The Fugitive Law

Supposc that, by the laws of this State judgmenl should be rendered against you by a single magidtrate, apon a forged bon and that by the terrorof the Iaw,the whol proceedings should be so conducted that n Opportunity should bo givcn you for obtai ing counsel or procuring witnesses,or hav ing the cause arijourned, or of a jury trial or appeaüng fromthe decisión üf thejuslice, but the decisión should be renderet instanter, and your whole properly sok without redemption, and yourself and fam ilyobliged to fiada homo in the poor house would you not complain of the injustice of sudi proceediogs? Now. compare this supposcd case with ihe law of the United States respectmr, ingitives from slavery, by which the liber ty and all the earthly nterests of some hun dred thousandof our free inhabttants may nt any moment be forever decided, ant you willreadüj' perceivo that injustice is done by them, even to a grealer extent, ihan in the ca?e supposcd. The law of the United States is as follow:"Sect. 3. And be it furthcr enactcd, That.when a person held to labor in any of ihe United States, or in either of the ter ritorieá on the Northwest or South of the river Ohio, under the 'aws thereof, shall escape into any other of the said Siates or territory, the person lo whomsuch labor prservice may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest suchfugitivb from labor, and to take him or her before any judge of the Circuit or District Courts of the United States, reeidingor being wiihin the State, or before any magistrate of a county, city, or town coiporale, wherein such seizure or arrest hall be made, and upon proof to the satislaction of such judguor magistrale, either by oraltestiraony or affidavit, taken before and certified by a magistrale of any such State or territory, that the person so seized or arresled, doth, under ihe laws of the State or territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of ?uch judge or magistrate to give a eer tificato thereof to such claimant, his agent or attorney, which s-hall be sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive from Inbor to the State or territory from which Jieor she fled." Let us examine the actual operation of th3 law as it affects the rights of the colorcd populalion. lat. It is for no crime that the negro is iiauled up before a justice or a judge, and placed on his defence. If he be actually a fugitive slave, which freqnenlly is not the case, ho has only escaped from the dominion of his master - ot a feilow man, ivhocould show no better title tohis proprty than that which brute forcé can give. He has only done the same thing which the justice or the claimant would have done in like circumstances. 2. It devolves on claimnnt to show that tliis identical negro owes him service or labor by the laws of another State, and that he has fled from that State . He ought inequity to prove these points by such testimony as is allowed in courts of justice gencrally: but this law only requires him to prove them to the salisfaction of the justice. The claimants ownoath oraflidavits taken without the knowledge of the defen dant, may be admitted as good testimony in detemiining whether the man claimed iaentitled to his liberty.3d. By the laws of this Siate,the defendant can examino ihe wilnesses person ally which are produced by the plaintiff; or, ifaffidavits are to be taken, a notice must be served upon the defendant, that he nriay be present, and examine the witesecs when the afiidavits are taken. The Statute declares expressly that no ex parte aflklavit,(ihat ia,one taken by one parly without a notice to the othcr,) shall be receivedas (estimony in any court. Where as by the !tuv of Congress, for any Hing ihatappears to the contrary, the testimony may be parlly or wholly produced to the juslice before the person claimed is arrested, and an order made out to consign him into sluvery, without his ever having an opportunity to kuow upon what evidence be was made a sla ve.4ih. The re is no provisión in the law ly which counsel can be obtaincd, or can bohea.d when procured. If any be obtain dor heard,it Í8 by the favor of the justice, and not by virtue of the law. 5th. There is no provisión for an adjouroment in any case. Adjournments are usuaüy granted for the purpose of se r-uring thé rights of the parlies: but in ihia cu.se the rights of one party at least do not coine into the question : the great object is to 6atisfy the. justice 1 Oüi. It does not appear tbut the defen ■ iaot can compe 1 the attendance of wiiness 93 to testify in his behalf, so that unlcssthcy will ,come voluntarily, the teslimony must be only on ono side. 7ih. No bail is required of a claimant, and he can iraprison and harrasa a free man, toany extent, and put him to great expense and trouble, besides jeopardizing lus liberty, and unless the claimant owns property in the State no damages can be recovered. 8lh. There is no privilege of appeal to a hfghèr court. By the laws of our State, any judgment of a magistrate for the sum of ten dollars or more, may be appeal ed from to the circuit court, and there be tried by a jury of twclve men. But in this case, when the liberty of a man is brought in quesiion by the claim of a slave holder or frequently of a kidnapper, no appeal can be entered from the decisión of a magistrate, selected exclusively by the claimant himself. Is not the liberty of a man worthten dollars? flth, A trial by jury ís the great safeguanl of every ones rights. A single mag strate is sometimes corrupt, or partía!, or gnorant, or prejudiced, sometimes incometent, and ahvays liable to error. Many ustices that are uprigbt in principie, are gnorant of law, and are therefore liable o be greatly misled. So important was h is feature of our Jurisprudeñce deemed jy our forefalhers, tliat they incorporated an article into the .Constitution of the Unied States, which provides that "in suits at,comnion law, where tho value in controvcrsy cxceeds twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be prcservcd. The law is disgraceful to the nation. - Ilere is a man who claims property in a human being,and instead of rcquiring him to prove his property as in other cases, and obtain it in a Stnte Court, Congress is apprehensive (hathe will not be able lo sustain his claim successfully, und therefore steps in and becomes a sl.we catcher for him, and secures him the property, by declaring that the justices of the peace in the severalStntcs shall deliver up the man claimed. The slave-calching by national authority that was pertrated in Flor ida, as brought to view in Gidding's speech va3 not the first service of the kind that the nation has performed at the bidding of the slaveholders. That was done by the Executive Department: but this plan oí slavecatching by national legislation has been in use nearly half a century. llth. A trial by jury has been secured to alledged fugitives by law in Vermont, Massachusetts; New York, and New Jersey, and their example wil! doubtless be followed by all the free States. Another session of the Legislature should not be lowed to pass, without the united efibrts of the friends of liberty to secure the enactïent of a similar law in ourown State. - uch an effbrt will certainly succeed.