Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-01-08
From the National Era.
THE USE MADE OF THE FEDERAL JAIL.

In 1850, Congress enacted one Of those shams
called a compromise, and among it's conditions was
one tor sbolishing the slave trade in the District Of
Columbia. Southern gentlemen even acknowl'
edged their disgust at the sight of gangs of slaves,
eofied, and paraded through Pennsylvania Ave.
nue., on their way to the Southern market and
they, in common with their conservative associates
from the North, voted that the ~unseemly nuisance
should be abated. 1t was not a good policy, they
argued, to tolerate in the National Capital such a
practical Illustration of"our domestic Institutions
and thus impress on the minds Of strangers and
foreign representatives unfavorable ideas of our
humanity and consistency as Republicans. We
were never the partisans Of the compromise, but
We did feel grati6ed at this NAL tribute to the
conscience and character of the nation, and we
were so ~confding as to hope that it would beget g
more humane and Christian spirit in the commune
~. But our hopes soon vanished, and it became
apparent. that practically there was little if any
cessation in the traffic in human flesh"
The following advertisement, which appeared
In the Star recently, we give merely by way Of il.
iustration, and not at all because the case is re.
markable:
by A. Green, 4uctioneer.
ADMINISTRATOR SALE will, il pursuance
Of an order of the Orphans Court for the District
Of Columbia, sell at public auction, on Friday
next. Nov. 10Th, at twelve o'clock, NJ, in front of
the Jail, to the highest bidder, for cash, viz:
zone negro woman and three children. one ne
gro woman and two children, and three likely boys
from fourteen to nineteen years of age.
ABsALoN A. HALL,
Administrator of Jacob Hail."
We neglected to attend the sale, but we have
witnessed enough of such scenes to satisfy us that
tho exposure of two mothers and their offspring
upon the auction block must have afforded rare fun
to the trafickers in human flesh. The anguish Of
the heart-broken mother at the thought of separa,
ton from her little ones, the vague terrors of the
children, and the enforced silence of the aggrieved
but indignant father, was a spectacle to put fends
IN o good humor.
But we quote the advertisement, in order to draw
attention to the use which is made of the Wash.
ingtcn Jail. This Jail is built by the United States
Government. The money which it cost came, for
the most part, cut Of the pockets of the people Of
the North, who have abolished or excluded Slavery
from their Territories, and who wish, as far as
practicable, 10 wash their hands of it. But even
II the case were otherwise, and surprising that all
the States Of the Union were slaveholding, what
right have private individuals to use the common
Jail as q warehouse for their human merchandise 7
A mule-driver would not be permitted to stable his
mules in the Federal Jail n " heat'grower would
not be permitted to make a barn OF it then, where
does the stakeholder get his authority for using it
Is a slave.pen? Is property in slaves so much
more sacred than property in mules or property in
wheat, that it should be entitled to this extraordi,
nary privilege?
Prior TO the memorable Compromise era Of 1850,
The trafickers in human flesh. like other merchants,
we're put to the expense of building their own
slave-pens and the effect Of the pretended sup
preston Of the traffic is, TO give the trafickers the
benefit Of the Jail as a warehouse. If a man mis-
treats his slaves. or talks of selling them, and, as
. consequence, becomes apprehensive Of their run
ming away, he carries them to Jail as u place OF
safety, until ne can find a purchaser for them ; or
II, as in the present case, it becomes necessary to
sell the effects Of a deceased intestate, the United
States Jail is made the receptacle Of his slaves. as
. safeguard against their running Of.
The pretended compromise suppression of The
trafhc was a sham in its inception, and has been
treated as a dead letter from that day to this
This slave trade has never ceased in this city and
District. and will never cease, while We have rulers
who are ready to conuive at it.
The Richmond Enquirer says: ave do not be.