As long ago as 1851 the War Department and Navy Department concurred in placing the forces of the United States near Boston at the command of the Marshal, if needed for the enforcement of an Act of Congress which is without support in the public conscience, as I believe it without support in the Constitution; and thus these forces were degraded to the loathsome work of slave-hunters. More than three years afterwards an occasion arose for their intervention. A fugitive from Virginia, who for some days had trod the streets of Boston as a freeman, was seized as a slave. The whole community was aroused, while Bunker Hill and Faneuil Hall quaked with responsive indignation. Then, Sir, the President, anxious that no tittle of Slavery should suffer, was curiously eager in the enforcement of the statute. The despatches between him and his agents in Boston attest his zeal. Here are some of them. “BOSTON, May 27, 1854. “_To the President of the United States._ “In consequence of an attack upon the Court House last night, for the purpose of rescuing a fugitive slave under arrest, and in which one of my own guards was killed, _I have availed myself of the resources of the United States, placed under my control by letter from the War and Navy Departments in 1851_, and now have two companies of troops from Fort Independence stationed in the Court House. Everything is now quiet. The attack was repulsed by my own guard. “WATSON FREEMAN. “_United States Marshal, Boston, Mass._” “WASHINGTON, May 27, 1854. “_To_ WATSON FREEMAN, _United States Marshal, Boston, Mass._ “Your conduct is approved. The law must be executed. “FRANKLIN PIERCE.” “WASHINGTON, May 30, 1854. “_To_ HON. B. F. HALLETT, _Boston, Mass._ “What is the state of the case of Burns? “SIDNEY WEBSTER. “_Private Secretary of the President._” “WASHINGTON, May 31, 1854. “_To_ B. F. HALLETT, _United States Attorney, Boston, Mass._ “Incur any expense deemed necessary by the Marshal and yourself for City Military, or otherwise, to insure the execution of the law. “FRANKLIN PIERCE.”