The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-12-01
Friday Morning, Dec. !, 1900.
A Pleasant Record.

Gen. CHARLES DEvENs of Worcester,
Mass, was U. s. Marshal at the time the fngi-
tive slave, Thomas Sims, was surrendered up
in Boston and remanded to slavery, and he
came in for good many hard blows at the
hands of the anti-slavery men Of that day. 1t
turns out now that he has borne patiently for
many years the obloquy of his official acts in
connection with that transaction, and has not
had credit for the stern sense ofloyalty which
appears to have prompted his course. He felt,
probably, that to resign would have been
cowardly evasion of an unwelcome duty, and
to refuse, breach of his solemn oath to adj
minister the laws.
Mrs. Lydia Maria Child has recently pub
lished letter in the N. Y. Independent, in
which she has brought out facts that will be
likely to reverse the judgment ofhistory in re-
lation to this gallant gentleman. Our readers
will not find fault if we make liberal extract
from Mrs. Child's letter. She says:
Some months before the war broke out,
friend showed ne letters from Ihomas SIMS,
expressing an earnest desire to OBTAIN ms rree-
dom. His master had promised to let him buy
himself for $500. 1t was a large snm, but
tried to raise it by writing many letters, most
of them to persons more or less implicated in
the rendition of Sims. Many of the letters
were answered; others brought in codtribu-
tions The Hon. John p. Bigelow, who was
Mayor of Boston at the time the city was so
deeply disgraced by that inhuman transaction,
sent me $40, with expressions of regret that
the execution of the law had compelled him
to take such course. A short time after 1
commenced these operations, was astonished
by the following note from Worcester, Mass
raise money to redeem Thomas Sims from slavery.
If you have received any donations, please return
them TO the donors as wish to contribute the entire
sum myself "Yours respectfully,
"CHAs. DEEvNs, Jr"
In making my applications, had CHANGED
to overlook Mr.. Devens, though knew he had
acted as u. s. Marshal at the time of the rem
dition of Sims. According to his request re-
turned the contributions had received; and,
in writing to thank him, informed him of the
high price demanded. He replied that the
sum was subject to my order whenever chose
to call for it. The feeling of indignation which
L formerly had against him was changed to
respect and admiration but when wrote to
him l could not refrain from giving him lit
tie pate de oelours-merely saying that he re-
minded me of the senator in "Uncle Tom"
There were impediments in the way of COM
municating with Thomas Sims, and before the
afair could be sa ~ arranged the outbreak
fcivi war rendered negotiations with South
erners impracticable. Mr.. Devens, though
well established as lawyer, Immediately vol
unteered his services for the defence of the
country, and received majors commission
from Gov. Andrew. He is still in the army,
having fought bravely through the war. He
was severely wounded at Fair Oaks. and again
at Charlottesville, and in numerous battles
has fairly earned his present rank Of brevet
major-general.
In recent letter to me he mrites at is a
satisfaction to me that have had reasonable
active part in the great struggle which has re.
suited in the emancipation of all the slaves. ]
agree with you that suffrage ought 10 be given
to the negroes, though with certain restrictions
as to education; the same restriction being ap-
piled to all white men who shall vote hereaf-
ter. The liberty ofno race can be safe if de-
prived of this right as race. Injustice fol-
lowed by civil commotion, will be the inevita-
BILE result of such deprivation"
Thomas Sims married after he returned to
slavery, and when the U. S. Army arrived in
that vicinity, he contrived to convey himself,
wife and child, into their camp When he ar
rived in Massachusetts, Gen. Devens sent him,
through Inc, a present of $780, to assist him
till he could get into business. I call that man
true hero, in the highest and best sense of the
term; and 1 think all your readers will agree
with me. L. MARIA CHILD.