GEN. JACKSON FOR PENAL LEGISLATION.

ern journals and other oracles imperiously, wrathfully, demanded the instant suppression and extinction of the "incendiaries" and "fanatics," under the usual penalty of a dissolution of the Union; to which was now added the annihilation of Northern prosperity and consequence through a retributive withdrawal of Southern trade. The commercial and political interests at the North, which regarded Southern favor as the sheetanchor of their hopes, eagerly responded to these overtures, clamoring for penal enactments and popular proofs of Northern fidelity to Constitutional obligations. The former were not forthcoming; in fact, the most adroit and skillful draftsman would have found it difficult to frame any such law as was required-any one that would have subserved the end in view that would not have directly and glaringly contravened the constitution or bill of rights of even the most "conservative" State. Yet President Jackson did not hesitate, in his Annual Message of December 2, 1835, to say:

"I must also invite your attention to the painful excitement produced in the South by attempts to circulate, through the mails, inflammatory appeals addressed to the passions of the slaves, in prints, and in various

The following is an extract from the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle of October, 1833.

"We firmly believe that, if the Southern States do not quickly unite, and declare to the North, if the question of Slavery be longer discussed in any shape, they will instantly secede from the Union, that the question must be settled, and very soon, by the SWORD, as the only possible means of self-preservation."

February 16, 1836, both houses of the Virginia Legislature agreed to the following:

"Resolved, That the non-slaveholding States of the Union are respectfully but earnestly requested promptly to adopt penal enactments, or such other measures as will effectually suppress all associations within their respective limits purporting to be, or having the character of, Aboli

tion societies."

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sorts of publications, calculated to stimulate them to insurrection, and to produce all the

horrors of a servile war.

"There is, doubtless, no respectable portion of our fellow-countrymen who can be than that of indignant regret at conduct so so far misled as to feel any other sentiment destructive of the harmony and peace of the country, and so repugnant to the principles of our national compact, and to the dictates of humanity and religion. Our happiness and prosperity essentially depend upon peace within our borders-and peace depends upon the maintenance, in good faith, of those compromises of the Constitution upon which the Union is founded. It is fortunate for the country that the good sense, the generous feeling, and the deep-rooted attachment of the people of the non-slaveholding States to the Union, and to their South, have given so strong and impressive a tone to the sentiments entertained against the proceedings of the misguided persons who have engaged in these unconstitutional and wicked attempts, and especially against dared to interfere in this matter, as to authe emissaries from foreign parts who have thorize the hope that those attempts will no longer be persisted in. But, if these expressions of the public will shall not be sufficient

fellow-citizens of the same blood in the

to effect so desirable a result, not a doubt can be entertained that the non-slaveholding States, so far from countenancing the slightest interference with the constitutional rights of the South, will be prompt to exercise their authority in suppressing, so far as in them lies, whatever is calculated to pro

duce the evil.

"In leaving the care of other branches of this interesting subject to the State authorities, to whom they properly belong, it is nevertheless proper for Congress to take such measures as will prevent the PostOffice Department, which was designed to

Resolutions, similar in spirit and demand, were adopted by the Legislatures of South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and doubtless other Slave States.

4 The Richmond Whig, in the course of a fulmination against the Abolitionists, said:

"The people of the North must go to hanging these fanatics if they would not lose the benefit of the Southern trade, and they will do it. *** Depend upon it, the Northern people will never sacrifice their present lucrative trade with the South, so long as the hanging of a few thousands will prevent it."

Not a bad calculation, provided "the Northern people" and the enjoyers of "the lucrative trade" aforesaid had been identical; but they were not.

foster an amicable intercourse and corre- | spondence between all the members of the confederacy, from being used as an instrument of an opposite character. The General Government, to which the great trust is confided of preserving inviolate the relations created among the States by the Constitution, is especially bound to avoid, in its own action, any thing that may disturb them. I would therefore call the special attention of Congress to the subject, and respectfully suggest the propriety of passing such a law as will prohibit, under severe penalties, the circulation in the Southern States, through the mail, of incendiary publications intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection."

happily, be disappointed; if, in the face of numerous and striking exhibitions of public reprobation, elicited from our constituents by a just fear of the fatal issues in which the uncurbed efforts of the Abolitionists may ultimately end, any considerable portion of these misguided men shall persist in pushing them forward to disastrous consequen ces, then a question, new to our confederacy, will necessarily arise, and must be met. It must then be determined how far the several States can provide, within the proper exercise of their constitutional powers, and how far, in fulfillment of the obligations resulting from their federal relations, they ought to provide, by their own laws, for the trial and punishment by their own, judicatories, of residents within their limits, guilty of acts therein, which are calculated and intended to excite insurrection and rebellion in a sister State.

of preventing the citizens of this State and residents within it from availing themselves, with impunity, of the protection of its sovereignty and laws, while they are actually employed in exciting insurrection and sedition in a sister State, or engaged in treasonable enterprises, intended to be executed therein."

Had the President been asked to justify his charges against his fellowcitizens of having "attempted to * * * I cannot doubt circulate, through the mails, inflamthat the Legislature possesses the power to matory appeals, addressed to the pas-pass such penal laws as will have the effect sions of slaves, in prints," etc., etc., he must have answered that he had heard or read charges to this effect, and had believed them. But it was in vain that the Abolitionists remonstrated, and protested, and called for proofs. The slaveholding interest detested and feared them; the mob was in full cry at their heels; and it was the seeming interest of the great majority of speakers and writers to join in the hunt."

Governor Marcy followed in the footsteps of his party chief. In his Annual Message of January 5, 1836 -five weeks later than the foregoing

-he said:

"Relying on the influence of a sound and enlightened public opinion to restrain and

control the misconduct of the citizens of a

free government, especially when directed, as it has been in this case, with unexampled energy and unanimity, to the particular evils under consideration, and perceiving that its operations have been thus far salutary, I entertain the best hopes that this remedy, of itself, will entirely remove these evils, or render them comparatively harmless. But, if these reasonable expectations should, un

5 "Now we tell them [the Abolitionists] that when they openly and publicly promulgate doctrines which outrage public feeling, they have no right to demand protection of the people they insult. Ought not, we ask, our city authorities

A legislative Report responsive to these recommendations was made in May following, just at the close of the faith of the State to pass such the session, which assumed to pledge the faith of the State to pass such laws as were suggested by the Governor, whenever they shall be requisite! This report was duly forwarded to the Southern Governors, but not circulated at large, nor was any such action as it proposed ever taken— or meant to be. Governor Edward Everett (Whig), of Massachusetts, sent a Message to the Legislature of his State, communicating the demands of certain Southern States that anti-Slavery inculcations in the Free States should be legally suppressed, and saying:

"Whatever by direct and necessary ope

'ATTEMPTS TO STIFLE DISCUSSION.

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ration is calculated to excite an insurrection | interest had become diffused and inamong the slaves, has been held, by highly tensified, and the Hall was crowded respectable legal authority, an offense against the peace of this commonwealth, which may with earnest auditors. The Rev. be prosecuted as a misdemeanor at common William E. Channing, then the most law." eminent clergyman in New England, appeared among the champions of Free Speech. Professor Follen concluded, and was followed by Samuel E. Sewall, William Lloyd Garrison, and William Goodell-the last-named stigmatizing the demand of the South and its backers as an assault on the liberties of the North. Mr. Bond, a Boston merchant, and Dr. Bradley, from Plymouth, were prompted by the impulse of the hour to add their unpremeditated remonstrances against the contemplated invasion of time-honored rights. Darkness had set in when the Committee rose, and a low murmur of approving multitudes gave token that the cause of liberty had triumphed. The Committee reported adversely to the “agitators" and "fanatics" at the heel of the session, but in evident despair of any accordant action; and none was ever had. Massachusetts refused to manacle her own people in order to rivet more securely the shackles of others.

The Legislature referred the subject to a joint Committee, whereof a conspicuous champion of Slavery was Chairman. The Abolitionists perceived and eagerly embraced their opportunity. They demanded a hearing before this Committee-they being accused of grave misdemeanors in the documents whereon it was to act and their request was tardily acceded to. On the 3d of March, 1836, they were apprised that they would be heard next day. They were duly present accordingly-the Committee sitting in the spacious Representatives' Hall, neither House being in session. Brief addresses in their behalf were heard from Rev. Samuel J. May and Ellis Gray Loring, who were followed by Professor Charles Follen, who, in the course of his remarks, alluded to the mob outrages to which the Abolitionists had recently been subjected, remarking that any legislative enactment to their prejudice would tend to encour age their adversaries to repeat those outrages. The Chairman treated this remark as disrespectful to the Committee, and abruptly terminated the hearing. The Abolitionists thereupon completed promptly their defense, and issued it in a pamphlet, which naturally attracted public attention, and a popular conviction that fair play had not been accorded them was manifested. The Legislature shared it, and directed its Committee to allow them a full hearing. Monday, the 8th, was accordingly appointed for the purpose. By this time, the public

Rhode Island was the theatre of a similar attempt, ending in a similar failure. And if, in any other State, like efforts were made, they were likewise defeated. No nominally Free State, however hostile to Abolition, consented to make it a crime on the part of her people to "preach deliverance to the captive."

But the systematic suppression of anti-Slavery teaching by riot and mob-violence was, for a time, wellnigh universal. In New York, a meeting at Clinton Hall, to organize a City Anti-Slavery Society, having

ber 2, 1833, there appeared a countercall from "Many Southrons" for a meeting at the same time and place. In apprehension of a riot, Clinton Hall was not opened; but such of the Abolitionists as could be notified on the instant repaired to the Chathamstreet Chapel. Their opponents met in Tammany Hall, and, after making their speeches and passing their resolves unquestioned, were about to adjourn, when they were apprised of the meeting in the Chapel. "Let us rout them!" was the general cry; and they rushed noisily to the Chapel only to find that the Abolitionists had departed. "Ten thousand dollars for Arthur Tappan!" was shouted; but no one was molested, and the crowd dissolved in the comforting assurance that the Union was safe.

been called for the evening of Octo- | in Union-saving, the actors were naturally impelled to extend it. At midnight on the 9th, the dwelling of Lewis Tappan was broken open by a mob, his furniture carried into the street, and consigned to the flames. The burning of the house was then proposed; but the Mayor remonstrated, and it was forborne. The riots were continued through the next day; the doors and windows of Dr. Cox's (Presbyterian) church being broken, with those of Dr. Ludlow's church; while a Baptist, a Methodist, and a Protestant Episcopal church, belonging to colored congregations, were badly shattered, and one of them nearly destroyed, as was a school-house for colored children, and many dwellings inhabited by negroes, while others were seriously injured. Many rioters were arrested during these days by the police, but none of them was ever punished.

But on the 4th of July, 1834, an attempt to hold an anti-Slavery celebration in Chatham-street Chapel was the signal for a furious and alarming riot. The prayer, the singing, and the reading of the Declaration, were endured with tolerable patience; but a Declaration of the Sentiments of the Anti-Slavery Society by Lewis Tappan was interrupted by hisses; and when David Paul Brown, of Philadelphia, commenced his oration, it was soon manifest that a large portion of the audience had come expressly not to hear him, nor let any one else. Rev. Samuel H. Cox interposed in behalf of Free Speech; but both were clamored down with cries of "Treason! Treason! Hurrah for the Union!" and the meeting quietly dispersed, without awaiting or provoking further violence.

The leading commercial journals having commended this experiment

Newark, New Jersey, imitated this riot on the 11th, but with indifferent success. A church was somewhat injured.

Philadelphia followed on the 13th of August. Her riots lasted three nights, and the harmless and powerless blacks were mainly their victims. Forty-four houses (mostly small) were destroyed or seriously injured. Among them was a colored Presbyterian church. Several of the blacks were chased and assaulted, one of them being beaten to death, and another losing his life in attempting to swim the Schuylkill to escape his pursuers.

At Worcester, Massachusetts, August 10, 1835, the Rev. Orange Scott, who was lecturing against Slavery, was assaulted, his notes torn up, and personal violence attempted.

ANTI-ABOLITION RIOTS.