Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-06-02

his strength Of mind, to bear up against the
cruel treatment which has already begun,
and which may last until his frame, now SO
vigorous and erect, is bowed down with age,
and his eye, now so clear and stern, is
dimmed with the shadows Of death.
lie is aware of his position and his dam
ger; indeed. he was well aware Of the risk
he ron, and counted the cost before he set
out upon his enterprise, and provided for his
family in case Of his capture. lie is now in
the iron grip Of the law, made by slavehold-
ers themselves to protect what they call their
~properfy in the bodies and souls of human
beings, and made as sharp and as strong as
the wit Of wicked men could make it. The
law, too. is administered with a cruelty that
is revolving.
The man has heen kept, till now, all Sc
cre', as il is called by the few European 60.
which still preserve this relic of
inquisitorial treatment. He is considered
gullty-he is virtually refused bail-he is
cut of from communion or correspondence
with his frlends-he is put to the fortunes OF
solitude and suspense-he is treated, in short,
worse than would be a felon or murderer.-
And all this cruelty, where and for what !
Why, in the Capital and under the flag OF
that people, whose shibboleth is "Hberiy,'
whose creed is, the right Of every man 10 the
pursuit of happiness; and for the crime OF
helping to pronounce that Shlbboleth and live
by that creed
The excitement among the Shareholders Is
still intense-their wrath is still hot, and they
mean to make Dayton drag out a life Of
misery, and be a living beacon TO deter 9th
ers attempting TO knock off the shackles OF
their slaves. The punishment for stealing
a slave, with a view Of selling him, IS i'm
prisonlnent tor from seven to twenty years,
at hard labor for taking him with a view OF
setting him at liberty, it is payment OF his
market value, a fine Of two hundred dollars,
and Imprisonment in the Jail.
With a refinement Of cruelty, they mean
to try to convict Drayton of the crime OF
stealing slaves for his own gain; and, lest
he might live twenty years, and then 90 out
a gray-headed man from his prison, they
mean to bring an indictment for each slave
whom he tried to carry of.
Failing in the attempt to convict him OF
the first offence, they mean TO convict him OF
the second and in the one way or the other,
to glut their vengeance upon him.
He is aware of his position and his danger;
but he quails not, and he said to me, in hear
ing of his turnkey, and in a firm but quiet
tone-"I know ] have broken the laws which
men have enacted for this particular spot Of
earth, hut | have transgressed none Of the
laws which God made for all places and all
times :" TO which | said, with all the ear
n~estness ] could give it," Hold on TO that
thought, my friend, and it shall be to you
an anchor both sure and steadfaSt in the
fercest storm that can ever sweep over you.'
1t is useless to tell you what We're the
feelings which swelled in my bosom as !
looked upon the walls and bars of his prison
how | choked with the effort to put them
down; and how hard it was to remember
a resolution that, though force and violence
could right the wrong, it should never be re-
sorted to! But courage and hope! A bet
ter day is coming ; and, should dayton be
condemned, he will not be am old man ere il
reaches its meridian splendor and before
its light his prison doors shall open as die
those of the apostle before the messenger o
God
Let us labor and ,Uait. II.