New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-07-22

creed of corporate body so fast as expo
dency. In 1853 we saw mulatto slave ar
rested when crossing the Ohio River and taken
into the streets of a border town on the
Southern side. She had her baby in her arms,
with which she had Travelled on foot two
hundred miles, only to see the strip OF free
soil on the other side of the river, and to be
dragged back into slavery again. The citizens
turned out to help drive her through the
streets, and when some woman would nave
given her cup of water ont of charity, drove
her back from her with insults. The same
town, its interests being with the North, three
years afterward, was foremost in the Union
cause, and now is eager to give suffrage, ana
that with the heartiest good WILL not only 10
black men but to black women. The wind Is
driving Che great currents with this straw
Free labor. mutual trade, and immigration
will make the nightmare tales OF the crueltles
of Slavery appear fabulous in the eyes OF the
next generation of whites at the South, and 1t
perhaps is as well it should be So But If the
descendants of slaves would furnish the surest
incentive to ambition to their own children,
they will suffer not one OF these records OF
herosm among themselves to fall to the ground.
at may be good for man." as says the FRO
phet "to remember that he had borne the yoke
Gin his YOUTH provided he can also remember
that he risked life and all that made life dear
To rid himself of the yoke. If the cOlOred people
of this country desire q stronger bond to make
them n nation. they can find it in the names
of the men and women who first testified IN
torture and death to the p1ce at when they
held their chance of freedom. Let them not
forget to carry these household gods with them
from generation to generation, lest they learn
to wear their liberty lightly, forgetting its
worth At the recent closing exercises OF the
Anti-Slavery Society in Pennsylvania, some re-
ference was made to a record that had been
kept for many years by the agent of the under
ground railroad in Philadelphia, himself the
son of a slave, and a man of remarkable intel
ligence and probity. TO that office, under
the care of the leading Pennsylvania Friends,
came negroes from every part OF the South,
in every disguise, MANNED and Scared,
in boxes and balCs-alive sometimes, TO draw
the free breath they had never known-dead
sometimes, in sight of land. No tragedy could
surpass in elements of dramatic horror the
simple facts as stated by the agent; the covert
notice, given by telegram, that goods were to
its delays when life hung upon an hour, upon
the chance Overtum of the box by careless
porter; its cOnveyal to the office; the two or
three men and women at night with locked
doors, standing with bated breath while the
boards were knocked of, not knowing whether
free man would come out among them or
dead lump of matter on which man could
wreak his brutal malice no longer Brothers
met in this room that had never seen each
others faces; mothers came here for tidings
of the children that had been taken from them
long years ago, not knowing whether they
were living or dead. We sincerely hope that
the promise made of the publication OF this
especial record will he fulfilled, and that all
such histories may be preserved now while
they can be taken down freshly from the lips
of cye-witnesses To the most Indifferent
reader they would prove full Of a strange in
terest, and pregnant with a noble meaning
But to the future descendant of these men
they will have a value only to be appreciated
when they are lost beyond recall.