Exohange  Oberlin  CO!';~q
HOUSE....No. 121.
oLillmol.   cnaitt)  of 
REMONSTRANCE.
To the Honorable Senate and  Ilouse of PRepresentatives of the
Cotii.iiioi??eallt of Massachusetts, the Mei. orial and Remon striance of thle undersigned, citizens of 3Iassachusetts respect fullyi represents:
That we are opposed to the repeal of the law, known as "The
Personal Liberty Law," not because we are averse to any just
anid hlonorable means of saving the Union, and the misguided
men who are battering at its peace and existence, but for the
reasons Which follow:  We hold that "the fugitive slave bill," so called, is unconstitutional and void.  The federal government possesses no powers, except those expressly conferred upon it by the constitution.
That instrument is to be interpreted by the same rule gs any
common written obligation.  Nothling unexpressed in it is to be
done, or required under it, any more than he, who gives a note
or a bond, can be required to pay more money, or do any other
thing thain that which is thlerein expressed.
Article 4, Section 2, of the Constitution of the Unlited States,
ordains that three things shall be done:
1. The citizens of each  State shall be protected in every
other State, in the eijoyment of all privileges and immuntiities
of citizens of that other State.
MA,23, 191 3
-1 s
,7...
: I
e I
9
I.. 
REMONOSTRANCE.
2. Fugitives from thle justice of any State, found in another
State, slhall be delivered up oil demand of the State firom which
tlhey fled.
3. Fugitives fromi service or labor, required of them by the
laws of the State from wlhich they fled, shlall be delivered up, oi
?)-i'i of the persons to wllomi such service or labor is by such
.la w sdeclared to be dule.
Congress cannot do either of these thlings, because powers to
do them are not expressly given to Congress.  This conclusion
results from the simple application of the rule of interpretation.
Blt thle people, who ratified the Constitution, and gave it all its
vitality, hlaviing a wholesome dread of the uncertaiiity of law,
and the perpetual contradictions of its most emiinent expounders, would niot leave to legal interpretationi  a point so dangerous,
as the unceasing tendency of superior force to infringe oil inferior.  Therefore, contemporaneously with her ratification of
the Constitution, MAassaclhusetts added this amendment, which
was adopted by all tlhe States:
The powers, not delegated to the United States by this constituttioni, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the
States respectively, or to the people."
It is, tlherefore, to the legislatures and peoples of the States,
that the powers to execute the three clauses above mentioned,
appertain.
In the same foitrth article, there are three other sections, embracing six clauses, all like the preceding, having relation to
States or territories.  Each of ithese six clauses not only definles
a duty, but also conveys to Congress, by express grant or comnmand, a power to do it.
Now, in the light of a universal rule of interpretatioin, and in
view of the jealous care of the fathlers to embody tlat rule in an
amendment, can it be pretended that these six clauses, each
with ail express power annexed, stand onI the same footing as
the ttree first mentioned clauses, left naked of express powers?
Or will some gentlemani of legal intelligence rise and tell us
that plain mciie and women canlot understand this constitution,
and must take tlle interpretation of it, as blind superstition
takes the interpretation of sacred books?  If so, the coinstituttion had better never have been writteii.  It is cheaper  ald
less degrading to be dragooned thai i,terpreted into passive
[-,larcli,
2 
HIOUSE-No. 121.
submission.  The former may provoke inquiry, enlarge the intelli{,ence, aind stiffen the sinlews for resistance; the latter
dwarfs the mind and unnerves the army.
Either the express grant of powers means nothling in six
clau(ses of this fourth article, or tihe withholding of express
powers, in the  three remailling clauses of the same article,
means something.  There is but one thing which it can mean,
and that is, that the powers as to those three, are reserved to the
States or to the people.
It follows, that Congress had no authority to pass the fugitive
slave hill, but should have left the entire subject of the extradition of fugitives from labor to the States; just as the extradition
of fugitives from justice is left to our Governor, directed and
controlled by the laws of this Commonwealth.   Congress, it is
true, undertook, without authority, to legislate on that subject
also; but their statute has fallen into disuse.  Our law  demands different and more proof; it secures to the demanded
culprit, by heavy penalties upon our officers, who are to execute
the extradition, the privilege of the writ of habeas co)r[)tps, and
reserves to the Governor absolute power to refuse ithe surrender,
if the proof fails to satisfy him that it ouglht to be made.  We
have heard no complaint that such safetguards are thrown by
-Iassaclhusetts, around personal liberty, in the person of the
white fugitive from justice; and if we are not devoid of principle and feeling, this should estop complaint in resl)ect to the
colored fugitive from injustice.  If we may in Massachusetts,
under the second of the three clauses, protect, to the extent of
prescribing any amount and kind of investigation we please, the
liberty of the stranger, charged with crime, may we not, under
the third and exactly similar clause, protect, to aii equal extent,
the stranger, who is only charged with being oppressed?
But if Congress had the power to pass fugitive slave bills, we
submit that the existing Act would be a gross abuse of it, and
for that reason, unsustainable.
The constitution ordains that  " In suits at common law, where the value in controversy exceeds twuenty dollars, the rilght of trial by jutry shall be preserved."
The Supreme Court of the United States, before it took the
stump, gave a definition of the term, " suit at common law,"
which, beyond all question, embraces the prosecution before any
1 8,5' 1.]
3
il
, i
11"
iI
.1 
RElIMONSTRANCE.
tribunal of a claiIn by one macan to the service or labor of another.
(3 Peters, 456.)
The same court, at a later period, but still in tle time of
3IARSHALL, decided" that tile freedom of a human bii0g is not
susceptible of a pecuniary valuation; " but it is to hi,i,, lhowever
broken down and degraded, above all price.   (lb. 8, 44.)
By  the constitution, therefore, a man or womnall claimed as
a slave, (and remember that ill llIassacliusetlls everoy niman and
woman is free until proved a slave, or an escaped convict,) is
entitled to a trial by jury.  And inasmuch as tlhe f ugitive slave
bill denies him or her suchl trial, it is our rig,lt and duty to
deny the fugitive slave bill any validity.   In answer to tlhis it
is sometimes said that a person, surrendered ns a slave, and
carried out of the jurisdiction of this State, still retainis his
right to a trial by jury, and may avail himself of it in the
State to whiclh hle is removed.   This is specious, but as it
respects the kidnapped freeman, the class whiclh  our statute
aims to protect, it is illusory.  All experience has showni that
hundreds and thousands of the stolen children of fiee States,
are immediately consigned to human fleshl-jobbers alnd retailers,
chained in a gang, and marchled  or transported to tlle far
Southwest.  Once in tlhe grasp of the brokers and lhucksters of
bodies anid souls, escape is hard and rare.  To assei't a right to
freedom, is to ilicur savage and incessant tortures, anid in case
of persistence, death. -~arrative of  Soloinon  foirthlirop, pp.
45, 57, 59, 61, 305.
The legislature of Georgia, in an Act to enable free persons
of color, " taken and held fraudulently and illegally iii a state
of slavery by wicked white men," to recover tlleir liberty,
declares that they are "liable to be removed, whenever an
effort is made to redress their grievances, so that due inquiry
cannot be made into the circumstances of their detention, and
their right to freedom."
Besides, the slave laws throw obstructions in the way of suchl
persons prosecuting for their freedom.   This very statute of
Georgia, after its humane preamble, requires that some white
person should prosecute for them as guardian, and subjects the
ward, in case he fails to establish his freedom, to any kind or
amount of corporeal punlishment, whlichl tllhe court may please
to order.
4
[Mai,ch, 
HOUSE-No. 121.
The  judges  created  by the fiugitive slave bill to try the
questioln of liberty or slavervy, are not jtid(ges iii the sense of
the conistitution, and have no legitimate authority to take cognizance of a " suit at common law," or anly othler law.  The
coIlstitntio,i ordains thiat the president of the United States
shall nominate, ald by and witl the andvice and consent of the
Seniate, appoinit all judges of the United States.   The slavecatelling aiid freemall-kidlafppilng commissioners, are not nomiiated by thle president, are not confirmed by the Senate; yet
thley sit siingly to hear aid determine without al))peal, cases
more solenli and momentous than those of life and death
Give me liberty or give me deatll," wvas tlhe cry tlat went lup
from outr fatlers. Weak and in peril themselves, but trusting
ill the great lheart and migh,,t of humalnity, they lifted up their
voice, not for tlhemselves aloie, but for the lluman race; and
hIlazoned  as  tlhe  briglit and  mlorningi star of the newborn
nation, thlat its " cause was the cause of m-Cutiad."  By this
ilispitratioi  thley put forthl the  Declaration,  whlich  terrifies
oppressors, alid sometimies makes them  wiser; but incites the
oppressed to resistetice, in whatever Egyptian or dunigeon darkhess thley may be sittinig, or toilinig in chains.  B3y this inispiratioii tlhe first stroniglold of tyranly was summoned "iii the
iiaie of tlhe great Jehovah," and to a handful iii llnumbers, but
a lhost iii faithi and hope, it fell.  The Greeks and Garib)aldianls,
tile W\ est India slaves, aid tle Russian sierfs were there.
Again, tlhe  constitution ordains that the  judges  of  tlhe
Uiiited States lmay  hold their offices for life, if they beliave
themselves well, sihall be removable by impeachlment only, and
sllall have a compensation payable at stated times, and inicapablle of diminlution; thus securing, as far as lluiman foresight
can do it, their complete independence of the parties cominli
before them, and of all other persons and powers whatsoever.
Tlhese commissioners are removable at any moment, withi as
little ceremony as a deputy-marslial or constable; and iiistead
of salaries provided by the Unlited States, they extract their
perquisites from eachl case, wlicel are leg'all?, fire dollars, payable by the slave claimant if thiley find for fireedom; and ten,
payable by thle United States, if they fiid for slavery
The constitutio,ni ordains thlat
1861.]
5 
P E PMONSTTRAN CE.
Thle privileg,e of thle writ of habeas corpits shlall iiot be sutspeilded unless, when iln cases of rebellion and ilivasion, thle
public safety may requiiie it."
Tlie ftlgitive slave bill suspends covertly, and th-erefore tlhe
more guiltily, as betraying full consciousness of the deed, this
sacred guaranty of personal liberty. With a meanness equalled
only )by its tyrainny, it does this to the weakest and most helpless of meni.  The process of the atrocious Act for reducilng a
mani to a slave, or to half a manl, as old Honier called it, in the
darkness of three thousand years ago, is so " sltmmalry," that
if a coma-issioner is judiciously selected, and propeliy  prepared, a maln may be dragged from his bed before daybreak,
tried before breakfast, alnd started ol a journey that lkiioWS
no return, without notice, witlhoit counsel, witllout a witless,
without a firiend, without a possibility of any defence.  Two
instances of this sort have occurred iii New York, iin which
three persons were doomed to eteirnal bondage, if we suppose
them to survive iii their posterity, by Commissionelr  IMORTON.
Three were doomed in like mainner by Commiissioners NEWHALL
and BnowxN at Cincinnlati, one in Harrisburg by Coimmissioiier
AICALLASTER, one inl ZanIesville by Commissionier COCHIRAN and
oine in Plhiladelphia by  JTICudge  KANE.  Ia the latter case
counsel was engaged and attended as soon as practicable, after
its penden-cy became kniown to tlle fiiends of freedomn ill that
city.  The judge, oli the appearance of the counsellor, informed
him coolly, that hle had heard the case and reimauded thle fugitive to his miaster.  In reply to a question of the propriety of
taki,ng so unusual anl hour for the proceedings, lie avowed that
hle had appointed it purposely, as there was no rule limiiting his
discretion in tlhat behalf; and inasmuch as attempts miglht be
made to obstruct the executtion of tle law, thlese slave cases
ought to be heard peremptorily, i. e., without debate, and
withlout a defence! In one of the Cincinnati cases, a man and
his wife were tried by Commissioner.NTeihlCall, at a late hour of
the night.  He obljected, at first, to take up tie case at such
an hlour, but yielded to the imperious demand of the claimant,
a Kentuckian, and before dlaylight the captives were consigned
to the prison-hlouse, wlichll will probably open no more for
them.
...:y
6
[illareli, 
HOUSE-No. 121.
Tliese cases give an inkling of tle sort of stuff commissioners
may be made of.  As tlicy are entirely irresponsible, except to
the United States Circuit judges, who are all political and sectional piartisans; save one, and as tlhe law, with studied loosehess, leaves an uinlimnited discretion as to time, place and privacy of trial, it is impossible not to apprehend thlat many victims
are snatched,  moewed  up  and  sent off'witlhoiit the country
haviing any more knowledge of them tlhail EuLrope hlad of the
transactions of the Inquisition in the dark ages.
Alieni  a case is thlus wrapped up, it cannot be re-opened,
thougtl a legion of lawyers should demand it, for after that tlhe
law protects thle iniquity in this wise
Tlhe certificate of the commissioner, " giveu to tl)he claimanat,
his agent or attorney, shlall prevent all molestation of said person or persons by any process, issued by any court or judge,
magistrate or othler persoln whlomsoever."
Of coutrse this  circumlocution sweeps  thle labeas co7)us,
unless angels slhould bring thlle writ downi from Heaven!  The
Act, if it does whlat it intends, precludes all earthly means of
relief.  Had the fuitive slave bill said inr so many words, " the
privilege of tlhe writ of hacbecas corpus is hereby so far suspended
that it shlall not be applicable iii any case arising under this
Act  after certificate granted as hereii  provided," tle  Act
would hlave beeii plainly void; because it would have beenii in
direct and tundeniable colflict withl thlle constitution.  But per_
versity, cunnling and corruptioni find means of circumventing and
e-vading thlat, whichl tlhey cannot destroy, and dare not directly
assail.  Tlthus iui En land the great principle of thle habeas corptts originated iin  Iagna Charta, six hiunidred and fifty years
ago, and was at an early period repeated and enforced by othler
stattutes; yet owilig to tle arbitrary tendencies of k4ngs, tllhe
servility and profligacy of counsellors and court favorites, the
turbulence and violence of the  lords of serfs, and the depend
enlce of judges, pandering to them all, it was  not carried into
full!i,,i'ccal effect, till the sturdy and persistent puritans came
to tlhe rescue and took up the battle of freedom.  Tlheii did the
great writ, which has been called tle greatest thinig in the
Great Clarter, and las rendered IJnquisitions, 1astiles amd Hiberias impossible in the realm of Etingland, become for the first
tilie a folierig'Jit, and instead of extending tofreelen0 only, t'.
*~        
*''-*'i
41
1861.]
7 
REMONSTRANCE.
embraced il  its guardian love, every man, woman  and clild.
It was then enacted that " any person, restrained  of' his liberty
by order or decree of arny ill/e,al court, or by command  of the
king's majesty in person, &c., sllall on demand of llis counsel,
have a writ of habeas corpiTs to bring his body before the Court
of King's Benchi or Comnion Pleas, who shlall witliin tllree days
determine whether the cause of imi:risoinment be just."
Before MAi. Fillmore set his hlald to tlie fugitive slave bill, he
called upoIn AIr. Crittenden, then attorney-genieral of tlle United
States, for an opinion of its constitutionality.   The attorney-gen    eral felt as attorneys-general of the United States have almost
always for sixty years, that " on the side of the oppressors
there was power."   Power is not inclined to argue.  It is a
troublesome and losing game.  He said that Congress  could
not repeal the habeas corpus, because it would be a breachl of
the constitution, vlwhichl the gentlemnn of Congress would riot
commit!
The law of England is in nothing more remarkable than its
distrust of men, demandilng conformity to certain ftundamental
principles and established forms, called the constitution, and to
the law of God, on the part of the legislators; and complete
independence onl the part of judges, in order that they may
faithfulfly hold the legislators to that conformity, and mete out
riglit and justice to all the people,' freely and witllout sale,
completely and without denlial, promptly and witlhout delay."
It was the first system of human laws, which made "the law of
God" distinctly ald in terms, a  art of itself, and not merely a
thelological doctrine or a philosophical abstraction.  The body of
the Einglish law is also our law.  It is the basis of American
jurisprudence, and the grammar and glossary of our statute
law.  It is itself statute law, enacted by the whlolec people of
England, fiom the first gathering of society.  It is the average
sense and reason of an ancient and great people, crystallized
gradually into law.  Thus in tle main and as between man
and man, it is eminently equal, equitable and democratic.  We
have re-enacted it in all our constitutions, and when we speak
of the science of law, we meai no other.  \We took it all, so
far as applicable to our needs, and verily, in the material ten    dencies of these latter days, tliere is no part of it which we need
:.ore than the Higher Law.
'"i::.
..
8
[Alarch, 
HIIiSOUSE-No. 121.
VUder  a  system instinet witli stll jealousy of  men,, imposi,t]' by  constitultionIIs sucli restiailts  lpoi lawgiveris, setting stchl gnaids  around  thle inltegrity of jitdges,  relderillg
suctl ullreulittiig, hlomage to r eason, sucll  obedience to tle
will of God,  atld  for!)iddinlg  law,'ivers to elact  aliy thi,go
else-it  was   au aichherlesv of tlhe  attoirney-geielral of tlie
United  States to iiivoke tlhe people to yield tlhe coInvictios
of thle ulniderstaidingi to f'aitli inl inche, and to talke it for gralnted
thllat tlie Imajor'ity, whlo passed tlle flutitive slave bill was too
intelliogent to blunidei aind too up)rig,lt to betray.
A filtgitive slave law was passed by Congi'oress sixty-eigllt years
ago.  This Act required the State judges  and justices of tile
peace to try fug,itive slaves, arrested as suchl, anid t)brouglt before
themt, to issue, on tle applicatioii of slave-ihunters, writs flor
tlheir apprelheiisioni, and to deliver tliem iup, witlh certificates
to thle claimants lupon preselitatioii of thle sleider proof, wliicli
tlle statute prescribed.   For fifty years tlhis iiihttumaii worlk, tllis
disgustillng service," as eveci 3Ir. Justice Grier of tle Supreme
Colrt of the Ulited States, las  called  it, was perforintd  by
alassaclhisetts magistrates, tlhe highest Hot being, exempted firom
the liability.  InI1 l1842, the Supreme Courit of thle Unlited States
decided that Coingress hlad no power to make this requtisitioli ol
State magistrates, and thlat the Act was so far void.   Iii tle
thirty-and-oue coingresses  of the  present  century, it is  nlot
probable tlhat we hlave hatd a wiser or better tlhaii that of 17931-4.
If w-e lhav-e, we are inldebted to tlhe slave-hlolders for it; because,
witli sli,lit exceptions, tlhey have actuated and controlled tlhem
all.
Mr. Crittenden  mnakes one othler point, whicli is, that after
certificate gradted, the writ of IhabCas corpdus, independently,of
any sutpposed provision of tlie fugitive slave bill, could 11t0  issue,
if the cause of the imprisonmen     t were  truly set forthl  in tlhe
conl-)laint, or petition foir tlhe writ; or if it did issue, it would
be set aside on tlhe return, setti.ng  fortli correctly tlat catise.
Suplpose an alleged fugiti-ve is biouglht before a coniiissii oecr,
tried and certificated to tlhe claiimant.  iAleantinie it is aseertaijed tllat thlere is a miistake of identity, thlat tlhe real!i',lit\ve
is in Canada, answering perfectly the description, and.(l.:,o\\l
edgiiig tlhe former owlierslti) o t' tl        a ilii ant a!,is  ()Wl
escape.  According  to  Sir.  Critteildeii, thle  writ  of /abeat
2
1861.]
9 
REMIONSTRANC.aE.
coirpus could not issue under these circumtstances, even without
tlie operation of the fulgitive slave  bill.  The commissioner
could not save him.   There  call be iio appeal, no review, 11o
correction of errors; and wlhei-i the victim is once coisig(ned to
tlhe hucksters of human flesh, a  lhundred to one, redemption
never reaches him.   Suicl a case as tllis occurred, aild the victimn is somewhere iin )onds.   Ie Inever reached tlle claimant to
wollom he was aldjtidged; but being carried to a slave State, lie
w-as seized by another person, whlo claimed anid carried himi off.
Ii. those States, by a custom prevaililg tlere, a  master or preteinded master, may take hlls alleged slave any where witlhout
leg-al process, and without ilnvestigatioln; tie him to his sad(ldlehew, and run him with whlip and spur whithersoever hle )pleases.
Ar. Crittenden would say that this victim  was a sacrifice, not
to ally thinig in tlhe fugitive slave bill, but to the general ruiles of
law regtlatiilg tlhe use and determilling the effect of tlhe writ of
A,abeces corpvus.  Of course lhe  ignores  the provision of  tlhe
LigllishlI law, our law,  for it las  never been  repealed,  that
if tile imprisoinment is by  aii " order or decree of an illegal
colirt," the jtudges  slhall issue a writ of  abeacs corp)us, alld
ireqlire ilto it; ald, tlhe fact heiiig so  foulId, discli arge tlle
prisoller.  If Air. Crittendeii's idea is correct, that  the effect of
tile certificate is to preclude tlle intelvelntioll of the writ to take
tlle certificated peisoln from  the officer or tlie claimant, his
geIlt or attornley, illdepelldenltly of any priovisioli of tlle fugiti-ve slave bill, tlleii tlle provision of tllat hill, prohlibitiigr'' ally
molestation" of the claimant, who lhas got his certificate, was
wv'ollly gratuitous, wantoil and witllout purpose; unless it was
to iremind Lus that we possess  no riglLts, or guaralty of riglits,
wlich may not be trampled downi and danced on, either ill the
-tlassion or tlhe sport of tl-ie slave power, always- terrible like
Nero, wlletlier colmmitting  matricid(le  or fi'atricide, or firiiig a
citvy a,d fiddliiig over thle collflagratioii.
Biit wlat ar(gumenIt is it for tlle constitutionality of a law, to
say that thle ol)jcct it proposes, would be accomplished witllhout
it?  It is all excellent reasoii wlhy tle law shlould lnot have been
passed, constitutional or not!
Was it ever before contended by a grave and skilfl1 lawyer,
t!lat a~l Act of thle legislature does inot trke away a constitutional
:l'ighlt bCecclise it cain't, and tlhat therefore it is conistitutioinal!
10
[Alarcli, 
HOCUSE -No. i1t. 
3y this legerdemnain thtere cannot be an uniconstitutional  Act!
It is a miere coinceit, a quiht)le, calculated if Inot intended, to
mnvstifv and confuse coimmoii uiinderstandingrs, to thlrow tlle
into tewiildernmeut and despair of ever arriving at ally thin irg
like certainlty in tlhis matter   and thus to clloke complaint, a,,(l
blast in the hud tlhe resistance, whichl this oppressive and atdlacio;is provision ought to provoke.
Nor has the design, if it was desigu, failed.  Tlhoug   matl y
lawyers and judges of eminence have pronounced tilis provision
inull, as plainly inltended to vi(olate tle privilege of tlhe writ ()f
habeas co7pzts; on the other lhand, no coiurt, judge or atto:,.,y
of the United States, except  JUDGE CONKLING, of thle  estCtil
District of New York,  has fiiled to carry oult the Act, if' 1o
could, in all its parts; and it remains a vexed question, whethler
it has any validity, or wlhethler particular  provisions have ali.
Tlhe supreme court of WTisconsin1 decided  agaiilst it in tote.
The supreme court of Olhio  tdividled itpon it, tile cliief jutsti(e
givinlg  the casting opiuion ill favor of thlie  validity.  But hle
failed last autumn to ot)taiii a reflection, and one of the disseltill' justices, Brinlkerhoff, was elected in his stead.  It is probal)le,
therefore, that the court will, on the first fit occasion, mrai,e
itself on thle side of freedom  with WViscosilin, and withi otlier
jllcg,,es and distiingtishled lawyers thlroulioutt the West.
AW.ords are oftenl acts and tlhigls.  The authlors of lhe ftugitive
sla-ve bill knew that this is emicently tlhe case ill tle colltelItions
of the party, and sectional strifes of our tinmes.   Slavery envenonIs every thing, and politics most of all.  Thle Act was passed
in botih  rancelles by a strictly sectional and party vote.  Tllhree
nortlhern democrats voted for it in tlhe senate, anld many of the
)arty bolted, or were absetii.  Thlirty-olle nlorthlerl  democrats
and three northern whigs, including one from Boston, %oted for
it in the house.  It passed the house under thle previous qtlestioIl, no discussion beillg allowed.   A  nortliern democrat, by
precon-cert, as it was said, withl the speaker of the house, got
the floor, as soon as the bill from  tlhe senate came iup.  Tlis
member, JAMIES THO3IPSON, of Peinnsylvaniai, made a speechl  o
one side, and then moved the previous question; as Atherton,
of New HIampshlire, did in respect to the celebrated gag-rule.
Every  southernl  member in the  House  voted  for tlhe bill.
I)J)teen northlern senators, eig/tt of them democrats, aild se:e~
1861.]
11 
RE1tMONSTR ANCE.
xhi(Ts, were absent or b)o/lted.   Ttiirly-tji)ee nortllern Itoel, both
wl li,s and democrats, were abseit or b)olted i tile lollse.   No
so'.tllerl re)presentative was out of his seat.  Five  soutlern
:eIatol's were absent or bolted, anio, them MJessrs. CL.Y and
-I:TON.
Tl iis the measure  llad a  ymalked  sectional  and party, a
yiolelnt and firadtllel,t character at its b)itill.  It is a firaud oi
a rel)resentati-ve  and  lhis costituents to pi-evenlt ulttelly his
speakingo at all, and  imakin   known tlleir waints and will.  It
nlal~kels lhim in aii important respect, perlaps tlie most impor     tanIt, ino representative at all!  Tllere mutst of course he a limit
to (Clc)ate after a reasonal-oe timne, proportioned to the imipor     tatnee a,,d intricacy of tl!e question, lhas beeii spelt, and etery
ni.fe!)er, lwho wisl-ies it, llas been lleard at least once.   It was
to i)revelt tediotis and superfluous spealkilg ol  ani exhausted
s"jct that tile preiovius questioli was contrived.   No  limaii il
o   ali ad in lioenor, has a righlt to call it or slistain it iii anly
otie r CaSe.  Nearly ever.y (great legislative otitrage, that has
shlocked,  embittered, and  alienated thle people, whether firom
tlhe government or from onle another, has beeii aceomplisl]ed 1)y
thle al)use of tle previous question.  Aid it is a fcet, susceeptil)le
of demonstration I)y thle records of the nation, that thiis discred     ital)le trick, tihough constantly resorted  to hy the Soutliiern
interest to prevent or choke discussion, has in 110o instance been
retaliated by thle Noirth.
The political, party and sectional majority, which passed tle
bill, llad reasoln to know thlat the federal judiciary in all its
branclhes and tlhe Democratic party thlroughlout the free States,
wottld execuIte thle Act to the letter, whlethler  constitutionlul or
not.  For many years the llighlest federal tril)inial liad been
gradually losing its hold on tlhe cotfidence of the country.  It
lIad plainly to thle pereption of every iltelligeit and impartial
man, entered upon tlhat fanatical and desperate career of itsurp    ill, political sway, or rather of being iusurped by politicians,
which culminated iii thle inifamous Dred Scott caiucuis harai(g,es.
ENvery one of the nmemibers of the court, except  Jiudge Curtis,
owed his appointment to his party politics.   Judge AfcLean
did well in that, but llas done very ill ili other cases.  THe was
a slave-hlolder iii Kenitucky, carried a female slave to Ohio,
~ sed her unrequited service there for a long time, and the story
* ~
12
[5tarcl id, 
HOUSE-,No. 121.
of hler diseiitlialmenit was  not creditable to himi.   ITe was a
wvarim ipartisain of General aJacksoin, though occuipyilg aseatill Mr.
Adams' cabiniet tliroiugl his enitire term:, anid lie would lhave li)ecn
conitinued in Jacksol's, lhad hle not differled witi thle Geieral as
to the propriety of makiigo  a general sweep of post office iicutimhenits, imany of whom  hald beeii a)pp)oilted by  IcLea  It llimsellf.
But a reward was dute limn, anid lie elected to take it ol tlhat
exalted bechl; exalted, for AIarslall and  his coinpeers were
stil thlere.
W\itli such lmaclhinery of party, of coulrts, and  iiinnumerable
commissio,iers, to be a)poiiited hy the jtudges of tle Stillpreme
Couitt in their respective  circuits, ", withl  a view, says t!le bill,
to afford reasonable facilities to reclaini fugitives fromn labor,"
canl it be doutbted that 31. Ciittenden, MAr. Fillmore, aid every
friend of the bill wvere well aware that constitutionial or iiot, its
li,ghtest word  would be made lieavy to hlarrow up tloutsalds
of wretched  soutls?  On  tlhe  strengthl  of  Mr.  Critteliideli's
opinion, ltr. Fillmore si,gned thle bill, and lias,made  tllhat his
defeuce.   He consutlted the first law officer of tlie coulntriy,
forsooth!   Thllat,  iin  his estimation,  removed  all rei)oliisibility from himi, tlhoughtl le is himiself a lawyer of considerable
experience.   Anid  whenl, on hIis first visit to his liome iii New
York  after his accession to the purple, hle was  hissed by liis
towsmeii, lie cried, " Dear  citizens, I did not pass tlhe bill,"
thereby increasinig hiis shlame.
Thou canst not say I did it; never shake
Thy gory locks at me.
MIr. Crittenden enijoys a considerable popularity lhere, founded
lilmuch, if not mostly, upon llis supposed interference to arrest
the assassin-like assault on our  worthy,  accomplistied, and
heroic senator, the 1io11. CiARLES SUINEfn.   TlhCIe  hlas heen a
great mistake in this matter.  hr. Crittenden was in a position
to lhave interfered effectually in one-th1ird of tlie tiime, wlichl it
necessarily took AMessrs. Alorgan and Mttrray, of New York, to
reaclh  tlhe s)ot, seize tlhe imurderous assailant, and receive the
bleeding and unconscious victim,  allenl partly lupon all overturned  desk, into friendly alrms.   Tliose  gentlemene  in the
begiiniinig were at a distance three tit)es as great as Mlr. Crittenden; and wlihel they arrived, lie was stanlding at a respectful
1861.]
~    13 
REMONSTRANCE.
distance from Keitt's club, crying "' Don't kill him!" a sigiificant expression, marking at once thle imminience of the dalilger,
and lhis failure to meet it with a becomingi chivalry, humanity
and respect for tlhe dignity and privileges of the body, to which
he belongedl.  In giving his testimony before the Investigating
Commnittee of the Hlotse of Representatives, hle was  iuncandid
and hard, persisting, iii spite of a ceck from tlhe committee, in
callingl it " a combat," " a conflict,"' a fight," fifteeii or twenty
times in a silngle page; wheii it could no10 more justly be so
named than tlhe assault of the highlwaymanl, who steals  upon
the unsuspecting traveller, stuns him  with a blow, ald  tlhen
does his further will withoitt molestation.
Of  great imental powers, effective eloquence, and general
liberality, lhis inveterate slave-hlolding habits and synlpathtlies
lhave g.appled him with hooks of steel to all tlhe schemes of
slave-lioldillg rapacity, violence and fraud, for a quarter of a
century.  He felt the ilnjustice and meanness of the AMexicani
war as muchl  as MAr. Clay, or any  man  iii the country, and
gave it lhis concurrence and support.   Tliro,ugh all the treachery
and blood of thle compromise violationii, and all the crimes  and
hlorrors of b)order ruffianlism and Kansas dragoniades, hle betrayed
a perpetual struggle between ail  abidinig selnse of justice, and
liis unyielding pro-slavery proclivities; and a perpetual effort to
compromise between tlhem.  Thus hle appeared to us all less
bad, tlhouglh in reality not less steadfast in the bonds of iniquity,
and more dangerouts, than tlhe most umnmitigated advocates of
slave extension and perpetual slave-hloldiing supremacy.
It was qouite natural that with this character and tlese  antecedeits, lhimself a walking compromise, lhe should be the authlor
and persistent defender of a scheme for compromisinlg an insuirrectioii; aind this tliou,ll hlie inexorably leagued with the party
of his lIfe-long, adversaries, to wrest from us tlhe bentefits of the
MAlissoturi compromise, when his section and its favoirite interest,
for a third of a century, hlad beeii iii full possessionl aldc enjoyierilt of the consideration for which those beiieflts, prospective
aud remote at the time;, were )by them in the most solemnii maniier plecldge,d to us and freedom.   Eiiteriiig at last on fruition
we were ambushed by baided Caiiis, who killed their brotlers!
What compact have we brokein?  Whlat crime have we committed?  Whom have we waylaid and murdered, or attempted
14
[Alareli, 
IJOUSE-No. 121.
to murder?   Thle hlead and front of our offending is that we
eniterItaii opinions, and have given tlem expression inl precisely
the ways, whlichl  te constitution eitl-her positively requires or
expressly encourages and protects.  WNe have carried out thl-ose
opinions il choosing, in obedience to the commands  of that
constitution, for President and Vice-Presideiit of the United
States, thle men whom  we thought the most wortlhy.  Wlat
tl.eii?  Oughyt we to have carried out opinions, whlichl  we did
not entertain, and chlosenl  men whom we thlouglht unworthy?
AV ill the malcontents ad traitors vouclhsafe to tell ius what we
should have doine?  Painfully and patiently we have sitbinitted
to unworthy, aye, despicable chliefs, wliom our assailers imposed
U1poIl us, eveii wlheil we knew that tlheir elevation was thle fruit
and consummation of gigantic and devilislh frauds upoil us and
iipoii the constitution.  We submitted from deference to the
lead and heart work of the common fathlers, and tenderness to
this sisterhood of States and love of peace.   We have no guilt
on our consciences, unless it be for sibmittinig too long, nor
blood oli our hands, to offset against  high treason
AIr. Crittenden demands that we yield all the principle for
which we did hattle, anld take that whichl the vanquished dictate, and attempted to dictate before the battle was joined.
But this modest demand is not the half.  He demands that we
yield, what our fathlers, and their ouin fatlers, anxious as tlhey
unavoidably were to protect with united strength our ilnfancy,
refiused withl frowns, or would have repelled with hlorror.  T/ltey
would not let "slave" be lettered onl tle constitution.  But
now, for sins we have not committed, and for tlle propitiation
of unprovoked and rank rebellion, we are all but dragooned,
Kansas-like, to write it inerasably there; and thlrougli all comilig time, and in tllhe face of all nations, to flout it on-our flag!
WAVigfall ferociously asks tlat we unlearn our religio n, our literattire, philosoply, civilization; that we raze firom our mijids
our clearest convictionls, from our memories the traditions of
our fatliers, our dearest sentiments from our lhearts, and schools,
colleges and churches from our land.  Crittenden kinldly proposes that we keep but betray and dishonor thlem all!  Tlhe
former requests that we onlyv die for slavery; tle latter that we
coisent to he eternally damned for it; and botli, and with thlem
Bostont Breckinridges and Bell-Everetts, that we disowin aind
1861.]
15 
REMONXSTRANCE.
repent our well-w'oii victory, and accept tlheir richlly deserved
defeat.  But it is not our viectory to give up, bult ollr coutltrly's
and our God's! If He hlad not' brake in pieces tlie oe)pressoIrs" aond " miglty mene  without inumber, to set ()tliers in tlheir
stead," w-e could not have prevailed.  And if' tlat lpriitication
of tlcleanness, lwhichl  lis ritlteouts aind eternal law denalnds,
be deferred tlhroughl  the falseness or inlfirul-ity of tlie agenits
cliarg'ed  to perform it, lie  and lhis people, obedient  to lhis
hleavenly will, wvill in due time consecrate to the work ilewv alid
better ones.  This republic is not to perish.  Unless tllis world
andi the uiliverse are wvitlout desig'n, the great cause for wliie
-we believe thiese States and this Union were broughit into beinig,
assures tileir preservation; rebuked,  umbnt)led, scoiurged it may
be, for the scourgingi,s whlichl  we in tfle graspings of ambition
aid rapacity and the wantonness of power have  ilflicted upon
tle innocent, the weak, the lhumble and defelceless.
Ahylv is it that whvile we are deluged withi demands and  builllied withi threats for conciliation and conlicession, whlile we are
teased and lharried to open tihe constitutionI to all the sltuices of
the cesspools of slave-lholdiing pride, aimblition, avariiolus greed,
corruptioIl and vanity, not a syllal)le is lisped about tle inlIumerable) and cowardly brutalities perpetrated upoI  loinely aiid
defenlceless wayfarers and sojourners from tlie nlorthl, peaceably
engagi,ed iii tlhe transaction of their lawful business in thle souItl;
and also tupon our poor and innocent colored seamen, faithfully
perforiingi for our profit, and that of tlhe whiole country, tlheir
indispensable labors w7ithin thlie waters and under tlie flag of tlie
Union?  AVlihy is it tlhat the gelnius of liberty is forever rebuked
in the presence of slavery?  Perh-laps the phiilosoplher-poet hlas
given tlie explanation
You are mortal;
And mortal eyes cannot face the devil 
Years, " forty save onle," have elapsed siince Soutli Carolinat
enacted a lawv that free colored persons, airiNvii, oli  board of
vessels as cooks, stevwards, imarilcis, or iii a,ny otlher capacity,
slyall be seized aid conlfiied iii jail uiitil tle vcessel  clears ouit;
that wheni ready to sail, tl,,e captain siall pay tlhe expenses of
their detenlitioii, aind carry tihemn away; aud thlat for refutsinig or
ieglesctiing so to do, lhe slhall be fiiied not less tliaii one thiousand
16
[M,,ireli, 
HOUSE-No. 121.
dollars, and imprisoned six months, and the seamen taken and
deemed to be absolute slaves, sold at public sale, anld the proceeds placed in the treasury of the State.  Your memorialists are
informed and believe that the average extortion from eacli poor
seaman or the generous mercelant, has been thlirly dolclars for
every outrage.  As respects citizens of Massachusetts, a plainer
violation of the constitution cannot be conceived, because all
our colored inhabitants lhad been freemen and citizens of the
State by our own constitution, for teni years before the constitutionI of tlhe United States was adopted.  Thereupon they all,
upwards of five thousand in number, became  citizens of the
United States.  Even our Supremle sectional Court did in the
Dred Scott decision, fully and uniianimously admit that this is
so; and that the descendants of said citizens are in like manner
citizens of the United States.
The very next year after the passage of the South Carolina
Act, it was decided by the circuit court for that district, composed of Judge Johnson, of the Supreme Court, and the District
Judge, both citizens of South Carolina, that the Act was iii violation of  the constitution and void.  MIr. Wirt, attorneygeneral of the United States, when it was an hlonor to be
attorney-general of the United States, did, one year after, at
the request of AIr. Adams, secretary of state, give his opinion
in the case of a British seaman, attended to by his government,
entirely concurring iii the conclusion of the court.
Yet this tyrannous and ilnhuman legislation has been continiued and enforced to tlhis day, unless vessels have ceased to
enter tlhe ports of the United States withini the jurisdiction of
Soutll Carolina.  Solme modifications of its contemptible robbery of the poor, and its barbarous and fatal penalties, lhave
from time to time been made, but with such ungracious delay
and indifference to suffering, as too plainly to shlow that tlhey
have beeii forced by fear of the rising indignation of Christendomn, rather than moved by any regard to justice, honor and
good faith.  The disloyal and disorganizing principle is adhlered
to still.  And for nearly half a century American seamen inii
our own ports and their ports, and under the Egis of the Union,
have been subjected to imnprisoniment, robbery, enslavement and
stripes, either of which inflicted and not atoined for by a foreign
3
1861.]
17 
REAMONSTRANCE.
people, the proudest on the globe, would  have arrayed  this
nation ill arms!
The flag,itious law was soon imitated by neighboring States,
and within a few years from its date, Decenmber 21, 1822, North
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida took  the
infection.  The case of Florida lhad peculiar aggravatiolns, rendering it more tlhaii ordinarily abhorrent to humanity and decenciy.
We lhad paid for her, and distributed mostly among lier citizens
$t0,000,000, of which it is entirely safe to affirm tllat $30,000,000
came from the pockets of the industrious and frugal soils and
datughters of the free States, and not a trifliiig itemI of it firom
the inoffensive and injured race, at whlose peace and freedom she
struck.  Her law provided tlat the kidnapped victim of her
commerce and hospitality should be sold into slavery for ninietynine years! As she was still a territory, ald as General Cass
hlad not yet put in for the presidency, and squatter sove,reignty
had not yet been invented, Congress retained, without aiiy question from any party or individual, the power to revise and
annul  the enactment.   It was broughlt before the lhouse of
representatives in 1843, by GEORGE  N. BRIGGS of Massacllsetts, but instead of being torn with indignation and contempt
from the statute book, it was sustained and perpetuated by the
joint vote of the slave-driving anid slave-drivenl Democrats; and
became, to all intenlts, a statute of the United States.  To give
a sample of the minuteness and completeness of the inquisitorial
tyranny to which we have submitted almost from tlhe date of
the government, certainly more or less for sixty years, and
signally for the last thirty, it is proper to add, that one of your
MIemorialists, having received a copy of the Act from Mr. Briggs,
carried it to the National Intelligencer, a Whlig paper, always
in the interest of slavery, but less illiberal than any Democratic
press at that time in the country; and requested the editors to
insert it as a part of tlheir journal of the proceedings of the day.
After taking twenty-four hours to deliberate upon it, the respectable gentlemen, who have fed all their lives on the national pap
and Northern patronage, declined to insert it in ally mannier,
and returned the copy!
From the nature of the case, it is impossible to learn the
extent to which this barbarous and perfidious legislation has
robbed and outraged for a limited time, or doomed to personal
is
[illai-cli, 
HOUSE-No. 121.
enslavemcnt and civil deatlh the citizens of Mlassacliusetts; for
there is no examiiatioli, no trial, and consequently no record
of tlhe cases.  How  should there be, wihenl the captives  are
accused of no offence?  The facts are the secrets of thle vast
prisoii-lioutise, writtenl somewhere, but not so that mortals can
read them, iii tears and blood.  Thle victims pass in quick successioli inlto the dark realms of despair, and only in rare instances
of good fortulle are ever heard of more.
The documents of tlhe honorable Houses for the year 1843
will show, in a Report by GEORGE BRADBURN, of Nalitucklet,
chairiman of a select committee, that JACOB BARKER, of New
Orleans, native of Nantucket, narrates the cases of five colored
seameln, workilig iii chains onl the road, or confined in jail, with
whom lie became acquainted by mere accident, in the course of
a few days.  Ile procured tlheir release by generouisly paying
$20 to $40 in each case.  Of anotlher lie was able,'after much
effort, to effect the release witlhout any payment,  the man
beilg found uponI investigatioti, wlhich but for this fortunate
accident nlever would have beeii had, not to be of a complexion,
subject even by the laws of Louisiana, to imprisonment and
enslavement for no cause.  A seventh broke and fled from the
catcli-polls, plunged into the Mississippi, and was drowned in
the attemrpt to swim across, happy had lie known a deliverer
was near, but happy to be delivered even by the alngel of death.
Two of tllese men belonged to Maryland, one to Pennsylvania,
one to New Jersey, one to New York, one to Mlassachlusetts,
and one to Nova Scotia.
M[ary Smith, a citizen of Mlassachlusetts, returning from NewOrleans, was  cast away onl the coast of North Carolina, aind
seized and sold as a slave.  Ilformation of her fate reached her
frieids ill Boston, and she was rescued and restored totiem by
tlhe iliterposition of tlhe governor.  Soonl after this, and perhaps
moved by thlis, Nortlh Carolinia abolishled tlhe barbarous law.
Josephi Tlhomson, of Bostoni, was imprisoned under the law
of Louisiana, with thle concurrence of tlhe master of the vessel,
with wihom  lie had sailed fi'om New York to Bordeaux, and
theince to New Orleans, as steward, at $18 a month.  His wages
at that time amounted to $286; and to defraud him of this sum,
the master of the vessel aided ill the villainy.  Having learned
a little French, he was able to impart his cruel situation to one
1861.]
19 
REMONSTRANCE.
of the city guard, who bore a message to CALEB  BARTLETT, a
merchant of the city, native of Charlestown, Mass., wllo, when
a boy, had sailed with him before tlhe mast.   By his assistance,
and that of JOHN POUCH, a French landlord, lie recovered his
freedom.  At that time hle saw ten otllher colored seamen from
free States, at work in the chain gang oil tlle Levee, or confined
in tl,.e Calaboose. Three of tlem lie had known as stewards on
board of vessels. Two belonged to Boston, one to Portland,
and three to New York.  One of the latter had a wife and four
children.  One of the prisoners iin the Calaboose was steward
of a vessel lying alongside of the Levee.  Thompson, being set
free, went on board tlle vessel, and inquired in tl-he most respectful maniler for the captain.  The mate replied: " Captain's
not here; what do you want?"  " The steward wants him for
God's sake to come up and see hllim in prison, or send  him  his
free papers."  The mate tllen said more  roughl  than before:
Clear out, you d-d nigger."  "I tllen went away, and had
to run to get out of the way."   Mr. THOrIPSON endeavored,
with the aid of Mr. Pouchl, but without success, to obtain the
release of all these personis.  Too  much fees and profits were
involved in the sale of these unfortunate men to admit of their
liberation by any ordinary influence or pecuniary means.   They
were all to be sold in twenty days from the dates of tlheir commitments.  "A  continued stream  of fiee men from Boston,
New York and Phliladelplhia," says Mr. Thompson, " was passing throtugh the Calaboose into slavery in tlhe country."  He
believed that if lie lhad not been able to communiicate with the
French guardsmaln, hle would have been consigned to life-long
and hopeless bondage.
The lately deceased Dea. Robert Roberts lost three brothersin-law, all seamen, who had been sold into slavery,  One sailed
in a Newburyport vessel, owned by Jollnson & Co., and commanded by Isaac Stone.  He was supposed to have been sold at
New Orleans, hlaving been heard of in the Calaboose, but not
traced beyond.  Anotlier was sold at some place i-unknown, and
thlle third by his American captain, in the West  Indies.  This
one, after ten years of servitude, escaped to England, and
became captain of a collier, between London and Newcastle.
They were the sons of JUDE HALL, a valliant and distinguislied
soldier of the Revolution, having served eight years, and fought
20
[A,Iarch, 
HOUSE-No. 121.
in the principal engagements, beginning with tlhe battle of
Bunker Hill.  At the time of lhis deathl, and for many years, lhe
was a pensioner of the United States.  He endeavored, np to the
day of his decease, to get information of his kidnapped children,
inii whichll lie was assisted by Mr. Roberts.   They  coinsulted
several lawyers and judges, and obtained the aid of many
friends to assist thleir searchl, but all in vain.  MIr. IHall died
without obtaining any information of tlhe fate of eitler of his
sons.  Tlhe second has never been hleard of, except tlhat hle was
kidnapped and carried off. Their names were JAMES, AARON,
and WILLIA..
Eigh,teenl  years  ago  Massachusetts, after  repeatedly and
ineffectually endeavoring to engage the services of legal gentle men in Charleston and  New  Orleans, selected two learned
lawyers and  honored  citizens of her own, and  sent them
as her commissioners to Southl Carolilna and Louisiana, to see
to it tlhat lher citizens, toiling in their vocations in the peace of
God and of the States of their sojourin, were protected in their
persons and rights.  Those envoys were furnished with creden tials under the seal of the Commonwealth, and instructed to
cause suits to be instituted in the judicial courts of those States;
and ultimately, if necessary for testing the validity of those
laws, to carry them by appeal to the Supreme Court of the
United States.  The confidence of the coulntry was not tlhen so
mulch impaired in the capacity and integrity of that lhigh tri buiial.  Those ministers of peace and mercy, invested by tlheir
office with personal inlviolability, respected by all civilized States,
were immediately, withl threats of lawless violelnce, and in tlhe
case of one, the Honll. SAMUEL HOAR, withl brutal indignities,
expelled.
The highest officers of the State, thouglh frankly and respect fully addressed, immediately upon his arrival, assumed in fact
&the leadership of the mob, wielding their savage demonstrations
to enforce against  the venerable stranger and  his ini,alid
daugrlter, their cowardly and ignoblle threats.  The infamous
PRESTON S. BROOKs, then unknown to fame, aid-de-camp  of
Mr. Hammond, the governor of the State, was the official agent
despatched from the seat of governmient at Columbia, to trans  act this reputable business.  He was fitly choscen for thlle office,
1861.]
21 
REMONSTRANCE.
a grace whlichl the Slave Power seldom shlows, whlere any purpose of service or benefit to us is involved.
For tlhis MIassachlusetts hlad anl  undoubted riglit, by the law
of nations, to demand reparation from the deck of a man-of-war,
and to lay Chlarleston  iii aslhes if it was refused.  Btt sle
swallowed hler griefs, and suppressed lher just resentment, giving it no worse vent tlhal a string of " good resolutions," of
whichll shle hlas adopted enotughl during tlhe last tlhirty years
of " patienlt sufferance," to pave all of pandemonium.
But iii tllis disposition of the subl)ject, the interests, and
perhaps the consciences of the merchanlts, shlip owners  and
navigators of Boston did not quite acquiesce.   They petitioned
Congress, setting forthl tlhe great wrong, and ii)njutry done to tlhe
crews of their vessels, and to thle commerce of the counltry by
these high-halllded invasions of tlhe riglhts of persons and property; and prayilig tliat "the rig,lts of citizenship secured by
the constitution mighlt be made good."
Iln prIesentiong the petition, MAr. ROBERT C. Wx,INTHROP, stated
that "no paper hlad ever been addressed to the Congress of the
Uilited States, whlichl represented more of the iiifiuelnce, virtue,
patriotism and property of tllhe metropolis of New England."
Tlhe paper bore the sigliatures of some hundred and fifty citizens of Boston, among whom, of the living, were:
William  Appleton, J. Thlomas Stevenson, E. S. Tobey, William Sturgis, Chlarles G. Loriig, Chlarles P.  Curtis, B. R.
Curtis, George T. Curtis, Edward G. Loring, Johln C. Gray, &c.
And of thle departed:
Abbott Lawrence, Amos Lawrence, Robert G. Shlaw, William
Prescott, William IH. Prescott, Chlarles Jackson, Patrick T.
Jackson, Johln  Pickering, Josiahl  Bradlee,  Benjamin Riclh,
Benjamin Rand, Franklin Dexter, &c.
The subject was referred to a select committee, of whllich
Mr. Winthlrop was chairman.  Thley reported  tlhat the Acts*
complained of are iii conflict withl the constitution of the United
States, and withl  most, if not all our treaties withl foreign
natioins; thllat thllose Acts lhad been suspended in respect to
the latter, tliereb)y aggravating the odiumi withl wlichl they
were justly regarded by our own citizens; that " the idea of
seiziing American seamen chlarged with no crime, in tlhe dis
[Marcli,
22 
1HOUSE-No. 121.
chlarge of tl-heir duties, or asleep in their berthls, dragging them
on sllore, committing them to prison witlhout ani examination,
except of their skills, sul)jectiing tliem to tlhe i,gnomlnilly and
a(rolly of tlle lashl, and even to tllhe infinitely more ig,ominious
and agonllizing fate of being sold into slavery, and all for police
regolations, was too monstrous."
The committee adduce a point, decided in 1842, in tlhe case
of Pr/g v. The  Coimonwvealth of Pennsylvania (16 Peters,
622,) to tlhe effect that regulations of police can never be permitted to interfere with, or obstruct, the constitutional and
just righlts of the owner over lhis slave; and they ask withl  a
p)ertinency quite refreslling, all things considered, wlletlher "if
tlhe police power cannot divest a miaster of his rig,lit over his
slave, it can divest a freeman of his riglht over himself?"  And
why, "if it can make a citizeii no citizen in a slave State, it cannot make a slave no10 slave in a free State?"
Thle  committee  say that  the petitioners are entitled  to
redress; that great commercial interests, and the high,est coilstitntional principles demand the repeal of the ohloxious laws
but that " Cong,ress seemns to hate no mieans of affordini,  relief; that tlhe juLdiciary alone can remove tlle oppression, and
thllat the States whlichl enacted, are alone competent to abrogate
these laws."
lIr. Mloiiroe and hlis c abinet appear to have been of the same
opinioln, because hlie recommended  no action to Congress to
enable him to satisfy or to answer the Britishl demands, except
by promising his good offices witli the sovereignty of South
Carolina, to procure the repeal of tlhe aggressive Acts.  Mr.
Adamns wrote to AIr. Cainiing that tllat desirable oblject would
probably be accomplished.
The mediation of the national government between Great
Britain and little Carolina was a total failure, and tlhe latter
appears to hlave taken it iii dudgeon, that Mr. Adams expressed
so much  confidence  in hler placability, justice, lhonor,  and
loyalty to the Union.
Wl'hile such hlas been the interpretation of tlhe first clause,
Second Section, Foutrthl Article of the constitution, and Congress
declares itself powerless to afford under it, protection to citizens
of Massaclhusetts, or their property, in a slave State; hlas it
1861.]
23 
REMAONSTRANCE.
been endured that this same  Congress, under the third clause
of the same  section, slhould impose upon Ius tlhe abominable
fugltitive slave bill?  Is it to be tolerated that a rule of interpretation, which is applied to the constitution to protect the
property of soutlhern citizens ill human blood and bonies in the
free States-slhall be rerersed the instant that protection is
asked for the persons of MAassaclhusetts freemen, and their
legitimate property in the slave States?  MIust we continue to
wallow in such deptlh of slavish deference and degradation;
yea, make new submissions, seekinlg beneatlh the lowest deep a
lower still; to pacify and propitiate tlle scoffers and tramplers of
the standard of the Union, the robbers of its treasures and
arms, for tlhe purpose of using them to massacre  our fellowcitizens and soldiers, covered by the blood-boughlt  enmblems
wlhich that standard bears, or sink them in the bottom of the
deep? Forbid it, justice; forbid it, Almighty God!
AVlheii human passions are excited to frenzy, which has been
for a bad while the normal condition of one section of'our
country, and of an insignificant portion of our countrymen in
every other section, there will be disagreement on the plainest
propositions.  Some of our MAassachlusetts politicians, Massachliiusetts then, were so exceedingly frenzied for the admission
of MAaine into the Union, even at tlle expense of brilnging on its
back tlhe Border Ruffians and their slaves, that, in determiniing
some question arising on the count of tle votes of the Province
on tlhe subject of admission, they gravely contended in effect,
that two and two make fire.  It was called "John HIolmes'
Arithmetic."
There will, of course, be dissenters from the construction we
have given to the triplet of clauses.  It is not new, but has beeni
stated and enforced again and again by accomplished and distiniguishled lawyers, among whom lhave been the late ROBERT
RANTOUL, the late IIORACE MIANN, CHARLES G. LORING, SAMUEL
E. SEWALL, CHARLES SUMNER, SALMION P. CHASE.   We believe
that their reasoning has never been answered, and never will be.
To the above might be added a long catalogue of State judges
and statesmen, who admit that thle argument for the construetionll is unanswerable, but they say that inasmuch as the practice
has been otherwise settled by Congress and tlhe federal judiciary,
24
[ilarch,
im 
H-OUSE-No. 121.
they prefer, some for tle better recovery, as they suppose, of
their slaves, aild otlhers firom a hlabit of setting precedent above
principle, to let it go o01.
They see the truth, and they approve it, too;
They see the false, and yet the false pursue.
In tlhis category we count the late ANDREW P. BUTLER, senator,
ARTEMIAS BUIT, representative, a superior lawyer, and ROBERT
BARINWELL RHETT, senator, all of Southl Carolina, and the late
DA,NIEL aWEBSTER.
BaLt suppose tlhis construction is scouted. wlhicl is easy; then
the scoffers have tlis alterniative, to maintain tlhat eacli of the
three clauses carries, by implication, a grant of power to coIngress, and they hlate no other alternative.  If they so lhold, they
are bounld in consistellncy, self-respect and  common decency, to
demand that the power, so carried, shlall be  exeited forthwith
to protect the persons and property of the fi'eemei  of Massachlusetts in the slave States, as well as the slave-liolder's property
in his fellow-imeI ill tlhe firee States! NoI1e call be so "sound
on the goose" as not to agree to thlis.  It is truthl of tlhe oldest
kind, wroulght ilto proverbs by nations and  ages, and settled
beyond appeal iii tle case of the Judge's Bull and tlie F,armer's
Ox.'Tis a Ipoor rle ithat will not work both waiys.   What is
sauce for goose, is saiuce for,ander.   If one be a g,reat gander,
lie will not knock iunder to the goose, not eveii "tlhe great
MAielli-ganlder," now tlhat hlie hlas ceased to flatter himself with
the idea of doiing the spread eagle!
But it is asserted by " the outer barbarians," and echloed by
the inver ones, that there is ali absolute and  overrulillg necessity for these laws to save thle thlroats of thle m-asters, just as
Mr. Everett thought ill 1852 that such a necessity inight arise
for stealillg Cuba.   No doubt the Carolinians set a liigl value
upon tlheir thlroats. It is the more surprising tlhat thley commit
treason!  It is natural that they should think tllemr worth preserving.  If it be anl error, it is venial.   To  onle who said to
Dr. Johnson, " I must live," the Doctor replied, gravely, " Sir,
I see no necessity for that."  We  have no  desire to treat the
Carolinians witlh the Doctor's rigor.  We have no quarrel with
4
1861.]
25 
REAMONSTRANCE.
them for wishing, to preserve their throats, but for behlaviing as
if tlheirs were the only thlroats in the world worth preserving.
Supposing a necessity for South Carolina, Canaalitishl as she is,
to live, it does not follow that others are to die like dogs or live
as slaves to save or serve her!  Live and let litce is the Yankee
axiom.  We lhave no wish to exclude hler from tlhe benefit of it,
even while slhe violates the condition, so long as there is any
hope of her.  We admit that she " must live," if it be only to
scourge us for our national sins, and particularly for tlhat of
suffering her to sin so often and so long witll impunity.  And
if the All-wvise and Just be strict to mark iniquity, and hold us
to full expiation, she lhas a great while to live.  Here, tlieii,
whatever Dr. Johnson might have thllouglt of tlhe case, we have
an appreciable necessity for hler throat lnot to be cut.  And now
we will deal for a moment  with hler idea of the overruling
necessity of wicked laws as the means of saving her thlroat.
Nortit Carolina repealed the law some twenty-five years ago,
and shle still lives, and lives in remarkable tranquillity, notwithstandillg shle has so turbulent and unscriupulous a neiglbor.
How  hlas Virginia, and, above all, Mlaryland, withl  more commerce than all the seceding States togetlher, except Louisiania,
lived without it?  Why did none of the Britisli West India
Islands, with ten slaves to every white, discover this evident
and terrible necessity?  Why did South Carolina hlerself abandon the execution of the law in respect to Britishl vessels, so
that American seamen, as it was said tweuty-five years ago,
were ill the habit of fleeing in Southl Carolina to Bi-itisli vessels
for protection?  Why, in a law so savage and inexorable against
defenceless merclhantmen and their unhappy crews, did colored
men, at the guns of a man-of-war, escape tlis persecution, by
being excepted from the operation of the Act from tbhe beginnigl,?
Were they less dangerous to the Carolinians?
In tlhe only case arising under this law, whlich  has ever been
tried, Judge Johnson said:
"Neither of the gentlemen  [Messrs.  Hiunt and  Holmes,
counsel of tlhe State,] has attempted to show that it does not
clash witlh tlhe constitittion, but bothl have strenuously conitended
that ex necessitate, it was a power whlicl  tlhe State must and
would exercise, and Mr. Holmes concluded withl  the decla
26
[A,f arcli,
I 
HOUSE-No. 121.
ration, that if dissoluttion was the alternative, 1le was ready to
meet it." 
Thults, of old, did thle Satanic spirit, warring against Heaven,
With necessity,
The tyrant's plea excuse his devilish deeds.
Tihe Carolina gentlemein give us the doctrine of devils without tlieir eloqulence to adorn it.  Dr. Franlkliti tlioulght it as
senseless to argue agaitist some meli as to spit against the uwind.
We quote ol tlie point of necessity, a southern autlhority, which
we presum-le to be eminent in southlern estimiation, no other
than the Ilon. Howell Cobb, late secretary of the United States
treasury, and now " president of the congress of the confederate States."  Iii a report, made to the liotse of representatives in 18a6, hle said:   "No necessity can jutstify the exercise of uidelegated power.
If the dischlarge of duties require the exercise of powers, other
than those you are now possessed of, you must seek tlhat from
ain amendment of the constitutioni, wlhich you cannot obtain
from'a mere plea of necessity."
Besides seeking instant redress and future security for the
colored citizens of Massachusetts, there is another thing, if
possible, still more urgen-t to be done by nortlhern mnoil, who
maintain the authority of congress to pass fugitive slave bills.
They must demand immediate and stringent legislation, backed,
if necessary, by steamers aud armies, to protect from lyinching,
robbery and murder, tlhecir wvhile fellow-citizens, who visit the
southl onl business or otherwise.  Indeed, they o,ught to feel deep
sorrow and remorse for not having done their utmost long
before thlis, to arrest the horrid and systematic crimens, committed in that quarter, against northern and other stranlgers,
not only guiltless of offence, but unaccused of aniy-crimes,
which, if fully developed by a narrator o1i the spot, would
shlock and disgust, eveni more than did the e,iormities of the
Thugs, the reading public of Europe and America.   Tlhe plundering, and murderous savages, composing southllern mobs and
vigilance committees, have rendered the greatest part of the
slave-hlolding regioni more formidable to travellers and strangers,
1861.]
27 
REMONSTRANCE.
than the ranges of the Bedoweens, Curds, and Comatchels.
Clamorous, merciless, blood-thirsty rabbletmenets,;starit up instantanreously at tlhe mad-dog cry of abolitionist, or evenii northlerner,
and furtiler infliriated by whisky, an auxiliary inlstittltionI, they
are wielded by vig,ilance  committees,  demagogue-attoirneys,
quack-doctors, and  by politicians of every stripe, seeking to
acqu-ire power, or desiring to use brute force for aiy unlhallowed
purpose or pitiless  deed.  Under'this dynasty society  has
reached that condition of ancient barbarism, in wiichl stranger
was synonymous with  enemy.  Prudence and silence are no
security.  If a man holds any shade of opilnion, adverse to
slavery, however moderate or profoundly baried in his own
bosom, lie may find himself, at any momelnt, perhlaps when
sleeping in lhis bed at midilight, compelled to  clhoose, on the
instant, betwveen taki(ng to lying and taking a lylnclhing.
Nor is it aiy exemption to entertain n.o particular opinions.
He lwhose tihouglhts have never learned to stray beyond animal
life and material pursuits, who knows l1o difference of East,
West, Northi and South, except by bad ldebts, is oine of tlhe most
frequent v-ictinls.  Such cases pay, as well as glitt a blind and
injdiscritniiiate hatred and vindictive rage agaiiist all Northern
persons without distinction of sex.
We prescit as a general illustration, a condensed account of
the case of a younlg Irishman, selected firom  liundreds, becauise
the Irish in America are so generally regarded as pro-slavery,
that they are not stubject to the same presutimption of guilt " on
the goose," till they are proved innocelt, as other strangers;
and also to show lhow popular tumult, riot and outrage are
allied and cooperate with magisterial arbitrariness, meanness
and brutality.
A year ago last January, James Crangale went -to Augusta,
Ga., to collect a debt, for which he had recovered judgment in
the Georgia courts, and held an execution.  The first nig,lit of
his arrival lie received a warning from a person, professing to
represent tlhe vigilance committee, to quit thle city fortlhwith.
He learined from the messenger that l he was chlarged withlabolitionism! Ite utterly denied it, and explained futlly his
real erranid.  Haviig done this, hle tlotlghlit no more of the
matter, and retired to bed in a chiamber of the principal liotel
28
[Alarcli,
i 
HOUSE-No. 121.
of tlhe place.  At midnight hle was dragged from llis )bed by a
vigilance committee consisting of some twelty persolns, backed
by a mob outside.  Tlhis committee took possession of lhis valise
and coat, containiing his pocket-book.  It appeared by tlhe evideuce at lhis trial, tlhat the original intention was to langi lhim
at once to a lamp-post in front of his hotel. But for some cause
they clhaiged tlheir purpose, took him to the guard-llouse and
locked ihim in a cell.  The next day a justice of tlie peace came
to his cell and dem,anded the key of his valise.  Ile decliiied to
deliver it, wlhereupoll lis visitor declared tlhat lhis refuLsal would
confirm his (rguilt, and that lie himself would call the vigrilance
committee, and have llim lhung forthwith.  Upon tlhis perstlasioli the kley was delivered up.  The next myoruiig lie was
takeil out, al)d conducted to the court house, and on tlre way
was for tlhe first time arrested on a warrant, in wlhich hle was
charged with exciti(ng insurrection of slaves, a capital  offece,,
for whlicll lhe was to )be immediately tried by two justices of the
peace, olne of tlhem his late visitor.  Happy for him, alid without dotubt the means of saving his life, was tlhe engagemelilt of
Col. CUMMIIING, ani able lawyer and kind and generous man, as
his counsel.  Of five witnesses examined for the prosecution, it
appeared on  close  cross-examination, that not one had ever
hleard himi utter an abolition sentiment or word, bullt they had
hleard fiuom  a pleiuty of others, that they had.  The evidence
too all pointed at tlhe mercantile house of Gray & Turley, of
Savaiiiiali and Atugttsta, the debtors on whom  lie lad come to
levy lhis execution, as tlhe authors of the calumiiy; but at tlhis
point the court arrested and diverted inquiry, because they said
it wouild iijure tlhe trade of the city withi  the Nerthl!  Col.
Cumemingii   made an able and fearless defence of lhis client, by
whichl tihe rabble were evidently awed.   He deiioiinc6d these
vigilance committees as self-constituted, and  raising the cry of
"abolitionist! " againist Northerni men, to effect their ruiin and
divide thle s])oi/s.   lr. Crangale was aquitted, for there was
really not a tittle of evidence against  him; but the court
adjLldg'd that lie should pay the costs.  Hie asked to be colnducted to his hotel by thle officer in whose custody lie was to be
taken back to prison, to stand  committed till hle paid for hleating the poker.  Tlhere hlis coat and valise were restored to him,
1861.]
29 
REMIONSTRANCE.
rninus  iis money, amounting  to $100.  IHe retiurled to the
court and made  known lhis loss.  Tlhereupon tllhe presiding
magistrate told him tllat lie was " a G-  d-d fool," and asked
him "if llis firiends had not told him he was a fool."  Then lhe
ordered him to open his valise, whlich hle declined.  The court
insisted, declarillg that if any abolitioni documents were found
*in it, they would hang him yet.  " There were boys ecouigh
about to do it."  Mr. Crangale replied, that the key llaving
been out of his possession two days, he could not be certain
that those who had takeii his money out, had not put something, else in.  Ile was, however, compelled by threats to yield,
and tllus encounter a new peril of his life.  Nothing, was found
except the papers in the suit of Crangale against Gray & Turley.  Tllen tlle court sent to the chlairman of the vig,ilance
committee to inform him that the prisoner had 1no money, and
to request him to come himself and pay the b)ill of costs.  Tlhat
person returned a fiat refusal.  Thlen the court despatched a
messeinger for thle same purpose to the Mayor of tlle city, who
had entered  the complaint of exciting insurrection, b'ut lhe
could not be found.  Mr. Crangale was then remanded.  He
endured incarceration a number of days more, until tlloroull,ily
satisfied tlhat there was neither lionor, honesty, sliamno, nor susceptibility of remorse in this popular  and official  canzaille,
neitlher fear of God nor regard to mail.  Again lie communiicated hlis situation to Col. CLumming, whlo  generously came
forward, paid  the bill and  set the captive free.  Tlle bill
amounlted to $15.30, $11 of whlich was for his arrest, and probably an additional profit of the vig,ilance committee.
Instances of this, not fatal kind, have occurred without
number, but they are of a miild type.
In Northl-eastern Texas, from last midsummer to autumn,
befell tlhe most frilghtful, causeless and inexplicable menlslau,gliter
that has signalized the ferocity of American slavery, or stainied
the annals of our country.  Anl intense  droug,llt  prevailed,
and destructive fires occurred.  Dallas, a considerable county
town, was b)iurned.  It was said that the fire was kindled in a
number of places, but no proof of this has appeared; onl the
colntrary, there have been repeated contradictiolls of it, anld the
fact thlat the fire took place on Sunday, a little after dinner,
30
[Alarcli, 
HOUSE-No. 121.
affords a strong presumption that such was not thle case.  Alien,
moreover, select ni,ght and darkness for such deeds!  But a
vigilance committee proceeded to put slaves to the torture to
extort conifessions.  The rule of tlhis practice, universal in the
Southl, and s!tocking to us, when we read of it in the histories
of tlhc Inqllisition and the dark ages, is to tie lup or tie downil
and wliip till tlhe desired confessioni is obtainied, even if it be
unlto death.  AIany a poor slave has nobly died a martyr ratlher
than  bear false witness.  Of  course fictitious tales  will be
invented in the pauses of probation, to meet the demand, as has
happened in all ages, and with men of lhigll character and
culture.  It is no peculiar reproach of the ignorant and degraded slave.  Oli this occasion a number of slaves confessed
to firing the towni with the aid of other slaves, and at the
instigation of uwlites.  Althlougohll it was represented  that the
entire town was swept by the flames, it must lhave remained
rather populous, to do and suLffer all the hanging  that was
done.  Confessions were also made, that poison had been given
out by whlites, to be put in the wells and in the food of families by the slaves.  According to newspaper reports, and private
letters publislhed in newspapers, sixty persons were  hung at
this place.  Among  themn were  a number of whites, mostly
fliom  the Aecstern States, but there is no  information  how
many.  In one batchl of twenty sufferers, it was stated that two
were white.  Fires occurred in rapid successioln in other localities and coLunties of the same section.  Ilenldersoni, another
county town, was said, and probably believed, to have been
fired in several places; but this was subsequently and most
positively deinied.  The executions were conti.ued apparently,
and as some of the Texan presses said, with demoniacal delirlght
in blood; and lhideous sighlts and lhorrid sensations became, for
a season, articles of the first necessity in Texan life.  Many
were done to death under the chlarge of distributing or applying strychnine, till the whole number of the dead exceeded two
hundred.  It has not appeared that these massacres proceeded
on any other evidence thlan the confessions extorted firom slaves,
whose evidence, under no circumstances, is admitted against
whites in tlhe Texan courts.  It is avowed by pro-slavery letter
writers, that some were hung on mere suspiCion.  Of course
1861.]
81 
REMiONSTRANCE.
there were no trials.  We  imagine we hear some Texanl exclaim, " That would have spoiled the fun  "  Several Methodist
ministers were lhung, alnd one lady of intelligence and worth, a
MIrs. FOSTFR, on tlhe limb of a tree.  The whlites were all from the
Nortlh, and thle question was agitated of expelling the Nortllern
settler en masse,  tllou,gh  very  numerous,  lairge owners of
property, and sufferers by the fires.  Pr)ol)abtly it would  have
been tlhe greatest favor that could have bean done them.
Dreadful as tlhese facts are, there remaijs one more dreadful
thau tlhem all.  Communications from the most reliable sources
iii Texas, inclutding their governor, affirm, tlhat tlie accusations
were all forged, tlhe confessions all false; tlhat whlat tle poor
tortured  slaves slhowed  as strychnine, to make good  their
confessions on tlle rack, was found on clhemical analysis, to
conltaiin no trace of poison; that the fires were generally accidental, catching by reasonl of the parched condition of that
whole region  that there were a good many thieves and robbers
about, as there always are, who probably set some fires to facilitate or cover their depredations; that all tlhe ordinary causes,
and all the extraordinary casualties, were imputed to Methlodists,  chiefly ministers, and to abolitionists, and these all
lumped  withl  Black Republicans, to mnake political capital!
Notwitlhstanding these exposures, of whose general correctness
there cannot be a reasonable doubt, seceding orators, and late
senators of tlhe United  States, have repeated tlIe exploded
caluminy,  placing it among  the justifications of secession.
No wonder, for never was fraudulent bankrupt more put to it
to make a decent schedule.
It is believed that not less than twventy to twenty-five Northlernl
men, generally sojourners in the State, perislhed in this persecution.  During the last year, ending Dec. 31, 1860, si.teen
Nortlhern citizens were murdered in other slave States.  Their
inventive gelnius, wihich had not in the past sl)ed mull  brilliancy
on our national annials, has been taxed to devise new and iingenious methods of torture and death.  It was the favorite study
of some of tlhe most celebrated tyrants of antiquity; but when
the people recovered their rights, and " God made inquisition
for blood," they perislhed by their own cruel devices.   Two
whitl men were headed up alive in barrels, and rolled into the
32
[Marcli, 
HOUSE-No. 121.
Mississippi-one at Memphlis, Tenn., and one at Friar's Point,
MIiss., and one in like manner into the Alabama river.  Seven
hindred and twenty-three Northlern men, during the same year,
were violently expelled, or on their arrival by the steamers,
turned back, and not permitted to land. Of the latter there were
one hundred and  twenty.  A  large proportion of the whole
were lynched by bloody stripes, shaving or half-shaving the
head, whiskers and mustaches; tarring, feathering, and riding
onl rails, nearly drowning or hanging, and repeating thie operation
after resuscitation.  One manl  was  hung five times till the
agony was over, and then let down.   There is no probability
that we have had accounts of all the cases, and especially of
the worst.  It is well known   that the Southern presses, to
whom we must be chiefly indebted for this kind of information,
often  observe on  these subjects  a severe reticence.  Very
recently a Massachusetts pedlar has returned, who declares that
two northern men to his knowledge, were Ihung, of whom not
the slightest public mention has been made.
Such tragedies, thlough of late more frequent and more
bloody, are not new.  They happened in the South, with catastrophes more or less shocking, seventy years ago. They commenced  with the practical development of the Quaker  and
Franklin movement of emancipation in Pennsylvania; and at
that day the Quakers were the exclusive or nearly exclusive
sufferers. The celebrated and venerable minister of the
Friends, ELIAS  HICKS, was  threatened  with  violence and
death.  Sixty-eight years ago, ELI WHITNEY'S great invention,
the cotton-ginll, was seized and dragged from the house of the
widow of General GREENE in Georgia by a mob of chivalrous
burglars of the highest respectability, before he could obtain a.
patent; and he was thus wholly despoiled of the profits during
the first fourteen years. When he applied to Congress to extend
it for a second term, the Southern members went en masse
against it, and it was rejected
That such monstrous and heart-rending facts, such massive,
overwhelming, merciless and bloody enormities, that words are
weak and tire to detail them, should be forgotten, or ignored
during all the clamor for new concessions, new guarantees of
slavery and its crimes, and humble atonement, in bated breath
5
1861.]
33
I 
REMONSTRANCE.
and self-abasing acts, for giving our votes for a President and
Vice-President of the United States, as the constitution requires,
is in our view the most melancholy circumstance attending our
present troubles. That a headlong hurry of old Massachusetts
to unconditional surrender and self-degradation, a blind and
insensate furor, intolerant of pause or reason, trampling down
with heels of hired ruffians, the most precious of constitutional
and God-given liberties, " the liberty to know, to utter, and to
argue freely according to conscience,"-should have derived
their origin, and greatest pressure from a class of men in our
midst, for whose gain many, and through whose criminal
indifference in the past and in power, all these innocent victims
have been immolated-is an inexpressible aggravation of our
grief.  It impresses  us with fear that absorbing selfishness,
forgetfulness or contempt of eternal principles, which are the
law of God, and utter insensibility to others' wrongs and woes,
have become so inveterate and predominant in our national life,
that there is little left of all that we have inherited and abused,
which a juist God can, consistently with his justice, spare.
In point of morals, no State nor citizen is bound to submit
to an enactment, which manifestly violates fundamental and
constitutional rights.  It is void from the beginning, and never
was nor can be for a moment, law. Prudence would indeed
dictate that the peace of a community should not be disturbed
and life, property and the arts and pursuits of peace, put at
hazard except for gvievances of the gravest character.   But
there are peaceful methods of checking the encroachments of
lawless power, and holding at bay the wild impatience of
despotism roaring and gnashing for its prey.  Such a mode is
to interpose legal impediments, as did HAMPDEN in resistance of
taxation by royal prerogative, and by that resistance determined
the advent of the great English Revolution, the mother of the
American, and starting upon the same principle. But how
trivial was this cause in comparison with that of personal liberty
and safety!
That the personal liberty law is such a mode of resistance,
and just as legal as resistance in a judicial court, we do not
doubt. Indeed it proposes no other. The fugitive slave bill precludes such resistance, robbing us of the common right of appeal.
34
[March,
i
I
I
i 
HOUSE-No. 121.
Among its deadly sins is the crowning one, that it does not
permit its sins to be inquired into, and brought to the test of
reason and the constitution.  They are to be sacred and inviolable, exempted from scrutiny and discussion, like the Holy
Inquisition and " the peculiar institution."
The bill forbids us to go into a respectable court, like JAMES
OTIS on the writs of assistance, and sloW the rights- of free-born
Englishmen, as we then were, and extort even from a Hutchinson
the confession that " the court can see no foundation" for the
writs; in other words that the whole thing is founded in
usurpation and despotic power. What the fugitive slave bill
unconstitutionally takes away, the personal liberty law constitutioilally restores; and it does not betray conscious guilt by
throwing insuperable or any obstacles in the way of a trial of
its own constitutionality.  The opportunity for this has been
open for six years to the counsel of claimants, and to the
general government, the general agent of thle slave-h6lders.  If
our law had been believed by them to be unconstitutional and
void, would they have neglected to blast it with nullity by a
bolt from the supreme tribunal? Not one tithe of the effort,
whlich they have put forth to drive you to a repeal, would
have been necessary for its annihilation by our own learned
and upright judiciary, and by that of the United States, which
is neither. Until it has been tested and failed to stand the test,
the legislature in the present division of opinion, is under no
obligation, moral or constitutional, to touch it, even if that were
not a void Act, with which it is accused of conflicting. If
that is a void Act, then there is nothing with which ours, even
according to its enemies, does conflict; for even they do
not pretend that it conflicts directly with the constitution,
but only with a law, which they claim that the constitution
authorizes.
But in the present dragonade to compel a compromise with
treason, and amid the daily threats, the insults, and actual
hostilities of traitors, their aiders and comforters-when the
rankest requirements, looking to nothing less than our entire
and  unalterable constitutional subjugation, are boldly made;
shall we basely succumb and make  a rush and "a mush of
concession"? While South Carolina and almost every other
1861.]
35 
REMONSTRANCE.
insurgent State are maintaining, and have been maintaining
thirty to forty years an inhuman enactment, pronounced thirtyeight years ago, by her own eminent juridical son alhd citizen,
to  be  unconstitutional and void;  and obstructed only by
the club-law of South Carolina and Louisiana from being so
pronounced by the highest tribunal known at that time inll the
land-and all this for the invasion and subversion of Personal
Liberty;-shall Massachusetts repeal, or on the present evidence change a law, never pronounced by any court to be
unconstitutional, never even arraigned as such before any court,
and whose only sin, so far as we know, is that it aims to preserve
and defend Personal Liberty.
DAVID LEE CHILD.
L. MARIA CHILD.
ALPHEUS BIGELOW.
M. A. H. BIGELOW.
S. E. SEWALL.
T. C. SEVERANCE.
L. OSGOOD.
GEORGE L. STEARNS.
MARY E. STEARNS. 
C. M. SEVERANCE.
E. P. PEABODY.
H. W. SEWALL.
36
[March,'61.
I