“Our readers have not forgotten the correspondence which some time since took place between His Excellency Governor Means and Her British Majesty's Consul, Mr. Mathew. We published in the Standard, of the 5th December last, the very temperate, dignified, and well-argued report of Mr. Mazyck, chairman of the special committee of the Senate, to whom had been referred the message of the Governor, transmitting the correspondence. In our issue of the 16th December, we gave to our readers the able report of Mr. McCready, on behalf of the committee of the other house, on the same subject.
“We have now to call the attention of the public to the fact, that the practical issue has been made, by which the validity of the laws in regard to colored seamen arriving in our port is to be submitted to the judicial tribunals of the country. For ourselves we have no fears for the credit of the State in such a controversy. The right of the State to control, by her own legislation, the whole subject-matter, can, as we think, by a full discussion, be established upon a basis which, in the South at least, will never hereafter be questioned. If there be defects in the details of the regulations enacted, the consideration of them is now precluded, when the issue presented is the right of the State to act at all times in the premises.
“The writ of habeas corpus was applied for before Judge Withers, during the term of the court which has just closed, by the British consul, through his counsel, Mr. Petigru, in behalf of one Manuel Pereira, a colored sailor, who claims to be a Portuguese subject, articled to service on board an English brig driven into this port by stress of weather; the said Manuel Pereira being then in jail under the provisions of the act of the legislature of this State, passed in 1835, emendatory of the previous acts on the subject. Judge Withers, in compliance with the requirements of the act of 1844, refused the writ of habeas corpus, and notice of appeal has been given. Thus is the issue upon us.
“We have but one regret in the matter, and that is that the case made is one where the party asking his liberty has been driven into our harbor involuntarily. Great Britain, it is true, is the last power which should complain on this account, with her own example in the case of the Enterprise before her eyes; but we do not, we confess, like this feature of the law. We have no doubt, however, that this fact being brought to the notice of the executive, he will interfere promptly to release the individual in the present case, provided the party petitions for the purpose, and engages at once to leave the State. But we shall see nothing of this. Mr. Manuel Pereira, like another John Wilkes, is to have settled in his person great questions of constitutional liberty. The posterity which in after times shall read of his voluntary martyrdom and heroic self-sacrifice in the cause of suffering humanity, must be somewhat better informed than Mr. Pereira himself; for we observe that his clerkly skill did not reach the point of enabling him to subscribe his name to the petition for habeas corpus, which is to figure so conspicuously in future history, it being more primitively witnessed by his 'mark.'”
An appeal was taken from this refusal, and carried before the appeal court, sitting at Columbia, the capital of the State. How was this treated? Without enlisting common respect, it sustained the opinion of Judge Withers, who was one of its constituted members. Under such a state of things, where all the avenues to right and justice were clogged by a popular will that set itself above law or justice, where is the unprejudiced mind that will charge improper motives in asking justice of the highest judicial tribunal in the country.
In the year 1445, a petition was presented, or entered on the rolls of the British Parliament, from the commons of two neighboring counties, praying the abatement of a nuisance which promised fearful interruptions to the peace and quiet of their hamlets, in consequence of the number of attorneys having increased from eight to twenty-four, setting forth that attorneys were dangerous to the peace and happiness of a community, and praying that there should be no more than six attorneys for each county. The king granted the petition, adding a clause which left it subject to the approval of the judges. Time works mighty contrasts. If those peaceable old commoners could have seen a picture of the nineteenth century, with its judiciary dotted upon the surface, they would certainly have put the world down as a very unhappy place. The people of Charleston might now inquire why they have so much law and so little justice?
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE CAPTAIN'S DEPARTURE AND MANUEL'S RELEASE.
AFTER remaining nearly three weeks in close confinement in a cell on the third story, Manuel was allowed to come down and resume his position among the stewards, in the “steward's cell.” There was a sad change of faces. But one of those he left was there; and he, poor fellow, was so changed as to be but a wreck of what he was when Manuel was confined in the cell.
After little Tommy left, the Captain deposited a sum of money with the jailer to supply Manuel's wants. The jailer performed his duty faithfully, but the fund was soon exhausted, and Manuel was forced to appeal to his consul. With the care for its citizens that marks the course of that government, and the characteristic kindness of its representative in Charleston, the appeal was promptly responded to. The consul attended him in person, and even provided from his own purse things necessary to make him comfortable. We could not but admire the nobleness of many acts bestowed upon this humble citizen through the consul, showing the attachment and faith of a government to its humblest subject. The question now was, would the Executive release him? Mr. Grimshaw had interposed strong objections, and made unwarrantable statements in regard to his having been abandoned by his captain, the heavy expenses incurred to maintain the man, and questioning the validity of the British consul's right to protect him. Under the effect of these representations, the prospect began to darken, and Manuel became more discontented, and anxiously awaited the result.