  Note A.On page 14 it is stated that there was little fellowship between the negro and the Pennsylvania-German elements of our local citizenship. I believe this is a continuing condition. It is not inconsistent with the historical fact that the Mennonites of Germantown were the first American Abolitionists; and that their deliverance of February 18, 1868, antedated like action by the Friends. Professor Wilkinson in his so-called “Vindication of Daniel Webster,” recently published, is authority for the statement that Charles Sumner’s social aversion to the colored race was as pronounced as his political sympathy with it. Note B.On page 27 it is stated upon information that William Parker was a soldier in the war for the Union. I have not been able to absolutely verify this statement. It is therefore qualified. Note C.On page 59 it is noticed that the venire issued to the marshal commanding him to return 108 jurors for the term of the treason trial included a provision that twelve were to be summoned and returned from Lancaster County. This was in conformity with the Act of September 24, 1789, known as the Federal Judicial Procedure Act, to the effect that “in cases punishable with death, the trial shall be had in the county where the offense was committed, or where that cannot be done without great inconvenience, twelve petit jurors at least shall be summoned from thence.” In a recent notable address before the American Bar Association at Boston on August 30, 1911, Ex-Justice of the United States Supreme Court Henry E. Brown called attention to the fact that the provision of this act which required the trial for a capital offense to be held in the county where it occurred had never been observed. It seems to have escaped his notice that the statutory direction as to the venue was not unqualifiedly imperative and that this act had been the subject of repeated judicial construction, e. g., in the following cases: “The Circuit Courts are bound to try all crimes committed within the district, but not to try them in the County where committed; that is a matter of which they must judge in the exercise of their discretion.” U. S. v. Wilson, Bald. 117; U. S. v. Cornell 2 Mason 95-8; U. S. v. Insurgents (Fries), 3 Dall. (Pa.) 513. In U. S. v. Cornell the Court Note D.I have adopted the spelling of Sims’s and Scarlet’s name with a single terminal letter instead of the local and family usage—Simms and Scarlett—because they were thus formally indicted. Note E.The best information I have as to the date of William Parker’s revisit to Christiana is that it was during the presidential campaign of 1872. Peter Woods says he took back with him to Canada the widow of Henry Sims—one of the defendants in the treason case; presumably he was then a widower and Mrs. Sims became his second wife. Note F.On pages 6 and 12 I have recalled the indisputable fact that Abraham Lincoln and his party distinctly recognized the legal obligation of the Fugitive Slave Law even after the war had begun. Striking confirmation of what heedless readers may be disposed to doubt is found in General William T. Sherman’s “Causes of the War,” cited in the Atlantic Monthly, for September, 1911, where Sherman says: “Mr. Lincoln after election and installation, asserted repeatedly that slavery was safe in his hands, that he was sworn to enforce even the Fugitive Slave Law and soon Congress declared it had no intention to interfere with slavery in the States.” Note G.A second and revised edition of this History, substantially bound and more copiously illustrated, will be put to press shortly. The author will appreciate the correction of any errors observed in this edition—hurriedly put to press—as well as any additions to its statements of facts. Communications to this effect or orders for copies of the revised edition may be sent to Box 34, Lancaster, Pa. |
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