The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-09-15

In Mr.. Smiths terrible prophecy of insur
rection, we trust and believe that I" the wish "
is in no degree father to the thought"
WHITE SLAVERY IN ALABAMA
1t is not more than four or five years ago
since the Slavery propagandists of Virginia
preached the idea that Slavery is the natural
and proper condition of the laboring classes,
whether white or black, and that it was simply
a question of time when this theory was to be
reduced to practice.
The Richmond Enquirer, the organ of Gov.
Wise, and the Richmond Examiner, the organ
of Senator Hunter, were both warmly engaged
in agitating the new dogma of white Slavery.
Our readers will remember that we made nu-
merous quotations from these journals, and
from work by Mr.. Fitzhugh, of Virginia,
which advocated them. For some reason, the
discussion of the subject has been dropped for
the present, but the bread cast upon the waters
has after many days been returned to them.
The seed sewn at random has found congenial
soil in the Southwest, and has begun to sprout
forth.
We some months ago recorded the case of
a white girl from Arkansas who was sold into
slavery in Louisiana and we now have two
cases of "poor whites " in Georgia being sold
into Alabama Slavery. How many of the hun
dred thousand illiterate poor whites of Virginia
have been thus disposed of in the Southern
markets, we are unable to say, but doubtless
a good many.
We clip the following account from the Mo-
bile Mercury, which is taken from a country
paper, the name of which is not given, but
which is printed in the county where the white
girl and her brother were held in slavery
IL a0iU be remarked that the On,,s Of proof Of
freedom is hro,On By the lG,os of alabama, or
By the practice of her courts, upon her poor
achites. In the case before the court, witnesses
happened to be at hand who could prove the
freedom of the poor girl; bat if she had been
kidnapped in Virginia or North Carolina, in
stead of a neighboring county in Georgia, her
doom as slave for life would have been sealed
foreverl How many such poor whites there
are now wrthing under the lash of the slave
driver, God only knows. 1t is fortunate that
these victims have the sympathies Of the com
munity; but even this degree of resistance to
Slavery may yet be subdued, when the sociol-
egy" of Fitzhugh and the Enquirer come to be
thoroughly appreciated.
The article referred to is as follows:
"a WHITE GIRL LIBERATED FROM SLA-
vERY.-Patience Hicks, young woman about
II years of age, (says the Abbeville Banner
who was held as a slave by John Guilford
citizen of this county, under a bill of sale made
to him by one James G. Wilson, was brought
before Judge Williams under writ of ha6eas
corpus, sued out by Mrs. Casey Ann Hicks, the
mother of said girl, who arrived in the town of
Abbeville on Tuesday, the 9th inst. On the
trial Of the case, it was proved that Wilson went
to the house of Mrs. Hicks, in Columbus, Ca
about the first of last March, where he remain
ed sick for several weeks. On his recovery he
desired to marry the young lady, and finding
that her mother was opposed to the marriage,
he stole her away, and brought her to the house
of Rev. John Guilford, to whom he sold her for
a slave. On his return to Columbus, he pro-
cured her brother, boy about Is years old,
and sold him to gentleman in Georgia. The
girl has worked on plantation, and is consid-
eraby sunburnt which makes her appear rather
h.
many people who are recognised as white per-
sons, who are of darker complexion than this
girl, even in her present condition. The mother,
brother, and sister of the girl are all destitute
of means, but the humanity and benevolence Of
our citizens has contributed literally to the
poor, unfortunate people. Below we give the
Judgment of the court
/" Patience L. and Casey Ann Hicks, vs. John
Guiltord, Contestant
Under writ of Habeas Corpus
"PRoBATE Court, august IL, 1859.
sin this case, Casey Ann Hicks sued ont
writ of hd6eds corpus for the daughter of Pa
tience L. Hicks, and Casey Ann Hicks, the
infant daughter of said Patience L., who were
held in Slavery by John Guilford, of Henry
county, said State of Alabama, on the grounds
that said Patience l.. Hicks, and her daughter,
Casey Ann Hicks, are not slaves, but free
white persons, which, being controverted by
said John Guilford the trial came up before
me at Abbeville, in said county, on the 18th of
August, 1859. The defendants (Guilford) coun
sci moved to dismiss the petition and writ OF
habeaS corpus for want of jurisdiction, and re-
ferred to the case Field Us. Milly Walker et a.,
18th Ala page So The court overruled said |
motion, on the ground that said petition and |
said writ of habeds corpus claimed the said |
Patience l.. and Casey Ann Hicks as free |
white persons, and not as free negroes, as in
the case referred to. The court then proceed |
ed to hear the testimony in said case, when
four witnesses took the stand, and proved, be-
yond the possibility of a doubt, that the said
Patience L. and her daughter, Casey Ann,
are free white persons Three of the wit
nesses knew the said Patience l.. from her
birth, against whose evidence nothing has
been urged. Besides, the fact of the freedom
of the said Patience l.. and her daughter
Casey Ann, must have come to the knowl-
edge of the said John Guilford within short
time after he claims to have purchased them
from Wilson and, after full hearing of the
evidence on both sides, it is ordered adiudged,
and decreed, that said Patience L. Hicks, and
her daughter, Casey Ann Hicks, be, and they are
hereby, discharged from the service of said John
Guilford, and be restored to her mother, the
said Casey Ann Hicks, and that the said John