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diff --git a/old/13989.txt b/old/13989.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ffd2552 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13989.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1766 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Duty of Disobedience to the Fugitive +Slave Act, by Lydia Maria Child + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Duty of Disobedience to the Fugitive Slave Act + Anti-Slavery Tracts No. 9, An Appeal To The Legislators Of Massachusetts + +Author: Lydia Maria Child + +Release Date: November 9, 2004 [EBook #13989] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTY OF DISOBEDIENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Andrea Ball and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + +ANTI-SLAVERY TRACTS. No. 9. New Series. + +THE + +DUTY OF DISOBEDIENCE + +TO THE + +FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT: + +AN APPEAL TO THE + +LEGISLATORS OF MASSACHUSETTS, + +BY L. MARIA CHILD. + + + "Thou shalt _not_ deliver unto his master the servant which is + escaped from his master unto thee."--DEUT. 23:15. + + +BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 1860. + + + + +APPEAL + +TO THE + +LEGISLATORS OF MASSACHUSETTS. + + +I feel there is no need of apologizing to the Legislature of +Massachusetts because a woman addresses them. Sir Walter Scott says: +"The truth of Heaven was never committed to a tongue, however +feeble, but it gave a right to that tongue to announce mercy, while +it declared judgment." And in view of all that women have done, and +are doing, intellectually and morally, for the advancement of the +world, I presume no enlightened legislator will be disposed to deny +that the "truth of Heaven" _is_ often committed to them, and that +they sometimes utter it with a degree of power that greatly +influences the age in which they live. + +I therefore offer no excuses on that score. But I do feel as if it +required some apology to attempt to convince men of ordinary +humanity and common sense that the Fugitive Slave Bill is utterly +wicked, and consequently ought never to be obeyed. Yet Massachusetts +consents to that law! Some shadow of justice she grants, inasmuch as +her Legislature have passed what is called a Personal Liberty Bill, +securing trial by jury to those claimed as slaves. Certainly it is +_something_ gained, especially for those who may get brown by +working in the sunshine, to prevent our Southern masters from taking +any of us, at a moment's notice, and dragging us off into perpetual +bondage. It is _something_ gained to require legal proof that a man +is a slave, before he is given up to arbitrary torture and +unrecompensed toil. But is _that_ the measure of justice becoming +the character of a free Commonwealth? "_Prove_ that the man is +property, according _your_ laws, and I will drive him into your +cattle-pen with sword and bayonet," is what Massachusetts +practically says to Southern tyrants. "Show me a Bill of Sale from +the Almighty!" is what she _ought_ to say. No other proof should be +considered valid in a Christian country. + +One thousand five hundred years ago, Gregory, a Bishop in Asia +Minor, preached a sermon in which he rebuked the sin of +slaveholding. Indignantly he asked, "Who can be the possessor of +human beings save God? Those men that you say belong to you, did not +God create them free? Command the brute creation; that is well. Bend +the beasts of the field beneath your yoke. But are your fellow-men +to be bought and sold, like herds of cattle? Who can pay the value +of a being created in the image of God? The whole world itself bears +no proportion to the value of a soul, on which the Most High has set +the seal his likeness. This world will perish, but the soul of man +is immortal. Show me, then, your titles of possession. Tell me +whence you derive this strange claim. Is not your own nature the +same with that of those you call your slaves? Have they not the same +origin with yourselves? Are they not born to the same immortal +destinies?" + +Thus spake a good old Bishop, in the early years of Christianity. +Since then, thousands and thousands of noble souls have given their +bodies to the gibbet and the stake, to help onward the slow progress +of truth and freedom; a great unknown continent has been opened as a +new, free starting point for the human race; printing has been +invented, and the command, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do +unto you, do ye even so unto them," has been sent abroad in all the +languages of the earth. And here, in the noon-day light the +nineteenth century, in a nation claiming to be the freest and most +enlightened on the face of the globe, a portion the population of +fifteen States have thus agreed among themselves: "Other men shall +work for us, without wages while we smoke, and drink, and gamble, +and race horses, and fight. We will have their wives and daughters +for concubines, and sell their children in the market with horses +and pigs. If they make any objection to this arrangement, we will +break them into subjection with the cow-hide and the bucking-paddle. +They shall not be permitted to read or write, because that would be +likely to 'produce dissatisfaction in their minds.' If they attempt +to run away from us, our blood-hounds shall tear the flesh from +their bones, and any man who sees them may shoot them down like mad +dogs. If they succeed in getting beyond our frontier, into States +where it is the custom to pay men for their work, and to protect +their wives and children from outrage, we will compel the people of +those States to drive them back into the jaws of our blood-hounds." + +And what do the people of the other eighteen States of that +enlightened country answer to this monstrous demand? What says +Massachusetts, with the free blood of the Puritans coursing in her +veins, and with the sword uplifted in her right hand, to procure +"peaceful repose under liberty"? Massachusetts answers: "O yes. We +will be your blood-hounds, and pay our own expenses. Only prove to +our satisfaction that the stranger who has taken refuge among us is +one of the men you have agreed among yourselves to whip into working +without wages, and we will hunt him back for you. Only prove to us +that this woman, who has run away from your harem, was bought for a +concubine, that you might get more drinking-money by the sale of the +children she bears you, and our soldiers will hunt her back with +alacrity." + +Shame on my native State! Everlasting shame! Blot out the escutcheon +of the brave old Commonwealth! Instead of the sword uplifted to +protect liberty, let the slave-driver's whip be suspended over a +blood-hound, and take for your motto, Obedience to tyrants is the +highest law. + +Legislators of Massachusetts, can it be that you really understand +what Slavery _is_, and yet consent that a fugitive slave, who seeks +protection here, shall be driven back to that dismal house of +bondage? For sweet charity's sake, I must suppose that you have been +too busy with your farms and your merchandise ever to have imagined +yourself in the situation of a slave. Let me suppose a case for you; +one of a class of cases occurring by hundreds every year. Suppose +your father was Governor of Carolina and your mother was a slave. +The Governor's wife hates your mother, and is ingenious in inventing +occasions to have you whipped. _You_ don't know the reason why, +poor child! but your mother knows full well. If they would only +allow her to go away and work for wages, she would gladly toil and +earn money to buy you. But that your father will not allow. His laws +have settled it that she is his property, "for all purposes +whatsoever," and he will keep her as long as suits his convenience. +The mistress continually insists upon her being sold far away South; +and after a while, she has her will. Your poor mother clings to you +convulsively; but the slave-driver gives you both a cut of his whip, +and tells you to stop your squalling. They drive her off with the +gang, and you never hear of her again; but, for a long time +afterward, it makes you very sad to remember the farewell look of +those large, loving eyes. Your poor mother had handsome eyes; and +that was one reason her mistress hated her. + +You also are your father's property; and when he dies, you will be +the property of your whiter brother. You black his shoes, tend upon +him at table, and sleep on the floor in his room, to give him water +if he is thirsty in the night. You see him learning to read, and you +hear your father read wonderful things from the newspapers. Very +naturally, you want to read, too. You ask your brother to teach you +the letters. He gives you a kick, calls you a "damned nig," and +informs his father, who orders you to be flogged for insolence. +Alone on the hard floor at night, still smarting from your blows, +you ponder over the great mystery of knowledge and wonder why it +would do _you_ any more harm than it does your brother. Henceforth, +all scraps of newspapers you can find are carefully laid by. +Helplessly you pore over them, at stolen moments, as if you expected +some miracle would reveal the meaning of those printed signs. +Cunning comes to your aid. It is the only weapon of the weak against +the strong. When you see white boys playing in the street, you trace +a letter in the sand, and say, "My young master calls that B." "That +ain't B, you dammed nigger. That's A"! they shout. Now you know what +shape is A; and diligently you hunt it out wherever it is to be +found on your scraps of newspaper. By slow degrees you toil on, in +similar ways, through all the alphabet. No student of Greek or +Hebrew ever deserved so much praise for ingenuity and diligence. But +the years pass on, and still you cannot read. Your master-brother +now and then gives you a copper. You hoard them, and buy a primer; +screening yourself from suspicion, by telling the bookseller that +your master wants it for his sister's little boy. You find the +picture of a cat, with three letters by its side; and now you know +how cat is spelt. Elated with your wonderful discovery, you are +eager to catch a minute to study your primer. Too eager, alas! for +your mistress catches you absorbed in it, and your little book is +promptly burned. You are sent to be flogged, and your lacerated back +is washed with brine to make it heal quickly. But in spite of all +their efforts, your intelligent mind is too cunning for them. Before +twenty years have passed, you have stumbled along into the Bible; +alone in the dark, over a rugged road of vowels and consonants. You +keep the precious volume concealed under a board in the floor, and +read it at snatches, by the light of a pine knot. You read that God +has created of one blood all the nations of the earth; and that his +commandment is, to do unto others as we would that they should do +unto us. You think of your weeping mother, torn from your tender +arms by the cruel slave-trader; of the interdicted light of +knowledge; of the Bible kept as a sealed book from all whose skins +have a tinge of black, or brown, or yellow; of how those brown and +yellow complexions came to be so common; of yourself, the son of the +Governor, yet obliged to read the Bible by stealth, under the +penalty of a bleeding back washed with brine. These and many other +things revolve in your active mind, and your unwritten inferences +are worth whole folios of theological commentaries. + +As youth ripens into manhood, life bears for you, as it does for +others, its brightest, sweetest flower. You love young Amy, with +rippling black hair, and large dark eyes, with long, silky fringes. +You inherit from your father, the Governor, a taste for beauty +warmly-tinted, like Cleopatra's. You and Amy are of rank to make a +suitable match; for you are the son of a Southern Governor, and she +is the daughter of a United States Senator, from the North, who +often shared her master's hospitality; her handsome mother being a +portion of that hospitality, and he being large-minded enough to +"conquer prejudices." You have good sympathy in other respects also, +for your mothers were both slaves; and as it is conveniently and +profitably arranged for the masters that "the child shall follow the +condition of the _mother_," you are consequently both of you slaves. +But there are some compensations for your hard lot. Amy's simple +admiration flatters your vanity. She considers you a prodigy of +learning because you can read the Bible, and she has not the +faintest idea how such skill can be acquired. She gives you her +whole heart, full of the blind confidence of a first love. The +divine spark, which kindles aspirations for freedom in the human +soul, has been glowing more and more brightly since you have emerged +from boyhood, and now her glances kindle it into a flame. For her +dear sake, you long to be a free man, with power to protect her from +the degrading incidents of a slave-girl's life. Wages acquire new +value in your eyes, from a wish to supply her with comforts, and +enhance her beauty by becoming dress. For her sake, you are +ambitious to acquire skill in the carpenter's trade, to which your, +master-brother has applied you as the best investment of his human +capital. It is true, he takes all your wages; but then, by acquiring +uncommon facility, you hope to accomplish your daily tasks in +shorter time, and thus obtain some extra hours to do jobs for +yourself. These you can eke out by working late into the night, and +rising when the day dawns. Thus you calculate to be able in time to +buy the use of your own limbs. Poor fellow! Your intelligence and +industry prove a misfortune. They charge twice as much for the +machine of your body on account of the soul-power which moves it. +Your master-brother tells you that you would bring eighteen hundred +dollars in the market. It is a large sum. Almost hopeless seems the +prospect of earning it, at such odd hours as you can catch when the +hard day's task is done. But you look at Amy, and are inspired with +faith to remove mountains. Your master-brother graciously consents +to receive payment by instalments. These prove a convenient addition +to the whole of your wages. They will enable him to buy a new race +horse, and increase his stock of choice wines. While he sleeps off +drunkenness, you are toiling for him, with the blessed prospect of +freedom far ahead, but burning brightly in the distance, like a +Drummond Light, guiding the watchful mariner over a midnight sea. + +When you have paid five hundred dollars of the required sum, your +lonely heart so longs for the comforts of a home, that you can wait +no longer. You marry Amy, with the resolution of buying her also, +and removing to those Free States, about which you have often talked +together, as invalids discourse of heaven. Amy is a member of the +church, and it is a great point with her to be married by a +minister. Her master and mistress make no objection, knowing that +after the ceremony, she will remain an article of property, the same +as ever. Now come happy months, during which you almost forget that +you are a slave, and that it must be a weary long while before you +can earn enough to buy yourself and your dear one, in addition to +supporting your dissipated master. But you toil bravely on, and soon +pay another hundred dollars toward your ransom. The Drummond Light +of Freedom burns brighter in the diminished distance. + +Alas! in an unlucky hour, your tipsy master-brother sees your gentle +Amy, and becomes enamored of her large dark eyes, and the rich +golden tint of her complexion. Your earnings and your ransom-money +make him flush of cash. In spite of all your efforts to prevent it, +she becomes his property. He threatens to cowhide you, if you ever +speak to her again. You remind him that she is your wife; that you +were married by a minister. "Married, you damned nigger!" he +exclaims; "what does a slave's marriage amount to? If you give me +any more of your insolence, you'll get a taste of the cowhide." + +Anxious days and desolate nights pass. There is such a heavy pain at +your heart, it is a mystery to yourself that you do not die. At +last, Amy contrives to meet you, pale and wretched as yourself. She +has a mournful story to tell of degrading propositions, and terrible +threats. She promises to love you always, and be faithful to you +till death, come what may. Poor Amy! When she said that, she did not +realize how powerless is the slave, in the hands of an unprincipled +master. Your interview was watched, and while you were sobbing in +each other's arms, you were seized and ordered to receive a hundred +lashes. While you are lying in jail, stiff with your wounds, your +master-brother comes to tell you he has sold you to a trader from +Arkansas. You remind him of the receipt he has given you for six +hundred dollars, and ask him to return the money. He laughs in your +face, and tells you his receipt is worth no more than so much brown +paper; that no contracts with a slave are binding. He coolly adds, +"Besides, it has taken all my spare money to buy Amy." Perhaps you +would have killed him in that moment of desperation, even with the +certainty of being burnt to cinders for the deed, but you are too +horribly wounded by the lash to be able to spring upon him. In that +helpless condition, you are manacled and carried off by the +slave-trader. Never again will Amy's gentle eyes look into yours. +What she suffers you will never know. She is suddenly wrenched from +your youth, as your mother was from your childhood. The pall of +silence falls over all her future. She cannot read or write; and the +post-office was not instituted for slaves. + +Looking back on that dark period of desolation and despair, you +marvel how you lived through it. But the nature of youth is elastic. +You have learned that law offers colored men nothing but its +_penalties_; that white men engross all its _protection_; still you +are tempted to make another bargain for your freedom. Your new +master seems easy and good-natured, and you trust he will prove more +honorable than your brother has been. Perhaps he would; but +unfortunately, he is fond of cards; and when you have paid him two +hundred dollars, he stakes them, and you also, at the gaming-table, +and loses. The winner is a hard man, noted for severity to his +slaves. Now you resolve to take the risk of running away, with all +its horrible chances. You hide in a neighboring swamp, where you are +bitten by a venomous snake, and your swollen limb becomes almost +incapable of motion. In great anguish, you drag it along, through +the midnight darkness, to the hut of a poor plantation-slave, who +binds on a poultice of ashes, but dares not, for fear of his life, +shelter you after day has dawned. He helps you to a deep gully, and +there you remain till evening, half-famished for food. A man in the +neighborhood keeps blood-hounds, well trained to hunt runaways. They +get on your track, and tear flesh from the leg which the snake had +spared. To escape them, you leap into the river. The sharp ring of +rifles meets your ear. You plunge under water. When you come up to +take breath, a rifle ball lodges in your shoulder and you plunge +again. Suddenly, thick clouds throw their friendly veil over the +moon. You swim for your life, with balls whizzing round you. Thanks +to the darkness and the water, you baffle the hounds, both animal +and human. Weary and wounded, you travel through the forests, your +eye fixed hopefully on the North Star, which seems ever beckoning +you onward to freedom, with its bright glances through the foliage. +In the day-time, you lie in the deep holes of swamps, concealed by +rank weeds and tangled vines, taking such rest as can be obtained +among swarms of mosquitoes and snakes. Through incredible perils and +fatigues, footsore and emaciated, you arrive at last in the States +called Free. You allow yourself little time to rest, so eager are +you to press on further North. You have heard the masters swear with +peculiar violence about Massachusetts, and you draw the inference +that it is a refuge for the oppressed. Within the borders of that +old Commonwealth, you breathe more freely than you have ever done. +You resolve to rest awhile, at least, before you go to Canada. You +find friends, and begin to hope that you may be allowed to remain +and work, if you prove yourself industrious and well behaved. +Suddenly, you find yourself arrested and chained. Soldiers escort +you through the streets of Boston, and put you on board a Southern +ship, to be sent back to your master. When you arrive, he orders you +to be flogged so unmercifully, that the doctor says you will die if +they strike another blow. The philanthropic city of Boston hears the +bloody tidings, and one of her men in authority says to the public: +"Fugitive slaves are a class of foreigners, with whose rights +Massachusetts has nothing to do. It is enough for _us_, that they +have no right to be _here_."[1] And the merchants of Boston cry, +Amen. + +[Footnote 1: Said by the U.S. Commissioner, George Ticknor Curtis, +at a Union Meeting, in the Old Cradle of Liberty.] + +Legislators of Massachusetts! if _you_ had been thus continually +robbed of your rights by the hand of violence, what would _you_ +think of the compact between North and South to perpetuate your +wrongs, and transmit them to your posterity? Would you not regard it +as a league between highwaymen, who had "no rights that you were +bound to respect"? I put the question plainly and directly to your +consciences and your common sense, and they will not allow you to +answer, No. Are you, then, doing right to sustain the validity of a +law for _others_, which you would vehemently reject for _yourselves_ +in the name of outraged justice and humanity? + +The incidents I have supposed might happen to yourselves if you were +slaves, are not an imaginary accumulation of horrors. The things I +have described are happening in this country every day. I have +talked with many "fugitives from injustice," and I could not, within +the limits of these pages, even hint at a tithe of the sufferings +and wrongs they have described. I have also talked with several +slaveholders, who had emancipated themselves from the hateful +system. Being at a safe distance from lynching neighbors, they could +venture to tell the truth; and their statements fully confirm all +that I have heard from the lips of slaves. If you read Southern +Laws, you will need very small knowledge of human nature to be +convinced that the practical results must inevitably be utter +barbarism. In view of those _laws_, I have always wondered how +sensible people could be so slow in believing the actual state of +things in slaveholding communities. + +There are no incidents in history, or romance, more thrilling than +the sufferings, perils, and hair-breadth escapes of American slaves. +No Puritan pilgrim, or hero of '76, has manifested more courage and +perseverance in the cause of freedom, than has been evinced, in +thousands of instances, by this persecuted race. In future ages, +popular ballads will be sung to commemorate their heroic +achievements, and children more enlightened than ours will marvel at +the tyranny of their white ancestors. + +All of you have doubtless read some accounts of what these unhappy +men and women have dared and endured. Did you never put yourselves +in their stead, and imagine how _you_ would feel, under similar +circumstances? Not long ago, a young man escaped from slavery by +clinging night and day to the under part of a steamboat, drenched by +water, and suffering for food. He was discovered and sent back. If +the Constitution of the United States sanctioned such an outrage +upon _you_, what would _you_ think of those who answered your +entreaties and remonstrances by saying, "Our fathers made an +agreement with the man who robs you of your wages and your freedom. +It is law; and it is your duty to submit to [Transcriber's note: +word cut off] patiently"? I think you would _then_ perceive the +necessity of having the Constitution forthwith amended; and if it +were not done very promptly, I apprehend you would appeal +vociferously to a higher law. + +A respectable lady, who removed with her family from Virginia to New +York, some years ago, had occasion to visit the cook's cabin, to +prepare suitable nourishment for a sick child, during the voyage. +This is the story she tells: "The steward kindly assisted me in +making the toast, and added a cracker and a cup of tea. With these +on a small waiter, I was returning to the cabin, when, in passing +the freight, which consisted of boxes, bags, &c., a little tawny, +famished-looking hand was thrust out between the packages. The +skeleton fingers, agitated by a convulsive movement, were evidently +reached forth to obtain the food. Shocked, but not alarmed by the +apparition, I laid the cracker on the hand, which was immediately +withdrawn. No one observed the transaction, and I went swiftly to +the cabin. In the afternoon, I went to the steward again, in behalf +of the little invalid. Finding he was a father, I gave him presents +for his children, and so ingratiated myself into his favor, that I +had free access to the larder. Whatever I could procure, I divided +with the famished hand, which had become to me a precious charge. As +all was tranquil on board, it was evident that I alone was aware of +the presence of the fugitive. I humbly returned thanks to God for +the privilege of ministering to the wants of this his outcast, +despised and persecuted image. That the unfortunate being was a +slave, I doubted not. I knew the laws and usages in such cases. I +knew the poor creature had nothing to expect from the captain or +crew; and again and again I asked myself the agonizing question +whether there would be any way of escape. I hoped we should arrive +in the night, that the fugitive might go on shore unseen, under +favor of the darkness. I determined to watch and assist the creature +thus providentially committed to my charge. We had a long passage. +On the sixth day, I found that the goods were being moved to come at +something which was wanted. My heart seemed to die within me; for +the safety of the sufferer had become dear to me. When we sat down +to dinner, the dishes swam before my eyes. The tumbling of the +freight had not ceased. I felt that a discovery must take place. At +length, I heard sudden, Hallo! Presently, the steward came and +whispered the captain, who laid down his knife and fork, and went on +deck. One of the passengers followed him, but soon returned In a +laughing manner, he told us that a small mulatto boy; who said he +belonged to Mr. ----, of Norfolk, had been found among the freight. +He had been concealed among the lumber on wharves for two weeks, and +had secreted himself in the schooner the night before we sailed. He +was going to New York, to find his father, who had escaped two years +before. 'He is starved to a skeleton,' said he, 'and is hardly worth +taking back.' Many jokes were passed as to the manner of his being +renovated, when he should fall into the hands of his master. + +"The unfortunate child was brought on deck, and we all left the +cabin to look at him. I stood some time in the companion-way before +I could gain strength to move forward. As soon as he discovered me, +a bright gleam passed over his countenance, and he instantly held +out to me that famished hand. My feelings could no longer be +controlled. There stood before me a child, not more than eleven or +twelve years of age, of yellow complexion, and a sad countenance. He +was nearly naked; his back was _seared with scars_, and his flesh +was wasted to the bone. I burst into tears, and the jeers of others +were for a moment changed into sympathies. It began, however, to be +suspected that I had brought the boy away; and in that case, the +vessel must put back, in order to give me up also. But I related the +circumstances, and all seemed satisfied with the truth of my +statement. + +"I asked to be allowed to feed the boy, and the request was granted. +He ate voraciously, and, as I stood beside him, he looked into my +face at every mouthful. There was something confiding in his look. +When he had finished his meal, as I took the plate, he rubbed his +fingers softly on my hand, and leaned his head toward me, like a +weary child. O that I could have offered him a place of rest! that I +could have comforted and protected him! a helpless _child_! a +feeble, emaciated, suffering, innocent _child_, reserved for bondage +and torture! + +"The captain informed us that the vessel had been forbidden to enter +the port with a fugitive slave on board. He must discharge her +cargo where she lay, and return, with all possible dispatch, to +Norfolk. Accordingly, we came to anchor below the city, and the +passengers were sent up in a boat, I said to the captain, 'There is +a great ado about a poor helpless child.' He replied, 'The laws must +be obeyed.' I could not help exclaiming, 'Is this the land of +boasted freedom?' Here was an innocent child treated like a felon; +manacled, and sent back to slavery and the lash; deprived of the +fostering care which even the brute is allowed to exercise toward +its young. The slender boy was seeking the protection of a father. +Did humanity aid him? No. Humanity was prevented by the law, which +consigns one portion of the people to the control and brutality of +the other. Humanity can only look on and weep. 'The laws must be +obeyed.'" + +Legislators of Massachusetts! suppose for one moment that poor +abused boy was your own little Johnny or Charley, what would you say +of the law _then_? Truly, if we have no feeling for the children of +_others_, we deserve to have our own children reserved for such a +fate; and I sometimes think it is the only lesson that will teach +the North to respect justice and humanity. + +It is not long ago, since a free colored man in Baltimore was +betrothed to a young slave of eighteen, nearly white, and very +beautiful. If they married, their children would be slaves, and he +would have no power to protect his handsome wife from any outrages +an unprincipled master, or his sons, might choose to perpetrate. +Therefore, he wisely resolved to marry in a land of freedom. He +placed her in a box, with a few holes in it, small enough not to +attract attention. With tender care, he packed hay around her, that +she might not be bruised when thrown from the cars with other +luggage. The anxiety of the lover was dreadful. Still more terrible +was it, when waiting for her in Philadelphia, he found that the +precious box had not arrived. They had happened to have an unusual +quantity of freight, and the baggage-master, after turning the box +over, in rough, railroad fashion had concluded to leave it till the +next train. The poor girl was thrown into a most uneasy position, +without the power of changing it. She was nearly suffocated for want +of air; the hay-seed fell into her eyes and nostrils, and it +required almost superhuman efforts to refrain from sneezing or +choking. Added to this was terror lest her absence be discovered, +and the heavy box examined. In that state of mind and body, she +remained more than two hours, in the hot sun on the railroad +platform. At last, the box arrived in Philadelphia, and the lover +and his friends conveyed it to a place of safety as speedily as +possible. Those who were present at the opening, say it was the most +impressive scene they ever witnessed. Silently, almost breathlessly, +they drew out the nails, expecting to find a corpse. When the cover +was lifted, she smiled faintly in the anxious face of her lover. "O +God, she is alive!" he exclaimed, and broke down in a paroxysm of +sobs. She had a terrible brain fever, and when she recovered from +it, her glossy hair was sprinkled with gray, and the weight of ten +years was added to her youthful face. Thanks to the vigilance and +secrecy of friends, the hounds of the United States, who use the +Constitution for their kennel, did not get a chance to lap the blood +of this poor trembling hare. + +Legislators of Massachusetts! suppose this innocent girl had been +your own Mary or Emma, would you not straightway demand amendment of +the Constitution, in no very measured terms? And if it could not be +obtained right speedily, would you not ride over the Constitution +roughshod? If you would not, you do not deserve to have such +blessings as lovely and innocent daughters. + +You have all heard of Margaret Garner, who escaped from Kentucky to +Ohio, with her father and mother, her husband and four children. The +Cincinnati papers described her as "a dark mulatto, twenty-three +years of age, of an interesting appearance, considerable +intelligence, and a good address." Her husband was described as +"about twenty-two years old, of a very lithe, active form, and +rather a mild, pleasant countenance." These fugitives were sheltered +by a colored friend in Ohio. There the hounds in pay of the United +States, to which "price of blood" you and I and all of us +contribute, ferreted them out, and commanded them to surrender. When +they refused to do so, they burst open the door, and assailed the +inmates of the house with cudgels and pistols. They defended +themselves bravely, but were overpowered by numbers and disarmed. +When Margaret perceived that there was no help for her and her +little ones, she seized a knife and cut the throat of her most +beautiful child. She was about to do the same by the others, when +her arm was arrested. The child killed was nearly white, and +exceedingly pretty. The others were mulattoes, and pretty also. What +history lay behind this difference of complexion, the world will +probably never know. But I have talked confidentially with too many +fugitive women not to know that very sad histories do lie behind +such facts. Margaret Garner knew very well what fate awaited her +handsome little daughter, and that nerved her arm to strike the +death-blow. It was an act that deserves to take its place in history +by the side of the Roman Virginius. + +The man who claimed this unfortunate family as chattels acknowledged +that they had always been faithful servants. On their part, they +complained of cruel treatment from their master, as the cause of +their attempt to escape. They were carried to the United States +Court, under a strong guard, and there was not manhood enough in +Cincinnati to rescue them. What was called law decided that they +were property, and they were sent back to the dark dungeon of +interminable bondage. The mother could not be induced to express any +regret for the death of her child,--her "pretty bird," as she called +her. With tears streaming from her eyes, she told of her own toils +and sufferings, and said, "It was better they should be killed at +once, and end their misery, than to be taken back to slavery, to be +murdered by inches." To a preacher, who asked her, "Why did you not +trust in God? Why didn't you wait and hope?" she answered, "We did +wait; and when there seemed to be no hope for us, we run away. God +did not appear to help us, and I did the best I could." + +These poor wretches were escorted through the streets by a National +Guard, the chivalry of the United States. There was not manhood +enough in the Queen City of the West to attempt a rescue; though +they are very fond of quoting for _themselves_, "Give me Liberty, or +give me Death!" Men satisfied themselves by saying it was all done +according to _law_. A powerful plea, truly, for a people who boast +so much of making their own laws! + +These slaves were soon after sent down the Mississippi to be sold in +Arkansas. The boat came in collision with another boat, and many +were drowned. The shock threw Margaret overboard, with a baby in her +arms. She was too valuable a piece of property to lose, and they +drew her out of the water; but the baby was gone. She evinced no +emotion but joy, still saying it was better for her children to die +than to be slaves. + +The man who could not afford to let this heroic woman own her little +ones, was very liberal in supporting the Gospel, and his wife was a +member of the church. Do you think that mother had a murderer's +heart? Nay, verily. Exceeding love for her children impelled her to +the dreadful deed. The murder was committed by those human hounds, +who drove her to that fearful extremity, where she was compelled to +choose between Slavery or Death for her innocent offspring. + +Again I ask, what would be your judgment of this law, if your _own_ +daughter and infant grand-daughter had been its victims? You know +very well, that had it been your _own_ case, such despotism, calling +itself law, would be swept away in a whirlwind of indignation, and +men who strove to enforce it would be obliged to flee the country. + + ----"They are slaves most base, + Whose love of right is for _themselves_, and not for all the race." + +I was lately talking with Friend Whittier, whose poetry so stirs the +hearts of the people in favor of freedom and humanity. He told me he +thought the greatest pain he ever suffered was in witnessing the +arrest of a fugitive slave in Philadelphia. The man had lived there +many years; he bore a good character, and was thriving by his +industry. He had married a Pennsylvania woman, and they had a fine +family of children. In the midst of his prosperity and happiness, +the blood-hounds of the United States tracked him out. He was seized +and hurried into court. Friend Whittier was present, and heard the +agonized entreaties of his wife and children. He saw them clinging +to the half frantic husband and father, when the minions of a wicked +law tore him away from them for ever. That intelligent, worthy, +industrious man was ruthlessly plunged into the deep, dark grave of +slavery, where tens of thousands perish yearly, and leave no record +of their wrongs. "A German emigrant, who witnessed the scene, poured +out such a tornado of curses as I never before heard," said +Whittier; "and I could not blame the man. He came here supposing +America to be a free country, and he was bitterly disappointed. Pity +for that poor slave and his bereaved family agonized my heart; and +my cheeks burned with shame that my country deserved the red-hot +curses of that honest German; but stronger than either of those +feelings was overpowering indignation that people of the Free States +were compelled by law to witness such barbarities." + +Many of you have heard of William and Ellen Crafts, a pious and +intelligent couple, who escaped from bondage some years ago. She +disguised herself in male attire, and passed for a white gentleman, +taking her darker colored husband with her as a servant. When the +Fugitive Slave Act went into operation, they received warning that +the hounds were on their track. They sought temporary refuge in the +house of my noble-hearted friend, Ellis Gray Loring, who then +resided in the vicinity of Boston. He and his family were absent for +some days; but a lady in the house invited Mr. Crafts to come in and +stay till they returned. "No, I thank you," he replied. "There is a +heavy fine for sheltering fugitives; and it would not be right to +subject Mr. Loring to it without his consent." "But you know he is a +true friend to the slaves," urged the lady. "If he were at home, I +am sure he would not hesitate to incur the penalty." "Because he is +such a good friend to my oppressed race, there is all the more +reason why I should not implicate him in my affairs, without his +knowledge," replied this nobleman of nature. His wife had slept but +little the previous night, having been frightened by dreams of +Daniel Webster chasing her husband, pistol in hand. The evening was +stormy, and she asked him if they could not remain there till +morning. "It would not be right, Ellen," he replied; and with tears +in her eyes, they went forth into the darkness and rain. Was _that_ +a man to be treated like a chattel? How many white gentlemen are +there, who, in circumstances as perilous, would have manifested such +nicety of moral perception, such genuine delicacy of feeling? +England has kindly received that worthy and persecuted couple. All +who set foot on _her_ soil are free. Would to God it were so in +Massachusetts! + +It is well known that Southerners have repeatedly declared they do +not demand fugitives merely to recover articles of property, or for +the sake of making an example of them, to inspire terror in other +runaways; that they have a still stronger motive, which is, to +humiliate the North; to make them feel that no latitude limits their +mastership. Have we no honest pride, that we so tamely submit to +this? What lethargic disease has fallen on Northern souls, that they +dare not be as bold for Freedom as tyrants are for Slavery? It was +not thus with our fathers, whose sepulchres we whiten. If old Ben +Franklin had stood as near Boston Court House as his statue does, do +you believe _he_ would have remained passive, while Sims, the +intelligent mechanic, was manacled and driven through the streets, +guiltless of any crime, save that of wishing to be free? _My_ belief +is that the brave old printer of '76 would have drawn down the +lightning out of heaven upon that procession, with a vengeance. + +What satisfactory reasons can be alleged for submitting to this +degradation? What good excuse can be offered? Shall we resort to the +Old Testament argument, that anodyne for the consciences of +"South-Side" divines? Suppose the descendants of Ham were ordained +to be slaves to the end of time, for an offence committed thousands +of years ago, by a progenitor they never heard of. Still, the +greatest amount of theological research leaves it very uncertain who +the descendants of Ham are, and where they are. I presume you would +not consider the title even to one acre of land satisfactorily +settled by evidence of such extremely dubious character; how much +less, then, a man's ownership of himself! Then, again, if we admit +that Africans are descendants of Ham, what is to be said of +thousands of slaves, advertised in Southern newspapers as "passing +themselves for white men, or white women"? Runaways with "blue eyes, +light hair, and rosy complexions"? Are these sons and daughters of +our Presidents, our Governors, our Senators, our Generals, and our +Commodores, descendants of Ham? Are _they_ Africans? + +If you turn to the favorite New Testament argument, you will find +that Paul requested Philemon to receive Onesimus, "no longer as a +servant, but as a brother beloved." Is _that_ the way Southern +masters receive the "fugitives from injustice" whom we drive back to +them? Is it the way we _expect_ they will be received? In 1851, the +intelligent young mechanic, named Thomas Sims, escaped from a hard +master, who gave him many blows and no wages. By his own courage and +energy, he succeeded in reaching our Commonwealth, where mechanics +are not compelled by law to work without wages. But the authorities +of Boston decreed that this man was "bound to such service or +labor." So they ordered out their troops and sent him back to his +master, who caused him to be tied up and flogged, till the doctor +said, "If you strike another blow, you will kill him." "Let him +die," replied the master. He did nearly die in prison, but recovered +to be sold farther South. Was _this_ being received as "a brother +beloved"? Before we send back any more Onesimuses, it is necessary +to have a different set of Philemons to deal with. The Scripture is +clearly not obeyed, under present circumstances. + +If you resort to the alleged legal obligation to return fugitives, +it has more plausibility, but has it in reality any firm foundation? +Americans boast of making their own laws, and of amending them +whenever circumstances render it necessary. How, then, can they +excuse themselves, or expect the civilized world to excuse them, for +making, or sustaining, unjust and cruel laws? The Fugitive Slave Act +has none of the attributes of law. If two highwaymen agreed between +themselves to stand by each other in robbing helpless men, women +and children, should we not find it hard work to "conquer our +prejudices" so far as to dignify their bargain with the name of +_law_? That is the light in which the compact between North and +South presents itself to the minds of intelligent slaves, and we +should view it in the same way, if we were in their position. Law +was established to maintain justice between man and man; and this +Act clearly maintains injustice. Law was instituted to protect the +weak from the strong; this Act delivers the weak completely into the +arbitrary power of the strong, "Law is a rule of conduct, prescribed +by the supreme power, commanding what is right, and forbidding what +is wrong." This is the commonly received definition of law, and +obviously, none more correct could be substituted for it. The +application of it would at once annul the Fugitive Slave Act, and +abolish slavery. That Act reverses the maxim. It commands what is +wrong, and forbids what is right. It commands us to trample on the +weak and defenceless, to persecute the oppressed, to be accomplices +in defrauding honest laborers of their wages. It forbids us to +shelter the homeless, to protect abused innocence, to feed the +hungry, to "hide the outcast." Let theological casuists argue as +they will, Christian hearts _will_ shrink from thinking of Jesus as +surrendering a fugitive slave; or of any of his apostles, unless it +be Judas. Political casuists may exercise their skill in making the +worse appear the better reason, still all honest minds have an +intuitive perception that no human enactment which violates God's +laws is worthy of respect. By what law of God can we justify the +treatment of Margaret Garner? the surrender of Sims and Burns? the +pitiless persecution of that poor little "famished hand"? + +There is another consideration, which ought alone to have sufficient +weight with us to deter us from attempting to carry out this +tyrannical enactment. All history, and all experience, show it to be +an immutable law of God, that whosoever injures another, injures +himself in the process. These frequent scuffles between despotism +and freedom, with despotism shielded by law, cannot otherwise than +demoralize our people. They unsettle the popular mind concerning +eternal principles of justice. They harden the heart by familiarity +with violence. They accustom people to the idea that it is right for +Capital to own Labor; and thus the reverence for Liberty, which we +inherited from our fathers, will gradually die out in the souls of +our children. We are compelled to disobey our own consciences, and +repress all our humane feelings, or else to disobey the law. It is +a grievous wrong done to the people to place them between these +alternatives. The inevitable result is to destroy the sanctity of +law. The doctrine that "might makes right," which our rulers consent +to teach the people, in order to pacify slaveholders, will come out +in unexpected forms to disturb our own peace and safety. There is +"even-handed justice" in the fact that men cannot aid in enslaving +others, and themselves remain free; that they cannot assist in +robbing others, without endangering their own security. + +Moreover, there is wrong done, even to the humblest individual, when +he is compelled to be ashamed of his country. When the judge passed +under chains into Boston Court House, and when Anthony Burns was +sent back into slavery, I wept for my native State, as a daughter +weeps for the crimes of a beloved mother. It seemed to me that I +would gladly have died to have saved Massachusetts from that sin and +that shame. The tears of a secluded woman, who has no vote to give, +may appear to you of little consequence. But assuredly it is not +well with any Commonwealth, when her daughters weep over her +degeneracy and disgrace. + +In the name of oppressed humanity, of violated religion, of +desecrated law, of tarnished honor, of our own freedom endangered, +of the moral sense of our people degraded by these evil influences, +I respectfully, but most urgently, entreat you to annul this +infamous enactment, so far as the jurisdiction of Massachusetts +extends. Our old Commonwealth has been first and foremost in many +good works; let her lead in this also. And deem it not presumptuous, +if I ask it likewise for my own sake. I am a humble member of the +community; but I am deeply interested in the welfare and reputation +of my native State, and that gives me some claim to be heard. I am +growing old; and on this great question of equal rights I have +toiled for years, sometimes with a heart sickened by "hope +deferred." I beseech you to let me die on Free Soil! Grant me the +satisfaction of saying, ere I go hence-- + + "Slaves cannot breathe among us. If their lungs + Receive _our_ air, that moment they are free! + They touch _our_ country, and their shackles fall!" + +If you cannot be induced to reform this great wickedness, for the +sake of outraged justice and humanity, then do it for the honor of +the State, for the political welfare of our own people, for the +moral character of our posterity. For, as sure as there is a +Righteous Ruler in the heavens, if you continue to be accomplices +in violence and fraud, God will _not_ "save the Commonwealth of +Massachusetts." + +L. MARIA CHILD. + + + + +APPEAL TO THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT. + + +The Hon. Robert Rantoul, Hon. Horace Mann, Hon. Charles Sumner, and +other able men, have argued against the Constitutionality of the +Fugitive Slave Bill, proving it to be not only contrary to the +_spirit_ and _meaning_ of the Constitution, but also to be +unauthorized by the _letter_ of that document. That this nefarious +Bill is contrary to the _spirit_ and _intention_ of the Constitution +is shown by the published opinions of those who framed it; by the +debates at the time of its adoption; and by its Preamble, which sets +forth that it was ordained to "establish _justice_, ensure domestic +_tranquillity_, promote the _general welfare_, and secure the +blessings of _liberty_." The arguments adduced to prove that this +bill is unauthorized by the _letter_ of the Constitution, I will +endeavor to compress into a few words. + +Article 10 of the Amendments to the Constitution expressly provides +that + + "_Powers not delegated to the United States by the + Constitution_, nor prohibited by it to the States, _are + reserved to the States respectively, or to the people_." + +Article 4 of the Constitution contains four compacts. The first is: + + "Full faith and credit shall be given in each of the States + to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of + every other State. And the _Congress may, by general laws, + prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and + proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof_." + +Here, _power is expressly delegated by the Constitution to the +United States_. + +The second compact is: + + "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all + privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." + +Under this provision, an attempt was made to obtain some action of +Congress for the protection of colored seamen in slaveholding ports; +but it was decided that Congress had no power to act on the subject, +because _the Constitution had not delegated any power to the United +States_ in the clause referred to. Slaveholders are very strict in +adherence to the Constitution, whenever any question of _protection_ +to colored people is involved in their decisions; but for purposes +of _oppression_, they have no scruples. They reverse the principle +of Common Law, that "in any question under the Constitution, _every +word is to be construed in favor of liberty_." + +The third compact is: + + "A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other + crime, who shall flee from justice, or be found in another + State, shall, on demand of the Executive authority of the + State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to + the State having jurisdiction of the crime." + +It has never been pretended that Congress has any power to act in +such cases. There is no clause _delegating any power to the United +States_; consequently, all proceedings on the subject have been left +to the several States. + +The fourth compact is: + + "No person held to service or labor in one State, under the + laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of + any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such + service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the + party to whom such service or labor may be due." + +If the framers of the Constitution had meant that Congress should +have power to pass a law for delivering up fugitives "held to +service or labor," they would have inserted a clause _delegating +such power_, as they did in the compact concerning "public acts and +records." The Constitution does _not_ delegate any such power to the +United States. Consequently, Congress had no constitutional right to +pass the Fugitive Slave Bill, and the States are under no +constitutional obligation to obey it. + +The Hon. Horace Mann, one of Massachusetts' most honored sons, in +his able speech on this subject in Congress, 1851, said:--"In view +of the great principles of civil liberty, out of which the +Constitution grew, and which it was designed to secure, my own +opinion is that this law cannot be fairly and legitimately supported +on constitutional grounds. Having formed this opinion with careful +deliberation, I am bound to speak from it and to act from it. I have +read every argument and every article in defence of the law, from +whatever source emanating. Nay, I have been more anxious to read the +arguments made in its favor, than the arguments against it; and I +think I have seen a sound legal answer to all the former." * * * +"It is a law that might be held constitutional by a bench of +slaveholders, whose _pecuniary interests_ connect them directly with +slavery; or by those who have surrendered themselves to a +pro-slavery policy from _political hopes_. But if we gather the +opinions of unbiassed and disinterested men, of those who have no +_money_ to make, and no _office_ to hope for, through the triumph of +this law, then I think the preponderance of opinion is decidedly +against its constitutionality. It is a fact universally known, that +gentlemen who have occupied and adorned the highest judicial +stations in their respective States, together with many of the +ablest lawyers in the whole country, have expressed opinions against +the constitutionality of this law." * * * "When I am called upon to +support such a law as this, while it lasts, or to desist from +opposing it in all constitutional ways, my response is, Repeal the +law! that I may no longer be called upon to support it. I demand it, +because it is a law which conflicts with the Constitution of the +country, and with all the judicial interpretations of that +Constitution, wherever they have been applied to the white race. +Because it is a law abhorrent to the moral and religious sentiments +of a vast majority of the community called upon to enforce it. +Because it is a law which, if executed in the Free States, divests +them of the character of Free States, and makes them voluntary +participators in the guilt of slaveholding. Because it is a law +Which disgraces our country in the eyes of the whole civilized +world, and gives plausible occasion to the votaries of despotic +power to decry republican institutions. Because it is a law which +forbids us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, and +which makes it a crime to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and +to visit and succor the sick and imprisoned. Because it is a law +which renders the precepts of the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus +Christ seditious; and were the Savior and his band of disciples now +on earth, there is but one of them who would escape its penalties by +pretending to 'conquer his prejudices.'" * * * "Suppose the whole +body of the white population should be as much endangered by this +law, as the colored people now are, would the existence of the law +be tolerated for an hour? Would there not be a simultaneous and +universal uprising of the people against it, and such a yell of +execration as never before burst from mortal lips?" + +The Hon. Charles Sumner, always true to the right, as the needle +to the pole, in his learned and able speech in Congress, 1852, +said:--"The true principles of our political system, the history +of the National Convention, the natural interpretation of the +Constitution, all teach that this Act is a usurpation by Congress of +powers that do not belong to it, and an infraction of rights secured +to the States. It is a sword, whose handle is at the National +Capital, and whose point is every where in the States. A weapon so +terrible to personal liberty the nation has no power to grasp." +* * * "In the name of the Constitution, which it violates; of my +country, which it dishonors; of humanity, which it degrades; of +Christianity, which it offends, I arraign this enactment, and now +hold it up to the judgment of the Senate and the world." * * * * + +"The Slave Act violates the Constitution, and shocks the public +conscience. With modesty, and yet with firmness, let me add, it +offends against the Divine Law. No such enactment can be entitled to +support. As the throne of God is above every earthly throne, so are +his laws and statutes above all the laws and statutes of man. To +question these, is to question God himself. But to assume that human +laws are above question, is to claim for their fallible authors +infallibility. To assume that they are always in conformity with +those of God, is presumptuously and impiously to exalt man to an +equality with God. Clearly, human laws are _not_ always in such +conformity; nor can they ever be beyond question from each +individual. Where the conflict is open, as if Congress should demand +the perpetration of murder, the office of conscience, as final +arbiter, is undisputed. But in every conflict, the same queenly +office is hers. By no earthly power can she be dethroned. Each +person, after anxious examination, without haste, without passion, +solemnly for himself must decide this great controversy. Any other +rule attributes infallibility to human laws, places them beyond +question, and degrades all men to an unthinking, passive obedience. +The mandates of an earthly power are to be discussed; those of +Heaven must at once be performed; nor can any agreement constrain us +against God. Such is the rule of morals. And now the rule is +commended to us. The good citizen, as he thinks of the shivering +fugitive, guilty of no crime, pursued, hunted down like a beast, +while praying for Christian help and deliverance, and as he reads +the requirements of this Act, is filled with horror. Here is a +despotic mandate, 'to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient +execution of this law.' Let me speak frankly. Not rashly would I set +myself against any provision of law. This grave responsibility I +would not lightly assume. But here the path of duty is clear. By the +Supreme Law, which commands me to do no injustice; by the +comprehensive Christian Law of Brotherhood; by the Constitution, +which I have sworn to support, I am bound to disobey this Act. +Never, in any capacity, can I render voluntary aid in its execution. +Pains and penalties I will endure; but this great wrong I will not +do." * * * "For the sake of peace and tranquillity, cease to shock +the public conscience! For the sake of the Constitution, cease to +exercise a power which is nowhere granted, and which violates +inviolable rights expressly secured. Repeal this enactment! Let its +terrors no longer rage through the land. Mindful of the lowly, whom +it pursues; mindful of the good men perplexed by its requirements; +in the name of charity, in the name of the Constitution, repeal this +enactment, totally, and without delay! Be admonished by these words +of Oriental piety: 'Beware of the groans of the wounded souls. +Oppress not to the utmost a single heart; for a solitary sigh has +power to overset a whole world.'" + +Robert Rantoul, Jr., whose large heart was so true to Democratic +_principles_, that the _party_ wanted to expel him from their ranks, +(as parties are prone to do with honest men,) opposed the Fugitive +Slave Bill with all the power of his strong intellect. In a speech +delivered in 1851, he said: "I am as devotedly attached as any other +man to the Union of these States, and the Constitution of our +government; but I admire and love them for that which they secure to +us. The Constitution is good, and great, and valuable, and to be +held for ever sacred, because it secures to us what was the _object_ +of the Constitution. I love the Union and the Constitution, not for +_themselves_, but for the great _end_ for which they were +created--to secure and perpetuate _liberty_; not the liberty of a +_class_, superimposed upon the thraldom of groaning multitudes: not +the liberty of a _ruling race_, cemented by the tears and blood of +subject races, but _human_ liberty, _perfect_ liberty, common to the +whole people of the United States and to their posterity. It is +because I believe all this, that I love the Union and the +Constitution. If it were not for that, the Union would be valueless, +and the Constitution not worth the parchment on which it is written. +God-given Liberty is above the Union, and above the Constitution, +and above all the works of man." + + * * * * * + + +TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT. + + +The Hon. Josiah Quincy, senior, whose integrity, noble intellect, +and long experience in public life, give great weight to his +opinions, made a speech at a Whig Convention in Boston, 1854, from +which I extract the following:--"The circumstances in which the +people of Massachusetts are placed are undeniably insupportable. +What has been seen, what has been felt, by every man, woman and +child in this metropolis, and in this community? and virtually by +every man, woman and child in Massachusetts? We have seen our Court +House in chains, two battalions of dragoons, eight regiments of +artillery, twelve companies of infantry, the whole constabulary +force of the city police, the entire disposable marine of the United +States, with its artillery loaded for action, all marching in +support of a Praetorian Band, consisting of one hundred and twenty +friends and associates of the U.S. Marshal, with loaded pistols and +drawn swords, and in military costume and array; and for what +purpose? _To escort and conduct a poor trembling slave from a Boston +Court House to the fetters and lash of his master!_ + +"This scene, thus awful, thus detestable, every inhabitant of this +metropolis, nay, every inhabitant of this Commonwealth, may be +compelled again to witness, at any time, and every day in the year, +at the will or the whim of the meanest and basest slaveholder of the +South. Is there a man in Massachusetts with a spirit so low, so +debased, so corrupted by his fears, or his fortune, that he is +prepared to say this is a condition of things to be endured in +perpetuity by us? and that this is an inheritance to be transmitted +by us to our children, for all generations? For so long as the +fugitive-slave clause remains in the Constitution, unobliterated, it +is an obligation perpetual upon them, as well as upon us. + +"The obligation incumbent upon the Free States _must be obliterated +from the Constitution, at every hazard_. I believe that, in the +nature of things, by the law of God, and the laws of man, _that +clause is at this moment abrogated, so far as respects common +obligation_. In 1789, the Free States agreed to be field-drivers and +pound-keepers for the Slaveholding States, within the limits, and +according to the fences, of the old United States. But between that +year and this A.D. 1854, the slaveholders have broken down the old +boundaries, and opened new fields, of an unknown and indefinite +extent.[1] They have multiplied their slaves by millions, and are +every day increasing their numbers, and extending their field into +the wilderness. Under these circumstances, are we bound to be their +field-drivers and pound-keepers any longer? Answer me, people of +Massachusetts! Are you the sons of the men of 1776? Or do you 'lack +gall, to make oppression bitter?' + +[Footnote 1: The Hon. Josiah Quincy, while in Congress, always +opposed the annexation of foreign territory to the United States, on +the ground of its unconstitutionality.] + +"I have pointed out your burden. I have shown you that it is +insupportable. I shall be asked how we are to get rid of it. It is +not for a private individual to point the path which a State is to +pursue, to cast off an insupportable burden; it belongs to the +constituted authorities of that State. But this I will say, that if +the people of Massachusetts solemnly adopt, as one man, in the +spirit of their fathers, the resolve that they will no longer submit +to this burden, and will call upon the Free States to concur in this +resolution, and carry it into effect, the burden will be cast off; +the fugitive-slave clause will be obliterated, not only without the +dissolution of the Union, but with a newly-acquired strength to the +Union.". + +In the spring of 1860, there was a debate on this subject in the +Legislature of New York. In the course of it, Mr. Smith, of +Chatauqua, said:--"How _came_ slavery in this country? It came here +without law; in violation of all law. It came here by force and +violence; by the force of might over right; and it remains here +to-day by no better title. And now we are called upon, by the ruling +power at Washington, not merely to tolerate it, but to legalize it +all over the United States! By the Fugitive Slave Bill, we are +forbidden to shelter or assist the forlornest stranger who ever +appealed for sympathy or aid. We are required by absolute law to +shut out every feeling of compassion for suffering humanity. Fines +and imprisonment impend over us, for exercising one of the holiest +charities of our religion. Virtue and humanity are legislated into +crime. Let us meet the issue like men! Let us assert our utter +abhorrence of all human laws, that compel us to violate the common +law of humanity and justice; and by so acting assert the broad +principles of the Declaration of American Independence, and the +letter and spirit of the Constitution. If the North was as devoted +to the cause of Freedom as the South is to Slavery, our national +troubles would vanish like darkness before the sun. Our country +would then become what it _should_ be,--free, happy, prosperous, and +respected by all the world. Then we could say, truthfully, that she +is the home of the free, the land of the brave, the asylum of the +oppressed." + +In the same debate, Mr. Maxson, of Allegheny, said:--"All laws, +whether Constitutions or statutes, that invade human rights, are +null. A community has no more power to strike down the rights of man +by Constitutions, than by any other means. Do those who give us +awfully solemn lessons about the inviolability of compacts, mean +that one man is bound to rob another because he has _agreed_ to? In +this age of schools, of churches and of Bibles, do they mean to +teach us that an agreement to rob men of their rights, in whatever +solemn form that agreement may be written out, is binding? Has the +morality of the nineteenth century culminated in _this_, that a mere +compact can convert vice into virtue? These advocates of the +rightfulness of robbery, because it has been _agreed_, to, and that +agreement has been _written down_, have come too late upon the +stage, by more than two hundred years. Where does the proud Empire +State wish to be recorded in that great history, which is being so +rapidly filled out with the records of this "irrepressible +conflict"? For myself, a humble citizen of the State, I ask no +prouder record for her than that, in the year 1860, she enacted that +_the moment a man sets foot on her soil, he is free, against the +world_!" + +Wendell Phillips, one of earth's bravest and best, made a speech at +Worcester, 1851, from which I make the following extract:--"Mr. +Mann, Mr. Giddings, and other leaders of the Free Soil party, are +ready to go to the death against the Fugitive Slave Law. It never +should be enforced, they say. It robs men of the jury trial, it robs +them of _habeas corpus_, and forty other things. This is a very good +position. But how much comfort would it have been to Ellen Crafts, +if she had been sent back to Macon, to know that it had been done +with a scrupulous observance of all the forms of _habeas corpus_ and +jury trial? When she got back, some excellent friend might have said +to her, 'My dear Ellen, you had the blessed privilege of _habeas +corpus_ and jury trial. What are you grieving about? You were sent +back according to law and the Constitution. What could you want +more?' From the statements of our Free Soil friends, you would +suppose that the _habeas corpus_ was the great safeguard of a +slave's freedom; that it covered him as with an angel's wing. But +suppose _habeas corpus_ and jury trial granted, what then? Is any +man to be even _so_ surrendered, with our consent? No slave shall be +sent back--except by _habeas corpus_. Stop half short of that! No +slave shall be sent back!" + +Rev. A.D. Mayo, of Albany, is one of those clergymen who believe +that a religious teacher has something to do with questions +affecting public morality; and his preaching is eloquent, because he +is fearlessly obedient to his own convictions. In a Sermon on the +Fugitive Slave Bill, he said:--"Remember that despotism has no +natural rights on earth that any man is bound to respect. I know +there is no political party, no Christian sect, no Northern State, +as a whole, yet fully up to this. But the Christian sentiment of the +country will finally bring us all to the same conclusion." + + +NO SLAVE HUNT IN OUR BORDERS! + + What asks the Old Dominion? If now her sons have proved + False to their fathers' memory, false to the faith they loved; + If _she_ can scoff at Freedom, and its Great Charter spurn, + Must _we_ of Massachusetts from truth and duty turn? + + _We_ hunt your bondmen, flying from Slavery's hateful hell? + _Our_ voices, at your bidding, take up the blood-hound's yell? + _We_ gather, at your summons, above our fathers' graves, + From Freedom's holy altar-horns to tear your wretched slaves? + + Thank God! not yet so vilely can Massachusetts bow, + The spirit of her early time is with her even now. + Dream not, because her Pilgrim blood moves slow, and calm, and cool, + She thus can stoop her chainless neck, a sister's slave and tool! + + For ourselves and for our children, the vow which we have given + For Freedom and Humanity, is registered in Heaven. + No slave-hunt in _our_ borders! No pirate on _our_ strand! + No fetters in the Bay State! No slave upon _our_ land! + + J.G. WHITTIER. + + +THE HIGHER LAW. + + Man was not made for forms, but forms for man; + And there are times when Law itself must bend + To that clear spirit, that hath still outran + The speed of human justice. In the end, + Potentates, not Humanity, must fall. + Water will find its level; fire will burn; + The winds must blow around this earthly ball; + This earthly ball by day and night must turn. + Freedom is typed in every element. + Man _must_ be free! If not _through_ law, why then + _Above_ the law! until its force be spent, + And justice brings a better. When, O, when, + Father of Light! shall the great reckoning come, + To lift the weak, and strike the oppressor dumb? + + C.P. CRANCH. + + +ON THE SURRENDER OF A FUGITIVE SLAVE. + + Look on who will in apathy, and stifle, they who _can_, + The sympathies, the hopes, the words, that make man truly man; + Let those whose hearts are dungeoned up, with interest or with ease, + Consent to hear, with quiet pulse, of loathsome deeds like these. + I first drew in New England's air, and from her hardy breast + Sucked in the tyrant-hating milk, that will not let me rest; + And if my words seem treason to the dullard and the tame, + 'Tis but my Bay State dialect--our fathers spake the same. + + Shame on the costly mockery of piling stone on stone + To those who won _our_ liberty! the heroes dead and gone! + While we look coldly on and see law-shielded ruffians slay + The men who fain would win their _own_! the heroes of _to-day_! + Are we pledged to craven silence? O, fling it to the wind, + The parchment wall that bars us from the least of human kind! + That makes us cringe, and temporize, and dumbly stand at rest, + While Pity's burning flood of words is red-hot in the breast! + + We owe allegiance to the State; but deeper, truer, more, + To the sympathies that God hath set within our spirit's core. + Our country claims our fealty; we grant it so; but then + Before Man made us _citizens_, great Nature made us _men_! + + Though we break our fathers' promise, we have nobler duties first, + The traitor to _Humanity_ is the traitor most accurst. + _Man_ is more than _Constitutions_. Better rot beneath the sod, + Than be true to _Church_ and _State_, while we are doubly false to God! + + JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. + + +STANZAS FOR THE TIMES. + + Shall tongues be mute, when deeds are wrought + Which well might shame extremest hell? + Shall freemen lock the indignant thought? + Shall Pity's bosom cease to swell? + Shall Honor bleed? Shall Truth succumb? + Shall pen, and press, and soul be dumb? + + What! shall we guard our neighbor still. + While woman shrieks beneath his rod, + And while he tramples down, at will, + The image of a common God? + Shall watch and ward be round him set + Of Northern nerve and bayonet? + + And shall we know, and share with him, + The danger and the growing shame? + And see our Freedom's light grow dim, + Which should have filled the world with flame? + And, writhing, feel, where'er we turn, + A world's reproach around us burn? + + No! By each spot of haunted ground, + Where Freedom weeps her children's fall; + By Plymouth's rock, and Bunker's mound; + By Griswold's stained and shattered wall; + By Warren's ghost; by Langdon's shade; + By all the memories of our dead; + + By their enlarging souls, which burst + The bands and fetters round them set; + By the free Pilgrim spirit, nursed + Within our bosoms yet; + By all above, around, below, + Be ours the indignant answer--NO! + + J.G. WHITTIER. + + + + +VERMONT PERSONAL LIBERTY LAW. + +AN ACT TO SECURE FREEDOM TO ALL PERSONS WITHIN THIS STATE. + + +_It is hereby enacted, &c.:_ + +Sec. 1. No person within this State shall be considered as property, +or subject, as such, to sale, purchase, or delivery; nor shall any +person, within the limits of this State, at this time, be deprived +of liberty or property without due process of law. + +Sec. 2. Due process of law, mentioned in the preceding section of +this Act shall, in all cases, be defined to mean the usual process +and forms in force by the laws of this State, and issued by the +courts thereof; and under such process, such person shall be +entitled to a trial by jury. + +Sec. 3. Whenever any person in this State shall be deprived of +liberty, arrested, or detained, on the ground that such person owes +service or labor to another person, not an inhabitant of this State, +either party may claim a trial by jury; and, in such case, +challenges shall be allowed to the defendant agreeably to sections +four and five of chapter one hundred and eleven of the compiled +statutes. + +Sec. 4. Every person who shall deprive or attempt to deprive any +other person of his or her liberty, contrary to the preceding +sections of this Act, shall, on conviction thereof, forfeit and pay +a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars nor less than five hundred +dollars, or be punished by imprisonment in the State Prison for a +term not exceeding ten years: _Provided_, that nothing in said +preceding sections shall apply to, or affect the right to arrest or +imprison under existing laws for contempt of court. + +Sec. 5. Neither descent near or remote from an African, whether such +African is or may have been a slave or not, nor color of skin or +complexion, shall disqualify any person from being, or prevent any +person from becoming, a citizen of this State, nor deprive such +person of the rights and privileges thereof. + +Sec. 6. Every person who may have been held as a slave, who shall +come, or be brought, or be in this State, with or without the +consent of his or her master or mistress, or who shall come, or be +brought, or be, involuntarily or in any way in this State, shall be +free. + +Sec. 7. Every person who shall hold, or attempt to hold, in this +State, in slavery, or as a slave, any person mentioned as a slave in +the sixth section of this act, or any free person, in any form, or +for any time, however short, under pretence that such person is or +has been a slave, shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the +State Prison for a term not less than one year, nor more than +fifteen years, and be fined not exceeding two thousand dollars. + +Sec. 8. All Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions +of this Act are hereby repealed. + +Sec. 9. This Act shall take effect from its passage. + +Approved November 25, 1858. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Duty of Disobedience to the +Fugitive Slave Act, by Lydia Maria Child + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTY OF DISOBEDIENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 13989.txt or 13989.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/9/8/13989/ + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Andrea Ball and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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