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Show 29-l DESPOTJS .\[ the removal of fuaitivcs from justice, except under a certificate a ra nted0 in conformity to the act of Con· grcss. This view he jnCTeniously supported by rc· ferring to the act of 1793~ which rcquircd, in express ierms that all perso ns a rrested as fugitives from labor sho uld be taken before a magistrate, and a certificate obtainC'd in order to t heir removal ; nor, indeed, would it have been possible for his colleagues to have a nswered him on this point, except by denouncing that portion, at least, of the act of 179;! as unconstitutional. Three general remarks may be made upon the opinions delivered in this case. 1st. Forgct.ting the ehariness of the co nl:ltitntion a mi of the act of 1793, as to the use of su ch shameful terms as s/a,ves and slavfnj,-a decorum observed even by the act of 1850, - the 'j udges, in their opinion:;, blurt out thrse obscene words, which ought to raise a blush on the check of eve ry true man, at least of every judge, in a nation whose government is based upon the declaration that all men are born free, with a frequency that seems almost affected, as if, like strumpets, desirous to show how brazen they had grown. 2d. While the right of the slave-holder to his fugitive slave is urged with a vivacity which could not be exceeded, had the sur· render of fu giti ve slaves been the sole end and aim of the constitution, not one word is dropped, except cLnsorily, in the opinion of l.VIcLean, about the dangers from kidnappers and false claimants, or about the duly of protecting, against the terrible fale of slavery, nati ve citizens, and even fugitives from labor, claimed by scoundrels having no title to their services. 3d. It i s. not a little remarkable, that not one of the judges made the slightest allusion to the child born in Pennsy lvania, and free according to the decision of the Supreme Court of that state, but carried off !nt.o slave1·y along with its mother. 'rhe state law m1ght be inefficacious in the case of a person admitted to be a slave, but was it also void in its applicati~u to~ native.born citizen of the state, seized and carr1ed oft l :'i AMERICA. 295 into slavery wHhout any title or legal warrant? Per· haps on t he principle de minimis non curat lex,-the law does n ~t concern itself with t rifles,-the kidnapping a negro child was thought to be too insignificant a matter to engage the attention of so grave a tribunal. Or a re we to understand the court as reversinD', by si lent impli cation, the doctrine of t he S upreme b Court of ~enn.sylvania, and holding that t he ch ildren of fugi· t1vc slaves, whenever and at whatever period born, are also slaves? '!'here is still one other extremely important observation to be made upon this case. · The point brought directly to the notice of the court was, the validity of a special law of P ennsylvania, in relation to fngi· . tives from labor coming wahin her 1imits from other states. 'l'his special legislation the court held to be void, and, it would seem, soundly enough, whatever we may think of some of the grounds and reasons on which they based t heir decision. But, except by the sweeping, yet very nebu lous and unsubstantial tails of some extravagant generalities the practical applip cation of which the coutt itself, it may reasonably be supposed, would be inclined to contract within some defensible limits, the case of Prigg v. Penns.'IJl~ vania does not touch, it does not even evince the least consciousneRs of the vastly more important questions upon which, according to the views main· tained in this section, all rights and duties, existing under the constitution of the United States, in the case of fugitives from laboi, must depend; the ques· tions, namely, 1st, of the right of the states to regulate, by general laws, the procedure to be adopted, in all cases, for reclaiming, within their limit5, actual control over the persons of others by parties who possess the legal right of control ; and 2d, of the necessity that citizens of other states should be satisfied with being placed, in this respect, on a level with resident and native citizens. 'fhese are points as yet unadjudged by the Supreme Court of the United States, or by any state court, except that of Penn- |