The Delaware abolitionist. (Wilmington, Del.) 1847-18??, 1848-12-31
From the Reflector and Watchman.
SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COL UNI
BIA

BIA.
Of all questions which come home TO the
business and bosoms OF all, is the slave trade
in this District The Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth,
Tor many years Commissioner of Patents, and
whose fame as friend of agriculture and he
useful arts, is in the houses of our whole coun-
try, in a speech delivered by him al Lafayette,
Indiana, This present home, has stated some
facts which must have their weight with
the country. Mr.. Ellsworth as have before
said was citizen of Washington, for ten
years, he had an opportunity of seeing the op-
GRAFTON of slavery in our District, and here is
what he says on the subject 10 the farmers of
Indiana
GA gentleman W no once hailed from Vir-
glnia has Unexpectedly arisen upon the stand,
and after admitting with much courtesy the
sincerity of my remarks, would lessen their
force BY calling me theorist. am compel-
ed to reply am from the Yankee land
have resided ten long years in slave territory
the District OF Coumbia-the little spot the
nation emphatically calls her own. Would to
God that could say slavery was not there
But there it is, to greet the arrival of strangers
attracted to the metropolis by business or Curl
osty. Yes, there it IS in awful realty,-in full
sight of great legislators-near the western
gate of the capitol and almost reached by its
flag, the Pen is found, walled in and guard
ed, with manacles and handouts, the para
phanalia OF a slave ship. There human beings
are daily ncarcerated and brought out for sale,
first exposed and proved, like cattle, sound In
wind and limb, and then ironed and driven 10
accmate or die in the rice swamps or on Tie
sugar plantations of the south,
Here, too, the dgnaries of the land Who
travel at eight dollars for every twenty miles
come TO stock their farms.
"Here, too, color is a crime; one specl3 of
African blood consgns the unfortunate if fodnd
at large, to the prison, and if as does occur,
his passport or manumission is lost, he is sold
to slavery again Those who have purchased
their freedom live in constant fear of abduc-
ton. have been awakened at the dead hour
of night by the supplicaton of domestic,
that would save her sister, whom the men
were carrying off Knowing she was free,
went with friend in search of the captive
we found her in custody of two niger hun
tiers who showed an advertisement, $50
bounty; they claimed her as runaway she
protested by her tears and assertions that she
was not slave. Force was threatened it
would have been resisted at all hazards.
night OF horror TO this girl passed away. The
light of day beamed upon the facts; she was
f.. free aid proved it. How narrow her escape
If carried far away her lips sealed in silence,
when would Ter rescue arrive AT the grave.
"Shall tell with what horror representa-
tves at our court from foreign lands behold,
at the seat OF government the exhibition OF
principles of thS free repubic, where all men
are by nature born equal!
Given the citizens of the District have not
nerve to behold the execution of their wishes
Mothers separ ated from their children, and the
injunction not 10 put asnnder what God has
Joined together, despisod and rejected. Slaves
are sent on pretence of business and when be-
yond the sound of shrieks and suppcatons,
they are seized and borne away to the pen.
siHere it is that fathers sell their own chill
dren and themselves ryet the manacles oil
slavery forever!
"Had wealth been mine could have con-
secrated it to a holy purpose. could nave
saved some, who had learned 10 read the Bible
and yield to its requirements, giving evidence
by christian walk of the sincerity OF profess
sion such could have saved, not from SER
vile labor. but from the possession of one
whose motive was lust, whose cruelty worse
than death. lf nature or accomplishments
adorn the female slave, it is only to make her
the object of greater desire. | have urged
the claims of humanity, OF pity, and mercy,
all in vain"
well remember the incident to which Col.
Ellsworth refers in the foregoing extract, for
was the friend who accompanied him TO the
house where these "ngger hunters" had
rudely entered, and claimed the sister recent
ly returned from {; the free West " on a visit
TO her relatives in this city; nor shall soon
forget the feelings aroused by the impudenl
menacing demeanor OF these men. They IN
terogated as men having the sovereignty oil
life and liberty in their hands" the girl was
black, the law said black face was, by pre-
sumption, slave, and they had light to
her. and could and would imprson her il
they pleased !" and that it was deemed BY
them an act Of distinguished courtesy TO be
lieve Col. Ellsworth and myself When we as
snred them that the girl before them, was wei
known 10 us both, and had been for years EN-
ployed in our families as seamiress, and wa
not the fugitive slave they were in pursuit of
And this is tine law in the District OF Columbia
the free soil of our Confederacy.
ROGER WILLIAMS.