The court, Chase, Ch. J., overruled the objection, and determined it should be given to the jury." 11. The Fugitive Slave Law. No. 31. An Act to amend and supplementary to the Act entitled “An Act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters," approved February 12, 1793. Commissioners of the Circuit Court of the United States, now, or hereafter to be, appointed under any act of Congress, and thereby authorized to exercise powers given in section 33 of the act of September 24, 1789, are authorized and required to perform the duties required by this act. The Superior Courts of the organized Territories may appoint commissioners, who shall have the same powers as commissioners of the said Circuit Courts, and the number of commissioners shall be from time to time enlarged, with a view to afford reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and promptly to discharge the duties imposed by this act. They shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the judges of the said courts in term time and vacation, and shall grant certificates to claimants, upon satisfactory proof, with authority to take and remove such fugitives, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or fled, and shall receive in full for services a fee of $10, if a certificate is granted, or of $5 where the proof does not allow the granting of a certificate, in either case to be paid by the claimant. And the better to enable the said commissioners to execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, they are hereby empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing, any suitable persons, from time to time, to execute all such processes as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their respective duties, with authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by them, to execute process as aforesaid, to summon and call to their aid the bystanders or posse comitatus of the proper county, when necessary, and the persons thus appointed shall each receive from the claimant $5 for each person arrested and taken before a commissioner, with other reasonable fees for additional necessary services. All good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be required, as aforesaid, for that purpose, and said warrants shall run and be executed by said officers anywhere in the State within which they are issued. If any marshal or deputy marshal shall refuse to receive any process, when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of $1000, to the use of such claimant, on the motion of such claimant, by the Circuit or District Court for the district of such marshal, and after arrest of such fugitive by such marshal or his deputy, or whilst at any time in his custody under the provisions of this act, should such fugitive escape, whether with or without the assent of such marshal or his deputy, the marshal shall be liable on his official bond to be prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the full value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State, Territory, or District whence he escaped. The marshal, deputies, clerks, &c., shall be paid for their services like fees as for similar services in like cases, to be paid wholly by the claim ant, if the services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, &c., of a fugitive. 26, When a person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the United States has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney, in writing, acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal officer or court of the State or Territory in which the same may be executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant from some one of the courts, judges, or commissioners aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district, or county, for the apprehension of such fugitive from service or labor, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by taking, or causing such person to be taken, forth with before such court, judge, or commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such claimant in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in writing, to be taken and certified by such court, judge, or commissioner, or by other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified by some court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer authorized to administer an oath and take depositions under the laws of the State or Territory from which such person owing service or labor may have escaped, with a certificate of such magistrate or other authority, with the seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall be sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by affidavit, of the identity of the person whose service or labor is claimed to be due, that the person so arrested does in fact owe service or labor to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory from which such fugitive may have escaped, and that said person escaped, to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate setting forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due from such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from the State or Territory in which such service or labor was due, to the State or Territory in which he or she was arrested, with authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to use such reasonable force and restraint as may be necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped. In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the certificates shall be conclusive of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted to remove such fugitive to the State or Territory from which he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such person or persons by any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever. 27. Any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid; or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from service or labor from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or persons lawfully assisting, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given, or shall aid, abet, or assist ́such person so owing service or labor, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor, shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding $1000, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages, to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of $1000 for each fugitive so lost, to be recovered by action of debt, in any of the District or Territorial Courts within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed. 29. Upon affidavit made by the claimant of such fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such certificate has been issued, that he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will be rescued by force before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence he fled, and there to deliver him to said claimant, his agent or attorney. And to this end, the officer is hereby authorized and required to employ so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service so long as circumstances may require. The said officer and his assistants, while so employed, to receive the same compensation, and to be allowed the same expenses, as are now allowed by law for the transportation of criminals, to be paid out of the treasury of the United States. 10. When any person held to service or labor in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor shall be due, his, her, or their agent or attorney, may apply to any court of record therein, or judge thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to such court, or judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or labor to such party. Whereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the matters so proved, and also a general description of the person so escaping, with such convenient certainty as may be; and a transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of the clerk and of the seal of the said court, being produced in any other State, territory, or District in which the person so escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge, commissioner, or other officer authorized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping from service or labor to be delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the service or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such record mentioned. And upon the production by the said party of other and further evidence, if necessary, either oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said record of the identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be delivered up to the claimant. And the said court, commissioner, judge, or other person authorized by this act to grant certificates to claimants of fugitives, shall, upon the production of the record and other evidences aforesaid, grant to such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such person identified, and proved to be owing service or labor as aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and transport such person to the State or territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as requiring the production of a transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid. But in its absence the claim shall be heard and determined upon other satisfactory proofs competent in law. September 18, 1850. APPENDIX F. PAUPER SYSTEM OF MASSACHUSETTS. The following extracts are taken from the "Report of the Commissioners appointed by an order of the House of Representatives, Feb. 29, 1832, on the subject of the Pauper System of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.--Boston; Dutton & Wentworth, State Printers, 1833." The Commissioners, Hon. William B. Calhoun, Hon. Henry Shaw, Joseph Caldwell, Esq., George A. Tufts, Esq., and Rev. Joseph Tuckerman, under authority from the House of Representatives, appointed one of their number agent to visit various towns in the State and collect statistics, and these statistics are appended to the report, and published by order of the House. The towns whose statistics are given are classified under two heads,those that have Alms-houses and land for the support of the poor, and those that have not; of the former class are 43, and of the latter, 26. In the quotations that follow, I have italicised certain passages, to call particular attention to them, as showing that, twenty years ago, certain practices, which are commonly spoken of as peculiar to the slave States, such, for instance, as selling men and women at auction, and separating husbands and wives, were not unknown in the "model Commonwealth," and therefore, a fortiori, it may be presumed, in the other free States. I give them here, not to bring reproach upon my native State, than which the sun does not shine upon a worthier, or a happier, but to show that every social system has its evils,-evils that are much more easily perceived than got rid off,-and that it does not become the pot to call the kettle black. Here follow the quotations: "BOSTON. The House of Industry contains fifty-five lodging rooms in the main house for the poor, and thirty-two in two out-houses. X * * Husbands and wives are not allowed to live in the same room.” "LYNN. The Alms-house was built in 1819. *. * * It does not admit of a classification of the poor [that is, of a separation of the sexes]; and great evils result from this defect in the institution.” "ANDOVER. The Alms-house * * * has eleven lodging rooms Considerable evils result from the impracticability of sep for the poor. This town is the place of Mrs. Stowe's present residence, Mr. S. being Professor Stuart's successor in the Theological Seminary. It is to be hoped, therefore, that, for the honour of her sex, she will look into this matter, and see whether the above "impracticability" has been got over, or whether the town is still too poor to take care of the morals of its paupers. "HAVERHILL. Great difficulties are experienced from the impracticability of classifying the inmates." MALDEN. The house does not admit of a classification of the. inmates; and there is cause for the apprehension of evil from this circumstance." "LEXINGTON. There are eight lodging rooms for the inmates, and from one to three sleep in a room. Great care is required for security against immoralities.' "WESTFORD. There are six lodging rooms for the poor, and from two to six sleep in a room. Immoralities have resulted from the impracticability of classifying the inmates." "ROXBURY. The males live in one wing, and the females in the other. Husbands and wives are not allowed to live together, and the sexes are kept quite apart from each other. This circumstance has brought the house into disfavor with some who would otherwise have taken up their abode in it." The naiveté with which this last remark is made, is very amusing. "WORCESTER. There is a small out-building which contains two lodging rooms for the blacks.” This town, it should be recollected, is the Head-Quarters of Massachusetts Abolitionism. "SPRINGFIELD. It has nine lodging rooms for the poor, and from four to eight sleep in a room. No classification can be made of the inmates. Immoralities have resulted from this circumstance, but not recently." The above are from the first class, or those which have Alms-houses, and they are only a specimen, as may be seen by turning to the Report. The following are from the second class: "STOUGHTON. The poor of this town are annually sold at auction to the lowest bidder. * * * Within twelve years past, the expense of supporting the poor who were sold has varied from sixty-two cents to one dollar a week for each of them." "LEOMINSTER. The present contractor has this class of the poor [the permanent poor,] for seventy cents per week." For this sum they are boarded, nursed, clothed, and attended by a physician, if necessary." "Small children are boarded out in families till they are eight years old, at which average age they are bound out. The cost for these is forty cents per week. *Only one man of the permanent poor is capable of half a day's work.” * * Seventy cents per week," each, for "boarding, nursing, and clothing," through the rigors of a Northern winter, seventeen human beings, (see Table II., appended to the Report,) and only one of the seventeen |