New-York daily tribune., 1856-02-12
THE FUGITIVE Law AND THE LAW or
THE STATES.


Liberty Law--an act not less obnoxious to hs
Massachusetts, Hunkers than it is to the Southern
slave -eatehers-we were led, some three weeks
ago, into sketch of the political history OF MI
Clifford, Ex-Governor and present Attorney-oo"-
eral Of that State-Mr Cliford's oficsl opinion
having been mainly relied upon BY Gov. GarOner IN
his unsuccessful attempt last year to Kill the Per-
sOnal Liberty Law by veto, and his hostility to it
being still employed this year as main instrument
ofGoyernor Gardners efforts to procure its repeal
To that article a reply has appeared in the Lad
ing columns of The Boston Atlas, apparently ssnsi
official, and founded apparently on iniormstiO9
and suggestions furnished by Mr.. Clifford himssif-
The article in The Atlas suggests, or seems 10
suggest, that the attack upon Mr. Clifford, ID
which it complains, originated in private malicc-
What the practice of the Boston press may bo
The 1idds knows better than we do, but IN ThE
TRIBUNE no man is ever attacked except upon
exclusively public grounds. Ii is only as pablo
man that we know anything of Mr. Clifford or
have said word about him. In any other way he
stotally unknown to US. Even in bis character o
politician our knowledge of him is mainly based
upon official documents, most of them signed BY
his own hand. Upon the strength OF those docu-
ments we have pronounced him political :" trim
mer, "doughtacc," and political "sneak "A
man whose opinions and advice are not to be relied
upon in crisis like the present, and ought not to
be accepted arguments against the Personal
Liberty Law. We have Non all occasions.
and very fully so in the article of which The AtlSs
complains, admitted Mr. Clifiord's professional
abilities, and his able discharge of the ordinary du
ties of bis Office. Our quarrel with him, and our
sole quarrel, is that as Attorney-General Of Mas
sachusctts he lacks the backbone to maintain the
rights and dignity of the State; that once already
he has sacrificed those rights-righs which he him
self most fully admitted-in mean and dastardly
manner and that he is now again seeking to sacri-
flee them second time by urging Massachusetts,
again 10 play into the hands of the slave-catchers
and to SEEM at least to yield to their threats, by
repeating the Personal Liberty Law. The first OF
these two charges against Mr.. Clifford is founded
upon his conduct in the Sims case, and what that
conduct was we shall proceed to show upon tho
evidence of official documents, of which the princi
pal is his written opinion and advice given at that
time to the Sheriff of Suffolk County as to tho
service of a State criminal warrant against Sims,
which had been placed in the Sheriff s hands.
The opinion, as our readers will see, was very
GOOD, and we make room for it at this moment with
the greater willingness as it bears directly upon
some interesting questions raised in the pending
Cincinnati slave cases. Is to similar conflict Of
jurisdiction. But if the opinion was good, the ad-
vice (as might have been expected of a trmmer)
was in direct conflict with it, being in substance
TO abandon in favor Of the slaye-catchers the un-
doubted and acknowledged rights of the State.
But before coming to this-wbich is the only ma
teria matter in the case and which seems to fully
to substantate our charge against Mr.. Clif0rd-let
us dispose of some other little matters about which
The Atlas raises great cry, playing much the
part of some birds that we read OF, hopping about
and screaming in order TO divert attention from
what they don't wish should be seen.
We had ascrbed to Dir. Clifford considerable
agency early in his political career in obtaining
the repeal of the old law of Massachusetts, against
the intermarriage of blacks and whites, and witty
speech, also, which smOothed the way for the pas
sage of that bill. The Alias insists that the joke
which we ascrbed to Mr.. Clifford belonged to
somebody else, and that Mr.. Clifford is not entitled
to credit for obtaining the change in the marriage
laws.
Next we are charged with a chronological mis-
take as to the time of the abolition of the Office Of
Attorney General and the appointment Of Mr..
Clifford AZ one of the Dstrct-Attorneys. In fact.
however we spoke of these events without at
tempting to fix their precise dates, and only as
happening not long after Mr. Clifford came into
political life"
The next chronological blunder laid to our charge
ia that in speaking of Mr.. Clifford's election as
Governor as simultaneous with the dissolution Of
the coalition between the Massachusetts, Free
Soilers and Democrats, we incidentally ascribe
the breaking up of that coalition TO the passage OF
the Kansas-Nebraska bill, whereas it was occa-
stoned by the election of President Pierce-a mis-
take doubtless on our part but not that we see IN
the least injurious to Mr.. Clifford.
A fourth allegation against us is our statement
that with the common fate of trmmers Mr.. Clifford
before his term as Governor expired dsgusted tho
public and could not get a denomination.
"To this" says The Atlas, 4" we reply that norni-
nation Ito our certain knowledge) urgently and
pertinacously pressed upon hr. Clifford, but peremp-
torly decined his first nomination having been ac-
cepted only the condition that If elected he should
be at liberty to retire ut the end Of the year.
Urgently and pertinaciously pressed by whomf
That is rather material point upon St1od The
atlas affords no light. Now, to our certain know
ledge, Mr. Clifford, by studiously concealing his
opinions on the Temperance question, got votes
when be was elected from both Sides and, by con-
tinuing the same trimming policy after his election,
ba d;d disoust both Darteg and WAS generally re-