outrun my power of speech. But you know the consequences which follow
if it be accepted by the People, submitted to, and enforced: the State
of Massachusetts is nothing; her courts nothing; her juries nothing;
her laws nothing; her Constitution nothing--the Rights of the State
are whistled away by the "opinion" of a fugitive slave bill judge, the
rights of the citizen--all gone; his right to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness lies at the mercy of the meanest man whom this
Court shall ever make a Commissioner to kidnap men. Yes, Gentlemen of
the Jury, you hold your liberty at the mercy of George T. Curtis and
Seth J. Thomas! You are the People, "the Country" to determine whether
it shall come to this.
You know the motive which led the South to desire this bill,--it was
partly pecuniary, the desire to get the work of men and not pay for
it; partly political, the desire to establish Slavery at the North.
Mr. Toombs is not the only man who wishes the master to sit down with
his slaves at the foot of Bunker Hill Monument! You know the motive of
the Northern men who supported the bill;--words are idle here!
Gentlemen, I said that Boston fired a hundred jubilant cannon when the
fugitive slave bill became a law. It was only a _part of Boston_ that
fired them. The bill was odious here to all just and honorable men.
Massachusetts hated the bill, and was in no haste to "conquer her
prejudices" in favor of Justice, Humanity, and the Christian Religion;
she did not like the "disagreeable duty" of making a public profession
of practical Atheism. At first the yellow fever of the slave-hunters
did not extend much beyond the pavements of Boston and Salem; so pains
must be taken to spread the malady. The greatest efforts were made to
induce the People to renounce their Christianity, to accept and
enforce the wicked measure. The cry was raised, "The Union is in
danger:" nobody believed it; they least of all who raised the cry.
Some clergymen in the Churches of Commerce were coaxed, wheedled, or
bought over, and they declared kidnapping would be imputed unto men
for "righteousness." The actual man-stealer in Boston was likened to
"faithful Abraham" in the Hebrew mythic tale,--"the rendition of a
slave was like the sacrifice of Isaac." One Trinitarian minister, a
son of Massachusetts, laid Conscience down before the Juggernaut of
the fugitive slave bill, another would send his own mother into
Slavery; both had their reward. Editors were brought over to the true
faith of kidnapping. Alas, there were some in Boston who needed no
conversion; who were always on the side of inhumanity. There were
"Union meetings" called to save the Nation; and the meanest men in the
great towns came to serve as Redeemers in this Salvation unto
kidnapping. Mr. Webster outdid himself in giant efforts--and though
old and sick, he wrought with mighty strength. So in the great poem
the fallen angel, his Paradise of Virtue lost,--
----"with bold words
Breaking the horrid silence thus began.
'To do aught good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight,
As being the contrary to His high will
Whom we resist....
Let us not slip the occasion....
But reassembling our afflicted powers
Consult how we may henceforth most offend
Our enemy; our own loss how repair,
How overcome this dire calamity;
What reinforcement we may gain from hope,
If not what resolution from despair.'"
One class of men needed no change, no stimulation. They were ready to
execute this unjust, this unconstitutional Act; their lamps were
trimmed and burning, their loins girt about, their feet swift to shed
blood. Who were they? Ask Philadelphia, ask New York, ask Boston. Look
at this bench. The Federal Courts were as ready to betray justice in
1850 as Kelyng and Jeffreys and Scroggs and the other pliant judges of
Charles II. or James II. to support his iniquities. I must speak of
this.
* * * * *
(II.) Of the conduct of the Federal Courts.
Gentlemen of the Jury, that you may understand the enormity of the
conduct of the federal courts and the peril they bring upon their
victims, I must refresh your memory with a few facts.
1. I shall begin with the cases in Pennsylvania. In that State four
officials of government have acquired great distinction by their zeal
in enslaving men, McAllister, Ingraham, Grier, and Kane; the two first
are "Commissioners," the latter two "Judges." In one year they had the
glory of kidnapping twenty-six Americans and delivering them over to
Slavery. Look at a few cases.
(1.) On the 10th of March, 1851, Hannah Dellam was brought before
Judge Kane charged with being a fugitive slave. She was far advanced
in pregnancy, hourly expecting to give birth to a child. If a
convicted murderess is in that condition, the law delays the execution
of its ghastly sentence till the baby is born, whom the gallows
orphans soon. The poor negro woman's counsel begged for delay that the
child might be born in Pennsylvania and so be free,--a poor boon, but
too great for a fugitive slave bill judge to grant. The judge who
inherits the name of the first murderer, disgraced the family of Cain;
he prolonged his court late into night, that he might send the child
into Slavery while in the bowels of its mother! Judge Kane held his
"court" and gave his decision in the very building where the
Declaration of Independence was signed and published to the world. The
memorable bell which summons his court, has for motto on its brazen
lips, "Proclaim Liberty throughout the Land, to all the inhabitants
thereof."
(2.) The same year Rachel Parker, a free colored girl, was seized in
the house of Joseph C. Miller of West-Nottingham, Chester County, by
Thomas McCreary of Elkton, Maryland. Mr. Miller pursued the kidnapper
and found the girl at Baltimore, and brought a charge of kidnapping
against McCreary. But before the matter was decided Mr. Miller was
decoyed away and murdered! The man-hunter was set free and the girl
kept as a slave, but after long confinement in jail was at last
pronounced free--not by the Pennsylvania "judge" but by a Baltimore
Jury![175]
[Footnote 175: 20 Anti-Slavery Report, 28 and 21; Ibid. 34.]
(3.) The same year occurred the Christiana Tragedy. Here are the
facts.
In Virginia a general law confers a reward of $100 on any man who
shall bring back to Virginia a slave that has escaped into another
State, and gives him also ten cents for each mile of travel in the
chase after a man. Accordingly, beside the officers of the fugitive
slave bill courts commissioned for that purpose, there is a body of
professional Slave-hunters, who prowl about the borders of
Pennsylvania and entrap their prey. In September, 1850, "a colored
man, known in the neighborhood around Christiana to be free, was
seized and carried away by professional kidnappers, and never
afterwards seen by his family." In March, 1851, in the same
neighborhood, under the roof of his employer, during the night,
another colored man was tied, gagged, and carried away, "marking the
road along which he was dragged by his own blood." He was never
afterwards heard from. "These and many other acts of a similar kind
had so alarmed the neighborhood, that the very name of Kidnapper was
sufficient to create a panic."[176]
[Footnote 176: History of the Trial of Castner Hanway and others for
Treason (Philadelphia, 1852), 35.]
"On the 11th of September, Edward Gorsuch, of Maryland, his
son, Dickerson Gorsuch, with a party of friends, and a
United States officer named Kline, who bore the warrant of
Commissioner Ingraham, made their appearance in a
neighborhood near Christiana, Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, in pursuit of a Slave. They lay in wait for
their prey near the house of William Parker, a colored man.
When discovered and challenged, they approached the house,
and Gorsuch demanded his Slave. It was denied that he was
there. High words ensued, and two shots were fired by the
assailants at the house. The alarm was then given by blowing
a horn, and the neighborhood roused. A party of colored men,
from thirty to fifty strong, most of them armed in some way,
were before long on the ground. Castner Hanway and Elijah
Lewis, both white men and Friends, rode up before the
engagement began and endeavored to prevent bloodshed by
persuading both parties to disperse peaceably. Kline, the
Deputy Marshal, ordered them to join the _posse_, which
they, of course, refused to do, but urged upon him the
necessity of withdrawing his men for their own safety. This
he finally did, as far as he personally was concerned, when
satisfied that there was actual danger of bloody resistance.
Gorsuch, however, and his party persisted in their attempt,
and he and two of his party fired on the colored men, who
returned the fire with deadly effect. Gorsuch was killed on
the spot, his son severely, though not mortally, wounded,
and the rest of the party put to flight. The dead and
wounded were cared for by the neighbors, mostly Friends and
Abolitionists. The Slave, for the capture of whom this
enterprise was undertaken, made his escape and reached a
land of safety.
"Judge Grier denounced the act from the Bench as one of
Treason. A party of marines were ordered to the ground to
keep the peace after the battle had been fought and won.
United States Marshal Roberts, Commissioner Ingraham, United
States District Attorney Ashmead, with a strong body of
police, accompanied them, and kept the seat of war under a
kind of martial law for several days. The country was
scoured, houses ransacked, and about thirty arrests made.
Among those arrested were Castner Hanway and Elijah Lewis,
whose only crime had been endeavoring to prevent the
effusion of blood. The prisoners were brought to
Philadelphia, examined before a Commissioner, and committed
on a charge of High Treason. At the next term of the
District Court, under a charge from Judge Kane, the
Grand-Jury found indictments against all of them for this
crime."[177]
[Footnote 177: 20 Anti-Slavery Report, pp. 30, 31.]
Mr. Hanway was brought to trial--for his life, charged with "treason."
It appears that this was his overt act.--He was a Quaker, an
anti-slavery Quaker, and a "non-resistant;" when he heard of the
attack on the colored people, he rode on a sorrel horse to the spot,
in his shirt-sleeves, with a broad felt hat on; he advised the colored
men not to fire, "For God's sake don't fire;" but when Deputy Marshal
Kline ordered him to assist in the kidnapping, he refused and would
have nothing to do with it. Some of the colored people fired, and with
such effect on the Kidnappers as I have just now shown. It appeared
also that Mr. Hanway had said the fugitive slave bill was
unconstitutional, and that he would never aid in kidnapping a
man--words which I suppose this Honorable Court will consider as a
constructive "misdemeanor;" "obstructing an officer."
For this "offence" his case was presented to the grand-jury of the
Circuit Court the 29th of September, 1851. Judge Kane charged the
jury--laying down the law of treason. Mr. Hanway was indicted for
"wickedly devising and intending the peace and tranquillity of the ...
United States to disturb;" and that he "wickedly and traitorously did
intend to levy war against the said United States." And also that he
"with force and arms, maliciously and traitorously did prepare and
compose and ... and cause and procure to be prepared and composed,
divers books, pamphlets, letters, and declarations, resolutions,
addresses, papers, and writings, and did ... maliciously and
traitorously publish and disperse ... divers other books ...
containing ... incitement, encouragement, and exhortations, to move,
induce, and persuade persons held to service in any of the United
States ... who had escaped ... to resist, oppose, and prevent, by
violence and intimidation, the execution of the said laws, [that is
the law for kidnapping their own persons]."
He was brought to trial at Philadelphia, November 24th 1851, before
Honorable Judges Kane and Grier, then and subsequently so eminent for
their zeal in perverting law and doing judicial iniquity. Gentlemen of
the Jury--it is no slander to say this. It is their great glory that
in the cause of Slavery they have struck at the first principles of
American Democracy, and set at nought the Christian Religion. It is
only their panegyric which I pronounce.
On behalf of the government there appeared six persons as prosecuting
officers. One United States Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cooper),
the Attorney-General of Maryland, the District Attorney of
Pennsylvania, the Recorder of the City of Philadelphia, and two
members of her bar.[178] For Mr. Webster, then Secretary of State, was
highly desirous that Maryland should send her Attorney-General, Hon.
Mr. Brent, to help the government of the United States prosecute a
Quaker miller, a Non-resistant, for the crime of treason. Hon. James
Cooper, the Pennsylvania Senator, also appeared on behalf of Maryland,
seeking to convict one of his own constituents! Gentlemen, such
conduct carries us back to the time of the Stuarts; but despotism is
always the same. It was very proper that the United States government
should thus outrage the common decencies of judicial process.
[Footnote 178: History, 55, 57; Report, 19; 2 Wallace.]
This question amongst others was put to each juror:--
"Have you formed an opinion that the law of the United
States, known as the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, is
unconstitutional, so that you cannot for that reason convict
a person indicted for a forcible resistance thereto, if the
facts alleged in the indictment are proved and the court
hold the statute to be constitutional?"
Thus all persons were excluded from the jury who believed this wicked
bill a violation of the constitution; and one most important means of
the prisoner's legitimate defence was purposely swept away by the
court.
Now look at the law as laid down by the government.
Mr. Ashmead, the government's Attorney, said when the Constitution was
adopted "Men had not then become wiser than the laws [the laws of
England and colonial laws which they were born under and broke away
from]; nor had they learned to measure the plain and unambiguous
letter of the Constitution by an artificial standard of their own
creation [that is the Self-evident Truth that all men have a natural
and unalienable Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness]; to obey or disregard it according as it came up to or fell
beneath it [as the law was just or unjust]."
"_You will receive the law from the court._" "You _are bound by the
instructions which the court may give_ in respect to it;" "_it is in
no sense true that you are judges of the law_." "_You must take the
interpretation which the court puts upon it._ You have a right to
apply the law to the facts, but you have no right to go further."
"The crime charged against this defendant is ... that of _levying war
against the United States_. The phrase _levying war_ was long before
the adoption of the Constitution, a phrase ... _embracing such a
forcible resistance to the laws as that charged against this
defendant_ [that is, speaking against the fugitive slave bill and
refusing to kidnap a man is 'levying war against the United States']!"
It is treason "if the intention is by force to prevent the execution
of _any one ... of the general laws of the United States_, or _to
resist_ the exercise of _any legitimate authority of the government_."
"Levying war embraces ... any combination forcibly to prevent or
oppose the execution ... of a public statute, if accompanied or
followed by an act of forcible opposition." Of course the court is to
determine the meaning of _force_; and using the same latitude of
construction as in interpreting _levying war_, it would mean, a
_word_, a _look_, a _thought_, a _wish_, a _fancy_ even.
Mr. Ludlow enforced the same opinions, relying in part on the old
tyrannical decisions of the British courts in the ages of despotism,
and on the opinion of Judge Chase--who had derived his law of treason
from that source, and was impeached before the American Senate for his
oppressive conduct while judge in the very trials whence these
iniquitous doctrines were derived! But Mr. Ludlow says "if a _spurious
doctrine have been introduced into the common law ... it would require
great hardihood in a judge to reject it_." So the jury must accept "a
spurious doctrine" as genuine law!
"In treason, all the _participes criminis_ are principals; there are
no accessaries to this crime. Every act which ... would render a man
an _accessary_ will ... make him a _principal_." "If any man joins and
acts with an assembly of people, _his intent is always to be
considered ... the same as theirs; the law ... judgeth of the intent
by the Fact_." This was Judge Kelyng's "law."
"It may be ... advanced that because Hanway was not armed, he was not
guilty. It is perfectly well settled that _arms are not necessary_."
"Military weapons ... are not necessary ... to a levying war." "This
is the opinion of Judge Chase," and "it may be alleged that Judge
Chase was impeached, and that [therefore] his opinions are of little
weight. Whatever may have been the grounds of that impeachment, _it is
not for us to discuss_."
"If a body of men be assembled for the purpose of effecting a
treasonable object [that is, 'to oppose the execution of a public
statute,' no matter what or how] _all those who perform any part,
however minute, or however remote from the scene of action ... are
equally traitors_."
Mr. Brent, the Maryland State Attorney, whom Mr. Webster had sent
there, declared that "_any combination_ like this, of colored and
white persons, _to prevent the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, is
treason_."
Mr. Cooper, the Pennsylvania Senator, adds, "Castner Hanway ... having
been present ... at the time the overt act was committed, he is a
principal ... provided he was there aiding and abetting the objects of
the confederated parties." "_Persons_ procuring, contriving, or
_consenting_, come within the words aid and abet." So "_if he_
encourages, _assists, or consents to the act_, it is enough; _he
becomes at once an aider and abettor, and obnoxious to all the pains
and penalties denounced against it_." "If persons _do assemble
themselves_ and act with _some_ force in opposition to _some_ law ...
and _hope thereby to get it repealed, this is a levying war and high
treason_." That is, an assembly of men acting against any law, with
any force of argument, in order to procure its repeal, levies war and
is guilty of treason!
To connect Mr. Hanway with this constructive treason, the government
relied on the evidence of Mr. Kline, the Deputy Marshal of the court,
a man like Mr. Butman and Mr. Patrick Riley, so well known in this
court, and so conspicuous for courage and general elevation of
character. Witnesses testified that Kline was so much addicted to
falsehood that they would not believe him on oath,--but what of that?
He had "conquered his prejudices." It appeared that Mr. Hanway went to
the scene of action on a sorrel horse, in his shirt-sleeves, with a
felt hat on, and did not join the Deputy in attempting to kidnap when
commanded. Hear how Mr. Ludlow constructs levying war out of the
disobedience of a non-resistant Quaker in a felt hat and
shirt-sleeves, mounted on a sorrel horse! Hearken to this voice of the
government:--
"Suddenly he sees the assembled band of infuriated men....
Does he leave the spot? No, Sir! Does he restrain the
negroes? Take the evidence for the defence in its fullest
latitude, and you will perceive he raised the feeble cry,
'Don't shoot! for God's sake don't shoot!' and there it
ended. Is that consistent with innocence?... according to
their own evidence the conclusion is irresistible that he
was not innocent."
"But he does more than this." When summoned by the Deputy to steal a
man "he is thrown off his guard, and exclaims, 'I will not assist
you;' 'he allowed the colored people had a right to defend
themselves.' 'He did not care for that Act of Congress or any other
Act of Congress.'"
And so with his unsaddled sorrel nag this non-resistant miller levies
war upon the United States by crying "Don't fire," and commits treason
by the force and arms of a broad-brimmed Quaker hat. "The smallest
amount of force is sufficient," "military weapons are not necessary to
levy war!"
Mr. Brent thought if Mr. Hanway was not hanged it would appear that a
"small and miserable and traitorous faction can resist and annul the
laws of the United States." "Put down these factions [the Free-Soil
Party, the Liberty Party, the Anti-Slavery Societies], overwhelm them
with shame, disgrace, and ruin, or you are not good citizens
fulfilling the bonds that bind you to us of the South."
The government Attorney declared that Mr. Hanway and others
"Had no right to refuse to assist because it was repugnant
to their consciences. Conscience! Conscience ... is the
pretended justification for an American citizen to refuse to
execute a law of his country." "_Damnable, treasonable
doctrine._" "He has become a conspirator, he has connected
himself with them, and all their acts are his acts, and all
their intentions are his intentions."
"The whole neighborhood was not only disloyal, but wanting
in common humanity:" "the whole region is infected," "in
_that horde of traitors_;" "a whole county, a whole
township, a whole neighborhood are involved in plotting
treason." "When you see these things _can you not infer ...
that he went there by pre-arrangement_!" "When you see a man
... not saying one word to save his dear colored friends
from the guilt of murder, I say it is passing human
credulity to say that you cannot _infer_ in all that _a
feeling of hostility to the law, and an intention to resist
it_."
"The consequences [of the verdict] are not with the jury:"
the responsibility will not be with you--you are not
responsible for those just consequences."
"When you allege that a master has come into Pennsylvania
and illegally seized and possessed himself of his slave
without process, you are to inquire, 'Has he done that which
he had authority to do in his own State?' You are to look to
the _laws of his own State_; for the Supreme Court
says,[179] 'He _has the same right to repossess his slave
here as in his own State_.'" "He who employs a man said to
have come from Maryland without being satisfied of his
freedom, is himself guilty of the first wrong."
[Footnote 179: 16 Peters, Prigg _v._ Penn.]
Senator Cooper closed for the government. Law was not enough for him;
he would have the sanction of "Religion" also. So he read extract from
a Sermon. Gentlemen of the Jury, you have not had the benefit of Rev.
Dr. Adams's prayers in this court; it is a pity you should not be
blessed with the theology of despotism; listen therefore to the
"Thanksgiving Sermon" of Rev. Dr. Wadsworth, which Hon. Mr. Cooper
read to the Jury in Independence Hall.
"For passing by all other causes of irritation as just now
secondary and subordinate, look for a moment, at the
influence which the Gospel of Christ would have in this
great sectional controversy about slavery.
"First, It would say to the Northern fanatic, who _vapors
about man-stealing_ as if there were no other evil under the
sun but this one evil of Slavery--it would say to him,
Emulate the spirit of your blessed Master and his apostles,
_who, against this very evil_ [man-stealing] in their own
times, _brought no railing accusation_; but in one instance
at least, _sent back a fugitive_ from the household of
Philemon.
"In treating Southern _Christian slaveholders_ with
Christian courtesy, and _sending back their fugitives_ when
apprehended among you, you neither indorse the system nor
partake of its evil; you are only performing in good faith
the agreement, and redeeming the pledges of your
forefathers, and leaving to each man for himself to answer
for his own acts at the judgment-seat of Jesus. It would
tear away from the man, as the foulest cloak of hypocrisy,
that pretence of a religious principle in this whole matter
of political abolitionism.