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To his Excellency the Governor of the State of New-York. Whereas it appears by the accompanying indictment, that Robert G. Williams is charged with wickedly and maliciously causing to be distributed and published, a seditious paper, in this State, maliciously designing and intending to incite the slave population thereof to insurrection and rebellion against their masters: And whereas the said Robert G. Williams has fled from justice, and is now going at large in the State of New-York:

Now by virtue of an act of Congress respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters, I hereby demand of your Excellency, that the said Robert G. Williams, if to be found in the State over which you preside, be delivered up to the authorities of Alabama, to be tried for his said offence according to law. To which end, I have to request your Excellency to cause the said offender to be arrested and confined, until an agent can be despatched to conduct him to this State.

[L. 8.]

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the State to be hereunto affixed. Done at the Capitol in the city of Tuscaloosa, this fourteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the sixtieth. By the Governor, JOHN GAYLE.

E. A. WEBSTER, Secretary of State.

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(COPY OF INDICTMENT.)

THE STATE OF ALABAMA-TUSCALOOSA COUNTY.

Circuit Court, September Term in the Year of our Lord 1835.

The grand jurors for the State of Alabama, elected, empannelled, sworn, and charged to inquire for the body of Tuscaloosa county, upon their oath, present, that Robert G. Williams, late of said county, being a wicked, malicious, seditious and ill-disposed person, and being greatly disaffected to the laws and government of said State, and feloniously, wickedly, maliciously and seditiously contriving, devising, and intending to produce conspiracy, insurrection and rebellion among the slave population of said State, and to alienate and withdraw the affection, fidelity and allegiance of said slaves from their masters and owners, on the tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirtyfive, at, in the county aforesaid, feloniously, wickedly, maliciously and seditiously did cause to be distributed, circulated and published, a seditious paper, called "The Emancipator;" in which paper is published according to the tenor and effect following, that is to say:-"God commands, and all nature cries out, that man should not be held as property. The system of making men property, has plunged 2,250,000 of our fellow countrymen into the deepest physical and moral degradation, and they are every moment sinking deeper." In open violation to the act of the General Assembly in such case made and provided, to the evil and pernicious example of all others in like case offending, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama.

And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do further present, that the said Robert G. Williams, on the said tenth day of September in the year aforesaid, at, in the county aforesaid, wickedly, feloniously and seditiously did then and there distribute, circulate and publish, or cause to be distributed, circulated and published, a seditious paper called "The Emancipator;" tending to produce conspiracy and insurrection among the slaves and colored population of said county and State, in contempt of the laws of the land, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama,

A true bill,

P. MARTIN, Attorney-General of the State of Alabama.

WILLIS BANKS, Foreman of the Grand Jury.

Tuscaloosa County.

THE STATE OF ALABAMA, I, John J. Samuel, clerk of the cir cuit court for said county, do certify that the foregoing is a correct copy of the original indictment (now on file in my office,) found by the grand jury, at March term of said court, in the year 1835, against Robert G. Williams.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the seal of my office, at Tuscaloosa, the 7th [L. 8.] day of November, A. D. 1835, and 60th year of American independence. JOHN J. SAMUEL, Clerk.

I, Henry W. Collier, presiding judge of the circuit court of Tus caloosa county, in the State of Alabama, do hereby certify, that John J. Samuel, who subscribed and sealed the foregoing attestation, is, and was at the date of the same, clerk of said court, and that his said attestation is in due form. Given under my hand and seal, at Tuscaloosa, this seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred thirty-five.

HENRY W. COLLIER. [L. S.]

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT-ALABAMA,
Tuscaloosa, 14th Nov. 1835.

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SIR,

I have the honor to transmit to you a demand, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, for Robert G. Williams, and a copy of an indictment recently found against him by the grand jury of Tuscaloosa county in this State, for attempting to produce insurrection and rebellion among our slave population, in the manner set forth in the indictment. It is admitted that the offender was not in the State when his crime was committed, and that he has not fled therefrom, according to the strict literal import of that term; but he has evaded the justice of our laws, and according to the interpretation which mature reflection has led me to place upon the Constitution, should be delivered up for trial to the authorities of this State.

My views, somewhat at length, are contained in a message which will be sent to the General Assembly, which convenes on Monday next, and I take the liberty to enclose a copy of so much of it as embraces this deeply exciting and interesting subject. Should your Excellency concur with me in opinion, I have to request that Williams be arrested, and confined until I can find an agent to conduct him to Alabama.

I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,
JOHN GAYLE.

His Excellency Gov. MARCY.

EXTRACT FROM GOVERNOR GAYLE'S MESSAGE ACCOMPANYING THE REQUISITION.

We are told that public sentiment in the North is decidedly in our favor, and that the large and numerous public meetings which have been called throughout the non-slave-holding States, demonstrate that the majority is too overwhelming to be resisted; that with these favorable indications before us, we should not agitate this subject in the South, and that it is our duty to rely for safety upon the force of public opinion in that quarter.

Our northern brethren deserve and will command, our gratitude, for the interest they have taken in our behalf; and there can be little doubt that the majority against the abolitionists is very large; but this reasoning is wholly erroneous and delusive. He who believes that fanaticism can be put down by public opinion, has a very imperfect knowledge of human nature, and must be deaf to the lessons and admonitions of history. So far from this being the case, the opposition of public opinion is the aliment, the food that feeds, nourishes and sustains this dark and fiendlike passion. Of this, no stronger proof could be offered than the success with which the efforts of these false philanthropists have been crowned, in opposition to the concentrated force of public opinion throughout the Northern States. Indeed they never acquired any considerable notoriety until this opposition commenced. Under its heaviest pressure, if the information we have received be correct, they have established 250 anti-slavery societies, and about thirty presses, from one of which they send forth weekly from twenty-five to fifty thousand incendiary pamphlets, and other similar publications. But a short while since, the whole population of the State of NewYork seemed to be roused to a sense of the dangers threatened by the machinations of these societies. The largest public meetings which had ever been convened were speedily assembled, from which issued the most eloquent and burning condemnation of the abolitionists; and yet in the very face of these proceedings, imposing as they undoubtedly were, they have called a Convention of their associates from the several counties and districts in that State; and their leader, Tappan, and others, in numerous hand bills, have announced their firm and unskaken purpose of renewing with increased energy, their exertions in favor of immediate abolition. It is obvious therefore that we blindly and obstinately deceive ourselves if we entertain the belief that public opinion, unaided by the strong sanctions of the law, will have any other effect, than to strengthen the hands of this dangerous and insidious enemy. It has been improperly admitted by writers in the South, who have engaged in discussing this subject, that the constitution and laws of the United States, in regard to fugitives from justice, do not authorise a demand for the delivery of these incendiaries, to the States whose laws they have violated. This opinion has been embraced under the erroneous impression, that the rules of strict construction which with great propriety apply to certain parts of the constitution, must necessarily apply to all others. They do not

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