Mr. President, this petition is interesting to me, first, as it asks a repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act, and, secondly, as it comes from Massachusetts. That repeal I shall be glad, at any time, now and hereafter, as in times past, to sustain by vote and argument; and I trust never to fail in any just regard for the sentiments or interests of Massachusetts. With these few remarks I would gladly close. But there has been an arraignment, here to-day, both of myself and of the Commonwealth which I represent. To all that has been said of myself or the Commonwealth, so far as it is impeachment of either, so far as it subjects either to any real censure, I plead openly, for myself and for Massachusetts, "Not guilty." But pardon me, if I do not submit to be tried by the Senate, fresh from the injustice of the Nebraska Bill. In the language of the Common Law, I put myself upon "God and the country," and claim the same trial for my honored Commonwealth. So far as the arraignment touches me personally, I hardly care to speak. It is true that I have not hesitated, here and elsewhere, to express my open, sincere, and unequivocal condemnation of the Fugitive Slave Act. I have denounced it as at once a violation of the law of God, and of the Constitution of the United States; and I now repeat this denunciation. Its violation of the Constitution is manifold; and here I repeat but what I have often said. Too often it cannot be set forth, so long as the infamous statute blackens the land. It commits the great question of human freedom,--than which none is more sacred in the law,--not to a solemn trial, but to summary proceedings. It commits this great question, not to one of the high tribunals of the land, but to the unaided judgment of a single petty magistrate. It commits this great question to a magistrate appointed, not by the President with the consent of the Senate, but by the Court,--holding his office, not during good behavior, but merely during the will of the Court,--and receiving, not a regular salary, but fees according to each individual case. It authorizes judgment on _ex parte_ evidence, by affidavit, without the sanction of cross-examination. It denies the writ of _habeas corpus_, ever known as the palladium of the citizen. Contrary to the declared purposes of the framers of the Constitution, it sends the fugitive back "at the public expense."[64] [64] See Madison's Debates, August 28, 1787. Adding meanness to the violation of the Constitution, it bribes the Commissioner by a double fee to pronounce against Freedom. If he dooms a man to Slavery, the reward is ten dollars; but saving him to Freedom, his dole is five dollars.