Year: 1860




ply to the usual question, whether th


prisoner had anything to say why tie sci


tence of the law should not be prona aunce


against him We publish it as natter {


local interest, wholly dissenting, of eours'
from most of the positions taken by MIR. j


May it please the Court: haveia fe,
words to say why sentence should not b
pronounced against me. | am found gui


ty of the Fugitive Slave Law, and It ma
appear strange to your Honor that hay
no sense of guilt | came. sir, from tn
tyranny of the Old World, when sbut


lad, landed upon the American shores
having left my kindred and native land il
pursuit of some place whore men of toi
would not be crushed by the propcrt,
holding class. Commencing the struggl
Of life at the tender age of twelve years,
stranger in a strange land, having toteari
my bread by the sweat Of my browsSyou
| Honor will bear with me, unaccust0 05ne<
as | am to appear in courts, much leAs t.
address them ] have feared that | nigh
! fail in bearing myself on this occasion
worthy of the place and the position ! oc
cupy, and the principles involved in! ;ht
case before you. | say your Honor, there
! fore, if | fail in observing the usual forms
| of the place, it will he from wan. o.
Judgment and error of the head and not
of the heart Therefore, ! do not think
shall fare worse at the hands of youl
Honor, if state plainly my views and
/ feelings on the great question of the age
the rights of man. | feel that it is case
that will be referred to long after you and
| have gone to meet the great Judge ol
all the earth


1t has been argued by the prosecution
that |, a foreigner, protected by the laws
Of my adopted country, should be the last
10 disobey those laws bnt in this find
nothing that should destroy any sympa
thy for the crushed struggling children oil
toll in all lands


Surely have been protected The fish
in the rivers, the quail in the stubble, the
deer in the forest. have been protected
Shall Join hands with those who have
made wicked laws, in crushing out the
poor black man. for whom there is no pro
lection but in the grave, where the wick
ed cease from troubling and the weary are
at rest


1t is true, sir. am foreigner. | first
saw the light among the rugged but free
hills of Scotland; a land, sir, that never
was conquered, and where a slave never
breathed Let slave set foot on that
shore, and his chains fall off forever, and
he becomes what God made him-a man
In that far of land / heard of your free
institutions. your prairie lands, your pro.
iected canals and your growing towns.
twenty-five years ago | landed in this
city. ! Immediately engaged on the pub
lie works on the canal then building that
connects this city with the great river OF
the West. In the process of time the
State failed 10 procure money to carry on
the public works. then opened a prairi.
farm to get bread for my family, and /
am one of the men that made Chicago
what it is TO day. having shipped some Of
the first grain that was exported from
this city | am, sir, one of the pioneers
of Illinois, who have gone through the
many hard>hipS of the settlement Of a
new country. have spent my best days
the strength of my manhood. l have
eleven children who are natives of this
my adopted country. No living man, sir,
has greater interest in It's welfare and it
is because | am opposed TO carry out wick
ed and ungodly laws, and love the free
dom of my country, that l stand before
you to-day.


Again, sir, ought not to be sentenced
because, as has been argued by the prose
cution, | am an -ibolitionist. ! have no
apologies to make for being an Abolition
ist When to this country, like the
mass from beyond the sea, was a Demo
crat; there was a charm in the name
But, cir, soon found | had to go hey ond
the name OF party IN this country, in or
der to know anything OF It's principles or
practice | soon found that however the
great parties of my adopted country diff
fered upon banks, tariffs and land ques-
tions, in one thing they agreed, in trying
which could stoop the lowest to gain the
favor Of the most cursed system Of slavery
that ever swayed an iron rod over any ma
ton, the Moloch which they had set up,
to which they offered as human sacrifice
millions of the children of toll As q
man who had fed from the crushing aris-
tocracy Of my native land, how can i sup
port worse aristocracy in this land? /
was compelled to give my humble name
and influence to party who proposed at
least to embrace in its sympathies, all
classes of men, from all quarters of the
globe. In this choice | found myself in
the comprny of Clarkson and Wilberiorce
in my native land, and Washington and
Franklin and many such in this boasted
land of the free; and more than all these
the Redeemer in whom | humbly trust
for acceptance with my God, who came 10
heal the broken hearted, to preach delive
renee to the captive, to set at liberty those
who were bruised, yea, this very religion
binds me to those in bonds as bound
with them. Tell me, sir, with these views
can l be anything but an Aboiitionist
Surely for this ought not to be sentenced


Again, sir, ought not be sentenced, be
cause the fugitive slave law under which
am torn from my family and business
by the subtle tools of the slave power, the
slave breeder and slave hunter, is at va
rance with both the spirit and the letter
of the Constitution. Sir / place myself
upon the Constitution in the presence OF
a nation who have the Declaration of In
dependence read to them every fourth OF
July, and profess to believe it. Yes in
the presence of civilized man, hold up
the Constitution of my adopted country
as clear from the blood of men and from a
tyranny that would mrke crowned heads
blueh. The parties who prostituted the
Constitution to the support of slavery. are
traitors; traitors not only to the liberties
Of millions of enslaved countrymen, but
traitors to the Constitution itself, which
they have sworn to support A foreigner
upon your SOIL / go not to the platforms
of contending parties to find truth GO,
sir, the Constitution of my country; the
word slave is not there to be found.
read, I'VE, the people of the United
States, establish justice, yes, sir, esta-
blish Justice promote the general
welfare and to secure the blessing of lib
erty to ourselves and our posterity, do or
dain and establish this Constitution for
the United States of America" Those
were the men that had proclaimed to the
world that all men were created equal,
that they were endowed by their Creator
with certain inalenable rights-Life Liber-
ty and the pursuit of Happiness; and con-
tenked even unto death for seven long
years Can it be, sir, that these great men
under cover of those hallowed words, in
tended to make government that should