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Show l 11G NO'l'ES ON lawful poRscssion of his liberty, and therefore is not "deprived of" it, withiu the meaning of the Con~titution. Just so with the fugitive sJa.,·o: he is not in the lawful possession of his liberty. :Mr. Sumner admits th:tt he is not, for he .says, (p. 20.) that by tho provisions of tho Constitution, "tho States arc prohibited from any' law or regulation' by which the fugitive may be discharged," and unless ltLwfully discha.rgcd, he is unlawfully at liberty, and therefore tl1c clause of the Constitution in question docs not apply to him. Another objection of 1\Ir. Sumner's to tho Constitutionality of the law is, that it takes a.way the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus; but this is a mistake : the law docs no such thing. 'l1he writ ma,y be issued and served; and if served, a "return" must be made to it, just as in any other case. '!'he law only provides what shall be a suffieie1Jt r eturn, vi?.., the production of the judge's or commissioner's "certificn.tc ;" and this is ]JToperly made sufficient, for the object of the writ being to ascer tain, not whether the person in whose behalf it is issued, is rightfully (in a. morul point of view,) in custolly, but whether he is legally so, as soon as this has been shown, by the production of the certificate, the writ has cxlwustcd itself. 1\Ir. Mann, in his spooch of August, 17th, (p. 16.) objects that, under the la.w, a. frccma.n may be sent into slavery; and he says, (p. 15,) that it has actually boon dono in four cases. He specifics, however, but one inst:tncc, (the only one, of course, tlmt ho co"ld specify,) that of Ad,un Gibson. An•l what \Y::tS the result? \\'hy, to usc :Mr. :Mann's own words, "'Vhen the claimant'ti agent brought Gibson to him, he r efused to r eceive him; fot· he knew, and he knew that all !tis household and nei!)hbors would know, that Gibson had J~.cvcr been his slave." 'fhc first of these reasons i-. the true and suflicicnt one ; the second (in italics,) is, therefore, super· crogaLive, and is, moreover, a mean fling nt the chnra.ctcr of UNC r.E TOM'S CA.DJN . 117 the ~~,t~m~nt, s~ch as none but IIoracc l\Iu.J)n, and his fellows ~vou mt ul~e m; they arc common with him, :lnd t.hey ar~ <lS con~cmptiblc as the li ttleness fron1 wllich they sprin" . Agum, l\I.'·· :\!ann objects that the law decides "C01~·lu~ Wt'l!J (t~te 'tla~ics :1re his,) the question of a man's liberty, ~n w~t~t IS t~ lul~l a f?rcign State, antl before what is to him ·'1· foJcJgn trJbunal, Without the poss,·b,·J,'ty of Il.iS uppcar.m " t tore to confront witnesses" &c. No 1\f. 'I· ~~ 0 I h . . . ' w A I. 1' .mn , .. new w JOn e sau.l tins, tha.t the hnv docs no such thinrr ·-th· t no law of Con r:rrcss ' I 'd . o' a . o can ~CCI c conclusJYCiy the question of the ]~bert~ of a fugitive from a. slave State. ~rLc law in fju:stwn Simply sends t!tc fugitive back to the State from wllleh he fled, to h~vc the trial of the ftuestion (if he claims one,) where alon·e Jt can be tried, and the decision of it b the laws by which alone it can l.Jc decided. And in thi[ fth· ere ·J.s n· o more hardship tha.n in the case of tho f .t. , ug1 IVC lOrn JUStiCe, who, charged with the commission of crime In O~le _State, n.n~ es~aping into another, is arrested and sent back ~o take his trwl where the crime is alleged to have been committed_;. and the one fugitiYe is as certa in of a. fair tri:ll n.~d a tlecJSJO~ accOJ~ding .to la.w and evidence,* as the otlJC/ t;,_ncc my residence lll Marylaml, there have been repc•tted tnals of" petitions for freedom •· . 1 . 1 . 1 ' ing: in f<tvor of the petit ioner. ' an( a most a ways result- A.not~ter of .l\Ir. l\Ianu's objections to the Ia.\\"' is " its fabnca.tiOn of s uch a code of cvit.lencc as was never before l)~ac~t_l,on tlte stntute.-book of any civil i~:cd nation." (p. l G. Now d the reader Will turn to Appendix E 11 I "II fi ~ ·m ab t t f I I . ' . ' tO WI ·mu ' .. s. ..r ac o ~ lC aw,. taken from the American Almanac for 18ul , anti I am Willing "any cirilizcU. nation" should do* Fr a. srecimcn of th(' kind of C\•id('UCC required in s uits for free n:~:·ze ~~~' ~~~~ndix, K ,..10.. . ) !~arfieularly the C:J.f1CS, "Dclpltine V8~ 1lC!J va.' Asldon:~ehl vs. JJ w·w[!, "ill£~layer t.s. ~llctayer," and "Nalw· |