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Show 28 'l'nE FuGITIVE vice., This allegation all know to be utterly false, they lun-ing never promis:::d to scn·c, and being Jcgally incapab]c of making any contract. Every n.ct of Christian kindness to the.'e unhappy people, tendlng to secure to them the rights ''"hich our declaration of iudcpemlcncc as~crts belong to all men, is maclc by this accursed law a penal oll'oncc, to be punisllcd with fine and imprisonment. :Jioc.:k judges, unknown to the constitution, and bribed by the promise of double fees to rc-enslave the fugiti \'C, arc commanded to decide, summm·ily, the most momentous pcr~onal if:isuc with the single exception of life ancl death, that could possibly engage the attention of a legal tribunal of the most august character. y ct this tremendous issue of liberty or bondage, is to be deci<lcd, not only in a hurry, but on such prima facie evidence as may satisfy the judge, and this judge, too, selected from a herd of similar creatures, by the claimant himself! I An ex parte affidavit, made by an absent and inteJ·cstcd party, with the certificate of an absent judge that he believes it to be true, is to be received as coxcLusrn: in the face of any amount of oral and documcntar; testimony to the contrary. "Can a man take fire into his bosom and not be burned?" Can a man aid SLAVE AcT. 29 in executing such a law without defiling his O\vn conscience? Y ct docs this profligate statute, with impious arrogance, command "ALL GOOD CITlZEXS" to nss.ist in enforcing it, when required so to do by an official slovc-catclJCr I It is a singula1· fact, in the history of this enactment, that Mr. Mason, who introduced the bill, and )fr. \Vcbstcr, who, in advance, pledged to it his support '.'to the fullest extent," both confessed, on the floor of Congress, that in their individual judgments, iL was UXCOXSTITU'l'[QSAL,-that is, that the consti· tution, as they expounded it, imposed upon the Stales severally, the obligation to surrender fugitive slaves, and gave Congress no power to legislate on the subject. 'l'hc Supreme Court, however, having otherwise determined, these gentlemen acquiesced in its decision, without being convinced by it. It is well known bow grossly Mr. IV cbster, in his subsequent canvass for the Presidency, insulted all who, like himself, denied the constitutionality of the law. Another significant fact in the same history is, that the law was passed by a minority of the Ilouse of Representatives. Of 232 members, only lOD recorded their names in its favor. Many, deterred either by scruples of con- |