previously, in accordance with the common law, held that the jury might in criminal cases "take upon themselves the responsibility of deciding questions of law;" and the accused was not allowed to show in justification or in explanation of his motives or intent, that he acted under a constitution which had been adopted by a large majority of the people of the state, and an election under the same as governor of the state, and in accordance with what he deemed to be his right and duty in consequence thereof:

And whereas the said Thomas Wilson Dorr was thereby wrongfully convicted:

And whereas it is desirable for the best interests of this state that the wrongs thereby inflicted upon said Dorr, and upon the people of the state, should be redressed, and that the animosities created by the civil commotions which preceded and accompanied said trial should cease and determine :

And whereas it has been the custom of our English forefathers, (but for which there hath been happily no occasion heretofore in the history of this country,) whenever judgments for treason have been thus illegally and wrongfully obtained, to reverse by act of Parliament such judgments, and to direct, to the end that justice be done to those who have been thus convicted, that the records thereof be cancelled or destroyed:

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: —

SECTION 1. The judgment of the Supreme Court, whereby Thomas Wilson Dorr, of Providence, on the twenty-fifth day of June, A. D. 1844, was sentenced to imprisonment for life, at hard labor, in separate confinement, is hereby repealed, reversed, annulled, and declared in all respects to be as if it had never been rendered.

SEC. 2. To the end that right be done to the said

Thomas Wilson Dorr, the clerk of the Supreme Court for the county of Newport is hereby directed to write across the face of the record of said judgment the words, "Reversed and annulled by order of the General Assembly, at their January session, A. D. 1854.”

SEC. 3. The secretary of state is hereby directed to transmit a copy of this act to each of the governors of the several states, and to the Congress of the United States.

SEC. 4. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.

This act passed at the January session, 1854. It was evident at that time that Mr. Dorr was declining, and could not long survive, and it is not supposed that he regarded the measure with much interest. If his persecutors were disposed to acknowledge their own guilt, he could have no objection; but for himself, he humbly confided in a higher and purer tribunal. Yet he might have looked upon this legislative act as an indication of that universal condemnation which the world would pass upon his enemies.

CHAPTER XIX.

SKETCH OF MR. DORR'S LIFE.

Ir does not come within our province at this time to present the reader with a complete biography of Mr. Dorr, and, after the history which has already been given of that political controversy in which he so largely participated, every one must have become acquainted with the most prominent traits in his character. We have not intended unnecessarily to invade the sacred province of his private life, or to rush unbidden into the domestic circle; but we hold that the public character of every man is public property, and liable at all times to be examined and judged of. Our chief object in the present case is to place the motives and conduct of Mr. Dorr in their true light before the public, and to show that the cause in which he was engaged, and to which he sacrificed so much, was a just and righteous cause, and that, through all his reverses, he ever maintained his unflinching fidelity. We are aware that his memory needs no eulogium from us, and that the shafts of his enemies will finally crumble to dust beneath the immortal mound with which time will mark his history; yet, for the satisfaction of such of our readers as may be wholly unacquainted with his

private life, it seems proper that we should give a brief sketch of his early history.

THOMAS WILSON DORR was born in the town of Providence and State of Rhode Island, November 5, 1805. His parents were among the most wealthy and respectable citizens, and their numerous connections comprised a very considerable portion of the prominent families. of the place at that time. It does not belong to us to give a history of his early life; we will, therefore, pass it over with a single remark. The same nice sense of right and wrong, and the same scrupulous regard for truth, which marked the boyhood of George Washington, marked also the early character of Thomas Wilson Dorr; and the history of his life shows that he maintained that integrity with equal fidelity. His father being wealthy, no pains or expense was spared in his education. His preliminary studies were pursued at Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, and at the age of fourteen he entered Harvard College, where he graduated with much honor in 1823, being the second in his class.

Soon after his graduation he commenced the study of law, and spent two years in the city of New York under the tuition of Chancellor Kent and Vice Chancellor M'Coun. He afterwards returned to his native city, and made himself thoroughly acquainted with the laws of his own state, under the instruction of some of her ablest jurists. It is presumed that no young man, either before or since, ever came to the bar in Rhode Island better qualified, or with more flattering

prospects. Irreproachable in morals, urbane in his manners, and mild and unassuming in all his intercourse, he deserved and received the respect and esteem of all with whom he associated; and it is said, that in his professional practice he ever maintained the same undeviating integrity which marked the character of his whole life. As an advocate he was not brilliant; yet his arguments were clear, forcible, and convincing. But we cannot give a history of his professional career, because it is with his public life that we are chiefly concerned we wish to show that Mr. Dorr did not rashly and ignorantly rush into the political arena. Perhaps no man in Rhode Island had a more thorough or more polished education, or better understood the true principles of American jurisprudence. From 1834 to 1837 he represented the city of Providence in the General Assembly, and also at other times held many important offices; and if he had been less honest and more ambitious, he might easily have obtained the highest office in the gift of the people of that state. His family and its aristocratic connections placed him in the highest class, and posts of honor and power seemed to beckon him to their embrace. But when he looked abroad among mankind, and surveyed the great inequality which every where obtained, when he beheld one class, by the mere accident of wealth or position, control and oppress those who were less fortunate, but not less worthy, a spirit of philanthopy overcame all his ambitious aspirations, and he became devoted to the interests of the oppressed. He saw a large portion of the citizens of his own state actually outlawed and deprived