Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1851-02-28

quircd TO execute any law, breath can raise 1t
Boston is as quietly resting under the Tgls oil
the laws, both state and federal, as she ever was
You will ask, then how it happened that
prisoner was lately rescued out of the hands of
the deputy marshal, in the temple of law and
Justice itself? The fact is plain, and at other
than the present times, would only afford an
ord nary newspaper paragraph. lew blacks,
unexpectedly to themselves, found the prisoner
tlinly guarded, and they pushed aside the force
and, without arms, led him off. 1t might have
happened in any community, where hundred
men could be found who sympathsed with the
prisoner. Thousands could have been summon,
ed to the aid of the law in ten minutes, had
warning been given. The marshaTs posse,
sma as it was, had they anticipated the at
tack could have held him against that attack;
no lives would have been taken; not even a
door would have been broken, had they been
required to effect the rescue. But finding the
door open, they pushed aside the officers and
took the prisoner
The laws have been violated before build
ings have been RACED to the ground by mobs
Printing offices have cen destroycd; lives have
been sacriiced-and though the awlesSncss
has been blamed, it never has been matter OF
national concern. The local authorities are
thereby made more vigilant Perhaps the per-
petrators may have been punished; perhaps
have escaped for a time. But law and order
are are not, for such causes-iar more alarming
than this--cons dcrcd as lost, nor new and OK
traordinary measures of legislation required.
Let the laws be enforced: let the mars al
keep proper look out let him have efficient
resolute mon about him. and he can execute the
| Fugitive Slave Law in Boston as easily as any
other law. 1t is only by surprise that lawless~
| r. bn a
1t is childish fear that magntcs every crime
| into rebellion. There is no rising of the cons
munty in arms against the government The
criminal strikes his blow and hidcs-runs away
from the law, instead of setting it at defiance
Is that new Is it peculiar to this community !;
" as not Thompson mobbcd in Boston? v as
I not Birneys press destroyed in Cincinnati -
Was not Cassius NJ. Clays press-nay, himself
mobbed in Kentucky: Lovejoy murdered in
Alton: A negro burned at the stake in st
Louis; Were not Messrs. Sam'l Iloar g. Hens
ry &. Hubbard violently and lawlcssly driven
! from Charleston and New Orleans: Who has
forgotten the black riots in Philadelphia, or the
Astor Place riots, in New York
| In each of these instances the numbers con-
cened, the character of the parties perpctra-
| ting or abettng, the extent of the mischief
dOnc and the duration Of the reign of terror,
| gave lhucn greater cause Oh alarm IMAM the
recent mob Of three minutes in Boston. " as
there any new legislation called for: Was
there any great cutlery against the community
where they happened: No! The crime was
regretted. The officers became more vigilant
and future crimes Of the same sort deferred
without buncombc speeches i'll Congress, OF
| Presidential proclamations.
Most respectfully,
Your ubedicnt scrvt..
COMMON SENSE.