Page:Unconstitutionality of the Fugitive Act.djvu/35

Rh before the commissioner do not determine the question of freedom or slavery, that the fugitive is only sent back to the State from which he is alleged to have escaped, and that when he reaches there he is a freeman or a slave, as his status shall be determined by the local law. it is further said that these proceedings are analogus to those by which the fugitive from justice is delivered up, to be taken to the State from which he has escaped; that a person may be arrested by virtue merely of an indictment, founded on an affidavit made before a magistrate, charging him with treason, felony, or other crime, committed in some other State, and that upon the production of a copy of the indictment or affidavit certified as authentic by the governor or chief magistrate of the State or Territory from which he fled, he shall be delivered up to be taken back. It is said that as this proceeding does not deprive the person of his liberty in the sense-in which that term is used in the constitution, but merely delivers him up, to be taken to the State where, according to the indictment or affidavit, the offence was committed, to be dealt with according to the local law, so neither do these proceedings accomplish more than the mere transfer of the alleged fugitive to the State where, as is claimed, he owes service or labor, by force of the local law. think this is a mistaken view of the question. The fugitive from justice is delivered to an agent appointed by lhe governor of the State where the offence is alleged to have been committed, without any adjudication upon the question of his guilt or innocence; in other words, he delivered to the officer of the law, and is in the custody of the law, for the purpose of being taken to the Sate where alone he can be tried for the alleged offence. But the cause is very different with the alleged fugitive from labor. There is an adjudication before the commissioner that he owes service or labor, and that he has escaped.— By force of the act of congress under consideration, the record made in the State from which he is said to have escaped, is conclusive evidence that his status is that of a slave.

The commissioner is obliged, if his identity is proved, so to adjudge, and tile certificate which is given to the claimant, is given, because the commissioner has so adjudged. Moreover, the commissioner can only give the certificate to the claimant who must be the person to whom the labor or service is due, his agent or attorney, and it is given to him for that reason. It is not material to enquire what the condition of the person will be when he has been taken to the State where the labor or service is said to be due. He may regain his freedom, but if he does it will be by force of the law of the State, and not by virtue of the act of congress under consideration; for under that he has been adjudged a slave, and by force of it he has been taken as a slave by the person adjudged to be his owner, his agent or attorney, from the State where he was arrested to the State from which he is alleged to have escaped. We are therefore obliged to conclude that the alleged fugitive from labor is taken back to the State from which he is said to have escaped, not as a person merely charged with being a slave, but as a person who has been proved and adjudged to be a slave, and, as we believe, without due process of law; without having his rights passed upon and determined by a jury of his peers. We think it essential that his right should be maintained by all courts and all tribunals, and for the reasons above given we mast affirm the order made in this case, dischargig the relator.

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