Year: 1859

and clutch me with his bloody hngorsand
say he has a right TO make me slave
And when / appeal to Congress, they say
he has a right 20 make me a slave; when
l appeal 70 the people, they say he has
right TO make me a slave, and when ap-
peal to your Honor, your Honor says he
has a right to mako me a slave, and nj
any man, white or black, seeks an ihves-
tgation Of that claim, they make them
selves amendable 70 the pains and pcn0l-
ties of the Fugitive Slave Act, for HACK
MEN HAVE NO RIGHTS WHICH WHITE MEN
ARE BOUND TO REsrEcT. (Grcat Applause.
/, going to Wellington with the full
knowledge Of all this, knew that If that
man was taken to Columbus he was hope
lessly gone, no matter whether he had ev-
or been in slavery before ornot. knew
that was in the same situation myself
and that by the decision Of your Honor IL
any man whatever were TO claim me as
his slave and seize me, and my brother,
being a lawyer, should seek to got out a
writ Of hdbeds corpus to expose the falsity
of the claim, he would be thrust into pris-
on under one provision of the Fugitive
Slave Law, for interfering with the man
claiming to be in purouit Of a fugitive, and
| /, by the perjury Of a solitary wretch
would by another of its provisions be
lhelplessly doomed 20 life long bondage,
without the possibility Of escape


Some may say that there is no danger
of free persons being seized and carried
Off as slaves. No one need labor under
such delusion. Sir, four Of the eight
persons who were fret carried back un-
der the act Of 1850, were afterwards prov
ed to be free men. They were free per-
sons, but wholly at the mercy Of the oath
Of one man. And but last Sabbath after
noon a letter came to me from st. Louis,
Informing me that young lady who was
formerly under my instructions at Colum-
bus; free person, is now lyingin the Jail
ut that place, claimed as the slave of some
wretch who never saw her before, and
waiting for testimony from relatives nt
Columbus to establish her freedom. /
could stand here by the hour and relate
such instances. In the very nature ofthc
case they must be constantly occurring
A letter was not long since found upon
the person of q counterleiter when arrest
ed, addressed to him by some Southern
gentleman in which the writer says


"Go among the niggers; find out their
marks and scars; make good descriptions
and send to me, and I'll find masters for
'em.


That is the way men are carried "bacl,
to slavery"


We give the closing paragraph.


"And now thank you for this lenien-
cy, this indulgence, in giving a man un-
justly condemned, by a tribunal before
which he is declared to have no rights,
the privilege of speaking in his own be-
half ] know that II will do nothing to-
ward mitigating your sentence, hut it is a
privilege to be allowed TO speak, and |
thank you for il. l shall submit to the
penalty, be it what il may. But ! stand
up here to say, that iffor doing what did
do on that day at Wellington, / am to 20
TO JUL six months, and pay a fine ofa
thousand dollars, according TO the Futi-
tive Slave Law and such is the protection
the laws of this country afford, me,
4 must take upon myself the responsibility
Of self protection; when come to be
claimed by some perjured wretch as his
slave, ] shall never be taken into slavery
And as in that trying hour would have
J others do TO me, as / would call upon my
/, friends to help me, as l would call upoI
) you, your Honor, to help me; as l woul,


call upon you, to the District Attorney
and upon you to Judge Bliss] and upoi
you, TO his counsel] so help me Con /
stand here to say that will do all / can
for any man thus seized and held, though
the inevitable penalty of six months i'm
prisonment and one thousand dollars fine
for each offence hangs over me! We have
all common humanity, and you all woulC
do that; your manhood would require il
and no matter what the laws might be,yor
would honor yourself for doing it, while
your friends and your children to all gen.
erations would honor you for doing il, anC
every good and honest man would say ,yol
had done right [Great and prolonged
applause, in spite of the efforts of Cour
and Marshal"l