did mean to take some property or that
which the laws of Virginia recognized as
| property, away from that State. But they
| did not mean to overthrow or assail the SOW
| ereignty of the State.
L am not justifying John Browns raid, but
| am telling you what happened when that
raid was made. They were arrested, as
Lave stated. They were tried in their courts;
well enough. They were found guilty. do
not complain of that OF all The executioner
proceeded to hang them-yery well it was
| the exercise of the right Of Virginia. But
this is what | wish to call attention to. You
say we of the North have not been true to
our constitutional obligations. There was a
| little petty raid. Admit that the motive was
! just as bad as human motive can be and that
| the purposes of the men engaged in it were
as bad as human purpose can be. And what
| happened? You saw the Governor of Ohio
| and the Governor of New York and the Gov
| ernOr of Pennsylvania, those three great
| States, tender to the State of Virginia the
militia force of those several States to aid
| the Commonwealth of Virginia to hang John
Brown and his twenty-one compatriots Can
! you tell us we are not faithful to our obliga-
| tions under the Constitution to this institu-
| ton of slavery when three great Northern
| loyal States actually volunteered to furnish a
| militia force to help to hang twenty-five men
| who made an attack on the institution of sla-
very? Do you tell us after that that we
| have not been true to our obligations under
the Constitution plead the general issue.
We are faithful We are too faithful.
| am not justifying John Brown | am not
condemning Virginia for hanging ohm Brown;
but | would rather have been hung when
John Brown was than to have been the Gov
ernor that hung him; and am rather incin-
ed to think, if ! were permitted to choose, |
than to have been one of the Governors who
offered the militia Torce of their States to
help execute those men.
Sir, if they had really committed treason
against Virginia, not connected with the sub
Ject of slavery, if John Brown and his TWEEN
ty-one men had actually gone down to depese
Henry A. Wise or whoever was Governor of
Virginia and abolish its legislature and take
possession of its government, if they had
gone there for the palpable work of treason,
genuine treason, and the Governors of those
States had volunteered to help hang the men,
what would you have said of them? Would
YOU not have said it was unutterably shame
less to muster the military force of those
great States to aid another state to execute
Justice upon twenty-five culprits | do not
speak of it now to complain of those States /;
but | speak of it as an answer to the assertion
here that we did not come up to the require
ments of the Constitution; that we, as polit-
ical communities, did less than the Constitu-
ton demanded at our hands in defense of this
southern slavery.
want TO remind you of another thing that
happened in this same connection. There
was an investigation instituted here in the
Senate about this raid. There was a man,
my namesake, living in the city of Boston.
7 have known of him as all Senators have