Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-11-25

The RUSSIAN Reply. = Indications are
| thrown out that Russia viii reply to the Prus-
sian note, that if Prussia will obtain guar
antee from France, England, and Austria,
that they will not go in their demands beyond
the four points laid down, Russia will be will
ing to negotiate on that basis.
The following letter, which explains itself,
has appeared in several of the Boston papers.
Francis Jackson TO j. IL. Pearson.
BosToN, Nov. 20, 1854.
JOHN H. PEARSON, Esq.
SIR-In some recent remarks of Judge AL
len, of Worcester, he referred to you as "the
notorious slave-catcher, John H. Pearson"
our letter of the 18th inst. shows wish to
screen yourselffrom this we'll earned epithet /;
but as know something of your aid and con-
nivance, in the atrocous case to which the
Judge alludes, l cannot allow you to evade
the verdict of history and good men upon your
conduct.
About eight years snce young mulatto
hid himself on board one of your ships from
New Orleans. He was found on the voyage
by the sailors, whom he begged not to betray
him to the Captain, saying he would rather
die than be discovered before reaching Boston.
He was, however, made known to the Cap
tain, who landed him on one of the islands of
Boston harbor, and there illegally kept him i'll
confinement
The poor fellow watched his opportunity,
ran to the shore, threw himself into a boat,
and reached South Boston Point He was
holly pursued by your Captain and his men,
who, after hunt of about two miles, caught
him near the Free Bridge The by-standers
were told that he had committed theft, and
that his pursuers were about to take him be-
f,,ra or,,or ,ef,-o g.. 80,
they robbed him of all aid and sympathy, and
triumphantly bore off their confused and terri
fed victim.
Your agents then put him on board boat,
in which, during several days, they skulked
about the islands and hiding places of the
harbor, waiting an opportunity to carry him
back to slavery. In the published words of
your Captain, they " beat down to the outer
island in the harbor, an uninhabited pile of
barren rocks, and remained hid in the gullies
of the rocks
All this was done, Mr.. Pearson, with Your
knowledge, consent, and connivance Their
object and yours was to kidnap the man, and
unlawfully carry him back to slavery, and to
set at defiance the laws of your own State,
and the authority Of the Supreme Court, whose
writ of HabeGS Corpus was in the hands of the
proper officer. knew that it was done by
your authority, for l, myself, in company
with two friends, called at your dwelling
house in Mount Vernon street, three days be-
fore your victim was finally struggled off by
your order. We represented to you the enorm-
ity of the case. We told you that, as your
Captain was neither the owner of the slave,
nor the agent of the owner, he had no more
right to seize the man, and send him back to
Louisiana, than to do the same to one of us.
We told you that the Captain, or others in
your employment, were then lurking about
the islands of the lower 'harbor, to avoid the
proofs of the Courts; and we told you that, if
the man was carried off, you were aiding and
abetting IN State prison offence. We i'm
plored your mercy, and your respect for the
laws. We told you that it required but a
single word from you to have the man pro-
duced. You did not deny it, as indeed how
could you? The Captain had as soon dared
to die as to act without your sanction. He
was the mere tool of the wealthy merchant
You were as cold as a stone You talked
to us about the Constitution and the misdeeds
of the Abolitonsts but you utterly refused
to raise a finger in behalf of the poor sufferer.
On the contrary, you repeatedly said, +" The
mast go back and, accordingly, that
unhappy wretch was for five long days kept
concealed as your prisoner, in the coves and
clefts Of the rocks in the lower harbor and
was finally taken off i'll one of your vessels,
and carried back to the tender mercies of
New Orleans master.
In the face Of these facts, Mr. Pearson, how
can you try to escape your responsibility as a
3" slave catcher by the thin artitiee Of say
ing, =" had no knowledge of the transaction
till some time after it took place" " Some
time" What do you mean by " some time ?
You had the whole statement from us three
days before your agents finally carried the
man off, and in your own letter, published in
the Courier Of Oct. IA, 1916, you say that the
Captain, "on his arrival" stated the circum-
stances of the slave being found and you
add, 81 unhesitatingly replied, I know no
other alternative but to send him back to his
owners" Your Captains published letter of
Sept. l6, 1916, says, " Messrs. Pearson & Co.
decided that he must go back
Stick to your position honestly, Mr., Pear.
son, until you truly repent of it and let us
have no tampenng with facts, which history
will prize as illustrative of mercantile honor
aud morality in Boston, in the middle of the
nineteenth century.
In your letter to Judge Allen, you say,
AS to my taking him back in one of my YES
sells, plead guilty. All l can say to this is,
that If you were to "plead guilty to the
same charge before jury of your country,
you would assuredly expiate your offence in
the State prison and you would then find
that your excuse for committing it-namely,
that the negro had no right to intrude himself
into your yessel-would no more excuse YOU
in law, than it would in morals, for kidnap-
ping man from Massachusetts, ground into
slavery.
As you have made your bed, so you must
lie in it, till raised by better spirit
But, much as | abhor and scorn your act,
do not deem you sinner above all other men.
anu not sure but that majority of your
brother ship-owners in the Southern trade
would, like you, at any time, send a poor
brother Especially poor colored brother] in
to slavery, or even into the hands of the Span
lsh Inquisition, or to the Cannibal Islanders,
rather than en9anger the profits of their car
rylng business. And, with this pallation.
such as it is, remain,
Your well wisher,
FRANCIS JACKSON,
INDIANA.-The Indianapolis papers contain
the official vote for Members Of Congress in
fha I