Year: 1859

for it. l shall submit to the penalty, be
it what it may. But stand here to say,
that if, for doing what / did on that day at
Wellington, am to go III Jail six months
and pay fine of thousand dollars, ac-
cording to the Fugitive Slave Law-and
such is the protection the laws of this coun-
try afford mel must take upon myself
the responsibility of self protection when
| come to be claimed by some periured
wretch as his slave, / shall never be taken
into slavery. And as in that trying hour
| would have others do to me, as | would
call upon my friends to help me, as l
would call upon you, your Honor, to help
me, as l would call upon you Ito the
District Attorney to help me, and upon
you Ito Judge Bliss and upon you Ito his
COUNSEL sohelp me GoD / stand here to say
that will do all | can forany man thus seized
and held, though the inevitable penalty of
six months Imprisonment and one thousand
dollars fine for each offence hangs over
me We have all common humanity,
and you all would do that your manhood
would require it, and no matter what the
laws might be, you would honor yourself
for doing it, while your friends and your
children to all generations would honor you
for doing it, and every good and honest
man would say you had done light j"
Great and prolonged applause, in spite of
the efforts of Court and Marshal.


This terse, argumentative and eloquent
speech so touched the sensibility of the
Judge that he sentenced Mr. Langston to
confinement in the county Jail for but
twenty days, to pay a'fne of one hundred
dollars and costs of the prosecution He
has already served out his time, and is
now in his Office in Cleveland, discharging
his duties as Recording Secretary of the
Ohio State Anti-Slavery Society.


How the United States officials will col
lect the fines imposed upon these men it is
impossible to tell They are said to be
destitute of lands, and all manner of per-
sonal property. 1t is reported that they
are very poor. Then blessed be nothing


There still remain in Jail awaiting their
trial, Prof. Henry E. Peck, John Wat
son, Henry Evans, j. M. Fitch, David L.
Watson, Ralph Plumb, Wilson Evans, A.
w. Lyman, John H. Scott, Robert Win
sor, and William E. Lincoln These are
all men of indomitable purpose. The ter
rible penalties of the Fugitive Slave Law
cannot drive them from their firm position
in favor of Liberty and Right. Nor are they
men who will fear and tremble before
tyrannical Judge. The rufian threats of
government Prosecutor cannot deter them.
These are men, TOO, wifose o,o5 NO.
marked by acts of selfshness, but by deeds
of benevolence and charity Some of
them are distinguished by their scholarly
attainments ; all of them are distinguished
by their deep and consistent devotion to
the welfare of humanity. The large cir
Gle of friends and acquaintance who daily
and hourly express their sympathy for
these good and noble men, feel confident
that they will conduct themselves in such
manner while they remain in jail and
when they are brought before the Court
for trial, as to further the interests of the
Anti-Slavery cause.


1t is a fact worthy of particular men,
ton, that in this rescue the colored men
played an important and conspicuous part
Twelve of them were indicted four
of them have not yet been taken into Gus
tody two have been discharged one is
now at large upon his own recogniMnce,
and five are still in Jail. For the heroic
conduct of these worthy men and their
white co-laborers, they deserve and shall
receive our hearty thanks and lasting
gratitude.


Upon the conduct of the Court before
which Bushnell and Langston have been
tried |, and before which the rest of the indicted
are to be tried-upon the behavior of the Pro-
secutof, who has shown himself so anxious
and determined to convict these men-upon
the character of the Jurors called in the
cases already tried, and upon the testimo-
ny of the witnesses on the part of the
Government, it is needless to say single
word. The Court, the Prosecutor, the
Jurors, and the witnesses, with one or two
exceptions, are Pro-Slavery and Democrat
ic in their connections and associations. 1t
is well known, then, what we may expect
And, so far, we have not been dsap-
pointed.


But the object of this prosecution can
never be accomplished. The free spirit of
the Western Reserve cannot be crushed
out" Our deep love of liberty, our intel
ligent veneration for the precepts of
Christianity, and our abiding determina-
ton to obey God rather than man, no pros
ecution, however oppressive, no irksome
confinement in gloomy dungeons, no lille
gal and unjust confiscation of our property,
can ever overthrow and destroy And this
prosecution, so far, has only tended to
deepen and strengthen this conviction.


AN INCIDENT IN OUR HONEYMOON.
T11I - -,