"RANAWAY, from the subscriber a negro man known as Frank Pilot. He is five feet eight inches high, dark complexion, and about 50 years old, _HAS BEEN FREE SINCE_ 1829--is now my property, as heir at law of his last owner, _Samuel Ralston_, dec. I will give the above reward if he is taken and confined in any jail so that I can get him.
SAMUEL RALSTON. Pactolus, Pitt County."
From the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) "Flag of the Union," June 7.
"COMMITTED to the jail of Tuscaloosa county, a negro man, who says his name is Robert Winfield, and _says he is free_.
R.W. BARBER, _Jailer_."
That "public opinion," in the slave states affords no protection to the liberty of colored persons, even after those persons become legally free, by the operation of their own laws, is declared by Governor Comegys, of Delaware, in his recent address to the Legislature of that state, Jan. 1839. The Governor, commenting upon the law of the state which provides that persons convicted of certain crimes shall be sold as servants for a limited time, says,
"_The case is widely different with the negro(!)_ Although ordered to be disposed of as a servant for a term of years, _perpetual slavery in the south is his inevitable doom_; unless, peradventure, age or disease may have rendered him worthless, or some resident of the State, from motives of _benevolence_, will pay for him three or four times his intrinsic _value_. It matters not for how short a time he is ordered to be sold, so that he can be carried from the State. Once beyond its limits, _all chance of restored freedom is gone_--for he is removed far from the reach of any testimony to aid him in an effort to be released from bondage, when his _legal_ term of servitude has expired. _Of the many colored convicts sold out of the State, it is believed none ever return_. Of course they are purchased _with the express view to their transportation for life_, and bring such enormous prices as to prevent all _compet.i.tion_ on the part of those of our citizens who _require_ their services, and _would keep them in the State_."
From the "Memphis (Ten.) Enquirer," Dec. 28, 1838.
"$50 REWARD. Ranaway, from the subscriber, on Thursday last, a negro man named Isaac, 22 years old, about 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, dark complexion, well made, full face, speaks quick, and very correctly for a negro. _He was originally from New-York_, and no doubt will attempt to pa.s.s himself as free. I will give the above reward for his apprehension and delivery, or confinement, so that I obtain him, if taken out of the state, or $30 if taken within the state.
JNO. SIMPSON. _Memphis, Dec. 28._"
Mark, with what shameless hardihood this JNO. SIMPSON, tells the public that _he knew_ Isaac Wright was a free man! "HE WAS ORIGINALLY FROM NEW YORK," he tells us. And yet he adds with brazen effrontery, "_he will attempt to pa.s.s himself as free._" This Isaac Wright, was shipped by a man named Lewis, of New Bedford, Ma.s.sachusetts, and sold as a slave in New Orleans. After pa.s.sing through several hands, and being flogged nearly to death, he made his escape, and five days ago, (March 5,) returned to his friends in Philadelphia.
From the "Baltimore Sun," Dec. 23, 1838.
"FREE NEGROES--Merry Ewall, a FREE NEGRO, from Virginia, was committed to jail, at Snow Hill, Md. last week, for remaining in the State longer than is allowed by the law of 1831. The fine in his case amounts to $225. Capril Purnell, a negro from Delaware, is now in jail in the same place, for a violation of the same act. His fine amounts to FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS, and he WILL BE SOLD IN A SHORT TIME."
The following is the decision of the Supreme Court, of Louisiana, in the case of Gomez _vs_. Bonneval, Martin"s La. Reports, 656, and Wheeler"s "Law of Slavery," p. 380-1.
_Marginal remark of the Compiler.--"A slave does not become free on his being illegally imported into the state."_
"_Per Cur. Derbigny_, J. The pet.i.tioner is a negro in actual state of slavery; he claims his freedom, and is bound to prove it. In his attempt, however, to show that he was free before he was introduced into this country, he has failed, so that his claim rests entirely on the laws prohibiting the introduction of slaves in the United States.
That the plaintiff was imported since that prohibition does exist is a fact sufficiently established by the evidence. What right he has acquired under the laws forbidding such importation is the only question which we have to examine. Formerly, while the act dividing Louisiana into two territories was in force in this country, slaves introduced here in contravention to it, were freed by operation of law; but that act was merged in the legislative provisions which were subsequently enacted on the subject of importation of slaves into the United States generally. Under the now existing laws, the individuals thus imported acquire _no personal right_, they are mere pa.s.sive beings, who are disposed of _according to the will_ of the different state legislatures. In this country they are to _remain slaves_, and TO BE SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE STATE. The plaintiff, therefore, has nothing to claim as a freeman; and as to a mere change of master, should such be his wish, _he cannot be listened to in a court of justice_."
Extract from a speech of Mr. Thomson of Penn. in Congress, March 1, 1826, on the prisons in the District of Columbia.
"I visited the prisons twice that I might myself ascertain the truth.
* * In one of these cells (but eight feet square,) were confined at that time, seven persons, three women and four children. The children were confined under a strange system of law in this District, by which a colored person who _alleges_ HE IS FREE, and appeals to the tribunals of the country, to have the matter tried, is COMMITTED TO PRISON, till the decision takes place. They were almost naked--one of them was sick, lying on the damp brick floor, _without bed, pillow, or covering_. In this abominable cell, seven human beings were confined day by day, and night after night, without a bed, chair, or stool, or any other of the most common necessaries of life."--_Gales"
Congressional Debates_, v.2, p. 1480.
The following facts serve to show, that the present generation of slaveholders do but follow in the footsteps of their fathers, in their zeal for LIBERTY.
Extract from a doc.u.ment submitted by the Committee of the yearly meeting of Friends in Philadelphia, to the Committee of Congress, to whom was referred the memorial of the people called Quakers, in 1797.
"In the latter part of the year 1776, several of the people called Quakers, residing in the counties of Perquimans and Pasquotank, in the state of North Carolina, liberated their negroes, as it was then clear there was no existing law to prevent their so doing; for the law of 1741 could not at that time be carried into effect; and they were suffered to remain free, until a law pa.s.sed, in the spring of 1777, under which they were taken up and sold, contrary to the Bill of Rights, recognized in the const.i.tution of that state, as a part thereof, and to which it was annexed.
"In the spring of 1777, when the General a.s.sembly met for the first time, a law was enacted to prevent slaves from being emanc.i.p.ated, except for meritorious services, &c. to be judged of by the county courts or the general a.s.sembly; and ordering, that if any should be manumitted in any other way, they be taken up, and the county courts within whose jurisdictions they are apprehended should order them to be sold. Under this law the county courts of Perquimans and Pasquotank, in the year 1777, ordered A LARGE NUMBER OF PERSONS TO BE SOLD, WHO WERE FREE AT THE TIME THE LAW WAS MADE. In the year 1778 several of those cases were, by certiorari, brought before the superior court for the district of Edentorn, where the decisions of the county courts were reversed, the superior court declaring, that said county courts, in such their proceedings, have exceeded their jurisdiction, violated the rights of the subject, and acted in direct opposition to the Bill of Rights of this state, considered justly as part of the const.i.tution thereof; by giving to a law, not intended to affect this case, a retrospective operation, thereby to deprive free men of this state of their liberty, contrary to the laws of the land.
In consequence of this decree several of the negroes were again set at liberty; but the next General a.s.sembly, early in 1779, pa.s.sed a law, wherein they mention, that doubts have arisen, whether the purchasers of such slaves have a good and legal t.i.tle thereto, and CONFIRM the same; under which they were again taken up by the purchasers and reduced to slavery."
[The number of persons thus re-enslaved was 134.]
The following are the decrees of the Courts, ordering the sale of those freemen:--
"Perquimans County, July term, at Hartford, A.D. 1777.
"These may certify, that it was then and there ordered, that the sheriff of the county, to-morrow morning, at ten o"clock, expose to sale, to the highest bidder, for ready money, at the court-house door, the several negroes taken up as free, and in his custody, agreeable to law.
"Test. WM. SKINNER, Clerk. "A true copy, 25th August, 1791. "Test. J.
HARVEY, Clerk."
"Pasquotank County, September Court, &c. &c. 1777.
"Present, the Worshipful Thomas Boyd, Timothy Hickson, John Paelin, Edmund Clancey, Joseph Reading, and Thomas Rees, Esqrs. Justices.
"It was then and there ordered, that Thomas Reading, Esq. take the FREE negroes taken up under an act to prevent domestic insurrections and other purposes, and expose the same to _the best bidder_, at public vendue, for ready money, and be accountable for the same, agreeable to the aforesaid act; and make return to this or the next succeeding court of his proceedings.
"A copy. ENOCH REESE, C.C."
THE PROTECTION OF "PUBLIC OPINION" TO DOMESTICS TIES.
The barbarous indifference with which slaveholders regard the forcible sundering of husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and the unfeeling brutality indicated by the language in which they describe the efforts made by the slaves, in their yearnings after those from whom they have been torn away, reveals a "public opinion" towards them as dead to their agony as if they were cattle.
It is well nigh impossible to open a southern paper without finding evidence of this. Though the truth of this a.s.sertion can hardly be called in question, we subjoin a few ill.u.s.trations, and could easily give hundreds.
From the "Savannah Georgian," Jan. 17, 1839. "$100 reward will be given for my two fellows, Abram and Frank. Abram has a _wife_ at Colonel Stewart"s, in Liberty county, and a _sister_ in Savannah, at Capt. Grovenstine"s. Frank has a _wife_ at Mr. Le Cont"s, Liberty county; a _mother_ at Thunderbolt, and a _sister_ in Savannah.
WM. ROBARTS. Wallhourville, 5th Jan. 1839"
From the "Lexington (Ky.) Intelligencer." July 7, 1838.
"$160 Reward.--Ranaway from the subscribers living in this city, on Sat.u.r.day 16th inst. a negro man, named d.i.c.k, about 37 years of age. It is highly probable said boy will make for New Orleans as _he has a wife_ living in that city, and he has been heard to say frequently that _he was determined to go to New Orleans_.
"DRAKE C. THOMPSON. "Lexington, June 17, 1838"
From the "Southern Argus," Oct. 31, 1837.
"Runaway--my negro man, Frederick, about 20 years of age. He is no doubt near the plantation of G.W. Corprew, Esq of Noxubbee County, Mississippi, as _his wife belongs to that gentleman, and he followed her from my residence_. The above reward will be paid to any one who will confine him in jail and inform me of it at Athens, Ala. "Athens, Alabama. KERKMAN LEWIS."
From the "Savannah Georgian," July 8, 1837.
"Ran away from the subscriber, his man Joe. He visits the city occasionally, where he has been harbored by his _mother_ and _sister_.
I will give one hundred dollars for proof sufficient to _convict his harborers_. R.P.T. MONGIN."
The "Macon (Georgia) Messenger," Nov. 23, 1837, has the following:--
"$25 Reward.--Ran away, a negro man, named Cain. He was brought from Florida, and _has a wife near Mariana_, and probably will attempt to make his way there. H.L. COOK."