Page:United States Reports, Volume 2.djvu/233

 Scrum; Couar or Pmyfgwuia. gg-; _ l Thcfucceeding fe&ion, likewife, exprefsly provides,that abfcond- 1 79;. ; ing llares lhall derive no benelit from the law ; but that their VVV - mailers {hall have the fame right and aid to demand, claim, and take them away, that they had before. This aél of Alfembly, and particularly thefe provilions, are not repealed by the fup- plemental aft, on which the profecution is founded. Then, we End, that any traveller, who comes into Prnryjlvania, upon - a temporary excurfion for bufinefs, or amufement, may detain his llave for li: months; and the previous law (recognized by the aél of Allembly, during that term) authorizes the mailer to _! _ apprehend the llave, and entitleshim to the aid of the civil po- lice to fecure and carry him away. By a regulation of this kind, —'- = the policy of our own fyltem is reconciled with a due refpcé} to the fyllems of other States and countries; while an oppolite eonflruétion would render it impollible for any American, or Foreigner, to pafs with a llave through the territory of Penn- fd. jjhilfnhas been faid, that the words “ llaves or fervants,” which are nfed in the other proviiions of the fupplemental aét, being omitted in this fe&ion, it mull; be inferred, that the Legilla- ture intended to prote£t the ilave or fervaut, as well as the free- man, from the outrage contemplated: but, in our opinion, that very omillion fhews e fallacy of fuch a conltruélion ; for, if the Legillature deligned to proteél: freemen, and not ilaves, they could not, in any other way, more eiieéiually manifeit their meaning. In fhort, the evil apprehended was that of forcing a free negro, or mulatto, into another country, and there, taking advantage of his color, to fell him as a ilave; and for fuch an offence the punilhmezxt denounced by the law would be julily inlliétcd. Upon a review of the faéts, likewife, we {ind occalion to reQ. gret, that the profecution lhould have been conducted with a zeal. which rarely appears in the profecution of the highell; criminal, on the lirongeli proof. There is -not, however, a_ tittle of evidence to eitablilh the charge, that the defendant fe- duccd the negro, or that he even fpoke to him in Pernwlwniu, where the aét of fedufkion mull; by committed, to velt the ju- · rifdiition in the Court. Nor can it be fairly Paid; that he cau- fed the negro to be feduced; for, the advice given to General Sevier was merely the advice of a friend; which could not fureq. ly merit the ignominious punifhment of the law; and which was nor, in fat}, adopted, as the negro was forcibly, and not by- feduétion, fent out of the State. But, upon the whole, we were unanimoufly of opinion, as. foon as it was proved the negro was a llavc, that not only his maltcr had a right to feize, and carry him away; but that, in cafe he abfconded or rclilted, it was the duty of every magi. F fz ltratc.

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