The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-10-16
Gbs &shith.


vens. Boston: John P. Jewett Co. 1886
In the month of May, 1854, all Boston was
reused to high excitement; crowds of people
were gathered in and around the court house (;
Massachusetts soldiery were paraded on the
Common; United States troops were marching
up from the fort; Fanuel Hall, the old cradle
of Freedom, resounded with the spirit-stirring
appeals of eloquent liberty-loving men; an
assault was made to rescue a prisoner; blood
was shed, and the indignant feelings of whole
community were outraged by witnessing, borne
from their midst into bondage, man whose
only crime was that he sought to obtain the
same boon of independence for which the men
of Lexington and Bunker Hill fought, bled, and
died. The occasion of this popular tumult,
and of the passionate expression of public feel
ing, was the arrest of Anthony Burns, slave
from Virginia, under the action of the Fugitive
Slave Law. Mr.. Stevens has, in this volume,
given us a full, impartial account of the whole
transaction, from its beginning to the end, with
the arguments of the counsel, the decision Of
the Court and the manner in which the decree
he has done so, while the memory of it was 80
fresh in the minds of persons concerned and
that he has stamped on the pages of book, to
be read by thousands and tens of thousands,
the history of the last case, as we believe it will
prove, of the carrying out of that law in Boston
or Massachusetts,. The low.muttered thunder
of that day would be heard in loud peals now,
we're such case to occur; the attendant of
volleyed lightnings of wrath, before whose
scathing bolts the myrmidons of power would
quail and wither away. Mr.. Stevens has had
peculiar facilities for his task. He was himself
an eyewitness; he has had frequent opportu-
mites of conversation with Anthony Burns he
has taken down from his lips his statement !;
the statement of witness whom his MASTER
Mr.. Suttle, himself declared to be a man of
truth. No volume gives US so full and clear a
view of the matter. The authors candor ap-
pears in the readiness he shows to accord to
Mr.. Loring, the Commissioner, everything that
can be alleged in his favor, while, at the same
time, he furnishes such an array of facts, as to
to the doubledealing of others, the claimant,
and his supporters, as ought ever to brand
them with disgrace with every ingenious man.
The official documents, also embodied in his
work, are valuable, and attest Mr.. Stevens's dill
gence in leaving no source, illustrating the
transaction, unexamined or not brought into
use. He writes, too, without display of passion,
like man conscious where lies the justice of
the cause, willing to leave the plain narration
of facts to their proper influence, without vitu-
peration; and his style is simple, energetic, just
such as BELTS his subject. His sympathies are
of course for Freedom, but he better under.
stands himself than to distort a single act or
give darker shade to single circumstance,
well knowing that it is all bad enough when
the truth is honestly told without the aid of any
Fictitious appeals to prejudice or lightweight
enthusiasm. The publication of this case is
South will, where they can, subject the North.
Not the slightest regard was paid by the claim
ant to the feelings of men who obeyed the law,
while their hearts we're beating with sympathy
for the oppressed and fugitive; the purpose
was distinctly avowed, in defiance of courtesy,
and solemn pledges given, to exact to the ut
most the submission needed, and to put to the
last screw of torture the feelings of any whose
regard for law and order, as it is expressed, for
babe them from following out the dictates of
overcharged hearts. This feature in the case,
however, has not been without its effect; and
the heartlessness exhibited by the claimant,
and those associated with him, has no doubt
done much to prevent the repetition of such a
scene, and to write on the statute-book of Old
Massachusetts such decree of an indignant
people, as will GRID with the strength of State,
the determination to protect their rights from
any further invasion. Anthony Burns's history
in Boston will 60 down to posterity, like some
of those incidents connected with the early
days of the Revolution, which are SO character
istic of the times and the people and the effect
of Slavery on the master and his abettors will
stand forth as prominently developed in this
case on the chronicles of the past. The reused
spirit of the North, of the free States, now
struggling for the freedom of Kansas, and to
prevent the communicating blight of Slavery
there, will welcome this volume. 1t will do its
part in this mighty conflict; and the author,
we doubt not, will have the satisfaction of
knowing that he has added one among the
many who have prepared sharp and effective
weapon from the armory of Truth, to do good
service in the cause in which the welfare of this
nation and its best influence on the world is so
urgently enlisted.
ArRIcAs MOUNTAIN VALLEY; or, the Church in Regents
Town, Yves, Africa. BY the Author of Mnistering
Children. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1856
For sale by Gray Baantyne, Washington, d. C.
ain the Church Missionary Intelligencer for
March, 1855, the negro town of Regent is spo-
ken of as containing population amounting
to several thousands, almost entirely Christian"
And what and where is Regents Town? some
of our readers may perhaps ask. To such we
would say, for information, that it is one of the
chief towns of the British Colony of Sierra Le-
one, on the west coast of Africa, and lying embo.
somed in deep mountain valley. This colony
is composed of liberated slaves from the slave
ships captured and brought into the harbor of
Sierra Leone, after the abolition of the slave
trade by the British Government in 1907.
Thousands of these unhappy people, rescued
from the misery to which they were doomed,
were, in the course of few years, gathered on
that spot. The place selected on their native
coast possessed numerous advantages Here
were seen added, from time to time, men, women,
and children, from great number of different
nations or tribes along the seaboard, or the
more remote interior of that illfated land of
Africa. This volume is a record of Gods good
ness and grace among these poor heather. 1t is