Year: 1860




who was, in Democratic Nationality, Hebrew
of the Hebrews, and has survived all the mu
tations Of party ascendency, during n period o
thirteen years, in u State at no time suspected
Of abolition tendencies. II has not only es
capped repeal, but has escaped even complaint
until the immediate present time. Even that
eminent citizen Of Pennsylvania, the President
Of the United States, who has been 80 long in
position to exercise commanding influence
in the public councils of that State, is moi
known, or believed, ever TO have advised any
alteration of this law Of lS47.


Some of the legislation of some of the free
States is undoubtedly open to fair censure, bu,
no such legislation as that of Maine can, with
out monstrous abuse Of terms, be put into the
category Of nullifcatfon or be made the basis
Of such retaliatory movements as are threat
ened from Georgia and elsewhere.


The only other law Of Maine upon this sub
ject is that passed at the regular session of the
Legislature in 1857, and embraced in the ne
vision Of that year, being chapter 70, section
20, Of the revised statutes Of 1857, and being
in the words following:


"When he (the county attorney is in
formed that any person has been arrested in
his county, and is claimed as fugitive slave,
under the provisions Of any act Of Congress, he
shall Immediately repair to the place of his
custody, render him all necessary legal assist.
ance in his defence, and summon such witness.
es US he deems necessary therefor, and their
fees, and oil other necessary legal expenses
therein, shall be paid by the State"


l refer to this provision, rather to omit moth.
ing relating to the subject, than because ! ap.
prehend that anybody does or can object to
the furnishing Of" legal assistance" at the ex-
pense Of the State, to any pc son threatened
with the loss Of liberty and with transportation
out Of the State. 1t is analogous to our con.
stitutional provisions which secure legal coun.
sci and compulsory process for witnesses to
everybody charged with q capital offence, aud
to the immemorial practice Of our courts in as
signing counsel to persons charged with any
cure counsel. This law Of 1857, considering
the generally humble and destitute condition
Of the persons who are liable to be claimed as
fugitives from labor, could not, in any State in
which such claims are likely to be made, be
regarded as anything more than tender and
provdent discharge Of the most sacred Of du.
ties, that of protecting the rights of the weak
and helpless.


Having thus endeavored, my dear sir, to vim.
dictate my native and honored State from the
charge Of violating her Federal duties, a task
which has happily proved as easy as it has
been grateful, l proceed to give you some of
the grounds Of my most earnest conviction,
that it is now the patriotic duty Of Maine, ari.
sing under new emergency Of affairs, and i'm.
plying in its discharge no condemnation Of the
past, to do her part, by unmistakable acts Of
legislation, towards removing the deplorable
error, that the free States have become unwil.
ling to respect the constitutional rights of the
slave States.


Considering that there has been but one in.
stance Of the attempted capture Of fugitive
slave during the forty years of the existence of
Maine as State, that it may be presumed that
such instances will always be exceedingly rare,
and that, even when they do occur, the fugitive
loses, rather than gains, by being denied the
possibility of trial by State magistrates, and
by being turned over to commissioners under
the act Of Congress of 1850, who hold Office BY
tenure independent Of local sympathies, It
will not be maintained, by men who mean to
be candid, that either the intent or effect of the
act Of 1855 is the better to secure personal
liberty. That act accomplshes no such OBJ
ject, and aims at no such object, but is merely
legislative method Of making the declaration,
that, as Maine is not bound to do anything for
the rendition Of slaves, so she does not mean
to do anything for the rendition of fugitive
slaves, but washes her hands scrupulously clean
of the whole thing That is the sole effect of
the act and it is not treating the subject with
trankness, to attempt to maintain that the act
had any other design.


Now, the declaration involved in this act is
one which Maine might constitutionaly make
at any time, and which the circumstances of
the period Immediately following that violation
Of good faith, the repeal of the Missouri com.
promise, we'll justified her in making, the true
point OF surprise being, not that she went so far,
but that she did not 60 farther. Nevertheless,
in the evil times upon which we have fallen,
what was done is unfortunate, because the
abrupt letter of the act can be easily used for
infiammatory purposes, where the explanation
and justification are too tedious to get hear.
ing.


Precisely what Is practicable to be done, or
what it is expedient to attempt to do, can be
better judged Of on the spot than here. A re-.
peal of the act referred to may conflict with the
public sense Of consistency, and may not be 30
advisable as some other remedial measure. Not
doubling that wiser expedients will occur to
others, yet venture to suggest, as one which
has occurred to me, that the Governor and Coun.
Gil be authorized aud required to make ample
indemnity in money TO any person who shall be
prevented by popular violence from recapturine
fugitive slave in Maine by legal methods. il
is hardly within the compass of probability that
such provision would ever take dollar from
our treasury, but whatever it may cost, the
principle, which is familiar and universal in
international relations, is sound in itself. Gov.
ernments ought to be held responsible TO for
eigners for the preservation of internal order
and to indemnify them for the consequences Of
disorder.


Such provision, while it would wound no
enlightened conscience, would be legislative
declaration Of the resolute good faith Of Maine 10
the compacts of the Union, of inestimable value
at the present crisis. 1t would meet the com
plants as to the execution of the fugitive slave
law, at the precise point upon which those com
plants are now concentrated, viz: the obstruc.
tions to the law arising from mob violence.