Chapter II: Part 2

The bearing, manner and aspect of the thirty-five armed persons by whom we had been thus seized and bound, without the slightest shadow of lawful authority, was sufficient to inspire a good deal of alarm. We had been lying quietly at anchor in a harbor of Maryland; and, although the owners of the slaves might have had a legal right to pursue and take them back, what warrant or authority had they for seizing us and our vessel? They could have brought none from the District of Columbia, whose officers had no jurisdiction or authority in Cornfield harbor; nor did they pretend to have any from the State of Maryland. Some of them showed a good deal of excitement, and evinced a disposition to proceed to lynch us at once. A man named Houver, who claimed as his property two of the boys passengers on board the Pearl, put me some questions in a very insolent tone; to which I replied, that I considered myself a prisoner, and did not wish to answer any questions; whereupon one of the bystanders, flourishing a dirk in my face, exclaimed, "If I was in his place, I'd put this through you!" At Piney Point, one of the company proposed to hang me up to the yard-arm, and make me confess; but the more influential of those on board were not ready for any such violence, though all were exceedingly anxious to get out of me the history of the expedition, and who my employers were. That I had employers, and persons of note too, was taken for granted on all hands; nor did I think it worth my while to contradict it, though I declined steadily to give any information on that point. Sayres and English very readily told all that they knew. English, especially, was in a great state of alarm, and cried most bitterly. I pitied him much, besides feeling some compunctions at getting him thus into difficulty; and, upon the representations which I made, that he came to Washington in perfect ignorance of the object of the expedition, he was finally untied. As Sayres was obliged to admit that he came to Washington to take away colored passengers, he was not regarded with so much favor. But it was evidently me whom they looked upon as the chief culprit, alone possessing a knowledge of the history and origin of the expedition, which they were so anxious to unravel. They accordingly went to work very artfully to worm this secret out of me. I was placed in charge of one Orme, a police-officer of Georgetown, whose manner towards me was such as to inspire me with a certain confidence in him; who, as it afterwards appeared from his testimony on the trial, carefully took minutes--but, as it proved, very confused and incorrect ones--of all that I said, hoping thus to secure something that might turn out to my disadvantage. Another person, with whom I had a good deal of conversation, and who was afterwards produced as a witness against me, was William H. Craig, in my opinion a much more conscientious person than Orme, who seemed to think that it was part of his duty, as a police-officer, to testify to something, at all hazards, to help on a conviction. But this is a subject to which I shall have occasion to return presently.

In one particular, at least, the testimony of both these witnesses was correct enough. They both testified to my expressing pretty serious apprehensions of what the result to myself was likely to be. What the particular provisions were, in the District of Columbia, as to helping slaves to escape, I did not know; but I had heard that, in some of the slave-states, they were very severe; in fact, I was assured by Craig that I had committed the highest crime, next to murder, known in their laws. Under these circumstances, I made up my mind that the least penalty I should be apt to escape with was confinement in the penitentiary for life; and it is quite probable that I endeavored to console myself, as these witnesses testified, with the idea that, after all, it might, in a religious point of view, be all for the best, as I should thus be removed from temptation, and have ample time for reflection and repentance. But my apprehensions were by no means limited to what I might suffer under the forms of law. From the temper exhibited by some of my captors, and from the vindictive fury with which the idea of enabling the enslaved to regain their liberty was, I knew, generally regarded at the south, I apprehended more sudden and summary proceedings; and what happened afterwards at Washington proved that these apprehensions were not wholly unfounded. The idea of being torn in pieces by a furious mob was exceedingly disagreeable. Many men, who might not fear death, might yet not choose to meet it in that shape. I called to mind the apology of the Methodist minister, who, just after a declaration of his that he was not afraid to die, ran away from a furious bull that attacked him,--"that, though not fearing death, he did not like to be torn in pieces by a mad bull." I related this anecdote to Craig, and, as he testified on the trial, expressed my preference to be taken on the deck of the steamer and shot at once, rather than to be given up to a Washington mob to be baited and murdered. I talked pretty freely with Orme and Craig about myself, the circumstances under which I had undertaken this enterprise, my motives to it, my family, my past misfortunes, and the fate that probably awaited me; but they failed to extract from me, what they seemed chiefly to desire, any information which would implicate others. Orme told me, as he afterwards testified, that what the people in the District wanted was the principals; and that, if I would give information that would lead to them, the owners of the slaves would let me go, or sign a petition for my pardon. Craig also made various inquiries tending to the same point. Though I was firmly resolved not to yield in this particular, yet I was desirous to do all I could to soften the feeling against me; and it was doubtless this desire which led me to make the statements sworn to by Orme and Craig, that I had no connection with the persons called abolitionists,--which was true enough; that I had formerly refused large offers made me by slaves to carry them away; and that, in the present instance, I was employed by others, and was to be paid for my services.

On arriving off Fort Washington, the steamer anchored for the night, as the captors preferred to make their triumphant entry into the city by daylight. Sayres and myself were watched during the night by a regular guard of two men, armed with muskets, who were relieved from time to time. Before getting under weigh again,--which they did about seven o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 18,--Sayres and myself were tied together arm-and-arm, and the black people also, two-and-two, with the other arm bound behind their backs. As we passed Alexandria, we were all ordered on deck, and exhibited to the mob collected on the wharves to get a sight of us, who signified their satisfaction by three cheers. When we landed at the steamboat-wharf in Washington, which is a mile and more from Pennsylvania Avenue, and in a remote part of the city, but few people had yet assembled. We were marched up in a long procession, Sayres and myself being placed at the head of it, guarded by a man on each side; English following next, and then the negroes. As we went along, the mob began to increase; and, as we passed Gannon's slave-pen, that slave-trader, armed with a knife, rushed out, and, with horrid imprecations, made a pass at me, which was very near finding its way through my body. Instead of being arrested, as he ought to have been, this slave-dealer was politely informed that I was in the hands of the law, to which he replied, "D--n the law!--I have three negroes, and I will give them all for one thrust at this d--d scoundrel!" and he followed along, waiting his opportunity to repeat the blow. The crowd, by this time, was greatly increased. We met an immense mob of several thousand persons coming down Four-and-a-half street, with the avowed intention of carrying us up before the capitol, and making an exhibition of us there. The noise and confusion was very great. It seemed as if the time for the lynching had come. When almost up to Pennsylvania Avenue, a rush was made upon us,--"Lynch them! lynch them! the d--n villains!" and other such cries, resounded on all sides. Those who had us in charge were greatly alarmed; and, seeing no other way to keep us from the hands of the mob, they procured a hack, and put Sayres and myself into it. The hack drove to the jail, the mob continuing to follow, repeating their shouts and threats. Several thousand people surrounded the jail, filling up the enclosure about it.

Our captors had become satisfied, from the statements made by Sayres and myself, and from his own statements and conduct, that the participation of English in the affair was not of a sort that required any punishment; and when the mob made the rush upon us, the persons having him in charge had let him go, with the intention that he should escape. After a while he had found his way back to the steamboat wharf; but the steamer was gone. Alone in a strange place, and not knowing what to do, he told his story to somebody whom he met, who put him in a hack and sent him up to the jail. It was a pity he lacked the enterprise to take care of himself when set at liberty, as it cost him four months' imprisonment and his friends some money. I ought to have mentioned before that, on arriving within the waters of the District, Sayres and myself had been examined before a justice of the peace, who was one of the captors; and who had acted as their leader. He had made out a commitment against us, but none against English; so that the persons who had him in charge were right enough in letting him go.

Sayres and myself were at first put into the same cell, but, towards night, we were separated. A person named Goddard, connected with the police, came to examine us. He went to Sayres first. He then came to me, when I told him that, as I supposed he had got the whole story out of Sayres, and as it was not best that two stories should be told, I would say nothing. Goddard then took from me my money. One of the keepers threw me in two thin blankets, and I was left to sleep as I could. The accommodations were not of the most luxurious kind. The cell had a stone floor, which, with the help of a blanket, was to serve also for a bed. There was neither chair, table, stool, nor any individual piece of furniture of any kind, except a night-bucket and a water-can. I was refused my overcoat and valise, and had nothing but my water-can to make a pillow of. With such a pillow, and the bare stone floor for my bed, looked upon by all whom I saw with apparent abhorrence and terror,--as much so, to all appearance, as if I had been a murderer, or taken in some other desperate crime,--remembering the execrations which the mob had belched forth against me, and uncertain whether a person would be found to express the least sympathy for me (which might not, in the existing state of the public feeling, be safe), it may be imagined that my slumbers were not very sound.

Meanwhile the rage of the mob had taken, for the moment, another direction. I had heard it said, while we were coming up in the steamboat, that the abolition press must be stopped; and the mob accordingly, as the night came on, gathered about the office of the _National Era_, with threats to destroy it. Some little mischief was done; but the property-holders in the city, well aware how dependent Washington is upon the liberality of Congress, were unwilling that anything should occur to place the District in bad odor at the north. Some of them, also, it is but justice to believe, could not entirely give in to the slave-holding doctrine and practice of suppressing free discussion by force; and, by their efforts, seconded by a drenching storm of rain, that came on between nine and ten o'clock, the mob were persuaded to disperse for the present. The jail was guarded that night by a strong body of police, serious apprehensions being entertained, lest the mob, instigated by the violence of many southern members of Congress, should break in and lynch us. Great apprehension, also, seemed to be felt at the jail, lest we might be rescued; and we were subject, during the night, to frequent examinations, to see that all was safe. Great was the terror, as well as the rage, which the abolitionists appeared to inspire. They seemed to be thought capable, if not very narrowly watched, of taking us off through the roof, or the stone floor, or out of the iron-barred doors; and, from the half-frightened looks which the keepers gave me from time to time, I could plainly enough read their thoughts,--that a fellow who had ventured on such an enterprise as that of the Pearl was desperate and daring enough to attempt anything. For a poor prisoner like me, so much in the power of his captors, and without the slightest means, hopes, or even thoughts of escape, it was some little satisfaction to observe the awe and terror which he inspired.

Of the prison fare I shall have more to say, by and by. It is sufficient to state here that it was about on a par with the sleeping accommodations, and hardly of a sort to give a man in my situation the necessary physical vigor. However, I thought little of this at that moment, as I was too sick and excited to feel much disposition to eat.

The Washington prison is a large three-story stone building, the front part of the lower story of which is occupied by the guard-room, or jail-office, and by the kitchen and sleeping apartments for the keepers. The back part, shut off from the front by strong grated doors, has a winding stone stair-case, ascending in the middle, on each side of which, on each of the three stories, are passage-ways, also shut off from the stair-case, by grated iron doors. The back wall of the jail forms one side of these passages, which are lighted by grated windows. On the other side are the cells, also with grated iron doors, and receiving their light and air entirely from the passages. The passages themselves have no ventilation except through the doors and windows, which answer that purpose very imperfectly. The front second story, over the guard-room, contains the cells for the female prisoners. The front third story is the debtors' apartment.

The usage of the jail always has been--except in cases of insubordination or attempted escape, when locking up in the cells by day, as well as by night, has been resorted to as a punishment--to allow the prisoners, during the day-time, the use of the passages, for the benefit of light, air and exercise. Indeed, it is hard to conceive a more cruel punishment than to keep a man locked up all the time in one of these half-lighted, unventilated cells. On the morning of the second day of our confinement, we too were let out into the passage. But we were soon put back again, and not only into separate cells, but into separate passages, so as to be entirely cut off from any communication with each other. It was a long time before we were able to regain the privilege of the passage. But, for the present, I shall pass over the internal economy and administration of the prison, and my treatment in it, intending, further on, to give a general sketch of that subject.

About nine or ten o'clock, Mr. Giddings, the member of Congress from Ohio, came to see us. There was some disposition, I understood, not to allow him to enter the jail; but Mr. Giddings is a man not easily repulsed, and there is nobody of whom the good people at Washington, especially the office-holders, who make up so large a part of the population, stand so much in awe as a member of Congress; especially a member of Mr. Giddings' well-known fearless determination. He was allowed to come in, bringing another person with him, but was followed into the jail by a crowd of ruffians, who compelled the turnkey to admit them into the passage, and who vented their rage in execration and threats. Mr. Giddings said that he had understood we were here in jail without counsel or friends, and that he had come to let us know that we should not want for either; and he introduced the person he had brought with him as one who was willing to act temporarily as our counsel. Not long after, Mr. David A. Hall, a lawyer of the District, came to offer his services to us in the same way. Key, the United States Attorney for the District, and who, as such, had charge of the proceedings against us, was there at the same time. He advised Mr. Hall to leave the jail and go home immediately, as the people outside were furious, and he ran the risk of his life. To which Mr. Hall replied that things had come to a pretty pass, if a man's counsel was not to have the privilege of talking with him. "Poor devils!" said the District Attorney, as he went out, "I pity them,--they are to be made scape-goats for others!" Yet the rancor, and virulence, and fierce pertinacity with which this Key afterwards pursued me, did not look much like pity. No doubt he was a good deal irritated at his ill success in getting any information out of me.

The seventy-six passengers found on board the Pearl had been committed to the jail as runaways, and Mr. Giddings, on going up to the House, by way of warning, I suppose, to the slave-holders, that they were not to be allowed to have everything their own way, moved an inquiry into the circumstances under which seventy-six persons were held prisoners in the District jail, merely for attempting to vindicate their inalienable rights. Mr. Hale also, in the Senate, in consequence of the threats held out to destroy the _Era_ office, and to put a stop to the publication of that paper, moved a resolution of inquiry into the necessity of additional laws for the protection of property in the District. The fury which these movements excited in the minds of the slave-holders found expression in the editorial columns of the Washington _Union_, in an article which I have inserted below, as forming a curious contrast to the exultations of that print, only a week before, and to which I have had occasion already to refer, over the spread of the principles of liberty and universal emancipation. The violent attack upon Mr. Giddings, because he had visited us three poor prisoners in jail, and offered us the assistance of counsel,--as if the vilest criminals were not entitled to have counsel to defend them,--is well worthy of notice. The following is the article referred to.

THE ABOLITION INCENDIARIES.

Those two abolition incendiaries (Giddings and Hale)
threw firebrands yesterday into the two houses of
Congress. The western abolitionist moved a resolution of
inquiry into the transactions now passing in Washington,
which brought on a fierce and fiery debate on the part
of the southern members, in the course of which Mr.
Giddings _was compelled to confess_, on the
cross-questioning of Messrs. Venable and Haskell, _that
he had visited the three piratical kidnappers now
confined in jail, and offered them counsel_. The reply
of Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, was scorching to an intense
degree.

The abolitionist John P. Hale threw a firebrand
resolution into the Senate, calling for additional laws
to compel this city to prevent riots. This also gave
rise to a long and excited debate.

No question was taken, in either house, before they
adjourned. But, in the progress of the discussion in
both houses, some doctrines were uttered which are
calculated to startle the friends of the Union. Giddings
justified the kidnappers, and contended that, though the
act was legally forbidden, it was not morally wrong! Mr.
Toombs brought home the practical consequences of this
doctrine to the member from Ohio in a most impressive
manner.

Hale, of the Senate, whilst he was willing to protect
the abolitionist, expressed himself willing to relax the
laws and weaken the protection which is given to the
slave property in this district! Mr. Davis, of
Massachusetts, held the strange doctrine, that while he
would not disturb the rights of the slave-holders, he
would not cease to discuss those rights! As if Congress
ought to discuss, or to protect a right to discuss, a
domestic institution of the Southern States, with which
they had no right to interfere! Why discuss, when they
cannot act? Why first lay down an abstract principle,
which they intend to violate in practice?

Such fanatics as Giddings and Hale are doing more
mischief than they will be able to atone for. Their
incessant and impertinent intermeddling with the most
delicate question in our social relations is creating
the most indignant feelings in the community. The fiery
discussions they are exciting are calculated to provoke
the very riots which they deprecate. Let these madmen
forbear, if they value the tranquillity of our country,
and the stability of our Union. We conjure them to
forbear their maddened, parricidal hand.

An article like this in the _Union_ was well calculated, and probably was intended, to encourage and stimulate the rioters, and accordingly they assembled that same evening in greater force than before threatening the destruction of the _Era_ office. The publication office of the _Era_ was not far from the Patent Office; and the dwelling-house of Dr. Bailey, the editor, was at no great distance. The mob, taking upon themselves the character of a meeting of citizens, appointed a committee to wait upon Dr. Bailey, to require him to remove his press out of the District of Columbia. Of course, as I was locked up in the jail, trying to rest my aching head and weary limbs, with a stone floor for a bed and a water-can for my pillow, I can have no personal knowledge of what transpired on this occasion. But a correspondent of the New York _Tribune_, who probably was an eye-witness, gives the following account of the interview between the committee and Dr. Bailey:

Clearing his throat, the leader of the committee
stretched forth his hand, and thus addressed Dr. Bailey:

_Mr. Radcliff_.--Sir, we have been appointed as a
committee to wait upon you, by the meeting of the
citizens of Washington which has assembled this evening
to take into consideration the circumstances connected
with the late outrage upon _our_ property, and to convey
to you the result of the deliberations of that meeting.
You are aware of the excitement which now prevails. It
has assumed a most threatening aspect. This community is
satisfied that the existence of your press among us is
endangering the public peace, and they are convinced
that the public interests demand its removal. We have
therefore waited upon you for the purpose of inquiring
whether you are prepared to remove your press by ten
o'clock to-morrow morning; and we beseech you, as you
value the peace of this District, to accede to our
request. [Loud shouting heard at the Patent Office.]

_Dr. Bailey_.--Gentlemen: I do not believe you are
actuated by any unkind feelings towards me personally;
but you must be aware that you are demanding of me the
surrender of a great constitutional right,--a right
which I have used, but not abused,--in the preservation
of which you are as deeply interested as I am. How can
you ask me to abandon it, and thus become a party to my
own degradation?

_Mr. Radcliff_.--We subscribe to all that you say. But
you see the popular excitement. The consequences of your
refusal are inevitable. Now, if you can avert these
consequences by submitting to what the people request,
although unreasonable, is it not your duty, as a good
citizen, to submit? It is on account of the community we
come here, obeying the popular feeling which you hear
expressed in the distance, and which cannot be calmed,
and, but for the course we have adopted, would at this
moment be manifested in the destruction of your office.
But they have consented to wait till they hear our
report. We trust, then, that, as a good citizen, you
will respond favorably to the wish of the people.

_Another of the Committee_.--As one of the oldest
citizens, I do assure you that it is in all kindness we
make this request. We come here to tell you that we
cannot arrest violence in any other way than by your
allowing us to say that you yield to the request of the
people. In kindness we tell you that if this thing
commences here we know not where it may end. I am for
mild measures myself. The prisoners were in my hands,
but I would not allow my men to inflict any punishment
on them.

_Dr. Bailey_.--Gentlemen, I appreciate your kindness;
but I ask, is there a man among you who, standing as I
now stand, the representative of a free press, would
accede to this demand, and abandon his rights as an
American citizen?

_One of the Committee_.--We know it is a great sacrifice
that we ask of you; but we ask it to appease popular
excitement.

_Dr. Bailey_.--Let me say to you that I am a peace-man.
I have taken no measures to defend my office, my house
or myself. I appeal to the good sense and intelligence
of the community, and stand upon my rights as an
American citizen, looking to the law alone for
protection.

_Mr. Radcliff_.--We have now discharged our duty. It has
come to this,--the people say it must be done, unless
you agree to go to-morrow. We now ask a categorical
answer,--Will you remove your press?

_Dr. Bailey_.--I answer: I make no resistance, and I
cannot assent to your demand. The press is there--it is
undefended--you can do as you think proper.

_One of the Committee_.--All rests with you. We tell you
what will follow your refusal, and, if you persist, all
the responsibility must fall upon your shoulders. It is
in your power to arrest the arm that is raised to give
the blow. If you refuse to do so by a single expression,
though it might cost you much, on you be all the
consequences.

_Dr. Bailey_.--You demand the sacrifice of a great
right. You--

_One of the Committee (interrupting him_).--I know it is
a hardship; but look at the consequences of your
refusal. We do not come here to express our individual
opinions. I would myself leave the District to-morrow,
if in your place. We now ask of you, Shall this be done?
We beg you will consider this matter in the light in
which we view it.

_Dr. Bailey_.--I am one man against many. But I cannot
sacrifice any right that I possess. Those who have sent
you here may do as they think proper.

_One of the Committee_.--The whole community is against
you. They say here is an evil that threatens them, and
they ask you to remove that evil. You say "No!" and of
course on your head be all the consequences.

_Dr. Bailey_.--Let me remind you that we have been
recently engaged in public rejoicings. For what have we
rejoiced? Because the people in another land have
arisen and triumphed over the despot, who had
done--what? He did not demolish presses, but he
imprisoned editors. In other words, he enslaved the
press. Will you then present to America and the world--

_One of the Committee (interrupting him_).--If we could
stop this movement, of the people, we would do it. But
you make us unable to do so. We cannot tell how far it
will go. After your press is pulled down, we do not know
where they will go next. It is your duty, in such a
case, to sacrifice your constitutional rights.

_Dr. Bailey_.--I presume, when they shall have
accomplished their object--

_Mr. Radcliff (interrupting)._--We advise you to be out
of the way! The people think that your press endangers
their property and their lives; and they have appointed
us to tell you so, and ask you to remove it to-morrow.
If you say that you will do so, they will retire
satisfied. If you refuse, they say they will tear it
down. Here is Mr. Boyle, a gentleman of property, and
one of our oldest residents. You see that we are united.
If you hold out and occupy your position, the men, women
and children of the District will universally rise up
against you.

_Dr. Bailey (addressing himself to his father, a
venerable man of more than eighty years of age, who
approached the doorway and commenced remonstrating with
the committee)_.--You do not understand the matter,
father; these gentlemen are a committee appointed by a
meeting assembled in front of the Patent Office. You
need not address remonstrances to them. Gentlemen, you
appreciate my position. I cannot surrender my rights.
Were I to die for it, I cannot surrender my rights! Tell
those who sent you hither that my press and my house are
undefended--they must do as they see proper. I maintain
my rights, and make no resistance!

The committee then retired, and Dr. Bailey reëntered his
dwelling. Meanwhile, the shouts of the mob, as they
received the reports of the committee, were reëchoed
along the streets. A fierce yell greeted the
reäppearance of Radcliff in front of the Patent Office.
He announced the result of the interview with the editor
of the _Era_. Shouts, imprecations, blasphemy, burst
from the crowd. "Down with the _Era_!" "Now for it!"
"Gut the office!" were the exclamations heard on all
sides, and the mob rushed tumultuously to
Seventh-street.

But a body of the city police had been stationed to guard the building, and the mob finally contented themselves with passing a resolution to pull it down the next day at ten o'clock, if the press was not meanwhile removed.

That same afternoon, we three prisoners had been taken before three justices, who held a court within the jail for our examination. Mr. Hall appeared as our counsel. The examination was continued till the next day, when we were, all three of us, recommitted to jail, on a charge of stealing slaves, our bail being fixed at a thousand dollars for each slave, or seventy-six thousand dollars for each of us.

Meanwhile, both houses of Congress became the scenes of very warm debates, growing out of circumstances connected with our case. In the Senate, Mr. Hale, agreeably to the notice he had given, asked leave to introduce a bill for the protection of property in the District of Columbia against the violence of mobs. This bill, as was stated in the debate, was copied, almost word for word, from a law in force in the State of Maryland (and many other states have--and all ought to have--a similar law), making the cities and towns liable for any property which might be destroyed in them by mob violence. In the House the subject came up on a question of privilege, raised by Mr. Palfrey, of Massachusetts, who offered a resolution for the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the currently-reported facts that a lawless mob had assembled during the two previous nights, setting at defiance the constituted authorities of the United States, and menacing members of Congress and other persons. In both those bodies the debate was very warm, as any one interested in it will find, by reading it in the columns of the _Congressional Globe_.

It was upon this occasion, during the debate in the Senate, that Mr. Foote, then a senator from Mississippi, and now governor of that state, whose speech on the French revolution has been already quoted, threatened to join in lynching Mr. Hale, if he ever set foot in Mississippi, whither he invited him to come for that purpose. This part of the debate was so peculiar and so characteristic, showing so well the spirit with which the District of Columbia was then blazing against me, that I cannot help giving the following extract from Mr. Foote's speech, as contained in the official report:

"All must see that the course of the senator from New
Hampshire is calculated to embroil the confederacy--to
put in peril our free institutions--to jeopardize that
Union which our forefathers established, and which every
pure patriot throughout the country desires shall be
perpetuated. Can any man be a patriot who pursues such a
course? Is he an enlightened friend of freedom, or even
a judicious friend of those with whom he affects to
sympathize, who adopts such a course? Who does not know
that such men are, practically, the worst enemies of the
slaves? I do not beseech the gentleman to stop; but, if
he perseveres, he will awaken indignation everywhere,
and it cannot be that enlightened men, who
conscientiously belong to the faction at the north of
which he is understood to be the head, can sanction or
approve everything that he may do, under the influence
of excitement, in this body. I will close by saying
that, if he really wishes glory, and to be regarded as
the great liberator of the blacks,--if he wishes to be
particularly distinguished in this cause of
emancipation, as it is called,--let him, instead of
remaining here in the Senate of the United States, or
instead of secreting himself in some dark corner of New
Hampshire, where he may possibly escape the just
indignation of good men throughout this republic,--let
him visit the good State of Mississippi, in which I have
the honor to reside, and no doubt he will be received
with such shouts of joy as have rarely marked the
reception of any individual in this day and generation.
I invite him there, and will tell him, beforehand, in
all honesty, that he could not go ten miles into the
interior before he would grace one of the tallest trees
in the forest, with a rope around his neck, with the
approbation of every virtuous and patriotic citizen; and
that, if necessary, I should myself assist in the
operation!"

Mr. Hale's reply was equally characteristic:

"The honorable Senator invites me to visit the State of
Mississippi, and kindly informs me that he would be one
of those who would act the assassin, and put an end to
my career. He would aid in bringing me to public
execution,--no, death by a mob! Well, in return for his
hospitable invitation, I can only express the desire
that he would penetrate into some of the dark corners of
New Hampshire; and, if he do, I am much mistaken if he
would not find that the people in that benighted region
would be very happy to listen to his arguments, and
engage in an intellectual conflict with him, in which
the truth might be elicited. I think, however, that the
announcement which the honorable Senator has made on
this floor of the fate which awaits so humble an
individual as myself in the State of Mississippi must
convince every one of the propriety of the high eulogium
which he pronounced upon her, the other day, when he
spoke of the high position which she occupied among the
states of this confederacy.--But enough of this personal
matter."[A]

[Footnote A: The following paragraph, which has
recently been going the rounds of the newspapers,
will serve to show the sort of manners which
prevail in the state so fitly represented by Mr.
Foote, and how these southern ruffians experience
in their own families the natural effect of the
blood-thirsty sentiments which they so freely avow:

"THE DEATH OF MR. CARNEAL.--The Vicksburg
_Sentinel_, of the 13th ult., gives the following
account of the shooting of Mr. Thomas Carneal,
son-in-law of Governor Foote:

"We have abstained thus long from giving any notice
of the sad affair which resulted in the death of
Mr. Thomas Carneal, the son-in-law of the governor
of our state, that we might get the particulars. It
seems that the steamer E.C. Watkins, with Mr.
Carneal as a passenger, landed at or near the
plantation of Judge James, in Washington county.
Mr. Carneal had heard that the judge was an
extremely brutal man to his slaves, and was
likewise excited with liquor; and, upon the judge
inviting him and others to take a drink with him,
Carneal replied that he would not drink with a man
who abused his negroes; this the judge resented as
an insult, and high words ensued.

"The company took their drink, however, all but Mr.
Carneal, who went out upon the bow of the boat, and
took a seat, where he was sought by Judge James,
who desired satisfaction for the insult. Carneal
refused to make any, and asked the old gentleman if
any of his sons would resent the insult if he was
to slap him in the mouth; to which the judge
replied that he would do it himself, if his sons
would not; whereupon Mr. Carneal struck him in the
month with the back of his hand. The judge resented
it by striking him across the head with a cane,
which stunned Mr. Carneal very much, causing the
blood to run freely from the wound. As soon as
Carneal recovered from the wound, he drew a
bowie-knife, and attacked the judge with it,
inflicting several wounds upon his person, some of
which were thought to be mortal.

"Some gentlemen, in endeavoring to separate the
combatants, were wounded by Carneal. When Judge
James arrived at his house, bleeding, and in a
dying state, as was thought, his son seized a
double-barrelled gun, loaded it heavily with large
shot, galloped to where the boat was, hitched his
horse, and deliberately raised his gun to shoot
Carneal, who was sitting upon a cotton-bale. Mr.
James was warned not to fire, as Carneal was
unarmed, and he might kill some innocent person. He
took his gun from his shoulder, raised it again,
and fired both barrels in succession, killing
Carneal instantly.

"It is a sad affair, and Carneal leaves, besides
numerous friends, a most interesting and
accomplished widow, to bewail his tragical end."]

Such was the savage character of the debate, that even Mr. Calhoun, who was not generally discourteous, finding himself rather hard pressed by some of Mr. Hale's arguments, excused himself from an answer, on the ground that Mr. Hale was a maniac! The slave-holders set upon Mr. Hale with all their force; but, though they succeeded in voting down his bill, it was generally agreed, and anybody may see by the report, that he had altogether the best of the argument. Mr. Palfrey's resolution was also lost; but the boldness with which Giddings and others avowed their opinions, and the freedom of speech which they used on the subject of slavery, afforded abundant proof that the gagging system which had prevailed so long in Congress had come at last to an end.

These movements, though the propositions of Messrs. Hale and Palfrey were voted down, were not without their effect. The Common Council of Washington appointed an acting mayor, in place of the regular mayor, who was sick. President Polk sent an intimation to the clerks of the departments, some of whom had been active in the mobs, that they had better mind their own business and stay at home. Something was said about marines from the Navy-Yard; and from that time the riotous spirit began to subside.

Meanwhile, the unfortunate people who had attempted to escape in the Pearl had to pay the penalty of their love of freedom. A large number of them, as they were taken out of jail by the persons who claimed to be their owners, were handed over to the slave-traders. The following account of the departure of a portion of these victims for the southern market was given in a letter which appeared at the time in several northern newspapers:

"_Washington, April_ 22, 1848.

"Last evening, as I was passing the railroad dépôt, I
saw a large number of colored people gathered round one
of the cars, and, from manifestations of grief among
some of them, I was induced to draw near and ascertain
the cause of it. I found in the car towards which they
were so eagerly gazing about fifty colored people, some
of whom were nearly as white as myself. A majority of
them were of the number who attempted to gain their
liberty last week. About half of them were females, a
few of whom had but a slight tinge of African blood in
their veins, and were finely formed and beautiful. The
men were ironed together, and the whole group looked sad
and dejected. At each end of the car stood two
ruffianly-looking personages, with large canes in their
hands, and, if their countenances were an index of their
hearts, they were the very impersonation of hardened
villany itself.

"In the middle of the car stood the notorious
slave-dealer of Baltimore, Slatter, who, I learn, is a
member of the Methodist church, 'in good and regular
standing.' He had purchased the men and women around
him, and was taking his departure for Georgia. While
observing this old, gray-headed villain,--this dealer in
the bodies and souls of men,--the chaplain of the Senate
entered the car,--a Methodist brother,--and took his
brother Slatter by the hand, chatted with him for some
time, and seemed to view the heart-rending scene before
him with as little concern as we should look upon
cattle. I know not whether he came with a view to
sanctify the act, and pronounce a parting blessing; but
this I do know, that he justifies slavery, and denounces
anti-slavery efforts as bitterly as do the most hardened
slave-dealers.

"A Presbyterian minister, who owned one of the
fugitives, was the first to strike a bargain with
Slatter, and make merchandise of God's image; and many
of these poor victims, thus manacled and destined for
the southern market, are regular members of the African
Methodist church of this city. I did not hear whether
they were permitted to get letters of dismission from
the church, and of 'recommendation to any church where
God, in his providence, might cast their lot.' Probably
a certificate from Slatter to the effect that they are
Christians will answer every purpose. No doubt he will
demand a good price for slaves of this character.
Perhaps brother Slicer furnished him with testimonials
of their religious character, to help their sale in
Georgia. I understand that he was accustomed to preach
to them here, and especially to urge upon them obedience
to their masters.

"Some of the colored people outside, as well as in the
car, were weeping most bitterly. I learned that many
families were separated. Wives were there to take leave
of their husbands, and husbands of their wives, children
of their parents, brothers and sisters shaking hands
perhaps for the last time, friends parting with friends,
and the tenderest ties of humanity sundered at the
single bid of the inhuman slave-broker before them. A
husband, in the meridian of life, begged to see the
partner of his bosom. He protested that she was
free--that she had free papers, and was torn from him,
and shut up in the jail. He clambered up to one of the
windows of the car to see his wife, and, as she was
reaching forward her hand to him, the black-hearted
villain, Slatter, ordered him down. He did not obey. The
husband and wife, with tears streaming down their
cheeks, besought him to let them converse for a moment.
But no! a monster more hideous, hardened and savage,
than the blackest spirit of the pit, knocked him down
from the car, and ordered him away. The bystanders could
hardly restrain themselves from laying violent hands
upon the brutes. This is but a faint description of that
scene, which took place within a few rods of the
capitol, under _enactments_ recognized by Congress. O!
what a revolting scene to a feeling heart, and what a
retribution awaits the actors! Will not these wailings
of anguish reach the ears of the Most High? 'Vengeance
is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.'"

Of those sent off at this time, several, through the generosity of charitable persons at the north, were subsequently redeemed, among whom were the Edmundson girls, of whom an account is given in the "Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin."

From one of the women, who was not sold, but retained at Washington, I received a mark of kindness and remembrance for which I felt very grateful. She obtained admission to the jail, the Sunday after our committal, to see some of her late fellow-passengers still confined there; and, as she passed the passage in which I was confined, she called to me and handed a Bible through the gratings. I am happy to be able to add that she has since, upon a second trial, succeeded in effecting her escape, and that she is now a free woman.

The great excitement which our attempt at emancipation had produced at Washington, and the rage and fury exhibited against us, had the effect to draw attention to our case, and to secure us sympathy and assistance on the part of persons wholly unknown to us. A public meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, in Boston, on the 25th of April, at which a committee was appointed, consisting of Samuel May, Samuel G. Howe, Samuel E. Sewell, Richard Hildreth, Robert Morris, Jr., Francis Jackson, Elizur Wright, Joseph Southwick, Walter Channing, J.W. Browne, Henry I. Bowditch, William F. Channing, Joshua P. Blanchard and Charles List, authorized to employ counsel and to collect money for the purpose of securing to us a fair trial, of which, without some interference from abroad, the existing state of public feeling in the District of Columbia seemed to afford little prospect. A correspondence was opened by this committee with the Hon. Horace Mann, then a representative in Congress from the State of Massachusetts, with ex-Governor Seward, of New York, with Salmon P. Chase, Esq., of Ohio, and with Gen. Fessenden, of Maine, all of whom volunteered their gratuitous services, should they be needed. A moderate subscription was promptly obtained, the larger part of it, as I am informed, through the liberality of Gerrit Smith, now a representative in Congress from New York, whose large pecuniary contributions to all philanthropic objects, as well as his zealous efforts in the same direction both with the tongue and the pen, have made him so conspicuous. He has, indeed, a unique way of spending his large fortune, without precedent, at least in this country, and not likely to find many imitators.

The committee, being thus put in funds, deputed Mr. Hildreth, one of the members of it, to proceed to Washington to make the necessary arrangements. He arrived there toward the end of the month of May, by which time the public excitement against us, or at least the exterior signs of it, had a good deal subsided. But we were still treated with much rigor, being kept locked up in our cells, denied the use of the passage, and not allowed to see anybody, except when once in a while Mr. Giddings or Mr. Hall found an access to us; but even then we were not allowed to hold any conversation, except in the presence of the jailer.

It may well be imagined that the news of my capture and imprisonment, and of the danger in which I seemed to be, had thrown my family into great distress. I also had suffered exceedingly on their account, several of the children being yet too young to shift for themselves. But I was presently relieved, by the information which I received before long, that during my imprisonment my family would be provided for.

Warm remonstrances had been made to the judge of the criminal court by Mr. Hall against the attempt to exclude us from communication with our friends,--a liberty freely granted to all other prisoners. The judge declined to interfere; but Mr. Mann, having agreed to act as our counsel, was thenceforth freely admitted to interviews with us, without the presence of any keeper. Books and newspapers were furnished me by friends out of doors. I presently obtained a mattress, and the liberty of providing myself with better food than the jail allows. I continued to suffer a good deal of annoyance from the capricious insolence and tyranny of the marshal, Robert Wallace; but I intend to go more at length into the details of my prison experience after having first disposed of the legal proceedings against us.

The feeling against me was no doubt greatly increased by the failure of the efforts repeatedly made to induce me to give up the names of those who had coöperated with me, and to turn states-evidence against them. There was a certain Mr. Taylor, from Boston, I believe, then in Washington, the inventor of a submarine armor for diving purposes. I had formerly been well acquainted with him, and, at a time when no friend of mine was allowed access to me, he made me repeated visits at the jail, at the request, as he said, of the District Attorney, to induce me to make a full disclosure, in which case it was intimated I should be let off very easy.

As Mr. Taylor did not prevail with me, one of the jailers afterwards assured me that he was authorized to promise me a thousand dollars in case I would become a witness against those concerned with me. As I turned a deaf ear to all these propositions, the resolution seemed to be taken to make me and Sayres, and even English, suffer in a way to be a warning to all similar offenders.

The laws under which we were to be tried were those of the State of Maryland as they stood previous to the year 1800. These laws had been temporarily continued in force over that part of the District ceded by Maryland (the whole of the present District) at the time that the jurisdiction of the United Spates commenced; and questions of more general interest, and the embarrassment growing out of the existence of slavery, having defeated all attempts at a revised code, these same old laws of Maryland still remain in force, though modified, in some respects, by acts of Congress. In an act of Maryland, passed in the year 1796, and in force in the District, there was a section which seemed to have been intended for precisely such cases as ours. It provided "That any person or persons who shall hereafter be convicted of giving a pass to any slave, or person held to service, or shall be found to assist, by advice, donation or loan, or otherwise, the transporting of any slave or any person held to service, from this state, or by any other unlawful means depriving a master or owner of the service of his slave or person held to service, for every such offence the party aggrieved shall recover damages in an action on the case, against such offender or offenders, and such offender or offenders shall also be liable, upon indictment, and conviction upon verdict, confession or otherwise, in this state, in any county court where such offence shall happen, to be fined a sum not exceeding two hundred dollars, at the discretion of the court, one-half to the use of the master or owner of such slave, the other half to the county school, if there be any; if there be no such school, to the use of the county."