Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-07-15

This state, nay the very city IN which we
live. is crowded with dungeons, and rings
with the clanking Of letters, fabricated ior
the direful purpose Of torturing innocence!
France had her Bastile. 1t excited the
horror OF the world! And when u was raA-
sed TO its foundation, it fell beneath lie
Joyous VACCINATIONS of millions OF french
! men. But the government OF France was
despotic. The avowed II not the real mo-
tive of the erection of the Bastiie, was the
punishment of delinauents-and through
out that large kingdom there was but one
ediEce Of such description: has
her inouisitions-The Spanish people de-
test them, the world abhor them. But
Spain is tyrannical government, ana her
inauisilions (though many harmless man
have persisted within their walls are 'he
avengers of guilt throughout, the nation
.inertca also has her dungeons. But unlike
France and Spin, she has no excuse 70
| plead for their erection. She has no paliI-
ating circumstances to mitigate the hor-
ror that reigns around them. They are not
like the Bastile and the Inqusiion, erect
ed with the view OF Furnishing human de-
lin1uency on the contrary, with the base
4 intention of sacrificing defenceless lnno-
cence to greedy and avaricious, raPa,c!ty,-
they are not reared by the hands OF klTngIy
despots, but by the hands ofmen who claim
and who profane the proud title OF Tree A.
merjcan citizens. They are not erected
in land Of tyranny, or in a country dsstl-
tute of the smiles OF Heayen-but they
are erected in a country proverbially the
freest that ever arose on the iace oil the
earth-a country superintendent IN the choi-
cest blessings that benign providence ever
showerei down upon unthankiul man
the paradise of the world, and to crown all,
the pride of christianity. :,
In this country, no man care tolc.' tle
head of the vilest white ma!eiact"T-,he
most perfidous miscreant that ever w!eil-
ed the dagger Of assassination, before his
guilt has been solemnly aud legally. esta,
| blished, before an avail Judicial tribunal
composed of L:s fellow citiZens-and them
none but the officers OF justice can exc
cute the sentence Of the law. Yet in this
same country, any malignant, furious des-
perado, may, when it suits his avar1cc, or
caprice, fctter and incarcerate IN dark ana
| impenetrable dungeons, without tr'Ll, with.
out hearing, without even the suspicion OF
guilt, an unfortunate, unoffending African
The man who has been guilty Of the crime
Of forgery-the being, who in the darkness.
the night, has broken into the house OF
some peaceable citizen, and robbed him
of his property, is punished with mild
| and lenient hand He is not torn forever
| from his relatives and friends, nor are
| they kept in ignorance Of his tate-his
| grief is not insulIed with stripes and lndig-
| nities-the duration Of his Imprisonment IS
temporary, and not perpetual and when
| it is terminated, he can return again 10 all
his accustomed enjoyments. But such Is
not the comparatively happy lot oil the .op:.
pressed African, although he has COMMITTED
no offence. His fate is worse than that OF
the midnight robber-nay, il is worse Than
that of the murderer-ior death is preie-
rable to perpetual torture. Were | COM
pelled 70 choose the sad alternative, OF be-
holding the being whom OF all others,
most dearly loved, either condemned to
drag out the miserable remnant Of his life In
slavery and chains. far from my sight, and
| far from all bis friends, or OF seeing him
shrouded in the silent tomb by some sudden
stroke of death, most gladly would pre-
fer the latter and as his spirit assembled TO
the Elysain mansions Of Heaven, most
heartily would rejoice, that an honorable
death had snatched him from lnglorlous
life. | am not singular in my preference,
appeal TO your own breasts, and you will
find that what have said is the language
OF nature. Many an unfortunate African
| has, by his conduct, fatally proved that
! mine is no Wild assertion. Many OF them
preierring death to the calamltous condI-
ton in which they were placed, have been
the Instruments of their own destruction
One example on. of many, to the validity
of which can set my seal, will be suih-
cieni:- :,
A woman forty years Of age, with an /
infant al her breast, was sold by her master /
with whom she had lived all her life, and /
who resided in one OF the nelghborlng coun-
ties of this stste) 10 southern slave trader. ,
He conveyed her Immediately TO one oil his
dungeons, not lar from BiadeIsoiiFg, ana
there inhumanly imprisoned her Tor INC
night, intending on the morrow 10 lake her
somewhere else. He arose early The next ,
day. and hasteneG to the dungeon o! hls
c,ptiye-Hersclf and her infant were qui-
etiy living wrapped up in blanket. be,
Iieying her 10 be asleep, he commanded
her TO awake tine command was not O.
beyed-Le called her vocllerously by her
n,me-no answer was made 10 the call.
Then with horrid imprecation, he adj
vancnt io the unfortunate woman-he
yrasped the blanket which enclosed her
he threw it asiie-when he beheid W hor'
rid sight the ,rrstched mother and me ten
der HfIEt II the breast, IetterinS IN each
Others bLood!-Despairing again OF ever
benoIding her native country-tcrn from
her tender conneclioHs---seeing herself
destitute and friendless-in the HANDS OF
remorseless tyrant, who was about to con-
vey her, like brute to some distant un
known region-she sought relief in death,
and with razor, first cut the throat Of her