of having made so infamous
and corrupt a bargain in regard to the slave trade can and does most
eloquently declaim against the monstrous injustice of supposing them
capable of the least act in favor of slavery!

[221] XII. Wendell, p. 314.

[222] XIV. Wendell, p. 530; XVI. Peters, p. 608.

[223] Indeed, if we had produced all the arguments in favor of the
constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Law, it would have carried us
far beyond our limits, and swelled this single chapter into a volume.

[224] This decision of the Supreme Court, which authorizes the master to
seize his fugitive slave _without process_, (see his speech, Appendix to
Congressional Globe, vol. xxii., part 2, p. 1587,) is exceedingly
offensive to Mr. Chase of Ohio; and no wonder, since the Legislature of
his own State has passed a law, making it a penitentiary offense in the
master who should thus prosecute his constitutional right as declared by
this decision. But, in regard to this point, the Supreme Court of the
United States does not stand alone. The Supreme Court of New York, in
the case of Jack _v._ Martin, had previously said: "Whether the owner or
agent might have made the arrest in the first instance without any
process, we will not stop to examine; authorities of deserved
respectability and weight have held the affirmative. 2 Pick. 11, 5 Serg.
& Rawle, 62, and the case of Glen _v._ Hodges, in this court, before
referred to, (in 9 Johnson,) seem to countenance the same conclusion. It
would indeed appear to follow as a necessary consequence, from _the
undoubted position, that under this clause of the Constitution the right
and title of the owner to the service of the slave is as entire and
perfect within the jurisdiction of the State to which he has fled as it
was in the one from which he escaped. Such seizure would be at the peril
of the party_; AND IF A FREEMAN WAS TAKEN, HE WOULD BE ANSWERABLE LIKE
ANY OTHER TRESPASSER OR KIDNAPPER."

[225] Story on Constitution, vol. iii. book iii., chap. xl.

[226] The framers of the Constitution in that Congress were:--"John
Langdon and Nicholas Gilmer, of New Hampshire; Caleb Strong and Elbridge
Gerry, of Massachusetts; Roger Sherman and Oliver Elsworth, of
Connecticut; Rufus King, of New York; Robert Morris and Thomas
Fitzsimmons, of Pennsylvania; George Reid and Richard Basset, of
Delaware; Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey; Pierce Butler, of South
Carolina; Hugh Williamson, of North Carolina; Willi