Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1848-06-01
The Martyrs Of Humanity,

Ofthese men, Sayres, the master of the Pearl,
is a young man but bold one. English Is a
boy, against whom nothing was found worthy of
bonds, or examination. He was perhaps COM
mitted for safety, or perhaps for States evidence
Drayton, the real hero of the affair is an older
man and has wife and six children in PhiIadcl-
phia. A correspondent of the Courier describes
his visit to the prison, and we extract the follow
ing from his account of Drayton -
He seems made for a soldier in such cause
bold, stern, determined man, ready to do battle
unto the death in the cause of right. lie has in
him much of the stuff of which martyrs are made
and he will, trust, bear unfnchngy to the
end, all the moral and bodily suffering which he
is doomed to endure. lie is in the luness OF
manhood "a tall, stalwart fellow, whose strong
unmarked features and Stcady eye denote char
actei and courage, and whose open and ingcn-
lous countenance inspires confidence and res
pect. lie will have need, fear, of all his strength
Of mind to bear up against the cruel treatment
which has already begun, and which may last
until his face, now so clear and stern, is dimmed
with the shadows of death.
He is aware of his position and his danger; in
deed, he was well aware of the risk he ran, and
counted the cost before lie set out upon his ell
tcrprise, and provided for his family in case OF
his capture. lie is now i'll the iron grip Of the
law, made by shareholders themselves to protect
what they call their property in human beings
and made as sharp and as strong as the wit Of
wicked men could make it, The law, too, is ad.
mnisored with cruelty that is revolving. The
man has been kept, till now, all secret, as it is
called by the few European governments which
r.
He is considered guity-he is virtually refused
bal-he is cut off from communion or cores.
pondence with his friends-he is put to the tor.
ture of solitude and suspense-he is treated, i'll
short, worse than would be felon or murderer
And all this cruelty-whcrc, and for what .
Why, in the Capital, and under the flag of that
people, whose shibboIeth is 'Lidcrty' whose
creed is the right Of every man to the pursuit Of
happiness and for the crime Of helping men tC
pronounce that shibboleth, and live by that
creed
The excitement among the shareholders i.
still intense, their wrath is still hot, and they
| mean to make Drayton drag out life Of misery
and be a living beacon to deter others attempting
to knock off the shacklcs Of their slaves. The
punishment for stealing a slave, with a view o
selling him, is imprisonment for from seven t,
twenty years, at hard labor; for taking him witt
VIEW OF SETTING HIM AT LIBERTY, it is pay
ment Of his market 0atae, fine Of two hundred
dollars, and Imprisonment in the JAIL
With refinement of cruelty, they mean t
try to convict Drayton Of the crime of stealing
slaves for his own gain; and, lest he might liy
twenty years, and then 60 out gray-headed maj
from his prison. they mean to convict him 9th
second, and in the one way or the other, 10 glu
their vengeance upon him.
lie is aware Of his position and his danger
but he quais not, and be said to me, in hearu
Of his turnkey, and i'll firm but quiet tonc,-
4 know have broken the law which men hay
enacted for this particular spot of earth, but
have transgressed none of the laws which Go
made for all places and all times to which
s1id, with all the earncstness could give it,
Hold on to that thought, my friend, and it wi
: be toy you an anchor both sure and steadfast i
the fercest storm that can ever sweep over you.