Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-04-28

The Massachusetts Nunnery Affair.
In the Massachusetts, House of Representa-
tives, on Monday, Mr.. Hiss presented the fol
lowing letter OF resignation, which was read b.
the Speaker:
BosToS, April 2l, 1855.
The HoN. DANIEL C. EDDY-SIR Th,
House Of Representatives having to-day, fol
the first time, voted to receive the evidence re
lating TO certain slanderous charges made by q
venal political press, of criminal conduct on
my part, while member Of a, committee of the
House, subsequently voted that said charges
were not sustained" In view of these facts
consider my personal honor entirely vindicated
and that further action on my part might seem
unnecessary. 1t is evident, however, that q
corrupt political press, aided by the personal
enmity OF individuals, by continued agitation OF
the subject, design to injure, through me, the
American party, Of which am an humble
member, and to delay the business of the ses.
sion. j, therefore, respectfully resign my seat
as representative from the city of Boston. II
was my intention to have resigned at an earlier
day. i desired, however, to retain my seat until
all the facts in the case were made known to
the public. In resigning, permit me to express
my respect for the members Individually, and
may rebound to the honor Of the State Of Mas
sachusetts and the American cause.
am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant
JOSEPH HISS.
The question being, "Shall the letter of re-
signation be accepted 2" Mr.. Griffin, of Charles
town, opposed its acceptance, as tending to in
dorse the reflections which it contained upon
the House. He would have the true reasons
nf the ray Al
that the evidence developed had been too
damning to allow the gentleman to retain his
seat here. Suicide was an admission of guilt
Webster had said. 1t was well established that
the gentleman had been seen talking to a GER
tain lady at the depot, but he did not escort her
to the Washington House, for he feared that
the other members of the committee would not
be seen in such company. There he registered
her name; she was installed in No. IL, the
next room to that Of Joseph Hiss By the
iatters direction supper was carried to her
room, and the next day, when the clerk asked
If the whole should be included in the bill,
Joseph Hiss replied afirmatively. The bed of
Joseph Hiss was slightly tumbled, but not any
more than would have been doue by any indi-
vidual as concealment, and there were indubi-
table marks in the next room. that there had
been male occupant. And yet it has been
intimated that ! am hired as public man to
persecu.e the American party through Joseph
Hiss. Let the public judge. Therefore, j say,
at this time suicide is confession there has
been crime committed, under aggravated cir
cumstances, and if we would avert from our
selves disgrace and infamy-f we would not,
by the moral power of example, say that the
laws we make are inhocuous when applied to
ourselves-if we would not entail upon our
ancient Commonwealth q reproach, blasting its
past, and dimming its future, we must cut off
this offending member-we must not accept
this resignation; we must show our feeling
upon this subject, and cut off this offending
member. | am accused of desiring to destroy
an offending member, because / do not wish
that an adulterer and an offender shall longer
disgrace this House; / cannot be made an
lrishman on this account have stood up for
our principles and if the American party
means to excuse and sanction crime, the sooner
we are all out of it, the better; do not ac
knowledge that this is the platform of the
party which sent me here. In concluding he
moved declining at the same time to be on
the commlttee-that committee be appointed
to take this resignation in change, and that to
them further shall be referred the report of the
Hiss committee.
Mr.. Dyer, of Boston, opposed the motion and
favored the acceptance of the report. Debate
this longer and we would only be more rdicu-
lous; there was outside interest somewhere,
and he did not care if the gentleman from
Charlestown might take it to himself Shame
upon the gentleman to say that there had been
sufficient evidence before the House 10 convict
OF adultery, when he knew there was not
enough to warrant divorce. That gentleman's
remarks were partly true, but was there the
slightest shadow of evidence that Mr. Hiss
knew Mrs. L. TO be a bad woman2 Do not
cruelty him because outside people ask t2 The
gentleman from Charestown could not have
talked better in favor of the DAILY Advertiser,
or in favor of Mr.. Hiss, if he had received
thousand dollar fee Mr.. d. referred to the
wife and child of Mr.. III. as deserving of gener-
osity on the part of the House.
Mr.. Kimball Of Salem, did not see what. the
Daily Advertiser or the Nunnery Committee
had to do with the simple subject before the
House, of referring this resignation. Mr.. Hiss
had been charged with criminality, the report
of the committee had given us no evidence, and
we could not yet Judge Of the facts. If Mr..
Hiss has wife and child, he should have
thought of it when he went to Lowell There
are implications in this letter which forbid us
to accept it. Moore than that, it does not look
well when this subject is unsettled, when the
report of the Hiss committee Is yet before the
House on motion to reconsider, when the
guilt or innocence of the subject is yet unde-
cided, that his letter should be sent in; Daniel
Webster was right when he said that suicide
was confession of guilt. What had Mr.. Hiss
done that he should shrink from the conclusion
of this matter2 For one, Mr. X. said, he wished
the facts-if the member were guilty, he wanted
to see him expelled; If innocent, he wished to
see him sustained.
The House then, almost unanimously, refer
red the letter to special committee.
Rev. Mr.. Dennison and his Slave Rosetfs.
The citizens Of Jeffersonville, Kentucky -bave