Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1880-10-02

car railway service, last mails, free d.
livery in cities, money order system,
successful registry system, etc., are al
Republican improvements.
The great and shameful defalcati0n q
postmaster Fowler of the New Yor
0mce, in 1850, shows how thorough
rotten and corrupt the service was IN
der Democratic administration. N
such scandal has ever occurred unde
Republican administration.
But the greatest reform in the posta
service made by the Republicans i
in making the mails free. The Repub
llcan party has not only struck off tn
shackels from 100000 slaves; it ha
emancipated the letters and newspaper
OF the white people from insOlent loca
supervision by Democratic postmaster
and safety committees. Under Demo
cratic rule, no man could send or receiy,
a letter in the solid Democratic state.
and be sure that it would not be opened
to look for "incendiary" sentiments. NJ
man in the solid Democratic states cOulf
safely send or receive northern news
paper or book, unless it was Democratic
The extent of Democratic interference
with the freedom of the mails was a
m0nstrOus and widespread evil. which
the present generation, accustomed to
Republican freedom, have almost forgot.
ten. Many of the southern states en-.
acted state la,cs prohibiting the writing
or delivery of ''incendiary. mattern as
they termed everything Republican OF
| abOlitiOnist. The statutes of Virginia is
q specimen. 1t read as follows:
Section 70. If a free person write or
print, or cause to be written or printed.
any book or other thing with intent to
advise or incite negroes in this state to
rebel or smake instruction, or inculca-
ting resistance to the right of property
| OF masters in their slaves, or If he shall
with intent to aid the purpose of any
such book or writing, knowingly circu-
late the same, he shall be confined
In the penitentiary not less than
one nor more than five years.
Section "a. If a postmaster or deputy
postmaster know that any such book or
other writing has been received at his
office in the mail, he shall give notice
thereof to some justice, who shall inquire
into the circumstances, and have such
book or writing burned in his presence.
And if it appear to him that the person
to whom it was directed Subscribed
therefor, knowing its character. or
agreed to receive it for circulation to
aid the purpose of abolitionists, the ius-
tice shall commit such person to Jail. If
any postmaster or deputy postmaster
violate this section, he shall be fined not
exceeding 5000. r4fr..g
The right of the state to enforce such
laws was not only sustained by the high
est legal officer of the government at
tOrney General Cushing), vol 8 D. 489 Re-
ports, of Attorneys GENERALLY but il was
declared by the postmaster general. De-
cember 5, 1859, that ''the Judgment TINS
pronounced has been cheerfHlIv ac0ni-
esced in by this department and is rec
ognized an one of the guides of its adj
The postmaster general of the United
States, also under date of December I.
1856, in published letter to the most,
master at rails Church, Va, after an
elaborate discussion of the case present. |
ed, instructed the postmaster as fol- |
lows:
You must, under the responsibilities
reStlng upon you as an officer land as |
cltlzen. determine whether the books. |
pampnlets, newspapers, etc., received by |
you fOr distribution are of the incendia- |
~ character described in the statute,
and, II you believe they are, then you
are not only not obliged to deliver them |
70 those to whom they were addressed.
out you are empowered and required by |
your duty to the state of which you are
citizen. to dispose of them in strict |
conformity to the provisions of the law
referred to. The people of Virginia man
not only forbid the introduction and dis
semtndtaOn of such documents acithin their
borders, ont, If brought there i'm the mails
they may, 6y appropriate legal proceed
'ng, hare them destroyed. They have the
same right to extinguish firebrands thus
mplously hurled in the midst of their
houses and affairs, that a man has to
pluck the burning fuse from a bomb
shell which is about to explode at his
FEET.
The following paragraph from the
the Official organ at WASH
ngton, OF May 2, 1860, will show the
operation of the doctrine in
mother state lying adjacent to the
rational capitol:
lNCENDIARY DOCUMENTS IN MARYLAND.
The Kent County ConservatOr saws
hat his honor Judge Carmichael has de-
lded that it is not necessary for postmas-
ers to inspect each issue of newspaper
o see If lncendiary sentiments are con-
aimed therein; that if the general rep
ltatl0n OF paper is of that character.
postmaster is justified in Withholding
UGH paper; and that any postmaster de.
lverlng such paper, knowing its char
cter or tendency, renders himself liza
lie f0r all the penalties enacted for cir
incendiary documents. He al
directed the grand jury onotify each
.ostmaster in the country of this deci-
Ion. The several pOstmasters, we learn. ,
pursuance of this decision, acere a. :
ected to refuse all applications for the
feac York Tribune, they, the jury, DEEM !
'g thdt paper an tncendiary sheet. Post
lasters delivering said paper, we are :
to state, will be prosecuted in
very case. = T,'",'-".
That the policy and sentiments enun-
lated Dy the postmaster general in 1859
'ere not OF recent Democratic origin
III De found by reference to appendix T
the Congressional Globe, second SEES
on, 18th congress, PIP 975-9 1888, contain 5
ng speech delivered February 4. 1912.
J0hn Quincy Adams, in reply to a \
solution of censure offered against
That the espionage of the mails was
OF confined to printed matter, but that
also invaded the sanctity of private
)rrespondence is shown blythe annexed
Itract, read by Mr.. Adams from the
oston Atlas, with the comments of that
aper: - ''''''
A southern postmaster writes to a
lend In this city as follows: "Yester-
y, wniie examining the mail i'm search
incend,araes discovered a letter writ
= on a beautiful sheet of pink paper.
broke it open, and 10! and behold if
as love letter from our old friend
ISIS - to young --of this village