God forbid the time may ever come when the temples of justice in our land shall be desecrated by this unhallowed and contaminating influence, or by wanton disregard of the Constitution, or by a perfidious delinquency on the part of the ministers of the law. Here let passion and prejudice find no abiding place. Here let equal and exact justice be meted out to all men--to rich and to the poor--to the high and the low, and above all things, with you, gentlemen, here preserve with scrupulons fidelity the sanctity of your oaths, and discharge your whole duty without fear and without favour. Put justice to the line and truth to the plummet, and act up fully to the obligations of that oath, and you will ever enjoy those rich consolations which always flow from a conscientious discharge of a sworn duty. To men of your intelligence and probity, these admonitions are, perhaps, unnecessary. Knowing, however, the reluctance and pain with which the misconduct of men in office is inquired into, by those who cherish the same political sentiments, I am confident, gentlemen, that in times like these, you can not exercise too great caution in excluding from your minds all considerations, as to whether the party charged before you is the appointee of this or of that administration, or whether he belongs to this or that political organization or party. In 1858, came before the court the historic case of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue. The facts of the case were, briefly, that on the first of March, 1857, a negro slave named John, the property of John G. Bacon, of Kentucky, escaped across the river into Ohio. In October, 1858, the negro was traced out and arrested within the Northern District of Ohio, by one Anderson Jennings, holding a power of attorney from Bacon. In company with an assistant named Love, Jennings took the negro to Wellington, Lorain county, with the purpose of taking the cars for Cincinnati, and thence returning the negro to Kentucky and remitting him to slavery. A number of residents of Oberlin concerted a plan of rescue marched to Wellington, entered the hotel where John was kept, took him from his captors, placed him in a buggy, and carried him off. Indictments were found against the leading rescuers, who comprised among others some of the leading men of the college and village of Oberlin, and they were brought to trial, fined, and imprisoned. The trial created great excitement, and, whilst it was pending, a monster demonstration against the Fugitive Slave Law was held on the Public Square, midway between the building where the court held its sessions and the jail in which the accused were confined. At one time fears were entertained of violence, threats being freely uttered by some of the more headstrong that the law should be defied and the prisoners released by force. Cooler counsels prevailed, and the law, odious as it was felt to be, was allowed to take its course. In this exciting time the