The weekly Anglo-African. [volume], July 23, 1859, Image 1

About The weekly Anglo-African. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1859-1861

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YOL. I.—NO. 1.
The Geckly Auglo-Aricm
o 1S PUBLISHED
EVERY SATURDAY,
BY THOS. HHAMILTON,
No. 48 BEEKMAN STREET, NEW YORK.
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[From the Anglo-African Magazine for July.]
THE OBERLIN-WELLINGTON RESCUE.
St
BY JOHN MERCER LANGSTON.
il
Tre 13th day of vatcnflmr 1858 is at
once, the darkest and the brightest day in
the Calendar of Oberlin. It is the darkest
day because it was then, that heartless and
cruel negro-catchers desecrated the sanctity
of this community by their shameless pre
sence, and perpetrated one of those black
and devilish acts which render the kidnap
per so hateful and despicable. The foul
betrayal of John Price into the hands of
the kidnappers Lowe, Davis, Mitchell, and
Jennings, was accomplished through the
agencyof Shakespeare Boynton,afast young
lad, about fourteen years of age, the son of
a prominent Democrat of Russia Town
ship,and aman particularly distinguished for
his utter want of honor and honesty. It
is not wonderful that the son of such a
father could be influenced and hired, for
the paltry sum of twenty dollars, to assist
in doing the base deed of Aidnappng a
man. Indeed, it is the opinion of very
many excellent and judicious persons, that
the father himself gave “aid and comfort,”
counsel and assistance, to these traitors to
Lhumanity. It is very positively asserted,
by Lewis D. Boynton, the father of this
lad, however, that he knew nothing of his
son's having been employed to betray John
Price, till several hours after the deed had
been done. And yet, Anderson Jennings,
the man who employed Shakespeare, very
emplatically stated under oath, when un
der examination a$ a witness, that he gave
Mr. Boynton full information in regard to
his intention of securing the services of his
son. Whether Boynton be truthful in his
assertion and Jennings false, or Jennings
be truthful in his and Rayuton falec, it
is not in our power to determine. For the
sake of humanity, it is to be hoped, that
Boynton knew nothing of this collusion
with his son till after its development.
That father is indeed base, who can allow
his child to do a mean thing for hire. The
youthfulness of this lad and his want of
suitable training would lead us to excuse
his conduct, as a boyish though calamitous
indiscretion ; while the father, intelligent
and full of years of observation and ex
perience, can find no forgiveness at our
hands, if he be guilty of aiding in this ne
farious procedure.
But the 13th day of September, 1858,
is the brightest day in the Calendar of
Oberlin, because on that day the noble and
true men of this place, by their brave and
manly conduct in the rescue of John Price,
vindicated their determination not to allow
the humblest human being “ to be deprived
of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law,” when in their power to
preventit. And on that day, too, Oberlin,
with fresh vigor, gave another and more
glorious exhibition of her purpose to
stand firm in favor of Justice and Christi
anity, the Declaration and the Constitution,
Law and Order, and against Injustice and
Atheism, Despotism and Slavery, Mob-vio
lence and Misrule. Indeed, that day and
the deeds that distinguish it shall never
be forgotten. Posterity shall regard it as
the bright and glorious day in the history
of this* Gibraltar of Freedom,” and shall
deem it worthy of the most sacred re
membrance.
The manner in which John Price was
captured, deserves, in this connection, but
a passing notice. It is already well under
stood. Without attempting the slightest
minuteness of detail, then, it is enough to
say that he was ensnared by the huge and
monstrous falsehood of young Boynton,
who came to him with a friendly appaar
ance, but with a heart bent upon his ruin.
e knew that this poor fugitive belonged
to the class of the energetic, the industri
ous, and the faithful. He knew, too, that
for several months past, Price had suffered
extremely under the most exeruciating
bodily disorder, and that, in consequence of
his protracted sickness, he had been driven
to the last extremity of want ; and, now
that he was convalescing, he was anxious
to secure emfiloyment, that he might re
plenish his exhausted revenue. Therefore,
he came to this poor man—poor in body
and in purse—saying, “ My father has sent
me here to tell you that he wants you to
come out and dig potatoes for him, and
that he will pay you for your services one
dollir and twenty-five cents per day.”
But Price was still in such teeble health
that he dared not undertake such laborious
service. Not suspecting anything wrong
—~not knowing the devil that lurked in the
heart of this youthful but arch deceiver—
he undertook the kind and neighborly
task of pointing out the dwelling-place of
another industrious and faithful fugitive.
whose services Mr. Boynton could seeure.
This man lived about two miles from the
}'lllage of Oberlin, and to reach his house
:;u:::zdue?e]ssary to pass over an unfi‘g—
s ]m.}f - As they rode along in the.lr
z l';::: ,t hna\ Ing gone about ha}f the dis
i ’t f:]y }\\\ere §uddenly, and unexpect
.s :’lqr?hnl Price, overtaken by Dept.
o — Lowe, Davw., and Mitchell.
egro-catchers rode in a fine, dou
ble-seated carriage. They were armed |
with Bgwie-knives and revolvers. As soon l
as they overtook young Boynton and ‘
Price, seizing Price, they dragged him
from the buggy in which he was riding, and
forced him into the carriage in which they
rode. This they did without making exhi
bition of the process, or givingany account
of the authority in accordance with which
they acted. Thus, having secured their
prey, by an untravelled route, in the most
expeditions manner, they hurried off to- |
wards Wellington. Meantime, Shakspeare |
Boynton returned to Oberlin to find An
dersan Jennings, of whom he was to re
ceive compensation for his dirty work. He
found Jennings, reported that the negro
had been captured, and received his reward.
This ended his connection with this black
and infamous drama. After having learn
‘ed of this miscreant what had been done,
Jennings left Oberlin, and joined his com
rades and co-workers in iniquity at Wel
lington.
But before these ruflian negro-catchers
arrived at Wellington, fortunately for the
kidnapped man and for the Anti-Slavery
cause, the report ot their doings reached
Oberlin, and thrilled and aroused our com- |
munity, already intensely agitated by vil
lainous deeds done within a few days prior
to this time by these hunters of men, un
der the cover of night. Now one purpose
only animated the hearts of the people.
Old men and young men, old women and
maidens, all expressed inlooks and voice
their determination to rescue this stolen
man. At once, men of strong heart aund
moral nerve—men of stalwart arms and
prowess such as knows no fear—with won
drous determination pictured in their faces,
were seen hurrying off in buggies, car
riages, wagons, and some on horse-back,
and others on foot, towards Wellington, a
place yet to be celebrated in story and in
verse, in forensic address and judicial re
cord, as the scene of the rescue of John
Price, a stolen and kidnapped man, from
his cowardly and brutal captors.
It is not fit that this rescue be dwelt up
on with too great particularity at this time.
Names must not be mentioned. The con
duct of particular individuals must not be
described. It is enough for us to know,
just now, that the brave men who came to
gether in hot haste, but with well-defined
intention, returned as the shades of night
came on bringing silence and rest to the
world, bearing in triumph to freedom the
man who, but an hour before, was on the
road to the fearful doom of Slavery. To
day Jobn Price wallze ahraad in his free.
dom, or reposes under his own vine and
fig-tree, with no one to molest him or make
him afraid. But for this boon—this glori
ous boon—he must be ever grateful to
the courageous men who jeopardized
their lives, their property, and their liberty
to secure his release ; for, according to the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, those who
rescue a man under such circumstances, or
who aid, assist, and abet in the rescue, are
to be indicted, convicted, imprisoned, and
fined. It matters not if its victim be born
in freedom and reared under its benign
influences, and it be thus distinetly under
stood that he is a free man. It matters not
if he be kidnapped. In this sense the law
is no respector of persons. Nor does it
make any complexional discriminations.
And still it subjects to pains and penalties
most severe and cruel all who oppose its
execution, whether the opposition be vio
lent, legal, or only such as find an expres
sion' in prayerful ejaculations in behalf of
the captured. If this statement be doubt
ed, let the incredulous peruse with thought
fulness and care, the unreasonable, the blas
phemous, and the atheistic charge deliv
ered by Judge Wilson to the Grand Jury
that found bills of indictment against thir
ty-seven citizens of Lorain county, charg
ing some with rescuing, and others with
aiding and abetting in the rescue of John
Price. If the incredulous are still unmoved
in their unbelief, they would read with edi
fication and profit the charges of the same
Judge delivered to the traverse Jurors
before whom Bushnell and Langston were
tried and convicted. All these charges
harmonize with, and strikingly illustrate
this Fugitive Slave Law. It is under such
a Congressional enactment—an enactment
whose soul is not unreasonableness, but in
justice and wrong—an enaetment whose
horrid features are seen in its unconstitu
tionality, in its denial of the free exercise
of religion, in its subversion of State Sov
reignty and individual rights, and in its
overthrow of all the ancient bulwarks of
liberty and law—that the philanthropic and
Christian men who are now confined in the
jail of Cuyahoga county, together with
those of the noble thirty-seven who have
been already released from their confine
ment, were indicted by a packed and parti
zan Grand Jury, of which Lewis D. Boyn:
ton was an influential member.
Of the persons thus indicted, only two
have as yet been tried. Both were found
guilty and sentenced. Mr. Simeon M. Bush
nell, the first one tried, is a man of true
‘nobility of soul and Christian fortitude. A
man of very small physical endurance, he
has a heart capable of the boldest endeav
or and the most unshrinking purpose in the
discharge of duty. After his conviction, |
when ordered to stand up and receive his
sentence, Judge Wilson, seeking to extort
some word of humiliation and contrition,
asked him if he had anything to say why
sentence shoild not be pronounced upon
him. In a clear and manly voice, he ans
wered, “ I have not.” But the Judge was |
not satisfied with this stern reply ; so he
asked him if he had no regrets to offer for
his conduct. To this, Mr. Bushnell, con
scious of the rectitude of his intentions and
satisfied with the part he had played in the
rescue, with very great emphasis and point,
replied again, “ I bave not.” Because Mr.
Bushnell had no regrets to offer—because.
he exhibited the spirit of a man of dignity
and courage, and none of the disposition of
the poltroon and the coward, he was sen
tenced by this unjust Judge to sixty days’
confinement in the county jail, and to pay
a fine of six hundred dollars and the costs
of the prosecution. And to-day, he, a
white man, an American citizen, is in the
common jail, serving out his time, for do
ing nothing other than giving succor to an
oppressed and outraged brother.
Mr. Charles H. Langston, the other per
son who has been tried, convicted, and sen
tenced, needs no eulogistic words from my
humble pen. He is widely known as a
devoted and laborious advocate of the
claims of the negro to liberty and its at
tendant blessings. Indeed, his entire life
has been a free offering to the Anti-Slavery
cause. Discreet and far-seeing, uncom
promising and able, he has labored most
efficiently in behalf’ of the slave and the
disfranchised American. But in no posi
tion has he demeaned himself with greater
propriety and wisdom, with greater deci
sion and courage, and with greater efficien
cy, than when he stood before Judge Wil
son, and, as the representative of the Ne
gro Race, in the most beautiful and pow
erful tones, told him why sentence should
uot be pronounced upon him. He spoke
as follows :(—
MR. LANGSTON'S SPEECH. i
“1 am for the first time in my life be
fore a court of Justice, clgarged with the
violation of law, and am now about to be
sentenced. But before receiving that sen
tence, I propose to say one or two words
in regard to the mitigation of that sentence,
it it may be so construed. I cannot of
course, and do not expeet, that which I
may say, will, in any way, change your pre
determined line of action. I ask no such
favor at your hands.
“I know that the courts of this country,
that the laws of this country, that the go
vernmental machinery of this country, are
so constituted as to oppress and outrage
colored men, men of my complexion. I
cannot then, of course, expect, judging from
the past history of the country, any mercy
from the laws, from the constitution, or
from the courts of the country.
“Some days prior to the 13th day of
September, 1858, happening to be in Ober
lin on a visit, I found the country round
about there, and the village itself, filled
with alarming rumors as to the fact that
slave-catchers, kidnappers, negro-stealers
were Tying hidden and skulking about,
waiting some opportunity to get their
Llasdy hande an gsame holpless ereature to
drag him back—or for the first time, into
helpless and life-long bondage. 'These
reports becoming current all over that
neighborhood, old men and innocent wo
men and children became exceedingly
alarmed for their safety. It was not un
common to hear mothers say that they dare
not send their children to school, for fear
they would be caught up and carried off
by the way. Some of these people had
become free by long and patient toil at
night, after working the long, long day for
cruel masters, and thus at length getting
money enough to buy their liberty. Others
had become free by means of the good will
of their masters. And there were others
who had become free—to their everlasting
honor I say it—by the intensest exercise
of their own God-given powers ;—by es
caping from the plantations of their mas
ters, eluding the blood-thirsty patrols and
sentinels so thickly scattered all along
ther path, outrunning blood-hounds and
horses, swimming rivers and fording
swamps, and reaching at last, through in
credible difficulties, what they, in their de
lusion, supposed to be free soil. 'These
three classes were in Oberlin, trembling
alike for their safety, because they well
knew their fate, should those men-hunters
get their hands on them.
“In the midst of such excitement the
13th day of September was ushered in—
a day ever to be remembered in the his
tory of that place, and I presume no less
in the history of this Court—on which
those men, by lying devices, decoyed into
a place where they could get their hands
on him—l will not say a slave, for I do
not know that—but a man, a brother, who
had a right to his liberty under the laws
of God, under the laws of Nature, and}
under the Declaration of American Inde
pendence. |
“In the midst of all this excitement, the
news came to us like a flash of lightning
that an actual seizure under and by means
of fraudulent pretences had been made !
“Being identified with that man by
color, by race, by manhood, by sympathies,
such as God had implanted in us all, I felt
it my duty to go and do what I could
toward liberating him. I had been taught
by my Revolutionary father—and I say
this with all due respect to him—and by
his honored associates, that the fandamental
doctrine of this government was that a//
men have a right, to life and liberty, and
coming from the Old Dominion I brought
into Ohio these sentiments, deeply im
pressed upon my heart ; I went to Well
ington, and hearing from the parties them
selves by what authority the boy was held
in custody, I conceived from what little
knowledge I had of law, that they had no
right to hold him. And as your Homor
‘has repeatedly laid down the law in this
(Court, a man is free until he is proven to
be legally restrained of his liberty, and I
‘believed that upon that principle of law
’those men were bound to take their pri
soner before the very first magistrate they
found, and there establish the facts set
forth in their warrant, and that until they
did this, every man should presume that
their claim was unfounded, and to institute
such proceedings for the purpose of secur
ing an investigation as they might find
warranted by the laws of this State. Now,
sir, if that is not the plain, common sense
and correct view of tie law, then I have
NEW YORK, JULY 23, 1859.
‘been misled both by your Honor, and by
the prevalent received opinion.
“It is said that they had a warrant.
Why then should they not establish its
validity before the proper officers? And
I stand here to-day, sir, to say that with
an exception of which 1 shall soon speak,
to procure such a lawful investigation of
the authority under which they claimed to
act, was the part I took in that day's pre
ceedings, and the only part. 1 supposed
it to be my duty as a citizen of Ohio—
excuse me for saying that, sir—as an owt
law of the United States (much sensation),
to do what I could to secure at least this
form of Justice to my brother whose liberty
was in peril.— Whatever more than that
has been sworn to on this trial, as an act of
mine, is false, ridiculously false. 'When
I found these men refusing to go, accord
ing to the law, as I apprehended it, and
subject their claim to an official inspection,
and that nothing short of a habeus corpus
would oblige such an inspection, T was
willing to go even thus far, supposing in
that county a Sheriff, might, perhaps, be
found with nerve enough to serve it. In
this I again failed.—Nothing then was
left to me, nothing to the boy in custody,
‘but the confirmation of my first belief that
the pretended authority was worthless,
‘and the employment of those means of
liberation which belong to us. With re
gard to the part I took in the forcible
rescue, which followed, I have nothing to
say, further than I have already said. The
evidence is before you. It is alleged that
I said, ¢ We will have him anyhow.” 7is
I xever said. 1 did say to Mr. Lowe,
what I honestly believed to be the truth,
that the crowd were very much excited,
many of them averse to longer delay, and
bent upon a rescue at all hazards; and
that he being an old acquai:‘ance and
friend of mine, I was anxious 0 extricate
him from the dangerous position he ocecu
pied, and therefore advised that he urge
Jennings to give the boy up. Further
than this I did not say, either to him or
any one else.
*The law under which T am arraigned
is an unjust one, one made to crush the
colored man, and one that outrages every
feeling of humanity, as well as every rule |
of right. 1 have nothing to do with its
constitutionality ; about that 1 care but
little. I have often heard it said by learn
ed and good men that it was unconstitu- |
tional ; I remember the excitement that
prevailed throughout all the free States
when it was passed ; and I remember how
often it has been said by individuals, con
ventions, legislatures, and even Judges,*
that it never could be, never should be,
and never was meant to be enforced. 1
had always believed, until the contrary
appeared in the actual institution of pro
ceedings, that the provisions of this odious
statute would never be enforced within
the bounds of this State.
“ But I have another reason to offer why
I should not be sentenced, and one that
I think pertinent to the case. I have not
had a trial before a jury of my peers.
The common law of England-—and you
will excuse me for referring to that, since
I am but a private citizen—was that every
man should be tried before a jury of men
occupying the same position in the social
scale with himself. That lords should be
tried before a jury of lords ; that peers
of the realm should be tried before peers
of the realm ; vassals before vassals, and
aliens before aliens, and they must not
come from the district where the crime was
committed, lest the prejudices of either per
sonal friends or foes should affect the ac
cused. The Constitution of the United
States guarantees, not merely to its citi-l
zens, but to all persons, a trial before an
tmpartial jury. 1 have had no such trial. ‘
“The colored man is oppressed by cer
tain universal and deeply fixed prejudices.
Those jurors are well known to have shar
ed largely in these prejudices, and I there
fore consider that they were neither im
partial, nor were they a jury of my peers.
And the prejudices which white people
have against colored men, grow out of the
facts that we have as a people consented
for two hundred years to he slaves of the
whites. We have been scourged, crushed,
and cruelly oppressed, and have submitted
to it all tamely, meekly, peaceably ; I
mean as a people, and with rare individual
exceptions,—and to-day you see us thus,
meekly submitting to the penalties of an
infamous law. Now the Americans have
this feeling, and it is an honorable one,‘
that they will respect those who will rebel ‘
at oppression, but despise those who tame
ly submit to outrage and wrong ; and
while our people, as people, submit, they
will as a people be despised. Why, they
* The following resolutions were reported to
and adopted by an indignation meeting, held in
Cleveland soon after the passage of the Fugitive ‘
Slave Law, Judge Hiram V, Wilson being on the
Committee on Resolutions : 1
1. Resolved, That the passage of the Fugitive |
Law was an act unauthorized by the Constitution, |
hostile to every principle of justice and humanity, ‘
and, if persevered in, fatal to Haman Freedom. |
2. Resolved, That the law strikes down some |
of the dearest principles upon which our fathers
predicated their right to assert and maintain their
independence, and is characterized by the most
tyrannical exercise of power; and that it cannot
be sustained without repudiating the doctrines of
the Declaration of Independence, and the principles
upon which all free governments rest.
3. Resolved, That tyranny consists in’the wil
fully violating, by those in power, of man’s natural
right to his personal security, personal liberty, and
private property ; and it matters not whether the
act is exercised by one man or a million of men,
it is equally unjust, unrighteous, and destructive
of the ends of all just governments.
4. Resolved, That regarding some portions of
the Fugitive Law as unconstitutional, and the
whole of it as oppressive, unjust and unrighteous
we deem it the dmfi of every good citizen to de
nounce, oprost and RESIST, by all proper means,
the execution of said law, and that we demand
its immediate and unconditional repeal, and will
not cease to agitate the question, and use all our
powers to secure that object, until it is accom
plished.
will hardly meet on terms of equality with
us in a whiskey shop, in a car, at « table,
or even at the altar of God—so thorough
and hearty a contempt have they for those
who will meekly /ie still under the heel
of the oppressor. The jury came into the
box with that feeling. They knew they
had that feeling, and so the Court knows
now, and knew then. The gentleman who
prosecuted me, the Court itself, and even
‘the counsel who defended me, have that
feeling.
- “Ilwas tried by a jury who were pre-
Jjudiced ; before a Court that was preju
diced ; prosecuted by an officer who was
prejudiced, and defended, though ably, by
counsel that were prejudiced. And there
fore it is, your Honor, that I urge by all
that is good and great in manhood, that I
should not be subjected to the pains and
penalties of this oppressive law, when I
have 7ot been tried, either by a jury of
my peers, or by a jury that were impar
tial.
“One more word, sir, and I have done.
I went to Wellington, knowing that color
ed men have no rights in the United States,
which white men are bound to respect ;
that the Courts had so decided ; that Con
gress had so enacted ; that the people had
so decreed.
“There is not a spot in this wide coun
try, not even by the altars of God, nor in
the shadow of the shafts that tell the im
perishable fame and glory of the heroes
of the Revolution ; no, norin the old Phil
adelphia Hall, where any colored man
may dare to ask a mercy of a white man.
Let me stand in that Hall and tell a United
States Marshal that my father was a Re
volutionary soldier ; that he served under
Lafayette, and fought through the whole
war, and that he fought for my freedom as
much as for his own ; and he would sneer
at me, and clutch me with his bloody
fingers, and say he has a 7/glkt to make
me a slave! And when I appeal to Con
gress, they say he has a right to make me
a slave ; when I appeal to the people, they
say he has a right to make me a slave, and
when I appeal to your Honor, your Honor
says he has a right to make me a slave,
and if any man, white or black, seeks an
investigation of that claim, they make
themselves amenable to the pains and pen
alties of the Fugitive Slave Act, for BLack
MEN HAVE NO RIGHTS WHICH WHITE MEN ARE
BoUND To REsPECT. (Great Applause.) I,
going to Wellington with the full know
ledge of all this, knew that if that man
was taken to Columbus, he was hopelessly
gong. v}().xp;gt(i._r whether he bad ever been
in slavery betore or not. I knew tnar'd
was in the same situation myself, and that
by the decision of your Honor, if any man
whatever were to claim me as his slave
and seize me, and my brother, being a
lawyer, should seek to get out a writ of
habeas corpus to expose the falsity of the
claim, he would be thrust into prison under
one provision of the Fugitive Slave Law,
for interfering with the man claiming to
be in pursuit of a fugitive, and I, by the
perjury of a solitary wretch, would by an
other of its provisions be helplessly doom
ed to life-long bondage, without the possi
bility of escape.
“ Some may say that there is no danger
of free persons being seized and carried off
as slaves. No one need labor under such
a delusion. Sir, forrr of the eight persons
who were first carried back under the act
of 1850, were afterwards proved to be free
men. They were free persons, but wholly
at the mercy of the oath of one man. And |
but last Sabbath afternoon, a letter came
to me from a gentleman in St. Louis, in
forming me that a young lady who was
formerly under my instructions at Colum
bus, a free person, is now lying in the
Jjail at that place, claimed as the slave of
some wretch who never saw her before,
and waiting for testimony from relatives
at Columbus to establish her freedom. 1
could stand here by the hour and relate
such instances. In the very nature of the
case they must be constantly occurring.
A letter was not long since found upon the
person of a counterfeiter when arrested,
addressed to him by some Southern gentle
man, in which the writer says : |
““Go among the niggers ; find out their
marks and scars ; make good deseriptions
and send to me, and I'll find masters for
'em.’
“That is the way men are carried ‘ back’
to slavery.
*“ But in view ofwall the facts, I say that if
ever again a man is seized near me, and is
about to be carried southward as a slave,
before any legal investigation has been
had, I shall hold it to be my duty, as I
held it that day, to secure for him, if pos
sible, a legal inquiry into the character of
the claim bygwhich he is held. And I go
further : I say that if it is adjudged illegal
to procure even such an investigation, then
we are thrown back upon those last de
fences of our rights which cannot be taken
from us, and which God gave us that we
need not be slaves. I ask your Honor,‘i
while 1 say this, to place yourself in myl
situation, and you will say with me that if
your brother, if your friend, if your wife, |
if your child, had been seized by men who
claimed them as fugitives, and the law of
the land forbade you to ask any investiga
tion and precluded the possibility of any
legal protection or redress, then you will
say with me, that you would net only de
mand the protection of the law, but you
would ecall in your neighbors and your
friends, and would ask them to say with
you that these, your friends, cowld not be
' taken into slavery.
! “ And now I thank you for this lenien
[cy, this indulgence, in giving a man un
justly condemned by a tribunal before
which he is declared to hl;we no rligli:lg:he
rivilege of speaking in his own 1
gnow 513( it will dogn%thing towards vfifiti
gating your sentence, but it is a privilege
gbegal)l’owed to speak, and I thank you
for it. I shall submit to the penalty, be
it what it may. But I stand here to say,
that if, for doing what I did on that day at
‘Wellington, I am to go in jail six months
and pay a fine of a thousand dollars, ac
cording to the Fugitive Slave Law—and
such is the protection the laws of this coun
try afford me—l must take upon myself
the responsibility of self-protection ; when
I come to be claimed by some perjured
wretch as his slave, I shall never be taken
into slavery. And as in that trying hour
I would have others do to me, as I would
call upon my friends to help me, as I
would call upon you, your Honor, to help
me, as I would call upon you (to the
District Attorney) to help me, and upon
you (to Judge Dliss,) and upon you (to his
counsel,) sokelp me Gop ! I stand here to say
that I will do all I can forany man thusseized
and held, though the inevitable penalty of
six months imprisonment and one thousand
dollars fine for each offence hangs over
me! We have all a common hamanity,
and you all would do that ; your manhood
would require it, and no matter what the
laws might be, you would honor yourself
for doing it, while your friends and your
children to all generations would honor you
for doing it, and every good and honest
man would say you had domne right!”
(Great and prolonged applause, in spite of
the efforts of Court and Marshal.)
This terse, argumentative and eloquent
speech so touched the sensibility of the
Judge that he sentenced Mr. Langston to
confinement in the county jail for but
twenty days, to pay a-fine of one hundred
dollars and costs of the prosecution. He
has already served out his time, and iswl
now in his office in Cleveland, discharging
his duties as Recording Secretary of the
Ohio State Anti-Slavery Society.
How the United States officials will col
lect the fines imposed upon these men it is
impossible to tell. They are said to be
destitute of lands, and all manner of per
sonal property. It is reported that they
are very poor. Then blessed be nothing !
There still remain in jail awaiting their
trial, Prof. Henry E. Peck, John Wat
son, Henry Evans, J. M. Fitch, David L.
Watson, Ralph Plumb, Wilson Evans, A.
W. Lyman, John H. Scott, Robert Win
sor, and William E. Liucoln. These are
all men of indomitable purpose. The ter
rible penalties of the Fugitive Slave Law
cannot drive them from their firm position
in favor of Liberty and Right. Nor are they
men who will fear and tremble before a
tyrannical Judge. The ruffian threats of a
.{iifigggnamfeenrtn %’rl;ost%%utar cannot deter them.
) ’ Inose nves arvo ave
marked by acts of selfishness, but by deeds
of benevolence and charity. Some of
them are distinguished by their scholarly
attainments ; all of them are distinguished
by their deep and consistent devotion to
the welfare of humanity. The large cir
cle of friends and acquaintances who daily
and hourly express their sympathy for
these good and noble men, feel confident
that they will conduct themselves in such
manner while they remain in jail and
when they are brought before the Court
for trial, as to further the interests of the
Anti-Slavery cause.
It is a fact worthy of particular men
tion, that in this rescue the colored men
played an important and conspicuous part.
Twelve of them were indicted ; four
of them have not yet been taken into cus
tody ; two have been discharged ; one is
now at large upon his own recogniznce,
and five are still in jail. For the heroic
conduct of these worthy men and their
white co-laborers, they deserve and shall
receive our hearty thanks and lasting
gratitude.
Upon the conduet of the Court before
which Bushnell and Langston have been
tried, and before which the rest of the indicted
aretobe tried—upon the behavior of the Pro
secutof, who has shown himself so anxious
and determined to convict these men—upon
the character of the Jurors called in the
cases already tried, and upon the testimo
ny of the witnesses on the part of the
Government, it is needless to say a single
word. The Court, the Prosecutor, the
Jurors, and the witnesses, with one or two
exceptions, are Pro-Slavery and Democrat
ic in their connections and associations. It
is well known, then, what we may expect.
And, so far, we have not been disap
pointed.
But the object of this prosecution can
never be accomplished. The free spirit of
the Western Reserve cannot be “ erushed
out.” Our deep love of liberty, our intel
ligent veneration for the precepts of
Christianity, and our abiding determina
tion to obey God rather than man, no pros
ecution, however oppressive, no irksome
confinement in gloomy dungeons, no ille
gal and unjust confiscation of our property,
can ever overthrow and destroy. And this
prosecution, so far, has only tended to
deepen and strengthen this conviction. |
AN INCIDENT IN OUR HONEYMOON.
I do not know if any one else will think
the story T am going to try to write down
as interesting as we—that is, John and I
—did. I will try to tell it in the simple
words in which it was told tous. But first
I must say that we heard it during our
honeymoon, which we were spending at a
cottage in the beautiful park of Lord ——;
I shall callhim Dimdale. The cottage was
situated in a wild and lonely part of it, and
the deer used to come up close to the door
and lie under the fine old oaks, tbrough!
whose branches the sun glimmered on the
soft warm turf and climps of young fern.
And how the birds sang! for it was the
beginning of May, and fine hot weather.
‘But to come at once to the story. :
~ In one of our walks we had made ac
‘guaintance with the clergyman, Mr. Mor
ton, an old man, with a placid, sweet smile,
{and long, snow-white hair, who, somehow,
PRICE FOUR CENTS.
gave one the idea of perfect happiness and
peace. He asked us to drink tea with him
in his vicarage, to which we gladly agreed ;
and he led us through paths in the forest,
all bordered with primroses and bluebells,
to a small house covered with creepers, and
in front having a garden as neat as you
can imagine a garden to be, and full of
old-fashioned flowers, such as crown impe
rials, starch hyacinths, and polyanthus,
and sweet with soutbernwoo«f, etc. Om
entering the house, I perceived that the
parlor was full of children’s toys and work
baskets, and I expected every moment that
a whole flock of grandchildren would come
rushing in ; but none appeared.
1 suppose Mr. Morton observed my sur
prise, for while we were at tea, before the
open window, he said : “ Mrs. Fairfield, I
see you looking at those toys, and wonder
ing what little children come here to enli
ven an old man’s loneliness ; but no child
comes here. The little girl whose busy
fingers last dressed that wooden baby
would have been an old woman now, and
the merry boys who laughed and shouted
at play with those horses, would have
been elderly, care-worn men. Yes, they
were mine, and in one week they all left
me.”
I uttered some exclamation of pity, and
he went on in a dreamy voice, as if more
to himself than to us, looking from the
window all the time.
“Yes, thank you, my dear young lady,
in one week wife and children were taken,
and I became the solitary man I have been
Mtage Y Y Y T S e
a fever,” he continued, after a pause—*“a
fever brought here by some wanderers,
who came one night to a barn near the vil
lage, where one died, and from whom the
infection spread. The weather was very
bad for it—burning hot, and very
dry. There was no rain or dew, so that
the rowers drooped and the leaves with
ered with the summer sun beating down
all day long. There were deaths around
me every day, and the bell was always
tolling for the passing of a soul or a fune
ral. They brought the coffins that way,”
and he pointed to a green path out of the
forest, “in the evening, when one could
hardly see them and their attendants
against the dark green foliage” in the
dusk. -
“I went to the sick as much as possible,
but T took every possible precaution
against infection to my wife and children.
We would have sent our darlings away,
but we had no one to send them to, and we
~were a mile and a half away from any in
']‘;fllen, :fi)‘mf; éfgg}eha‘rg ofitg; ffil(l)’filg'm
quiet, loving little thing, older than her
years. How she used to trot about the
house after her mother, trying to help her,
and looking up at her with calm, deep blue
eyes. Then there was Hugh and Harry,
rosy, boisterous boys, and their mother—
Ellen, Ellen! All that your bride can be
to you, Mr. Fairfield, my wife was to
me.”
He was silent, and looked from the lat
tice window into the sweet spring evening,
at the swallows darting about in the sun
shine, the young green leaves and the
flowers, whose sceat floated through the
open wiidow, thinking of the dear com
panion who had once walked by his side
in that sunshine, and t nded those flowers
with him.
“ One evening,” he went on, “I was at
liberty, and we took the children out, let
ting the breeze, what there was of it, blow
from us to the village. We went to a hill,
from whence we could see the silent vil
lage afar off. The boys ran about and
shouted in their glee, but little Ellen came
and laid her golden head on my knee, and
looked in my face with her deep sweet
eyes. She said : ‘ Papa, there must be a
great many people sorrowful down there in
the village. 1 would like to help them. I
wish we could comfort them. "I should
like so much.” T told her how we could
help them, by asking Him who sends us
all our troubles to help us to bear them pa
tiently, knowing that they are sent in love
and pity. Then we walked home, for the
sun was setting like a red ball of fire. The
children gathered great nosegays of roses
and honeysuckles, which they put in wa
ter when we got home. The smell of
honeysuckles always brings that evening
again before me.
“My darling laid her doll to sleep just
as it lies now, and wished it and myself
good-night ; the boys arranged all their
play-things, and then their mother took
them to bed, and I sat here, where T am
now, looking into the darkening night. 1
heard them sing the evening hymn— Ellen
and her mother softly and clearly, the boys
with loud, eager, joyous voices—and my
heart was very thankful for the many
blessings vouchsafcd to me.
“'That night there was a great cry in
our house, as in Egypt of old, for our first.
born was to die. The fever had begun.
Our frighted servants ran from the house
at midnight, and we were left alone with
our stricken child. The morning dawned.
The boys awoke, and we bid them ' dress
themselves, and go and Jhy in the forest
Meanwhile, I went to Marston, the near
est town, for the doctor and a uurse, re.
solved, on their arrival, that I would take
the boys away to the woodinan’s wife, An
nice ; I knew she would take care of them.
But neither nurse nor doctor ecould be
spared from Marston, and all that burning
July day we watched by our darling’s bed,
listening to the distant sound ef the boys
at play in the forest, commingling with
her ravings. Hardly ravings either, for
there was nothing frizhtful ; all was happi
ness and peace, as hetyonn%ifehd een,
She talked of nm and Hugh, of hes
birds and flowers; and of appearing in the
presence of her dear Savior. 1
Po, ey e