Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. Packard's Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity Part 15

Go, little book, go seek the world; With banner new, with flag unfurled; Go, teach mankind aspirings high, By _human_ immortality!

Thou canst not blush; thine open page Will all our higher powers engage; Thy name on every soul shall be, Defender of humanity!

The poor, the sad, the sorrowing heart, Shall joy to see thy book impart Solace, to every tear-dimmed eye, That's wept, till all its tears are dry.

The palid sufferer on the bed Of sickness, shall erect the head And cry, "Life yet hath charms for me When Packard's books shall scattered be."

Each prison victim of despair Shall, in thy book, see written there Another gospel to thy race, Of sweet "Requiescat in pace."

The time-worn wigs, with error gray, Their dusty locks with pale dismay, Shall shake in vain in wild despair, To see their prostrate castles, where?

No mourner's tear shall weep their doom, No bard shall linger o'er their tomb, No poet sing, but howl a strain Farewell, thou doom'd, live not again.

Yes, oh, poor Ichabod must lay, Deep buried in Aceldema!

His lost Consuelo shall rise No more, to cheer his death-sealed eyes.

Then speed thy book, oh, sister, speed, The waiting world thy works must read; Bless'd be the man who cries, "Go on,"

"Hinder it not, it shall be gone."

Go, little book, thy destiny Excelsior shall ever be; A fadeless wreath shall crown thy brow, O writer of that book! e'en now.

The wise shall laugh--the foolish cry-- Both wise and foolish virgins, why?

Because the first will wiser grow, The foolish ones some wisdom show.

The midnight cry is coming soon, The midnight lamp will s.h.i.+ne at noon; I fear for some, who snoring lie, Then rise, ye dead, to judgment fly.

The stars shall fade away--the sun Himself grow dim with age when done s.h.i.+ning upon our frigid earth; But Packard's book shall yet have birth, But never death, on this our earth.

JACKSONVILLE LUNATIC ASYLUM, Jan. 27, 1863.

So much for the opinions of those whom this age call crazy, but who are, in my opinion, no more insane than all that numerous cla.s.s of our day, who are called "spirit mediums;" and to imprison them as insane, simply because they possess these spiritual gifts or powers, is a barbarity, which coming generations will look upon with the same cla.s.s of emotions, as we now look upon the barbarities attending Salem Witchcraft. It is not only barbarous and cruel to deprive them of their personal liberty, but it is also a crime against humanity, for which our government must be held responsible at G.o.d's bar of justice.

I will now give some of the opinions of a few who know something of the character of my book, whom the world recognize as sane. Dr. McFarland used to sometimes say, "Who knows but you were sent here to write an allegory for the present age, as Bunyan was sent to Bedford Jail to write his allegory?" Dr. Tenny, the a.s.sistant physician, once said to me as he was pocketing a piece of my waste ma.n.u.script, "I think your book may yet become so popular, and acquire so great notoriety, that it will be considered an honor to have a bit of the paper on which it was written!"

I replied, "Dr. Tenny, you must not flatter me."

Said he, "I am not flattering, I am only uttering my honest opinions."

Said another honorable gentleman who thought he understood the character of the book, "Mrs. Packard, I believe your book will yet be read in our Legislative Halls and in Congress, as a specimen of the highest form of law ever sent to our world, and coming millions will read your history, and bless you as one who was afflicted for humanity's sake." It must be acknowledged that this intelligent gentleman had some solid basis on which he could defend this extravagant opinion, namely: that G.o.d does sometimes employ "the weak things of the world to confound the mighty."

These expressions must all be received as mere human opinions, and nothing more. The book must stand just where its own intrinsic merits place it. If it is ever published, it, like all other mere human productions, will find its own proper level, and no opinions can change its real intrinsic character. The great question with me is, how can I soonest earn the $2,500.00 necessary to print it with? Should I ever be so fortunate as to gain that amount by the sale of this pamphlet, I should feel that my great life-work was done, so that I might feel at full liberty to rest from my labors. But until then, I cheerfully labor and toil to accomplish it.

NOTE OF THANKS TO THE PRESS.

In this connection, I deem it right and proper that I should acknowledge the aid I have received from the public Press--those newspapers whose manliness has prompted them to espouse the cause of woman, by using their columns to help me on in my arduous enterprise. My object can only be achieved, by enlightening the public mind into the need and necessities of the case. The people do not make laws until they see the need of them.

Now, when one case is presented showing the need of a law to meet it, and this is found to be a representative case, that is, a case fairly representing an important cla.s.s, then, and only till then, is the public mind prepared to act efficiently in reference to it. And as the Press is the People's great engine of power in getting up an agitation on any subject of public interest, it is always a great and desirable object to secure its patronage in helping it forward. This help it has been my good fortune to secure, both in Illinois and Ma.s.sachusetts.

And my most grateful acknowledgments are especially due the Journal of Commerce of Chicago, also the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Times, the Post, the New Covenant, and the North Western Christian Advocate. All these Chicago Journals aided me more or less in getting up an agitation in Illinois, besides a mult.i.tude of other papers throughout that State too numerous to mention.

Some of the papers in Ma.s.sachusetts, to whom my acknowledgments are due, are the Boston Journal, the Transcript, the Traveller, the Daily Advertiser, the Courier, the Post, the Recorder, the Commonwealth, the Investigator, the Nation, the Universalist, the Christian Register, the Congregationalist, the Banner of Light, and the Liberator. All these Boston Journals have aided me, more or less, in getting up an excitement in Ma.s.sachusetts, and bringing the subject before the Ma.s.sachusett's Legislature. Many other papers throughout the State have noticed my cause with grateful interest.

As the public came to apprehend the merits of my case, and look upon it as a mirror, wherein the laws in relation to married women are reflected, they will doubtless join with me in thanks to these Journals who have been used as means of bringing this light before them.

TESTIMONIALS.

Although my cause, being based in eternal truth, does not depend upon certificates and testimonials to sustain it, and stands therefore in no need of them; yet, as they are sometimes called for, as a confirmation of my statements, I have asked for just such testimonials as the following gentlemen felt self-moved to give me. I needed no testimonials while prosecuting my business in Illinois, for the facts of the case were so well known there, by the papers reporting my trial so generally. I needed no other pa.s.sport to the confidence of the public.

But when I came to Boston to commence my business in Ma.s.sachusetts, being an entire stranger there, I found the need of some credentials or testimonials in confirmation of my strange and novel statements. And it was right and proper, under such circ.u.mstances, that I should have them. I therefore wrote to Judge Boardman and Hon. S. S. Jones, my personal friends, in Illinois, and told them the difficulty I found in getting my story believed, and asked them to send me anything in the form of a certificate, that they in their judgment felt disposed to send me, that might help me in surmounting this obstacle. Very promptly did these gentlemen respond to my request, and sent me the following testimonials, which were soon printed in several of the Boston papers, with such editorials accompanying them, as gave them additional weight and influence in securing to me the confidence of the public.

Judge Boardman is an old and distinguished Judge in Illinois, receiving, as he justly merits, the highest esteem and confidence of his cotemporaries, as a distinguished scholar, an eminent Judge, and a practical Christian.

Mr. Jones is a middle aged man, of the same stamp as the Judge, receiving proof of the esteem in which he is held by his cotemporaries, in being sent to Congress by vote of Illinois' citizens, and by having been for successive years a member of the Legislature of that State. He was in that position when he sent me his certificate.

JUDGE BOARDMAN'S LETTER.

_To all persons who would desire to give sympathy and encouragement to a most worthy but persecuted woman!_

The undersigned, formerly from the State of Vermont, now an old resident of the State of Illinois, would most respectfully and fraternally certify and represent: That he has been formerly and for many years, a.s.sociated with the legal profession in Illinois, and is well known in the north-eastern part of said State. That in the duties of his profession and in the offices he has filled, he has frequently investigated, judicially, and otherwise, cases of insanity. That he has given considerable attention to medical jurisprudence, and studied some of the best authors on the subject of insanity; has paid great attention to the principles and philosophy of mind, and therefore would say, with all due modesty, that he verily believes himself qualified to give an opinion ent.i.tled to respectful consideration, on the question of the sanity or insanity of any person with whom he may be acquainted. That he is acquainted with Mrs. E.

P. W. Packard, and verily believes her not only sane, but that she is a person of very superior endowments of mind and understanding, naturally possessing an exceedingly well balanced organization, which, no doubt, prevented her from becoming insane, under the persecution, incarceration, and treatment she has received. That Mrs. Packard has been the victim of _religious bigotry_, purely so, without a single circ.u.mstance to alleviate the darkness of the transaction! A case worthy of the palmiest days of the inquisition!!

The question may be asked, how this could happen, especially in Northern Illinois? To which I answer that the common law prevails here, the same as in other States, where this law has not been modified or set aside by the statute laws, which gives the legal custody of the wife's person, into the hands of the husband, and therefore, a wife can only be released from oppression, or even from imprisonment by her husband, by the legal complaint of herself, or some one in her behalf, before the proper judicial authorities, and a hearing and decision in the case; as was finally had in Mrs. Packard's case, she having been in the first place, taken by force, by her husband, and sent to the Insane Hospital, without any opportunity to make complaint, or without any hearing or investigation.

But how could the Superintendent of the Insane Hospital be a party to so great a wrong? Very easily answered, without necessarily impeaching his honesty, when we consider that her alleged insanity was on religious subjects; her husband a minister of good standing in his denomination, and the Superintendent sympathizing with him, in all probability, in religious doctrine and belief, supposed, of course, that she was insane. She was legally sent to him, by the authority of her husband, as insane; and Mrs.

Packard had taught doctrines similar to the Unitarians and Universalists and many radical preachers; and which directly opposed the doctrine her husband taught, and the doctrine of the Church to which he and Mrs.

Packard belonged; the argument was, that of course the woman must be crazy!! And as she persisted in her liberal sentiments, the Superintendent persisted in considering that she was insane! However, whether moral blame should attach to the Superintendent and Trustees of the Insane Hospital, or not, in this transaction, other than prejudice, and learned ignorance; it may now be seen, from recent public inquiries and suggestions, that it is quite certain, that the laws, perhaps in all the States in relation to the insane, and their confinement and treatment, have been much abused, by the artful and cunning, who have incarcerated their relatives for the purpose of getting hold of their property; or for difference of opinion as to our state and condition in the future state of existence, or religious belief.

The undersigned would further state: That the published account of Mrs.

Packard's trial on the question of her sanity, is no doubt perfectly reliable and correct. That the Judge before whom she was tried, is a man of learning, and ability, and high standing in the judicial circuit, in which he presides. That Mrs. Packard is a person of strict integrity and truthfulness, whose character is above reproach. That a history of her case after the trial, was published in the daily papers in Chicago, and in the newspapers generally, in the State; arousing at the time, a public feeling of indignation against the author of her persecution, and sympathy for her; that nothing has transpired since, to overthrow or set aside the verdict of popular opinion; that it is highly probable that the proceedings in this case, so far as the officers of the State Hospital for the insane are concerned, will undergo a rigid investigation by the Legislature of the State.

The undersigned understands that Mrs. Packard does not ask pecuniary charity, but that sympathy and paternal a.s.sistance which may aid her to obtain and make her own living, she having been left by her husband, without any means, or property whatever.

All of which is most fraternally and confidently submitted to your kind consideration.

WILLIAM A. BOARDMAN.

WAUKEGAN, ILL., DEC. 3, 1864.

HON. S. S. JONES' LETTER.

"_To a kind and sympathizing public_:--

This is to certify that I am personally acquainted with Mrs. E. P. W.