n Betty _v._
Horton, the Court of Appeals held that the freedom of the slave was
acquired by the action of the laws of Massachusetts, by the said slave
being taken there. (5 Leigh Rep., 615.)

The slave States have generally adopted the rule, that where the
master, by a residence with his slave in a State or Territory where
slavery is prohibited, the slave was entitled to his freedom
everywhere. This was the settled doctrine of the Supreme Court of
Missouri. It has been so held in Mississippi, in Virginia, in
Louisiana, formerly in Kentucky, Maryland, and in other States.

The law, where a contract is made and is to be executed, governs it.
This does not depend upon comity, but upon the law of the contract.
And if, in the language of the Supreme Court of Missouri, the master,
by taking his slave to Illinois, and employing him there as a slave,
emancipates him as effectually as by a deed of emancipation, is it
possible that such an act is not matter for adjudication in any slave
State where the master may take him? Does not the master assent to the
law, when he places himself under it in a free State?

The States of Missouri and Illinois are bounded by a common line. The
one prohibits slavery, the other admits it. This has been done by the
exercise of that sovereign power which appertains to each. We are
bound to respect the institutions of each, as emanating from the
voluntary action of the people. Have the people of either any right to
disturb the relations of the other? Each State rests upon the basis of
its own sovereignty, protected by the Constitution. Our Union has been
the foundation of our prosperity and national glory. Shall we not
cherish and maintain it? This can only be done by respecting the legal
rights of each State.

If a citizen of a free State shall entice or enable a slave to escape
from the service of his master, the law holds him responsible, not
only for the loss of the slave, but he is liable to be indicted and
fined for the misdemeanor. And I am bound here to say, that I have
never found a jury in the four States which constitute my circuit,
which have not sustained this law, where the evidence required them to
sustain it. And it is proper that I should also say, that more cases
have arisen in my circuit, by reason of its extent and locality, than
in all other parts of the Union. This has been done to vindicate the
sovereign rights of the Southern States, and protect the legal
interests of o