 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information and volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Benjamin Franklin, letter to the editor, Journal de Paris, April 26, 1784. Read by ML Cohen, Cleveland, Ohio, March 2007. Messier. You often entertain us with accounts of new discoveries. Permit me to communicate to the public, through your paper, one that has lately been made by myself, and which I conceive may be of great utility. I was the other evening in a grand company, where the new lamp of Messier's Kinkei and Lang was introduced, and much admired for its splendor. But a generous inquiry was made whether the oil it consumed was not in proportion to the light it afforded, in which case there would be no saving in the use of it. No one present can satisfy us in that point, which all agreed ought to be known, it being a very desirable thing to lessen, if possible, the expense of lighting our apartments, when every other article of family expense was so much augmented. I was pleased to see this general concern for the economy, for I loved the economy exceedingly. I went home, and to bed, three or four hours after midnight, with my head full of the subject. An accidental sudden noise waked me about six in the morning, when I was surprised to find my room filled with light. And I imagined at first that a number of those lamps had been brought into it, but, rubbing my eyes, I perceived the light came in at the windows. I got up and looked out to see what might be the occasion of it, when I saw the sun just rising above the horizon, from whence he poured his rays plentifully into my chamber. My domestic having negligently omitted the preceding evening to close the shutters. I looked at my watch, which goes very well, and found that it was but six o'clock. And still thinking it's something extraordinary that the sun should rise so early, I looked into the almanac, where I found it to be the hour given for his rising on that day. I looked forward, too, and found he was to rise still earlier every day till towards the end of June, and that at no time in the year he retarded his rising so long as till eight o'clock. Your readers, who with me have never seen any signs of sunshine before noon, and seldom regard the astronomical part of the almanac will be as much astonished as I was when they hear of his rising so early. And especially when I assure them that he gives light as soon as he rises. I am convinced of this. I am certain of my fact. One cannot be more certain of any fact I saw with my own eyes. And having repeated this observation the three following mornings, I found always precisely the same result. Yet it so happens that when I speak of this discovery to others, I can easily perceive by their countenances, though they forbear expressing it in words, that they do not quite believe me. One indeed, who is a learned natural philosopher, has assured me that I must certainly be mistaken as to the circumstance of light coming into my room. For it being well known, as he says, that there could be no light abroad at that hour, it follows that none could enter from without. And that of consequence my windows being accidentally left open, instead of letting in the light, had only served to let out the darkness. And he used many ingenious arguments to show me how I might, by that means, have been deceived. I owned that he puzzled me a little, but he did not satisfy me. And the subsequent observations I made, as above mentioned, confirmed me in my first opinion. This event has given rise in my mind to several serious and important reflections. I considered that if I had not been awake in so early in the morning, I should have slept six hours longer by the light of the sun, and in exchange have lived six hours the following night by candlelight. And, the latter being a much more expensive light than the former, my love of economy induced me to muster up what little arithmetic I was master of, and to make some calculations, which I shall give you. After observing that utility is, in my opinion, the test of value in matters of invention, and that a discovery which can be applied to no use, or is not good for something, is good for nothing. I took for the basis of my calculation the supposition that there are 100,000 families in Paris, and that these families consume in the night half a pound of boogies, or candles, per hour. I think this is a moderate allowance taking one filming with another, for though I believe some consume less, I know that many consume a great deal more. Then estimating seven hours per day as the medium quantity, between the time of the sun's rising in hours, he rising during the six following months from six to eight hours before noon, and there being seven hours of course per night in which we burn candles, the account will stand thus, in the six months between the 20th of March, and the 20th of September, there are, nights 183, hours of each night in which we burn candles, seven, multiplication gives for the total number of hours, 1,281. These 1,281 hours multiplied by 100,000, the number of inhabitants, gives 128,100,000. 128 millions and 100,000 hours spent at Paris by candlelight, which, at half a pound of wax and tallow per hour, gives the weight of 64,050,000. 64 millions and 50,000 of pounds, which, estimating the whole at the median price of 30 sols the pound, makes the sum of 96 millions and 75,000 levers tornois, colon, 96 million, 75,000. An immense sum, that the city of Paris might save each year by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles. If it should be said, that people are apt to be obstinately attached to old customs, and that it will be difficult to induce them to rise before noon, consequently my discovery can be of little use. I answer, nil disparatum. I believe all who have common sense, as soon as they have learned from this paper that it is daylight when the sun rises, will contrive to rise with him, and to compel the rest I would propose the following regulations. First, let a tax be laid of a Lewis per window on every window that is provided with shutters to keep out the light of the sun. Second, let the same salutary operation of police be made use of to prevent our burning candles, then inclined us last winter to be more economical in burning wood. That is, let guards be placed in the shops of the wax and tallow chandlers, and no family be permitted to be supplied with more than one pound of candles per week. Third, let guards also be posted to stop all the coaches, etc., that would pass the streets after sunset, except those of physicians, surgeons, and midwives. Fourth, every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing, and if that is not sufficient, let a cannon be fired in every street to wake the sluggers effectively, and to make them open their eyes to see their true interest. All the difficulty will be in the first two or three days, after which the Reformation will be as natural and as easy as the present to regularity. For, senesque le premier pacacute, oblige a man to rise at four in the morning, and in his more than probable, he will go willingly to bed at eight in the evening. And, having had eight hours of sleep, he will rise more willingly at four in the morning following. But this sum of ninety-six millions and seventy-five thousand leavers is not the whole of what may be saved by my economical project. You may observe that I have calculated upon only one half of the year, and much may be saved in the other, though the days are shorter. Besides, the immense stock of wax and tallow left unconsumed during the summer will probably make candles much cheaper for the ensuing winter, and continue them cheaper as long as the proposed Reformation shall be supported. For the great benefit of this discovery, thus freely communicated and bestowed by me on the public, I demand neither place, pension, exclusive privilege, nor any reward whatever. I expect only to have the honor of it, and yet I know there are little envious minds who will, as usual, deny me this and say that my invention was known to the ancients, and perhaps they may bring passages out of the old books and proof of it. I will not dispute with these people that the ancients knew not the sun would rise at certain hours. They possibly had, as we have, Almanacs that predicted it. But it does not follow thence that they knew he gave light as soon as he rose. This is what I claim is my discovery. If the ancients knew it, it might have been long since forgotten, for it certainly was unknown to the moderns, at least to the Parisians, which to prove I need but one plain simple argument. They are as well instructed, judicious, and prudent of people as exist anywhere in the world, all professing, like myself, to be lovers of economy, and, from the many heavy taxes required from them by the necessities of the state, have surely an abundant reason to be economical. I say it is impossible that so sensible a people, under such circumstances, should have lived so long by the smoky, unwholesome, and enormously expensive light of candles, if they had really known that they might have had as much pure light of the sun for nothing. I am, etc., a subscriber. Signed, Benjamin Franklin. End of article. This recording is in the public domain. The Tragedy at Harper's Ferry. The Liberator. October 28, 1859. By William Lloyd Garrison. Recorded for LibriVox.org by ML Cohen Cleveland, Ohio, March 2007. We have devoted a large portion of our present number to the publication of such particulars of the well-intentioned but sadly misguided effort of Captain John Brown and his score of Confederates at Harper's Ferry to liberate the slaves in Virginia and ultimately throughout the South, as have been received. With the comments of various Democratic and Republican journals upon this outbreak, which are characterized by an equal mixture of ferocity and cowardice. As to the plot itself, it is evident that few or none were privy to it, except the little band directly engaged in it. For though Captain Brown had many to sympathize with him in different parts of the country, in view of his terrible bereavements, perils and sufferings in Kansas, in defense of the freedom of that territory against border roughing invasion, and were disposed to contribute not only to relieve his necessities, but also to facilitate the escape of slaves through his instrumentality to Canada. Still, an enterprise so wild and futile as this could not have received any countenance in that direction. As to Captain Brown, all who know him personally are united in the conviction that a more honest, conscientious, truthful, brave, disinterested man, friends, however misguided or unfortunate, close friends, does not exist. That he possesses a deeply religious nature, powerfully wrought upon by the trials through which he has passed. That he has sincerely believed himself to have been raised up by God to deliver the oppressed in this country in the way he has chosen. As did Moses in relation to the deliverance of the captive Israelites. That when he says he aims to be guided by the golden rule, it is no cant from his lips, but a vital application of it to his own soul. Quote, remembering those that are in bonds as bound with them. That when he affirms that he had no other motive for his conduct at Harper's Ferry except to break the chains of the oppressed, by shedding of the least possible amount of human blood, he speaks, quote, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, end quote. And that if he shall be, friends, as he will speedily beyond a per-adventure, close friends, put to death, he will not die ignoble, but as a martyr to a sympathy for a suffering race, and in defense of the sacred and inalienable rights of man, and will therefore deserve to be held in grateful and honorable remembrance to the latest posterity by all those who glory in the deeds of a Wallace or a Tell, a Washington or a Warren. Read his replies to the interrogators propounded to him by Senator Mason and others. Is there another man of all the thirty millions of people inhabiting this country who could have answered more wisely, more impressively, more courageously, or with great immoral dignity under such a trying ordeal? How many hearts will be thrilled and inspired by his utterances? Read, too, his replies in court with reference to his counsel. Where shall a more undaunted spirit be found? In vain will the sanguinary tyrants of the South and their northern minions seek to cover him with infamy. Courts, judges, can inflict no brand of shame or a chap of death to shroud him from applause. For by the logic of Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill, and bride the principles enforced by this nation in its boasted declaration of independence, Captain Brown was a hero, struggling against fearful odds, not for his own advantage, but to redeem others from a horrible bondage, to be justified in all that he aimed to achieve, however lacking in sound discretion. And by the same logic and the same principles every slaveholder has forfeited his right to live if his destruction be necessary to enable his victims to break the yoke of bondage. And they, and all who are disposed to aid them by force and arms, are fully warranted in carrying rebellion to any extent and securing freedom at whatever cost. It will be a terribly losing day for all slaveholders when John Brown and his associates are brought to the gallows. It will be sowing seed broadcast for a harvest of retribution. Their blood will cry trumpet-tongued from the ground, and that cry will be responded to by tens of thousands in a manner that shall cause the knees of the Southern slave-mongers to smite together, as did those of Belshazzar of old. Oh, that they might avoid all this by a timely repentance. End of article. This recording is in the public domain. In the New York Times, the inauguration of the President of the Southern Confederacy, February 18, 1861, front page. This is read for LibriVox.org. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Inaugural address of President Davis, animated debate in the Peace Conference, and the policy and purposes of secession. Washington, Monday, February 18. The Peace Conference were in session today, upwards of five hours. The debate was the most animated of any since the commencement of the convention. The two reports from the committee were under consideration. The propositions respecting the territories, establishing or permitting slavery south of 36 degrees 30 minutes, were posed earnestly by gentlemen from New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Mr. Tyler and Guthrie are leading advocates of the majority report and earnestly urged upon the convention immediate and direct action. They object decidedly to the proposition of Mr. Field of New York for a national convention on the ground that before such a convention can be held unless some compromise be offered or adopted, all the border states will go out of the union and will join the Southern Confederacy, binding themselves to that organization so strongly that the convention will be powerless to effect a reorganization. The tone of Jefferson Davis's speech is alluded to by them to substantiate the determination declared by the states which go out, never to reunite with the North. A majority of Pennsylvanians, and some from all the northern states it is now thought, will accept the majority report which, with all the border state compromises, will secure its adoption by a close vote. A canvas this morning of the conference shows only about half a dozen majority in its favor. The slave state representatives say that its adoption under such circumstances and by such a vote will be of no avail and will not be accepted as settlement as it will not be an expression of the wishes of the free states. Several gentlemen have argued these points at length. The feasibility and constitutionality of the propositions in the report were discussed at considerable length. The anti-compromisers headed by Mr. Field and Notes of New York, Batwell, and Allen of Massachusetts and one Illinois man as earnestly met these arguments. They object to a direct compromise as being of no binding authority and unlikely to receive any sanction from Congress as the session is so nearly closed. They also object to them upon principle and under threats and to amendments to the constitution by such process and without careful deliberation. They cannot see in them any remedy for existing difficulties and only a problematic prevention of further complications and troubles. The same difficulties will exist after their adoption as now and even with these concessions granted the border slave states will not consent to, no permit, any remedy for the frauds perpetrated by seceding states upon the federal government. The speech of Jefferson Davis alluded to published this morning amounts in their estimation to a declaration of war and yet gentlemen propose that they should themselves do nothing about it. While the discussion was very spirited the most amicable feelings were displayed on all sides. Mr. Tyler asked some of the anti-compromisers today in a private conversation if they would yield the Virginia proposition the crediting compromise or anything against the spirit of the Chicago platform. Or if direct compromise would not suit them as well as the national convention. He received a negative answer. He has said to have replied that if they maintained that position throughout this week without action in the right direction for settlement there would no longer be any hope of adjustment and they must prepare to recognize the consequences or involve the country in civil war. He has not he says quite given up all hope yet. A proposition was to be made for evening sessions this week. Batwell of Massachusetts made a long and eloquent speech today in convention against all compromise said to be the most elaborate naval speech yet delivered. It attracted much attention and drew forth the debate which occupied the convention all day. He went so far as to advise the border states as suggested by Soames of Maine in his recent speech in the House of the necessity of conciliating and agreeing with the North for their own safety. Guthrie afterwards approached Mr. Batwell, Allen Field and Crow and Shield and said he did not stand upon his proposition nor did Kentucky demand creditons or any particular measure as an alternative asking what they would give and intimating that they would agree to anything which presented a basis of adjustment. They replied offering a national convention. They think this proposition rapidly gaining in favor and express the belief that now no other can pass. Jefferson Davis' speech at Montgomery attracts considerable attention. His braggadocia and threats are the subject of ridicule and excite no fear here. It is only tending to strengthen the anti-compromise feeling. His inaugural address or that part of it which is received here tonight but not yet made public. I learned from private sources takes strong ground against reconstruction and compromise and partakes more of the air of a military dictator than the head of a peaceful republic. The border statement denounced Davis and his bombast without stint. This recording is in the public domain. Washington, March 4. The day was ushered in by a most exciting session of the Senate, that body sitting for twelve hours, from seven o'clock yesterday evening to seven o'clock this morning. As the hands of the clock pointed to twelve o'clock last night and the Sabbath gave way to Monday the fourth of March, the Senate chamber presented a curious and animated appearance. The galleries were crowded to repletion. The ladies' gallery resembling from the gay dresses of the fair ones there congregated, some gorgeous parterra flowers, and the gentlemen's gallery seemed one dense black mass of surging heaving masculine, pushing, struggling, and almost clambering over each other's backs in order to get a good look at the proceedings. Some most ludicrous scenes were the result of the intense desire of the outsiders to get a peep into the Senate chamber, and the pertinacity with which the applicant for admission to the overflowing galleries would urge that he had come all the way from Indiana or Vermont, or some other place, afforded the seated one's intense amusement. On the floor Messiers Crittenden, Trumbull, Wigfall, Wade, Douglas, and others kept up a rolling fire of debate while those not engaged in the discussion betook themselves to the sofas for a comfortable nap during the session, which it was known would last all night. As the morning advanced the galleries and floor became gradually cleared out when in the gray morning light the Senate took a recess till ten o'clock today. A few minutes after seven o'clock but few remained. The morning broke clear and beautiful, and though at one time a few drops of rain fell, the day proved just calm and cloudy enough to prevent the usual heat of the past few days and the whirlwind of dust that would otherwise render it excessively unpleasant. The public buildings, schools, places of business, etc., were closed throughout the day. The stars and stripes floated from the city hall, capital, war department, and other public buildings, while not a few of the citizens flung out flags from their houses or across the principal avenues. From early dawn the drum and fife could be heard in every quarter of the city, and the streets were thronged with volunteer soldiers hastening to their respective rendezvous. Three or four hours elapsed before there was the least chance of entering the capital. Pennsylvania Avenue was thronged with people wending their way to the famous East Front. For four hours the crowd poured on toward the capital in one continuous stream of old and young, male and female, state old Quakers from Pennsylvania going to see friend Abraham, and lengthy suckers, Hoosiers and Wolverines, desirous of a peep at Mr. Lincoln, Buckeyes and Yangies, men from the northeast and the northwest, and a few from the border states. The large majority, however, were northern men, their being but few southerners, judging from the lack of long-haired men in the crowd. The order of arrangements, as settled by the Committee of Arrangements, was as follows. To the left of the Vice President were the Committee of Arrangements. Immediately behind them the heads of the various departments of the government. Senators and members elect of the House of Representatives, Officers of the Army and Navy, Governors of the States and Territories, Comptrollers, Auditors, Registers and Solicitors of the Treasury. To the right of the Vice President were the Judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, Diplomatic Corps, Ex-Governors of States, Assistant Secretaries of Departments, Commissioners, Judges and Mayors of Georgetown and Washington. Previous to the arrival of the procession, the Senate Chamber did not present a very animated appearance. The many ladies waiting to see the display did not arrive till late, and the officers whose gay uniforms and flashing epaulets relieved so well the somberness of the National Black were with the presidential cortege during the passing of the procession to Willard's Hotel and the March Thence to the Capitol. Senator Bright killed in the most approved manner a certain gaspill to wit by talking it to death. This not proving very interesting matters waxed somewhat dull in the interim. At five minutes to twelve o'clock Vice President Breckenridge and Senator Foot of the Committee of Arrangements entered the Senate Chamber escorting the Vice President-elect Honorable Hannibal Hamlin whom they conducted to a seat immediately to the left of the chair of the President of the Senate. As the hands of the clock pointed to the hour of twelve the hammer fell and the second session of the thirty-sixth Congress came to an end. Vice President Breckenridge bid the Senate farewell and then administered the oath of office to Vice President Hamlin. This ceremony is described in the Senate report. Mr. Breckenridge then announced the Senate adjourned without day and left the chair to which he immediately conducted Vice President Hamlin. Honorable Mr. Klingman was then sworn in as Senator from the State of North Carolina, Messiers Clark for New Hampshire, Chase for Ohio, Harris of New York, Harlan for Iowa, Howe for Wisconsin, Breckenridge for Kentucky, Lane for Indiana, Nessmith for Oregon, and Mitchell for Arkansas. At this juncture the members and members-elect of the House of Representative entered the Senate Chamber filling every available place to the left of the Vice President. The Foreign Diplomatic Corps also entered the chamber at the same moment occupying seats to the right of the chair. It was a subject of general remark that the Foreign Corps never was so fully represented as on this occasion. The ministers, attachés, and others numbered in all some fifty and over, and their brilliancy of dress, the number of their decorations, crepes, etc., added much to the imposing nature of the scene. Some of the court uniforms were particularly gorgeous and attracted much attention. The scene in the Senate, while waiting the arrival of the presidential party, seemed to realize the lying down of the lamb and the lion together, or the mingling of oil and water. Messiers Chase, Wigfall, Crittenden, Wilson, and others hobnobbing with the utmost cordiality. Senator Breckenridge was conversing familiarly with the extremist men of the Republicans, while ladies of all political affinities, Mrs. Hamlin among them, looked smilingly down upon the animated scene below. The attendance of senators was usually full, the only absences noticed being those of Messiers Mason and Hunter of Virginia. At fifteen minutes to one o'clock, the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States of America were announced by the doorkeeper of the Senate. On their entrance, all on the floor arose, and the venerable judges, headed by the Chief Justice Taney, moved slowly to the seats assigned them, immediately to the right of the Vice President, each exchanging salutes with that officer in passing the chair. At ten minutes after one o'clock, an unusual stir occurred in the chamber, and the rumour spread like wildfire that the President-elect was in the building. At fifteen minutes past one o'clock, the Marshal and Chief Major B. B. French entered the chamber, ushering in the President and the President-elect. They had entered together from the street through a private covered passageway on the north side of the Capitol, police officers being in attendance to prevent outsiders from crowding after them. The line of procession was then formed in the following manner. Marshal of the District of Columbia, judges of Supreme Court and Sergeant and Arms, Senate Committee of Arrangements, President of the United States and President-elect, Vice President, Secretary of the Senate, Senators, Diplomatic Corps, Heads of the Departments, Governors and others in the chamber. When the word was given for members of the House to fall into the line of procession, a violent rush was made for the door, accompanied by loud outcries, violent pushing and great disturbance. After the procession had reached the platform, Senator Baker of Oregon introduced Mr. Lincoln to the assembly. On Mr. Lincoln advancing to the stand, he was cheered, but not very loudly. Unfolding his manuscript, in a loud, clear voice, he read his message as follows. President Lincoln's Inaugural Address Fellow citizens of the United States In compliance with a custom as old as the government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President before he enters upon the duties of his office. I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the southern states that by the accession of a Republican administration, their property and their permanent peace and security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of these speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And more than this they placed in the platform for my acceptance and as a law to themselves and to me the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read. Resolved that the maintenance in violet of the rights of the states and especially the right of each according to its own judgment exclusively is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend. And we denounce the lawless invasion by an armed force of any state or territory no matter under what pretext as the greatest of crimes. I now reiterate these sentiments and in doing so I only press upon the public attention, the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming administration. Add to that all the protection which consistently with the constitution and the laws can be given will be cheerfully given to all states when lawfully demanded for whatever cause as cheerfully to one section is to another. There is much controversy about delivering up fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the constitution as any other of its provisions. No person held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof escaping into another shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor but shall be delivered up on a claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves and the intention of the law giver as the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole constitution, to this provision as much to any other, to the proposition then that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause shall be delivered up. Their oaths are unanimous. Now if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not with nearly equal unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath? There is some difference of opinion, whether this clause should be enforced by national or by state authority but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered it can be of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done and should anyone in any case be content that his oath should be unkept on a merely substantial controversy as to how it shall be kept? Again in any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave and might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several states. I take the official oath today with no mental reservations and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or the laws by any hypocritical rules and while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced I do suggest that it will be much safer for all both in official and private stations to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional. It is seventy two years since the first inauguration of a president under our national constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the executive branch of the government. They have conducted it through many perils and generally with great success. Yet with all this scope of precedent I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great and peculiar difficulties. A disruption of the federal union here to four only menaced is now formidably attempted. I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the union of these states is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied if not expressed in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the expressed provisions of our national constitution and the union will endure forever. It being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. Again if the United States be not a government proper but an association of states in the name of a contract merely can it as a contract be peacefully unmade by less than all the parties who made it. One party to a contract may violate or break it so to speak but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it? Descending from these general principles we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the union itself. The union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed in fact by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured and the faith of all the then 13 states expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual by the Articles of Confederation in 1778 and finally in 1787. One of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was to form a more perfect union but if destruction of the union by one or part only of the states be lawfully possible the union is less than before the Constitution having lost the vital element of perpetuity. It follows from these views that no state upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the union that resolves in ordinances to that effect are legally void and that acts of violence within any state or states against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary according to circumstances. I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the union is unbroken and to the extent of my ability I shall take care as the Constitution itself expressly enforces upon me that the laws of the United States be faithfully executed in all the states. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part and I shall perform it so far as practicable unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisition or in some authoritative manner direct contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace but only as the declared purpose of the union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the government and collect the duties and imposts but beyond what may be necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States in any interior territory shall be so great and so universal as to prevent the competent resident citizens from holding the federal offices there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among people that object. While the strict legal right may exist for the government to enforce the exercise of these offices the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly impracticable with all that I deem it better to forgo for a time the use of such offices. The males unless repelled will continue to be furnished in all parts of the union so far as possible. The people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised according to circumstances actually existing and with a view and a hope to a peaceful solution of the national trouble and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections. That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the union at all events and are glad of any pretext to do so I will neither affirm or deny but if there should be such I need address no word to them. To those however who really love the union may I not speak? Before entering upon so grave a matter is the destruction of our national fabric with all its benefits its memories and its hopes. Would it not be well to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from? Will you risk the commission of such a fearful mistake? All protest to be content in the union if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true then that any right plainly written in the constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach the audacity of doing this. Think if you can of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the constitution has ever been denied. If by mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right it might in a moral point of view justify revolution. It certainly would if such right were a vital one. But such is not the case. All the vital rights of minorities and individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negatives, guarantees and prohibitions in the constitution that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in the practical administration. No foresight can anticipate nor any document of reasonable length contain expressed provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labour be surrendered by national or state authority? The constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the territories? The constitution does not expressly say. From questions of this class bring all our constitutional controversies and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce the majority must or the government will cease. There is no other alternative for continuing the government but acquiescence on the one side or the other. There is no other alternative for continuing the government but acquiescence on the one side or other. If a minority in such a case will secede rather than acquiesce they make a precedent which in turn will divide and ruin them for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For instance why may not a portion of a new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily secede again precisely as a portion of the present union now claims to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this. Is there such perfect identity of interests among the states to compose a new union as to produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession? Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations and always changing easily with the deliberate changes of popular opinion and sentiment is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible. The rule of a minority as a permanent arrangement is wholly inadmissible so that rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left. I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit as to the object of that suit while they are also entitled to very high respect and considerations in all parallel cases by all other departments of the government. And while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given case still the evil effect following it being limited to that particular case with the chance that it may become a precedent for other cases can better be born than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the decisions of the Supreme Court the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties and personal actions the people will have ceased to be their own rulers having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges it is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly brought before them and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended this is the only substantial dispute the fugitive slave clause of the constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced perhaps as any laws can be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself the great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases and a few break over in each this I think cannot be perfectly cured and it would be worse in both cases after a separation of the sections than before the foreign slave trade now imperfectly suppressed would be ultimately revived without restriction in one section while fugitive slaves now only partially surrendered would not be surrendered at all by the other physically speaking we cannot separate we cannot remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them a husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and reach of each other but the different parts of our country cannot do this they cannot but remain face to face and intercourse either amicable or hostile relations must continue between them is it possible then to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than law can among friends suppose you go to war you cannot fight always and when after much loss on both sides and no gain on either you cease fighting the identical questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you this country with its institutions belongs to those who inhabited whenever they grow weary of the existing government they can exercise their constitutional right of amending or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the national constitution amended while I make no recommendation of amendment I fully recognize the authority of the people over the whole subject to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself and I should under existing circumstances favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems preferable in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves instead of only permitting them to take a proposition originated by others not especially chosen for the purpose and which might not be precisely such as they wish to either accept or refuse I understand proposed amendment to the constitution which amendment I have not seen has passed congress to the effect that the federal government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the states including that of persons held to service to avoid misconstruction of what I have said I now depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable the chief magistrate derives all his authority from the people and they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the states the people themselves can do this alone if they choose but the executive as such has nothing to do with it his duty is to administer the present government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people is there any better or equal hope in the world in our present differences is either party without faith of being in the right if the almighty ruler of nations will with his eternal truth and justice be on your side of the north or on yours of the south that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal the American people by the frame of the government under which we live the same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands and intervals while the people retain virtue and vigilance no administration of any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously impair the government in the short space of four years my countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon the whole subject nothing valuable can be lost by taking time if there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately that object will be frustrated by taking time but no good object can be frustrated by it such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old constitution unimpaired and on the sensitive point the laws of your own framing under it while the new administration have no immediate power if it would to change either if it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute there still is no single good reason for precipitated action I am loath to close we are not enemies but friends we must not be enemies though passion may have strained it must not break our bands of affection the mystic call of memory stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land will yet swell the chorus of the union when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature intelligence, patriotism, Christianity and a firm reliance on him who has never yet forsaken this favoured land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulties in your hands my dissatisfied fellow countrymen and not in mine is the momentous issue of civil war the government will not assail you you can have no conflict without yourselves being the aggressors you have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it end of article this recording is in the public domain from washington abolition of slavery from the new york times february 1st 1865 read for LibriVox.org by Betsy Bush passage of the constitutional amendment 119 yeas against 56 nays exciting scene in the house enthusiasm over the result washington tuesday january 31 the passage of the constitutional amendment the great feature of the existing rebellion was the passage today by the house of representatives of the resolutions submitting to the legislatures of the several states and amendment to the constitution abolishing slavery it was an epoch in the history of the country and will be remembered by the members of the house and spectators present as an event in their lives at three o'clock by general consent all discussion having ceased the preliminary votes to reconsider and second the demand for the previous question were agreed to by a vote of 113 yeas to 58 nays and amid profound silence the speaker announced that the yeas and nays would be taken directly upon the pending proposition during the call when prominent democrats voted aye there was suppressed evidence of applause and gratification exhibited in the galleries but it was evident that the great interest centered entirely upon the final result and when the presiding officer announced that the resolution was agreed to by yeas 119 nays 56 the enthusiasm of all present save a few disappointed politicians knew no bounds and for several moments the scene was grand and impressive beyond description no attempt was made to suppress the applause which came from all sides everyone feeling that the occasion justified the fullest expression of approbation and joy end of article this recording is in the public domain a terribly brutal murder in white chapel from the New York Times dated September 1st 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett London Crime and Gossip a terribly brutal murder in white chapel from our own correspondent London August 31st a strangely horrible murder took place at white chapel this morning the victim was a woman who at three o'clock was knocked down by some man unknown and attacked with a knife she attempted to escape and ran a hundred yards her cries for help being heard by several persons in adjacent houses no attention was paid to her cries however and when found at daybreak she was lying dead in another street several hundred yards from the scene of the attack her head was nearly severed from her body which was literally cut to pieces one gash reaching from the pelvis to the breastbone the strangest part of the affair is that this is the third murder of the kind which has been done lately in the last one two weeks ago the victim was stabbed 39 times in the case before some months ago the victim was stabbed with a stick which was forced through the body all three victims have been women of the lowest class all three murders have taken place in the same district at about the same hour and have been characterized by the same inhuman and ghoul-like brutality the police have concluded that the same man did all three murders and that the most dangerous kind of lunatic is at large the excitement is intense over the matter and the women in White Chapel are afraid to stir out of their doors and protect it after dark end of article this recording is in the public domain White Chapel startled by a fourth murder from the New York Times dated September 9th 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett Old World News by Cable White Chapel startled by a fourth murder from our own correspondent London September 8th not even during the riots and fog of February 1886 have I seen London so thoroughly excited as it is tonight the White Chapel fiend murdered his fourth victim this morning and still continues undetected, unseen and unknown there is a panic in White Chapel which will instantly extend to other districts should he change his locality as the four murders are in everybody's mouth the papers are full of them and nothing else is talked of the latest murder is exactly like its predecessor the victim was a woman street walker of the lowest class she had no money having been refused lodging shortly before because she lacked eight pence her throat was cut so completely that everything but the spine was severed and the body was ripped up all the visor being scattered about the murder in all its details was inhuman to the last degree and like the others could have been the work only of a bloodthirsty beast in human shape it was committed in the most daring manner possible the victim was found in the backyard of a house in Hanbury street at six o'clock at five fifteen the yard was empty to get there the murderer must have led her through a passageway in the house full of sleeping people and murdered her within a few yards of several people sleeping by open windows to get away covered with blood as he must have been he had to go back through the passageway and into a street filled with early market people spittle fields being close by nevertheless not a sound was heard and no trace of the murderer exists all day long Whitechapel has been wild with excitement the four murders had been committed within a gunshot of each other but the detectives have no clue London police and detective force is probably the stupidest in the world the man called Leather Apron of whom I cabled you is still at large he is well known but they have not been able to arrest him and he will doubtless do another murder in a day or so one clue discovered this morning by a reporter may develop into something an hour and a half after the murder a man with bloody hands, torn shirt and a wild look entered a public house half a mile from the scene of the murder the police have a good description of him and are trying to trace it the assassin however is as cunning as he is daring both in this and in the last murder he took but a few minutes to murder his victim in a spot which had been examined but a quarter of an hour before both the character of the deed and the cool cunning alike exhibit the qualities of a monomaniac such a series of murders has not been known in London for a hundred years there is a bare possibility that it may turn out to be something like a case of Jekyll and Hyde as Joseph Taylor a perfectly reliable man who saw the suspected person this morning in a shabby dress swears that he has seen the same man coming out of a lodging house in Wilton Street very differently dressed however that may be the murders are certainly the most ghastly and mysterious known to English police history what adds to the weird effect they exert on the London mind is the fact that they occur while everybody is talking about Mansfield's Jekyll and Hyde at the Lyceum end of article this recording is in the public domain Dismay and Whitechapel from the New York Times October 1st 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett Dismay and Whitechapel two more murdered women found from our own correspondent London September 30th the Whitechapel Fiend has again set that district and all London in a state of terror he murdered not one woman but two last night and seems bent on beating all previous records in his unheard of crimes his last night's victims were both murdered within an hour and the second was disemboweled like her predecessors a portion of her abdomen being missing as in the last case he contended himself with cutting the throat of the other doubtless because of interruption both women were street walkers of the lowest class as before these crimes are all of the most daring character the first woman was killed in the open roadway within a few feet of the main street and though many people were within a few feet distance no cry was heard this was at midnight before one o'clock the second victim was found and she was so warm that the murder must have taken place but a few minutes before this was in Mitre Square which is but a few blocks distant from the Bank of England in the very heart of the business quarter the square is deserted at night but is patrolled every half hour at least by the police these make six murders to the fiends credit all within a half mile radius people are terrified and are allowed in their complaints of the police who have done absolutely nothing they confess themselves without a clue and they devote their entire energies to preventing the press from getting at the facts they deny to reporters a sight of the scene or bodies and give them no information whatever the assassin is evidently mocking the police in his barbarous work he waited until the two preceding inquests were quite finished and then murdered two more women he has promised to murder 20 and all and has every prospect of uninterrupted success also as London press dispatches London September 30th this morning the whole city was again startled by the news that two more murders had been added to the list of mysterious crimes that have recently been committed in White Chapel at an early hour it was known that another victim had been murdered and a report was also current that there was still another victim this report proved true the two victims as in the former cases were disolute women of the poorest class that the motive of the murderer was not robbery as shown by the fact that no attempt was made to dispoil the bodies the first murder occurred in a narrow court off Burner Street at an early hour in the morning between the windows of a foreigner socialist club a concert was in progress and many members of the club were present but no sound was heard from the victim the same process had been followed as in the other cases the woman had been seized by the throat and her cries choked and the murderer with one sweeping cut had severed her throat from ear to ear a clubman on entering the court stumbled over the body which was lying only two yards from the street a stream of warm blood was flowing from the body into the gutter the murderer had evidently been disturbed before he had time to mutilate his victim the second murder was committed from three to four hours later in Mitre Square five minutes walk from the scene of the first crime policemen patrol the square every ten minutes the body of the unfortunate woman had been disemboweled, the throat cut, and the head severed the heart and lungs had been thrown aside and the entrails were twisted into the gaping wound around the neck the incisions show a rough dexterity the work of the section was evidently done with the utmost haste pending the report of the doctors it is not known whether or not a portion of the viscera was taken away the doctors, after a hasty examination of the body, said they thought it must have taken about five minutes to complete the work of the murderer who then had plenty of time to escape the patrol Mitre Square, the scene of the second murder, is a thoroughfare many people pass through the square early on Sunday morning on their way to prepare for market in the notorious Petticoat Lane the publicity of the place adds to the daringness of the crime the police, who have been severely criticized in connection with the Whitechapel murders, are paralyzed by the latest crimes as soon as the news was received at police headquarters, a messenger was dispatched for Sir Charles Warren, chief commissioner of police who was called out of bed and at once visited the scene of the murders the inhabitants of Whitechapel are dismayed the vigilance committees, which were formed after the first crimes were committed, had relaxed their efforts to capture the murderer at several meetings held in Whitechapel tonight, it was resolved to resume the work of patrolling the streets in the district in which the murders have occurred the Burner Street victim was Elizabeth Stride, a native of Stockholm, who resided in a common lodging house the name of the other victim is not known in consequence of the refusal of Home Secretary Matthews to offer a reward for the arrest of the Whitechapel murderer, the people of the East End on Saturday petitioned the Queen herself to authorize the offering of a reward Dr. Blackwell, who was called to view the remains of the Burner Street victim, gave it as his opinion that the same man, evidently a maniac, had committed both murders the Burner Street victim had evidently been dragged back by a handkerchief worn around the throat the inquest will be held at 11 o'clock Monday morning, four doctors will be on the jury the inquest on the Widersquare victim will probably be held on Tuesday end of article, this recording is in the public domain the Whitechapel murderer still untracked from the New York Times, October 2, 1888, recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett London's awful mystery, the Whitechapel murderer still untracked from our own correspondent London, October 1 excitement over the Whitechapel murders has steadily increased during the day, the evening papers devoting all available space to the gory details as in the preceding cases, however, the murderer continues unknown and unsuspected the Burner Street victim has been identified as Elizabeth Stride alias Long Liz, a widow the other is still unknown but is believed to be a street walker known as May her face is so badly cut that it is difficult to recognize her the coroner has begun an inquest on the first woman as before, in all these horrible crimes, the duty of investigation seems to devolve on the coroner and the detectives sit at the inquest listening to the sworn testimony to find out who did it the whole police management of the cases as indeed the system under which they work is idiotic in the extreme indignation meetings were held in several places in Whitechapel today to denounce Sir Charles Warren and Home Secretary Matthews the Daily Telegraph this morning called loudly for Matthews' dismissal since he had not since enough to resign a petition to the Queen is in preparation, asking her to offer a reward, Matthews having stupidly refused the Lord Mayor promptly offered 500 pounds reward this morning, the second murder having been committed within the precincts of the city this with other private rewards makes a total of 1200 pounds there are any amount of theories published, some scientific, others ingenious and others stupid there are plenty of clues also but they are slight and show no signs of developing the murderer the only trace considered of any value is the story of a watch boy who saw a man and woman leave Aldgate Station going towards Mitre Square the man returned shortly afterward alone, the police have a good description of him the daring character of the murders is evident from the fact that two people at least saw a man and the woman together in the Burner Street gateway and one saw him throw her down, he went away and left her there but it was half an hour before it was known that she had been murdered in the second case a policeman swears that he was not absent over 15 minutes from Mitre Square and must have been watched by both man and woman as he went through, they following the police confess tonight that they have no clues, a number of men have been arrested but all were released there is every prospect at present that these murders like their predecessors will pass undetected end of article, this recording is in the public domain another mysterious murder brought to light from the New York Times, October 3rd, 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett London's record of crime, another mysterious murder brought to light from our own correspondent London, October 2nd the carnival of blood continues is an extremely strange state of affairs altogether because before the Whitechapel murders began several papers called attention to the fact that there had been more sanguinary crimes committed in London and its vicinity this summer than ever before known in this city in the same space of time the Whitechapel assassin has now murdered six victims and crimes occur daily but pass unnoticed in view of the master murderers work in the East End last Friday a man in Pymlico sharpened a knife in the presence of his wife threatening her all the time and then cut off her head with it this rather dramatic crime passed off without particular notice, the papers giving it only a brief paragraph this afternoon however a discovery was made which was even more horrible than any of the recent deeds a few days ago the right arm of a woman was found by some boys in the Thames near Waterloo Bridge it belonged to a young woman was plump shapely and graceful and had been rudely hacked from the shoulder it was believed at first to be evidence of another murder but as no young woman had been murdered so far as known the theory that it was a specimen from a dissecting room was generally adopted the police took immediate possession of it and refused absolutely either to give any information concerning its appearance or to say whether it pointed to a fresh crime the boys who found it said it was a well preserved human arm but scarred and excoriated in many places as if from the action of quick line the police refused to say yes or no to this but hinted or said that it was all a mistake and that the thing found was merely the old skeleton of an arm with no flesh on it this afternoon however a discovery was made in Pymlico a mile up the river from where the arm was found which throws some light on the mystery there are some old buildings on the embankment close to the parliament houses and almost in the shadow of Westminster Abbey and workmen are engaged in tearing these down to prepare a site for the new police station as they destroyed an old vault today they came upon a shapeless mass which upon closer inspection proved to be the trunk of the body of a young woman perhaps 30 years old the horribly mutilated head arms and legs have been cut off and carried away only the trunk being left the body was not ripped however as in the white chapel cases it was very much decomposed and in fact must have been there many weeks the police removed it to a mortuary and tomorrow morning the doctors will adjust the arms beside it to see if they fit it is now admitted by the police that the second arm found match the first one should the arms belong to the body they may serve as a clue they seem in a much better state of preservation than the body however and should they not fit they will stand as evidence of a second horrible crime yet unrevealed there is no clue to the identity of the murdered woman in fact so many people disappear daily in this great city that the record of disappearances will not be of much assistance this crime single or double as it may be has no connection with the white chapel murders its method is different in every possible respect and should it prove to be two murders instead of one it will show an independent operation of the white chapel nature Pimlico is two miles from white chapel the master murderer of the latter district has done all his work in one small area and there is no clue whatever to him tonight a crazy man with blood stains on his coat who was flourishing surgical knives and making a general spectacle of himself in milk street in the city was arrested but he proves to be innocent another suspect was arrested in chingford ifling forest today but he easily proved an alibi no one suspected is at present in custody though all scotland yard is at work on the case also associated prest dispatch london october 2nd an inquest was held today on the body of the woman found murdered in a narrow court off burners street sunday morning a sister of the victim was called and opposed that she was awoke at 120 o'clock sunday morning and heard a sound which she thought was made by a person falling to the ground she was convinced that her sister was dead and after reading the accounts of the murder in the newspapers went to the morgue and recognized the body of the murder woman as that of her sister the house in which the witness resides is several miles from burners street the murderers believed him and committed at about 1250 o'clock sunday morning end of article this recording is in the public domain the white chapel murders from the new york times october 5th 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett the white chapel murders london october 4th the british medical journal referring to the white chapel murders says the coroner's theory that the assassins work was carried out under the impulse of a pseudo scientific mania has been exploded by the first attempt at serious investigation it is true that a foreign physician inquired a year ago as to the possibility of securing certain parts of the body for the purpose of scientific investigation but no large sum was offered and the physician in question is of the highest respectability and came exceedingly well accredited end of article this recording is in the public domain the murders in london from the new york times october 6th 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett the murders in london london october 5th Sir Charles Warren chief of the metropolitan police force has decided to employ bloodhounds in his efforts to discover the perpetrator of the white chapel murders the police place confidence in the story of George M. Dodge a seamen who states that in august last he met a Malay cook named Alaska with whom he had previously been acquainted on shipboard in a music hall in london and that Alaska told him he had been robbed of all he had by a woman of the town and threatened that unless he found the woman and recovered his property he would kill and mutilate every white chapel woman he met the police are searching everywhere for the Malay acting on information which has been furnished them the police have seized and occupied several houses in that section end of article this recording is in the public domain the Parnell inquiry and another butchery from the New York Times November 10th 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett exciting london events the Parnell inquiry and another butchery by commercial cable from our own correspondent London November 9th from today's proceedings of the Parnell commission it seems likely that the inquiry hereafter will go on in a cloud of sparks knocked out by partisan conflict the Irish members are deeply indignant at the persistent pro times rulings of Justice Hannon and only less vexed with their English lawyers who have so tamedly accepted these rulings without protest the mutterings against this subpoenas have finally grown so loud that Sir Charles Russell was today impelled to try a sharp fall with Justice Hannon the incident was exciting at the time but it is most interesting as presaging a partisan struggle from this out with the great probability of somebody going to prison for contempt of court the most eligible candidate for this distinction appears at present to be William O'Brien who this week attacks the commission in United Ireland as a one-sided fraud the discovery today of the 7th White Chapel murder this time believed to have been committed in broad daylight and involving the most terrible wholesale mutilation it is possible to imagine overshadows all other topics in the London mind tonight bloodhounds are out but I am unable to learn at this hour that they have discovered anything the conclusion is now universal that the assassin is a periodic lunatic who unless detected at once is likely to commit a fresh series of crimes within a few days before his frenzy passes away also London November 9th at 11 o'clock this morning the body of a woman cut into pieces was discovered in a house on Dorset Street spittle fields the police are endeavoring to track the murderer with the aid of bloodhounds the appearance of the body was frightful and mutilation was even greater than in the previous cases the head had been severed in place beneath one of the arms the ears and nose had been cut off the body had been disemboweled and the flesh was torn from the thighs some of the organs were missing the skin had been torn off the forehead and cheeks one hand had been pushed into the stomach the victim like all the others was disreputable she was married and her husband was a porter they lived together at spasmodic intervals her name is believed to have been Lizzie Fisher but to most of the obituaries of the haunts she visited she was known as Mary Jane she had a room in the house where she was murdered she carried a latch key and no one knows at what hour she entered the house last night and probably no one saw the man who accompanied her therefore it is hardly likely that he will ever be identified he might easily have left the house at any time between one and six o'clock this morning without attracting attention the doctors who have examined the body refused to make any statement until the inquest is held three bloodhounds belonging to private citizens were taken to the place and put on the scent of the murderer but they were unable to keep it for any great distance and all hope of running the assassin down with their assistants will have to be abandoned the murdered woman told a companion last evening that she was without money and would commit suicide if she did not obtain a supply it has been learned that a man respectively dressed accosted the victim and offered her money they went to her lodgings on the second floor of the Dorset Street house no noise was heard during the night and nothing was known of the murder until the landlady went to the room early this morning to ask for her rent the first thing she saw in entering the room were the woman's breasts and viscera lying on a table Dorset Street is short and narrow and is situated close to Mitre Square and Hanbury Street in the House of Commons today Mr. Kona Bear asked the question whether if it was true that another woman had been murdered in London General Warren the chief of the Metropolitan Police ought not to be superseded by an officer accustomed to investigate crime the question was greeted by cries of oh oh the speaker called order order and said that notice must be given of the question in the usual way Mr. Kona Bear replied I have given private notice the speaker the notice must be made in writing Mr. Cunningham Graham then asked whether General Warren had already resigned to which Mr. Smith the government leader replied no end of article this recording is in the public domain Sir Charles Warren resigns from the New York Times November 13th 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett Sir Charles Warren resigns London November 12th General Sir Charles Warren chief of the Metropolitan Police has tendered his resignation it is understood that this action is due to the severe criticisms that have been made upon his efficiency recently in connection with the White Chapel Murders and the House of Commons this afternoon Mr. Matthews the Home Secretary announced the resignation of General Warren as chief of the Metropolitan Police the announcement was greeted with cheers Mr. W. H. Smith the government leader said that an extra estimate would be presented to meet the expenses of the Parnell Commission he also said that application had been made to the Irish government for access to certain documents and that leave to examine these documents would be granted to the Council of both the Times and the Parnellites under certain conditions end of article this recording is in the public domain his arrest in London not his first experience from the New York Times November 19th 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett the same tumble tea his arrest in London not his first experience the doctor tumble tea who was arrested in London a few days ago on suspicion of complicity in the White Chapel Murders and who when proved innocent of that charge was held for trial in the central criminal court under the special law covering the offensives disclosed in the late modern Babylon scandal will be remembered by any number of Brooklynites and New Yorkers as Dr. Blackburn the Indian herb doctor he is the fellow who in 1861 burst upon the people of Brooklyn as a sort of modern count of Monte Cristo he was of striking personal appearance being considerably over six feet in height of graceful and powerful build with strong marked features beautifully clear complexion a sweeping moustache and jet black hair he went dashing about the streets mounted on a handsome light chestnut horse and dressed in the costliest and most elaborate riding costumes and soon had a stream of customers at his office and laboratory on Fulton Street near the City Hall in these rides he was invariably accompanied by a valet as handsomely apparel and horses himself and abrasive superb English greyhounds he boarded with the Mrs. Foster at 95 Fulton Street then a fashionable quarter of the city and cut a wide swath in the affections of the feminine lodgers after a few months he dropped out of sight as suddenly and as mysteriously as he had appeared and was next heard of as being implicated in the famous yellow fever importation and black bag plots that the rebel sympathizers tried to develop in New York during the Civil War it was at this time that his relation to the celebrated Blackburn family of Kentucky became known and he thereafter went by his real name instead of his curious assumed name Tumblety his interest in the two previously mentioned plots was luckily for him so slight that he was allowed to go unpunished while several of his associates did not get off so easily for several years after this he kept pretty well out of the public gaze and then suddenly took up his herb doctoring business with its attendant swagger again he visited both this city and Brooklyn at about semi-yearly intervals and became a member of several questionable clubs he dropped out of sight some ten years ago and the first that has been heard of him since is the news of his arrest and imprisonment in London end of article this recording is in the public domain White Chapel again excited from the New York Times November 22 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett White Chapel again excited London November 21 great excitement was occasioned this morning when it was reported that another woman had been murdered and mutilated in White Chapel the police immediately formed a cordon around the premises and an enormous crowd soon gathered it was learned that another murder had been attempted upon a low woman by a man who had accompanied her to her lodging but that in this instance had work had been frustrated according to the woman's story the man had seized her and struck her once in the throat with a knife she had struggled desperately and had succeeded in freeing herself from the man's grasp and had screamed for help her cries had alarmed the man he had fled without attempting any further violence some of the neighbors who had heard the woman's screams followed the murderer for about 300 yards when he disappeared from their sight the woman says she is fully able to identify the man and gave a description of him to the police the police are hopeful of soon capturing him and later investigations by the police showed that the White Chapel woman who reported this morning that she had been attacked by a man who went to her lodgings with her is of the lowest order she suffered only a slight abrasion of the skin on her throat and the police placed no credit in her story of an attack they believe that she inflicted the injury herself while she was drunk end of article this recording is in the public domain something about Dr. Tumbulty from the New York Times November 23rd 1888 recorded for LibriVox.org by Leanne Howlett something about Dr. Tumbulty San Francisco November 22nd chief of police Crowley has lately been in correspondence with officials of Scotland Yard London regarding Dr. Tumbulty who is at present under arrest on suspicion of being implicated in the White Chapel murders the chief in pursuing his investigations discovered that the doctor still had quite a balance in the High Burnia Bank which he left there when he disappeared from this city and which has never been drawn upon Mr. Smythe of that institution says that he first met the doctor in Toronto where he was practicing medicine in July 1858 he next met him in this city at the Occidental Hotel in March or April 1870 Tumbulty rented an office at 20 Montgomery Street where he remained until September 1870 and then disappeared as suddenly as he came in 1871 the doctor turned up in New York On October 29th Chief Crowley sent a dispatch to the London detectives informing them that he could furnish specimens of Tumbulty's handwriting and today he received an answer to send the papers at once