D6793_Page_1

OverviewTranscribeVersionsHelp

Facsimile

Transcription

Status: Complete

BOSTON, May 28, 1855.

F. DOUGLASS, ESQ.: DEAR SIR:—Peter
Randolph, formerly owned as a slaver, by C. H.
Edloe, of Prince George County, Virginia, and
emancipated in 1847, has published a neat little
book, entitled "Sketches of Slave Life, or Il-
lustrations of the Peculiar Institution." Every
man who says that the blacks are incapable of
intellectual advancement, has here another
"bone t pick," in accounting for this freed
slave being able to write a book. It is an in-
teresting little volume. It can be had in this
city at John P. Jewett's book store, and at the
anti-slavery office; the price is only twenty
cents. We are personally acquainted with Mr.
Randolph, and know him to be a worthy man,
and hope every lover of freedom will buy his
book and read it.

The Hiss case came up in the Supreme Court
according to assignment, and has been disposed
of. Judge Shaw decided that the Legislature
had a perfect right to lop off any of its offend-
ing members. We suppose that Mr. Hiss is
now satisfied that "the place that knew him
once will know him no more forever."

On Monday evening a mass meeting of the
friends of "rum" and "hard cider" was held
in Faneuil Hall, to take into consideration the
new liquor law recently passed by our Legisla-
ture. It was a wild and enthusiastic meeting.
There must have been six thousand people in
the hall, and as many on the outside, all anx-
ious to get a chance to see the "Elephant."—
About 8 o'clock the meeting was called to or-
der; Oliver Frost was appointed President; Jo-
seph Cheever, Watson Freeman, (of Anthony
Burns notoreity,) and forty-eight othes as Vice
Presidents, assisted by ten Secretaries. Speech-
es were made by the President, and Rev. Mr.
Lovejoy, of Cambridge, after which Col. Isaac
H. Wright offered a series of twenty resolu-
tions, denouncing the temperance men, the law
and the Governor. A speech was then made
by Mr. Edward A. Vose, in favor of the resolu-
tions, after which they were put to vote and al-
most unanimously adopted. The meeting was
adjourned at ten and-a-half o'clock.

Eliza C. O'Grady (an Irish woman) was ar-
rested on Tuesday for being a common drunk-
ard, and taking advantage of the exemption
clause in the new law, she informed them that
she got her liquor at Mrs. Hinds, an Irish wo-
man, who keeps a little shop in Cross Street.—
The result was Mrs. Hinds was convicted, and
sentenced to pay a fine of ten dollars and costs,
and be imprisoned in the House of Correction
twenty days. She appealed from this decision,
and was held in $100 bail to prosecute the ap-
peal; she also gave her personal recognizance
in $1,000 not to sell while the appeal is in
abeyance. On Thursday, Paran Stephens, of
the Revere House, Harvey D. Parker, Court
Square, John Corthall, of the Metropolitan
House, and Lewis Rice, of the American House,
were arrested under complains of officers of
the city government. Henry F. Durant, Wm.
H. Perrin, and Richard H. Dana, Jr., were re-
tained as counsel for the defendants. Owing to
the absence of important witnesses, the case was
postponed till Tuesday at 11 o'clock, the de-
fendants giving bail in $200 each for their ap-
pearance at that time. Perhaps it is not gen-
erally known in your section nor in this that
there is a secret "league" of the rumsellers of
this city, the members being bound together by
solemn oaths, not only to use all legal means to
resist the law, but also to keep up the liquor
traffic, despite of the keen eye of the law. Only
a day or two ago a rumseller said to us "you
were all surpised at seeing such an enthusias-
tic meetilng at Faneuil Hall, and supposed it to
be the fanaticism of the occasion, but I assure
you that it was by no means unexpected to us.
There is a powerful machinery at the bottom of
all this; it has been in existence in anticipation
of this law; its arrangements are as perfect as
the 'Know-Nothings," and its ends will as cer-
tainly be carried into effect." I have been in-
formed through anouth source that it is the us-
ual custom now now to swear every man before he
gets his liquor, that he will not tell where he gets
it from
to any person in the known world, un-
less it be true "rummy," and not even to
him, unless after due examination, or lawful in-
formation from one known to be such, he is
found worthy to receive it, and for an infringe-
ment of the obligation he shall be subject to no
less penalty than being forever discarded from
the society of all true and courteous "rummys,"
and of having his name "posted and circulated"
in all the different "cavers" as a wilful perju-
rer to God and man. The sign is given by
bringing the fore and middle fingers in apposi-
tion with the thumb, and the rest of the hand
open, and bringing the hand quickly to the
mouth, the palm outwards, as in the act of
emptying the contents of a tumbler of brandy
quickly into the stomach. The password is
"Bacchus," and it is to be given in a low whis-
per, and it is never to be repeated unless three
of the "Grand Turks" are present. There
have been quite a number of persons arrested
for drunkenness, almost everyone one refusing to
tell where they purchased the liquor.

The first news that greeted us on Monday
mornign was, the report that the Personal Lib-
erty Gill which passed the Senate on Saturday
afternoon by a large majority, had been vetoed
by the Governor. Having nothing more im-
portant to attend to, than our personal liberty,
we immediately repaired to the State House, to
ascertain if the rumor was correct, and to see
how the current was moving. We found the
report true, and all hubbub and confusion there.
Immediately after the reception of the veto,
the Senate proceeded to consider it, and ex-
pressed its disapprobation by repassing the bill
by the following vote,—Yeas, 32; Nays, 3.
After the action of the Senate was known in
the house, all business was suspended, and all
was anxiety and impatience to receive the offi-
cial announcement from the Senate, one or two
ineffectual motions were made to adjourn, but
the members all appeared intent on doing a
great deed. At 12 o'clock the papers from the
Senate were sent in to the House. The Speak-
er read the veto and the opinion of Attorney
Clifford, both in substance that they believed
the law to be unconstitutional, and expressed
the usual Whiggish sympathy for the "Constitution
and the Union," and begging the Legis-
lature not to be hasty in passing the Act. The
Speaker then said, shall this Act become a Law,
notwithstanding the veto of the Governor?—
The question was called for without debate,
and with the following result,—Yeas, 229;
Nays, 76; being a majority of 77 over the re-
quired two-thirds vote, or three to one. You
will perceive that in the Senate there was a
majority of 26 over the required two-thirds
vote, or ten to one! Here there was no dodg-
ing, the members laid their shoulders manfully
to the wheel, and for this noble deed we desire
in behalf of a down-trodden and oppressed peo-
ple, to offer an inexhaustible fountain of thanks
to those legislators who acted so nobly, and
showed that firmness, promptness and humanity
of legislation which are so necessary for the gov-
ernment and safety of a free people. The peo-
ple must see after all, that they are to be their
own rulers, we have been gulled long enough
by the political tricks of politicians. We had
better a thousand times have a sage old Farmer
to guide the ship of State, than a green gard-
ner to cultivate the rocky soil of Massaschusetts.
Our Legislature has done well, and notwith-
standing some of its "short comings," it cer-
tainly occupies an enviable position in the his-
tory of liberty in Massachusetts. We can say
that we have had one Legislature with suffi-
cient to pass an address to remove Edward
Greeley Loring, with a back-bone sufficient to
pass the personal liberty bill, and a back-bone
sufficient to repass it, the opinion of the Exe-
cutive and his legal adviser to the contrary not-
withstanding. The Governor, no doubt, feels
now that he has taken the wrong course, though
we feel satisfied that he is aiming after a nomi-
nation for a higher office from the national
Know-Nothing Council. But it is of no im-
portance what nomination he gets, he has arriv-
ed at a higher position now than he can ever
possibly occupy anywhere again. No man here-
after, who takes a position against the Anti-
Slavery sentiment at the North can ever be
President, or Vice-President of the United
States.

Your readers who have kept the "run" of
my articles, will remember that the amendments
to the Personal Liberty Bill, provide that any
person holding the office of Judge of Probate
or any other judicial office under the Laws of
Massachusetts, who shall continue ten days after
the passage of the Act to hold the office
of U. S. Commissioner, or any office under the
laws of the United States, which qualifies him
to issue any warrant or other process, or grant
any certificate under the Act of Congress,
known as the Fugitive Slave Act, shall have
been deemed guilty of violating good behavior,
to have given reason for loss of public confi-
dence, and to have furnished sufficient ground
either for impeachment or removal by address.
This you see appears to touch Judge Lorign
sufficient to cause him to resign his office, or be
impeached. For our own part, we question
very much whether the act touches Mr. Loring
at all. Is Judge Loring such a Commissioner
as is prescribed by this Fugitive Slave Act?—
Where did he receive that Commission? If he
once had such a Commission, was not that Com-
mission recalled? And does his new Commis-
sion, if he has any, give him the right to "ar-
rest, imprison and bail offenders against the
United States." We do not believe, that he
had any such right. We believe that this is the
secret of Judge Curtis's decision in the riot
cases, for our judges are not accustomed to
avail themselves of such quibbles; that is the
business of pettifoggers; besides, our statutes
provide that no informal error shall be allow-
ed, so long as the main intention is clear, and it
is quite probably that Judge Curtis would not
have availed himself of such a legal quibble
without cause; he know what he was doing.—
And says in his decision that, Mr. Loring was
such a Commissioner as is described in the Act
of 1850."

S.

Notes and Questions

Nobody has written a note for this page yet

Please sign in to write a note for this page