Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-05-23
WASHINGTON NEWS and GOSSIP.


and black, whether citizens or not, the right
of trial by jury; and the Law of every State,
as well as all legal NKnghsh aud American
precedent up to this time, affirm that right to
be the great bulwark of civil liberty. In the
case Of criminals, and fugitives from labor, 1t
is provided that this right shall be enjoyed in
the jurisdiction from whence the person ar
rested had fed, as there and there only all the
Witnesses can he conveniently brought into
court, and the jury can fully and justly appre-
oiate all the incidental circumstances of tho
case. Sc far, no effort has been made to OBJ
tain, for the criminal held in one State for ex-
tradition to another State where his offence was
committed, atrial by jury whefe arrested. The
idea IL 30 prspostcrous that the widest aboli-
Ftionistand pseudo philanthropist of erased New
England has never thought of brosching it,
Yet, let runaway negro reach New England
with his lawful master CLOSE on his heels, and
the community rise by tens of thousands toin.
sist on his enjoying the privilege Of jury
trial hundreds Of miles from where he com
mitted his offence against the laws; by a jury,
too, Of persons VIGOROUSLY sympathizing with
him, who deny the binding force of the law
for the infraction Of which tho Constitution of
the United States expressly provides that he
shall be surrendered, to be tried. While thus
up in arms, as Massachusetts, always is to So
cure for the negro the privilege of q jury trial,
where, to grant is, will set all law st defiance
and surely deprive the owner of his lawful
rights, the present Legislature of the State have
formally conferred on every justice of the peace
the right to condemn to extradition any white
person born out Of the limits Of the United
States who happens to be poor, without accord.
ing to the man or woman so accused, their right
of trial by jury, OF even Of appeal to higher
tribunal than that Of the drunken and ignorant
magistrate, elected to his position, it may DO,
only for a joke, by the votes Of some dozen per-
sons. Under this law, refusing the right of
appeal to test its constitutionality, and on Sc
cret information Of a constable, or possibly of
some one who owes the party sent off grudgs,
magistrates in Boston are at this time seizing
up white people and shoveling them into carts
as though loads of dirt, and dumping them
into ships to bs sent beyond the seas. They
demand more than justice for the negro, whose
proper place on this continent-whers no can
alone do we'll for himself and sooety-is under
southern law. But for the white man who,
happening to be born abroad, they choose to
say is poor, they have no justice in their
breasts. They enact, in defiance of all con-
stitutiOns and settled principles of law, that
any ignorant, bigotted magistrate and drunken
constable may seiz. him on the high way, and
ship him beyond the sea wherever they please,
no jury aud no judge or other higher legal
authority having the right to question the
action Of thess very lowest judicial tribunals
in the land, in such cases involving the most
important principles of civil liberty known to
the theory Of this free Government. What
picture, this, Of the legislation CT men elected
under the pretencs that they are better quail.
fed to protect the liberties of our country
then the men Of Massachusetts, educated for
the conduct Of public affairs under the teach
ings of Story, Webster, and their compeers!
settlers Under the Graduation Law-Un.
der the act Of 4th August, 1854, it is required
by the Sd section thereof that any person ap-
plying to enter lands under that act, shall
make affidavit before the register or receiver
Of the proper land Office, that he or she enters
the same for his OF her own use, and for the
purpose of actual settlement and cultivation,
or for the use OF an adjoining farm or planta-
ton owned or occupied by him Or herself, &c.
By the act of Sd March, 1855, this require.
ment, to q certain extent, in the following
particular, is modified, as this act Of 1855
directs that the act Of 4th August, 1854, shall
be so construed that the afidavits required By
the Sd section thereof may be made before any
officer duly authorized to administer oaths,
but according to such forms, and pursuant to
such regulations as may be prescribed by the
Secretary of tho Interior. A circular under
the directions of the Secretary of the Interior
has accordingly been prepared on the subject,
in which it is held that the only object of this
law il to afford relief to those residing in the
State or Territory, in which, land is situated
which they desire TO enter, who may be pre-
vented by any serious impediment, such as
physical inferiority, or other disability, from
attending in person at the local land Office to
make the affidavit which the Sd section of the
act Of 4th August, 1854. requires to be made
''before the register and receiver" To this
class Of persons, and mono others, is the relax,
alton in the said act Of Sd March, 1855, to
apply.
The Returned Dispatches hear thai
there were some private letters in the Gov
eminent package returned to the State De.
partment on the day before yesterday by the
agent of the steamer Ariel, and also learn at
the same time that they were put into the pack
age before it was sealed, by the Governments
dispatch agent at the solicitation of various
merchants who, suppOsing that the Vanderbilt
line would be as accommodating to the public
as the Collins and Cunard lines, which keep
open their mail bags until ten minutes before