Chapter II: Part 2

The debate of the following session was still more violent. The wide-spread popular excitement urged on the Representatives of every section to express, in the angriest terms, the feelings of their constituents. The Senate had repeatedly negatived the restricting proviso, as it was called, and the House as often insisted upon inserting it. At this juncture, Maine applied for admission as a separate and independent State; and as no possible objection could be urged against her, a bill for the purpose passed rapidly through the House, and was sent to the Senate. This happy opportunity for forcing the House into a Compromise was eagerly seized, and an attempt made to saddle the bill with an extraordinary series of amendments providing for the unconditional admission of Missouri. The opponents of slavery in the Senate, though a minority, were, however, a most determined one. But in vain they represented the absurdity of calling this a Compromise, merely because two utterly incongruous measures were strangely crowded into a wholesale bill; and equally in vain, when a separation of the unnatural Union was denied them, did they, for more than a month of anxious debating, struggle to hang their favorite proviso to this already many-tailed monster. The bill, with its amendments, was sent back to the House; but the Representatives had been as busy as their neighbors, and having, by this time, nearly completed a bill of their own on the Missouri claims, the monster of the Senate’s creation was, with little ceremony, stripped of all his tails, and sent back again to that august body in his original simplicity. The crisis was now approaching with a vengeance. In vain the bill was tossed back and forward, from House to House; the fourth of March was rapidly approaching, and owing to her peculiar relations to Massachusetts, the fourth of March was the last day upon which Maine could hope for an independent existence. Rumors of secession grew louder and louder, as the hope of an adjustment grew hourly fainter. The people were wound up to the highest pitch of excitement; all other objects were forgotten in the one absorbing question that agitated every heart; and on the morning of the second of March, an earthquake might almost have rolled away unheeded, as at the battle of Thrasymene. All sides began to be seriously alarmed at the possible consequences of their temerity--the majority yielded, as usual; in a few short hours the great Missouri Compromise was passed, the storm died away, the breakers were cleared, the Union was saved, and the newspapers said that everybody was overjoyed at the happy adjustment. Whether the slaves in Missouri joined in the general jubilee and offered up their thanksgivings for the salvation of the country, does not distinctly appear--possibly, because the slaves of Missouri were not in the habit of expressing their opinions, or offering their worship through the convenient medium of the public press. In substance, the Compromise admitted the new state without the restricting proviso, and prohibited slavery forever in the rest of the purchased territory north of 36° 30´.

For nearly a year, the Union slept in peace, earnestly trying to flatter itself into the conviction, that the “distracting question” was at last put to rest, and obstinately oblivious of an ancient law enacted by Providence long before the foundations of the Union or the earth, either, were laid; and, wherein, it is provided, that of two opposing principles, one must be right, and the other wrong, that no compromise between them, however unanimously voted, can, in the nature of things, be permanent; and that in spite of enthusiastic conventions and full-mouthed Congresses, said compromises will forever tend to change, to decay, and to self-destruction. The operation of this most impracticable law, as modern politicians would term it, suddenly and most disagreeably startled the Union from its comfortable nap. Missouri, after discovering so cheap a path to celebrity, was not disposed to abandon it without further efforts to distinguish her infant name. It was still necessary for her, ere she could take her place in the happy and united family of American States, to frame for herself a Constitution, and present it for the approval of Congress. In this, she made it the duty of her future Legislature to “pass such laws as were necessary to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in the State, under any pretext whatever.”

The constitutionality of this provision, which has since been adopted by several of the Southern States, has never been judicially determined. The clause with which it is thought to conflict, is that which provides, that “the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.” Now, if residence and the right to be protected in acquiring and transmitting property under the laws be sufficient to constitute citizenship, the free negro population of every Northern State would be entitled to some privileges in the State of Missouri; and, assuredly, when a party is entitled to exercise certain rights within a given territory, it can never be legal to deprive him of those rights, by forbidding him to enter it. And even if these qualifications are insufficient to constitute citizenship, (a theory which would exclude a large proportion of the white population in some of the Southern States,) yet in a few of the free States the right of voting is at present added to them; and in these cases, at least, if the clause be not doomed to remain forever a dead letter, it would seem to find its application. On the other hand, it was urged with great force, that if the Legislature of a State esteem a certain class of population dangerous to its existence, it must be entitled by the first principle of self-preservation--the foundation both of national and individual existence--to exclude them from its midst. The clause in the Constitution cannot mean that every citizen of each State is entitled to become such in every other State. This is notoriously untrue. In some States freehold qualifications are required for voters; in others not. In some there are restraints upon the acquisition of property, which in others do not exist. Where, then, is the line to be drawn between constitutional and unconstitutional differences? Each State may determine the qualifications necessary for its voters--why may not one of them be a peculiar color? Each State may exclude from its borders the professors of particular occupations, which may be distasteful to it, or which it may fancy to be dangerous; why not those who have, at any time, exercised such occupations--which would amount to the same thing as the exclusion of an obnoxious race?

During a long and troubled session, this intricate question was argued both by Congress and the people, with a violence unknown before. Mr. Clay, for a long time, struggled in vain to close the rapidly widening breach. In vain, his famous Committee of Thirteen reported a series of compromising resolutions; both sides were too far advanced to retract, and the platform was angrily rejected. No question, however insignificant, could be taken up, into which these bitter feelings were not dragged; the business of the Nation was wholly suspended, while the contending forces hurled harangues of defiance at each others’ heads, which were re-echoed with equal fury from every village in the country. A settlement grew more and more hopeless; and, at last, a formal plan of secession was agreed upon by a minority of the State. The cry of “_Danger to the Union_” has become so hackneyed of late years, as to be treated with contempt by rational men of all parties; but, if ever it had a serious and alarming meaning, it was at the time we are speaking of. Even President making and President greeting, failed to drown the dismal foreboding, that soon all Presidents might be memories of the past. A storm was raised that no one had power to quell; “the spirits had come from the vasty deep,” and no magician was found who could charm them back again. At length, by slow and cautious advances, Mr. Clay again approached the troubled circle; increased his Committee to twenty-three, representing all the States of the Union, reasoned with them, exhorted them, entreated them; brought all those wondrously conciliatory talents with which he was gifted, to bear personally upon each member he could reach; and after the most laborious and exhausting efforts, succeeded in passing the Compromise, which, at last, quieted the Missouri question. It consisted substantially in referring the subject to the National Judiciary, to whose province it undoubtedly belonged, and to whose solemn decision the North should, from the beginning, have been content to leave it. That it has never been settled by this high authority, and that we are still unable to answer the apparently simple question--“Who are citizens of the United States?”--is certainly a very singular predicament for a great people to be placed in, but one for which the South are in no way to blame.

The violent sectional feeling, however, to which this discussion had given birth, had sunk too deeply into the hearts of the people to be eradicated by any Compromise. Its baneful effects have been since witnessed in the manner in which every great national question has been debated. We cannot, of course, fill our pages with references to these really irrelevant matters, nor have we space to follow in all its developments, the illiberal policy pursued by Congress with regard to petitions from the North upon this subject. The treatment to which they have been subjected is generally known, and the reasons for and against it too well understood to require rehearsing.

During the fifteen or twenty years following, the feeling against slavery grew constantly stronger in the Northern States, and gradually assumed a more thoroughly organized character. Anti-Slavery Societies were formed in the latter part of this period; the all-powerful machinery of the press was called in to sustain the movement; public discussions on the subject attracted general attention; and all possible means were employed, which the leaders of the party could devise, to propagate their views. The provisions of the Fugitive Law of 1793 began to be, for the first time, severely commented upon. The various laws which different States had passed, with a view to its impartial administration, were strictly scrutinized, and the Act itself denounced as arbitrary and unconstitutional. The State of Pennsylvania, unwilling that the freedom of negroes within her borders should be allowed to depend upon the unassisted judgment of Magistrates of the lowest jurisdiction, passed an Act in 1826 requiring all such cases to be heard before the Judges of the County Courts. In 1842, this law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, in the celebrated case of Prigg v. the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In consequence of this decision, the Legislature passed an Act which had already been adopted in several of the Free States, by which all State Magistrates and Judges were forbidden to take cognizance of cases of fugitive slaves, the jails of the State were closed against the masters, and the whole subject was left to the jurisdiction of Congress, where it properly belonged.

Such was the state of public feeling, when the annexation of Texas and the conquests won from Mexico called upon Congress to legislate for a new and enormous territory. A large portion of the northern members adhered to the platform laid down by them in the struggle of 1819, resolving that nothing should induce them to swerve from the great principle established by the ordinance of 1787. The extraordinary rapidity with which the gold fever peopled California, and her consequent application for admission into the Union, doubled the difficulty; while the toleration of the domestic slave trade in the District of Columbia, the unsettled boundaries of Texas, and the complaints which both parties insisted upon, with regard to the old Act for the recapture of fugitives, were each in itself sufficient to embarrass the famous Congress of 1850. The men who prepared to meet this swarm of dangers were, probably, superior to any that had ever coped with the question before--veterans in the Cabinet and on the floor--men who had grown grey in watching the Constitution--who had received it in their childhood from its framers, and who had guarded its safety for nearly half a century with almost superstitious love. To review the famous debate which led to that Compromise, which swallowed up all other Compromises, on the broad platform of which all parties have learned to stand, though, perhaps, not very harmoniously, and in the universality of which all minor distinctions are forgotten, would be a lengthy, and is, happily, an unnecessary task. No one, who will read this paper, needs to be reminded of events so recent, and so widely interesting, that every school-boy in the land has thoroughly mastered them and is prepared with a long train of reasoning in their support or condemnation. Our only object has been to show their historical connection with the many measures that have indirectly aided in producing them, and that object, it is hoped, has been partially accomplished.

The success of this measure, time alone can determine. It has lived thus long amid great extremes, both of popular favor and odium. So far as the Fugitive Slave Law is concerned, the severest ordeal through which it has passed, and one in which its practical working has been most fully displayed, is undoubtedly the Trial of Hanway, to a brief history of which the attention of the reader is now invited.

THE TREASON TRIALS.

On the 9th of September, A. D. 1851, Mr. Edward Gorsuch, a citizen of Maryland, residing near Baltimore, appeared before Edward D. Ingraham, Esq., U. S. Commissioner for Philadelphia, and asked for warrants under the Act of Congress of the 18th Sept. 1850, for the arrest of four of his slaves whom he had heard were secreted somewhere in Lancaster County. Warrants were issued forthwith, directed to H. H. Kline, a deputy U. S. Marshal, authorizing him to arrest George Hammond, Joshua Hammond, Nelson Ford, and Noah Buley, persons held to service or labor in the State of Maryland, and bring them before the said Commissioner.

Mr. Gorsuch then made arrangements with John Agin and Thompson Tully, residents of Philadelphia, and police officers, to assist Kline in making the arrests. They were to meet Mr. Gorsuch and some companions at Penningtonville, a small place on the State railroad, about 50 miles from Philadelphia. Kline, with the warrants, left Philadelphia, on the same day about 2 P. M. for West Chester. Here he hired a conveyance and rode on to Gallagherville. Here he hired another conveyance to take him to Penningtonville. Before he had driven very far, the carriage breaking down, he returned to Gallagherville, procured another and started again. Owing to this detention, he was prevented from meeting Mr. Gorsuch and his friends at the appointed time. When he reached Penningtonville, about 2 A. M., on the 10th September, they had gone.

On entering the tavern, the place of rendezvous, he saw a colored man whom he recognized as Samuel Williams, a resident of Philadelphia. To put him off his guard, Kline asked the landlord some questions about horse thieves. Williams replied that he had seen them, and told Kline he had come too late.

Kline then drove on to the Gap. Seeing a person he believed to be Williams following him, he stopped at several taverns along the road to make inquiries about horse thieves. He reached the Gap about 3 A. M., put up the horses and went to bed. At half past four he got up, ate breakfast, and rode to Parksburg, about 45 miles from Philadelphia, on the same railroad. Here he found Agin and Tully asleep in the bar room. He awoke Agin, called him aside, and inquired for Mr. Gorsuch and his party. He was told they had gone to Sadsbury, a small place on the turnpike, four or five miles from Parksburg.

On going there, he found them, about 9 A. M. on the 10th Sept. Kline told them he had seen Agin and Tully, who had determined to return to Philadelphia, and proposed that the whole party should return to Gallagherville. Mr. Gorsuch, however, determined to go to Parksburg instead, to see Agin and Tully, and attempt to persuade them not to return. The rest of the party were to go to Gallagherville, while Kline returned to Downingtown, to see Agin and Tully there, should Mr. Gorsuch fail to meet them at Parksburg. He left Gallagherville about 11 A. M., and met Agin and Tully at Downingtown. Agin said he had seen Mr. Gorsuch, but refused to go back. He promised however to return from Philadelphia in the evening cars. Kline returned to Downingtown, and then met all the party except Mr. Edward Gorsuch, who had remained behind to make the necessary arrangements for procuring a guide to the houses where he had been informed his negroes were to be found.

About 3 P. M., Mr. Edward Gorsuch joined them at Gallagherville, and at 11 P. M. on the night of the 10th Sept., they all went in the cars down to Downingtown, where they waited for the evening train from Philadelphia.

When it arrived, neither Agin nor Tully were to be seen. The rest of the party went up to the Gap, which they reached about half past one on the morning of the 11th Sept. They then continued their journey on foot towards Christiana. The party then consisted of Kline, Edward Gorsuch, Dickinson Gorsuch, his son, Joshua M. Gorsuch, his nephew, Dr. Thomas Pierce, Nicholas T. Hutchings and Nathan Nelson.

After they had proceeded about a mile, they met a man who was represented to be a guide. He is said to have been disguised in such a way that none of the party could recognize him, and his name is not mentioned in any of the proceedings. It is probable that he was employed by Mr. Edward Gorsuch, and one condition of his services might have been that he should be allowed to use every possible means of concealing his face and name from the rest of the party. Under his conduct, the party went on and soon reached a house in which they were told one of the slaves was to be found. Mr. Gorsuch wished to send part of the company after him, but Kline was unwilling to divide their strength, and they walked on, intending to return that way after making the other arrests.

The guide led them by a circuitous route until they reached the Valley Road near Parker’s house, their point of destination. They halted in a lane near by, ate some crackers and cheese provided by one of their number, examined the condition of their fire arms, and consulted upon the plan of the attack. A short walk brought them to the orchard in front of Parker’s house, which the guide pointed out and then left them. He had no desire to remain and witness the result of his false information. His disguise and desertion of his employer, are strong circumstances in proof of the fact that he knew he was misleading the party. On the trial of Hanway it was proven by the defence that Nelson Ford was not on the ground until after the sun was up. Joshua Hammond had lived in the vicinity up to the time that a man by the name of Williams had been kidnapped, when he and several others departed, and had not been heard from afterwards. Of the two others, one at least, if the evidence for the prosecution is to be relied upon, was in the house at which the party first halted, so that there could not have been more than one of Mr. Gorsuch’s slaves in Parker’s house, and of this there is no positive testimony.

It was not daybreak when the party approached the house. They made demand for the slaves, and threatened to shoot them or burn the house down if they would not surrender. At this time, the number of besiegers seems to have been increased, and as many as fifteen are said to have been near the house. By daybreak and before entrance was made into the house, the party was diminished to the original number. When they were advancing a second or third time, they saw a negro going up whom Mr. Gorsuch thought he recognized as one of his slaves. Kline pursued him with a revolver in his hand, and stumbled over the bars near the house. Some of the company came up before him and found the door open. They entered, and Kline following called for the owner, ordered all to come down, and said he had two warrants for the arrest of Nelson Ford and Joshua Hammond. He was answered that there were no such men in the house. Kline followed by Mr. Gorsuch attempted to go up stairs. They were prevented from ascending by what appears to have been an ordinary _fish gig_. Some of the witnesses described it as “like a pitchfork with blunt prongs,” and others were at a loss what to call this, the first weapon used in the contest. A pitchfork any of the party would have recognized, as the most of them were farmers; besides, this is not a weapon usually kept in dwelling houses. This had “four or five prongs” and was probably an old fish gig, which had been stored away for safe keeping. An axe was next thrown down, but hit no one.

Mr. Gorsuch and others then went outside to talk with the negroes at the window. Just at this time Kline fired his pistol up stairs. The warrants were then read outside the house, and demand made upon the landlord. No answer was heard. After a short interval, Kline proposed to withdraw his men, but Mr. Gorsuch refused, and said he would not leave the ground until he had made the arrests. Kline then in a loud voice ordered some one to go to the sheriff and bring a hundred men, thinking, as he afterwards said, this would intimidate them. This threat appears to have had some effect, for the negroes asked time to consider. The party outside agreed to fifteen minutes.

During these scenes at the house, there were occurrences elsewhere which are worthy of attention, but cannot be understood without a short statement of previous facts.

In the month of Sept. 1850, a colored man, known in the neighborhood around Christiana to be free, was seized and carried away by men known to be professional kidnappers, and has never been seen by his family since. In March 1851, in the same neighborhood, under the roof of his employer, during the night, another colored man was tied, gagged, and carried away, marking the road along which he was dragged by his own blood. No authority for this outrage was ever shown, and he has never been heard from. These and many other acts of a similar kind, had so alarmed the neighborhood that the very name of kidnapper was sufficient to create a panic. The blacks feared for their own safety, and the whites knowing their feelings, were apprehensive that any attempt to repeat these outrages would be the cause of bloodshed. Many good citizens were determined to do all in their power to prevent these lawless depredations, though they were ever ready to submit to any measures sanctioned by legal process. They regretted the existence among them of a body of people liable to such violence; but without combination, had, each for himself, resolved that they would do everything dictated by humanity to resist barbarous oppression.

On the morning in question, a colored man living in the neighborhood, who was passing Parker’s house at an early hour, saw the yard full of men. He halted, and was met by a man who presented a pistol at him, and ordered him to leave the place. He went away and hastened over to the store kept by Elijah Lewis, which, like all places of that kind, was probably the headquarters of news in the neighborhood. Mr. Lewis was in the act of opening his store when this man told him that “Parker’s house was surrounded by _kidnappers_, who had broken into the house, and _were trying to get him away_.” Lewis, not questioning the truth of the statement, repaired immediately to the place. On the way he passed Castner Hanway’s house, and telling him what he had heard, asked him to go over to Parker’s house. Hanway was in feeble health and unable to undergo the fatigue of walking that distance. He saddled his horse, and reached Parker’s during the armistice.

Having no reason to believe he was acting under legal authority, when Kline approached and demanded assistance in making the arrests, Hanway made him no answer. Kline then handed him the warrants, which Hanway examined, saw they appeared genuine, and returned them.

At this time, several colored men, who no doubt had heard the report that kidnappers were about, came up, armed with such weapons as they could suddenly lay hands upon. How many there were on the ground during the affray it is _now_ impossible to determine. The witnesses on both sides vary materially in their estimate. Some said they saw a dozen or fifteen; some, thirty or forty; and others maintained, as many as two or three hundred. It is known there were not two hundred colored men to be found within eight miles of Parker’s house, nor half that number within four miles, and it would have been almost impossible to get together even thirty at an hour’s notice. It is probable there were about twenty-five, all told, at or near the house from the beginning of the affray until all was quiet again. These the fears of those who afterwards testified to larger numbers, might easily have magnified to fifty or a hundred.

While Kline and Hanway were in conversation, Elijah Lewis came up. Hanway said to him, “Here is the marshal.” Lewis asked to see his authority, and Kline handed him one of the warrants. When he saw the signature of the U. S. Commissioner, “he took it for granted that Kline had authority.” Kline then ordered Hanway and Lewis to assist in arresting the alleged fugitives. Hanway refused to have anything to do with it. The negroes around these three men seeming disposed to make an attack, Hanway “motioned to them and urged them back.” He then “advised Kline that it would be dangerous to attempt making arrests, and that they had better leave.” Kline, after saying he would hold them accountable for the negroes, promised to leave, and beckoned two or three times to his men to retire.

The negroes then rushed up, some armed with guns, some with corn-cutters, staves, clubs, others with stones or whatever weapon chance offered. Hanway and Lewis in vain endeavored to restrain them.

Kline leaped the fence, passed through the standing grain in the field, and for a few moments was out of sight. Mr. Gorsuch refused to leave the spot, saying his “property was there, and he would have it or perish in the attempt.” The rest of his party endeavored to retreat when they heard the marshal calling to them, but they were too late; the negroes rushed up and the firing began. How many times each party fired, it is impossible to tell. For a few moments, everything was confusion and each attempted to save himself. Nathan Nelson went down the short lane, thence into the woods and towards Penningtonville. Nicholas Hutchings, by direction of Kline, followed Lewis to see where he went. Thomas Pierce and Joshua Gorsuch went down the long lane, pursued by some of the negroes, caught up with Hanway, and shielding themselves behind his horse, followed him to a run of water near by. Dickinson Gorsuch was with his father near the house. They were both wounded; the father mortally. Dickinson escaped down the lane, where he was met by Kline, who had returned from the woods at the end of the field. Kline rendered him assistance, and went towards Penningtonville for a physician. On his way he met Joshua M. Gorsuch, who was also wounded and delirious. Kline led him over to Penningtonville and placed him on the upward train from Philadelphia. Before this time several persons living in the neighborhood had arrived at Parker’s house. Lewis Cooper found D. Gorsuch in the place where Kline had left him, attended by Joseph Scarlett. He placed him in his dearborn, and carried him to the house of Levi Pownall, where he remained till he had sufficiently recovered to return home. Mr. Cooper then returned to Parker’s, placed the body of Mr. E. Gorsuch in the same dearborn, and carried it to Christiana. Neither Nelson nor Hutchings rejoined their party, but during the day went by the railroad to Lancaster.

Thus ended an occurrence which has been the theme of conversation throughout the land. Not more than two hours had elapsed from the time demand was first made at Parker’s house until the dead body of Edward Gorsuch was carried to Christiana. In that brief time the blood of strangers had been spilled in a sudden affray, an unfortunate man had been killed and two others badly wounded. How many of the negroes were wounded, has never been ascertained. All could not have escaped, but no one has been able to discover who were injured.

When rumor had spread abroad the result of this sad affray, the neighborhood was appalled. The inhabitants of the farm houses and the villages around, unused to scenes of this kind, could not at first believe that it had occurred in their midst. Before midday, exaggerated accounts had reached Philadelphia, and were transmitted by telegraph through the country.

The first information the public received, was that “the negroes had determined to prevent the arrest of the slaves; that about eighty of them, armed with guns, &c., had formed an ambush in the neighboring woods and cornfields, and that when the party arrived in search of the fugitives, they had surrounded them, and poured upon them a deadly fire, killing Mr. Gorsuch, _mortally_ wounding one of his sons, and badly wounding an officer from Baltimore.” These were given as “leading facts.” The next day’s news contained the information that the U. S. Marshal, the U. S. District Attorney, a special Commissioner from Washington city, a company of U. S. Marines, and fifty of the Marshal’s police, had gone to the scene of action from the city. It was also announced to be the intention of the U. S. Marshal to “_scour_ the neighborhood,” and that Judges Grier and Kane (of the U. S. Courts, before whom the case was afterwards tried,) had _decided_ the offence of the rioters to be treason against the U. S.

Such statements as these naturally aroused the whole community, and it was not until a few days had developed the exact truth, that public excitement began to subside. Believing the published accounts of the transaction to be correct, a number of the citizens of Philadelphia addressed the following letter to the Chief Executive of the State, who happened then to be in the city, urging upon him prompt action, in what they considered an important crisis:

_To the Governor of Pennsylvania_:

The undersigned, citizens of Pennsylvania, respectfully represent:

That citizens of a neighboring State have been cruelly assassinated
by a band of armed outlaws, at a place not more than three hours’
journey distant from the seat of government and from the commercial
metropolis of the State.

That this insurrectionary movement, in one of the most populous
parts of the State, has been so far successful as to overawe the
local ministers of justice, and paralyze the powers of the law.

That your memorialists are not aware that “any military force”
has been sent to the seat of the insurrection, or that the civil
authority has been strengthened by the adoption of any measure
suited to the momentous crisis.

They, therefore, respectfully request the chief executive
magistrate of Pennsylvania to take into consideration the necessity
of vindicating the outraged laws, and sustaining the dignity of the
Commonwealth on this important and melancholy occasion.

John Cadwalader, R. Simpson, John Swift, Thomas McGrath, S. R.
Carnahan, Samuel Hays, Geo. H. Martin, A. L. Roumfort, W. Deal,
John W. Forney, Isaac Leech, Jr., C. Ingersoll, James Page, Harry
Connelly, Frederick McAdams.

The Governor, who, as far as was in his power, had apprized himself of the facts of the case, and had taken the measures which devolved upon him by reason of his office, replied immediately. He knew the danger of inflaming the public mind upon a subject which was then exciting the whole Union. The law had prescribed the proper officers to act in every emergency, and he knew they were upon the alert, with their police force strengthened for the occasion. Whatever might have been the motive for addressing the Governor, the following letter was a full and sufficient answer.

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 14, 1851.

To Messrs. John Cadwalader, A. L. Roumfort, Jas. Page, C.
Ingersoll, Isaac Leech, Jr., R. Simpson, W. Deal, George H. Martin,
Samuel Hays, S. R. Carnahan, Thos. McGrath, John Swift, Frederick
McAdams:

_Gentlemen_--Your letter, without date, was this afternoon put into my hands by one of the servants of the hotel. The anxiety which you manifested to maintain the laws of the land and the public peace, is fully appreciated, and I have great pleasure in informing you that, more than twenty-four hours before the receipt of your letter, the parties implicated had been, through the vigilance and decision of the local authorities, arrested, and are now in prison, awaiting an inquiry into their imputed guilt. The District Attorney and Sheriff of Lancaster county, acting in concert with the Attorney-General of the State, deserve especial thanks for their prompt and energetic conduct. This was all done early on Saturday morning, and duly reported to me by the local officers.

The testimony taken by the U. S. Commissioner, who arrived at a later period on the ground, a printed copy of which has accidentally reached me this afternoon, confirms me in the belief that the State authorities had vindicated the law, and, to a large extent, arrested the perpetrators of the crimes.

The cruel murder of a citizen of a neighboring State, accompanied by a gross outrage on the laws of the United States, in the resistance of its processes, has been committed; and you may be assured that so soon as the guilty agents are ascertained, they will be punished to its severest penalty by the law of Pennsylvania. I am very proud that the first steps to detect and arrest these offenders have been taken by Pennsylvania officers.

Permit me, gentlemen, having thus removed all just cause of anxiety from your minds, respectfully to suggest that the idea of rebellion, or “insurrectionary movement” in the county of Lancaster, or anywhere else in this Commonwealth, has no real foundation, and is an offensive imputation on a large body of our fellow citizens. There is no insurrectionary movement in Lancaster county, and there would be no occasion to march a military force there, as you seem to desire, and inflame the public mind by any such strange exaggeration. I do not wish our brethren of the Union to think that, in any part of this State, resistance to the law goes undetected or unpunished, or that there exists such a sentiment as treason to the Union and the constitution. The alleged murderers of Mr. Gorsuch, whose crime is deep enough without exaggerating it, have been arrested, and will be tried, and they and their abettors be made to answer for what they have done in contravention of the law. But in the meantime, let me invite your co-operation, as citizens of Pennsylvania, not only to see that the law is enforced, but to add to the confidence which we all feel in the judicial tribunals of the land, by abstaining from undue violence of language, and letting the law take its course. Depend upon it, gentlemen, there is in Lancaster county a sense of duty to the laws of the land, manifested in the easy and prompt arrest of these offenders, which will on all occasions show itself in practical obedience.

The people of that county are men of peace and good order, and not easily led aside from the path of duty which the Constitution prescribes. They, and every Pennsylvanian, love the Constitution and the Union. They will detect, as they have done in this case, and arrest and punish all who violate the laws of the land. There is no warrant, depend upon it, for representing the men of Lancaster county as traitors, and participants in an “insurrectionary movement.” You do them, unintentionally I have no doubt, great injustice.

I am deeply indebted to you for affording me this opportunity of expressing my views. But for your communication I might not have been able to do so. You, and my fellow-citizens at large, may be assured of my firm determination, at all hazards, and under all circumstances, to maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and enforce obedience to the laws alike of the United States and of this Commonwealth.

In order that I may be sure that my answer may reach its destination, (your letter having but accidentally come to my hands,) I have requested Mr. White to put it in the hands of Mr. John Cadwalader, whose signature, I observe, is first.

I am, with great respect,
Your obedient servant,
WM. F. JOHNSTON.

The Governor, however, had been misinformed, and was wrong in stating that the murderers of Edward Gorsuch had been arrested. Every man who was in Parker’s house, including Parker himself, escaped. As was afterwards proven, not one of the guilty parties was secured. So soon as this was ascertained the following proclamation was issued:

PROCLAMATION.

In and by the authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I,
William F. Johnston, Governor of said Commonwealth, do hereby
issue this

PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, it has been represented to me that a flagrant violation of the public peace has occurred in Lancaster county, involving the murder of Edward Gorsuch, and seriously endangering the lives of other persons; and whereas, it has also been represented to me that some of the participants in this outrage are yet at large; now, therefore, by virtue of the authority in me vested by the Constitution and laws, I, William F. Johnston, Governor of Pennsylvania, do hereby offer a reward of ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons guilty of the murder and violation of the public peace as aforesaid.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the great seal of the State, this fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.

Attest, A. L. RUSSELL,
Secretary of the Commonwealth.

For days after the melancholy tragedy, the vicinity of Christiana was in possession of police officers of different classes and grades. Many of them displayed their vigilance and valor in a way that rendered them ridiculous in the eyes of all, except of those who were the objects of their zeal. Passing by a number of outrages, perpetrated, in the name of justice, by men who were clothed with a little authority, and who delighted in terrifying helpless women and inoffensive children, we have to speak only of those arrests which were made seriously and in good faith, and to tell, so far as there are any records in existence, how the authorities arrested, by wholesale, men who afterwards were found to have been miles from the scene of action.

On the day of the affray it seems that no action was taken at Christiana for the arrest of any parties. All was confusion. The next morning (the 12th of Sept.) Kline went before Joseph D. Pownall, Justice of the Peace of Lancaster County, for the township of Sadsbury, and on oath charged Elijah Lewis, Castner Hanway, John Morgan, Henry Simms, Charles Valentine, Lewis Clarkson, Charles Hunter, Lewis Gales, George Williams, Alson Parnsley, Light Stewart, Hezekiah Clemens, George Wells, Walter Harris, Abraham Clinch, Nelson Carter and Jacob Phillips, with “aiding and abetting in the murder of Edward Gorsuch on the morning of the 11th September, 1851,” and warrants were issued for their arrest. As soon as Lewis and Hanway heard of this, they went over to Christiana and surrendered themselves to the authorities. They and the colored men were carried to Lancaster that night, to await a further hearing before Alderman J. Franklin Reigart, of the city of Lancaster.

The next day (the 13th Sept.) the train from Philadelphia brought up the U. S. District Attorney, J. W. Ashmead; the U. S. Commissioner, E. D. Ingraham; an Attorney who had acted as counsel for Mr. Gorsuch, before he applied to Mr. Ingraham in Philadelphia; a company of Marines from the Navy Yard at Philadelphia; and a number of the Marshal’s police.

These, it seems, when reinforced by such volunteers as could be procured from the neighborhood, composed the force by which “the country was to be scoured.” They went from house to house with fire-arms in their hands, demanding of the people they met whatever best suited their fancies.

On the same day at Christiana, the Commissioner heard the charges against Joseph Scarlett, Wm. Brown, Ezekiel Thompson, Daniel Clarksbury and Benjamin Pendergrast, and they, with Isaiah Clarkson and Elijah Clark,[A] were the next day (Sunday) brought to the Moyamensing prison in Philadelphia, “to await their trial at the next term of the Circuit Court upon the charge of having committed treason against the United States.”

On the 15th (Monday) the Commissioner resumed his duties, and heard the charges against Henry Green, Wm. Williams, John Halliday, Wm. Brown, (second), George Read, Benjamin Johnson, John Jackson, Thomas Butler, John Clark, Moses Johnson, Jacob Johnson, Emory Elias, Nero Johnson, William Henry Morgan, Aaron Wesley, Daniel Jones, William Jackson, Peter D. Watson and William Chandler. The first eight, in company with Samuel Williams, were on the same day sent to Moyamensing. What became of John Clark does not appear. The records of the prison do not show that he was ever there, and the transcript of the Commissioner’s dockett does not say he was discharged.

On the 18th September, Collister Wilson was lodged in Moyamensing prison. It does not appear by whom he was committed.

On Sunday morning (the 14th Sept.) the prisoners who had been taken to Lancaster, were again brought before Alderman Reigart, but were remanded until Tuesday the 16th.

Before the 16th, it was thought advisable by those in authority, to change the nature of the charge against the prisoners. They had been arrested as offenders against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Now they were to be considered as culprits, to be punished by the laws of the General Government, and were to be accused as traitors. It was probably with a view to prepare for this, that, when they were brought to the appointed place on the 16th, they were again remanded for one week, until Tuesday the 23d of September.

It is generally considered that a man is safe from prison walls until it has appeared to a magistrate that there is probable cause for believing he has committed some offence that should be inquired into by a jury of his country. Such was the common law of England, and many believe it to be the common law of this country. The magistrate has the right, in the exercise of a sound discretion, to detain suspected parties a _reasonable_ time, while he hears the charges and decides whether there is necessity for his making a formal commitment. In these extraordinary cases, however, the operation of the law seemed to be inconvenient to those who had its initiatory administration, and the rule was not observed.

Before the appointed time, the company in the prison had been increased. On the 18th September, Jacob Moore was arrested on process issued by Squire Pownall.

The prisoners were brought up to Lancaster County Court House about 10 A. M., and the examination began before Alderman Reigart.

Thomas E. Franklin, Esq., John L. Thompson, Esq., District Attorney for the County of Lancaster, John W. Ashmead, Esq., District Attorney of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and R. J. Brent, Esq., Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Maryland, appeared as counsel to sustain the charges against the prisoners. On their behalf appeared the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, George M. Kline, George Ford and O. J. Dickey, Esqrs.

Twelve witnesses were examined on the part of the United States, and about the same number on the part of the defence. After two days deliberation, the Alderman felt it his “duty to commit Castner Hanway, Elijah Lewis, John Morgan, Henry Simms, Jacob Moore, Lewis Clarkson, Charles Hunter, Lewis Gales, George Williams, Alson Parnsley, George Wells, Nelson Carter and Jacob Woods, into the custody of the Marshal of the U. S. for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to answer at the next session of the U. S. Circuit Court, the charge of having committed Treason against the United States and aiding and abetting in the murder of Edward Gorsuch, a worthy citizen of the State of Maryland.” They were accordingly brought down to the Moyamensing Prison on the 25th of September.

H. Clemens, A. Clinch, W. Harris, J. Phillips, L. Stewart and C. Valentine were discharged, having been detained in prison from the 12th to the 25th of September to await their examination. Jacob Woods, the man last mentioned, does not appear to have been arrested. He was, towards the close of the examination, upon the witness stand, virtually, though not formally, as state’s evidence. It appearing that his testimony implicated himself more than any one else, was probably the cause of his detention as prisoner instead of witness.

On Monday the 29th of September, “in consequence of the determination of the District Attorney to send bills to the Grand Jury indicting for Treason those accused of participation in the Christiana riot,” Judge Kane charged that body at length upon the law which should govern them in their inquiries. This course was required of the Judge by his duties as a public officer; yet many were surprised that he should have taken as the basis of his charge statements which many persons knew to be purely imaginative.

He stated briefly the occurrences at Parker’s house on the morning of the 11th September as he had heard them, and that “it was said that the time and manner of these outrages evinced a combined purpose forcibly to resist and make nugatory a constitutional provision; and in confirmation of this, it is added, that for some months past gatherings of people, strangers as well as citizens, have been held from time to time in the vicinity of the place of the recent outbreak, at which exhortations were made and pledges were interchanged to hold the law for the recovery of fugitive slaves as of no validity, and to defy its execution.” Personally, however, the learned Judge said he knew nothing of the facts, and had attempted to preserve his mind free and unprejudiced, being one of the members of the tribunal before which the accused might be tried.

If the circumstances mentioned had taken place, the Judge was correct in saying the highest crime known to the laws of the United States had been committed at Christiana. He cited many authorities, and concluded by stating with what misdemeanors the prisoners could be charged, under the acts of Congress, if the Grand Jury were of opinion that treason had not been committed.

On Friday of the same week (Oct. 13) the Grand Jury returned true bills charging the following men with Treason.

(White). C. Hanway, E. Lewis, J. Scarlett, and James Jackson.

(Colored). J. Moore, G. Reed, B. Johnson, D. Caulsberry, A. Parnsley, W. Brown, (2nd), H. Green, E. Clark, J. Holladay, W. Williams, B. Pendergrast, J. Morgan, E. Thompson, T. Butler, C. Wilson, J. Jackson, W. Brown, J. Clarkson, H. Sims, C. Hunter, L. Gales, P. Woods, L. Clarkson, N. Carter, W. Parker, J. Berry, W. Berry and G. Williams.

One charging George Wells (colored) with the same offence, was ignored.

On the next day, like bills were returned against S. Williams, J. Hammond, H. Curtis, W. Williams, W. Thomas and N. Ferd.

The bill against Noah Buley was ignored.

On the following Monday, the 6th of October, the U. S. Circuit Court, in which the prisoners were to be tried, held its session. The District Attorney moved for a special venire to issue to the Marshal to summon 108 Jurors, 12 of whom were to be from Lancaster County, “to try the charges against Elijah Lewis and 37 others who had been committed for treason against the United States growing out of the murderous outrage at Christiana.” He announced that he would move for the arraignment of the prisoners on the following Thursday, and that the fourth Monday of November had been fixed for the trials. Judge Grier said that such a motion was strictly proper, and he directed the Marshal “to summon men of the highest respectability of character, for intelligence, integrity and conscientiousness, in the community, and to inform them that their attendance will be enforced by the Court, and that no excuse but sickness would be received for non-attendance.”

The arraignment did not take place the next Thursday, for reasons best known to the District Attorney. No further public proceedings were had until the trial. In the mean time the Traitors were made as comfortable by the attentions of their friends as the rules of the prison permitted. Though the building was erected at an enormous expense, it is badly ventilated and miserably heated. Yet the rules did not permit any of the prisoners to have fire in their cells, which at that season of the year was absolutely essential to their comfort. Some of them, predisposed to pulmonary complaints, suffered severely on account of this privation. Before the termination of the trial the Court ordered the Marshal to provide more suitable quarters for two of them, representations having been made by their counsel that this precaution was necessary to preserve their health and probably their lives.

On Sunday morning, Nov. 9, about 4 o’clock, two of the witnesses for the prosecution, who had been detained in the Debtors apartment of the Moyamensing Prison, made their escape, by means of the shutters of their cells and their blankets. A white man who was under confinement on another charge went with them.

On Tuesday morning, in the District Court, the District Attorney, after stating the facts, asked for a writ of Habeas Corpus directed to the keeper of the Debtor’s apartment, returnable on the following Friday, directing him to bring forth the runaways. On Friday, the keeper asked for more time to make answer, and the following Monday was appointed. On Monday, it appeared by the statements of some of the counsel for the defence that the truant witnesses were more important for the cause of the prisoners than for the prosecution, and they came into court to complain of the escape as prejudicing their clients. The District Attorney undertook to controvert this position, and argued that because these witnesses were receiving $1.25 per day from the United States while in confinement, more than they could have earned if at liberty, their escape was not their own act and deed. A strange and novel doctrine! Most men, whatever their complexion, would prefer the light and air of heaven at 50 cents per day, to a cell 8 by 12, in a prison notorious for its poor ventilation, at $1.25. This was, however, the only evidence of “assistance from without,” which the U. S. Counsel so frequently insinuated, and upon which Mr. Brent, in his official report, rings such doleful changes, charging treachery on the part of some officer _within_ the walls of the prison. The public was therefore informed by one official dignitary, that these witnesses were assisted _from without_; another tells us assistance came _from within_.

Leaving out of the question the universal preference for the _outside_ of prison walls, there are two circumstances to be considered in relation to this escape, which, when told, the public will be as well able to surmise the truth as any attornies, whether in or out of office. These fugitives were confined as witnesses, not as defendants upon _any_ charge. Their friends, or the friends of emancipation, had not the same access to them the law gave to the prisoners. Being detained to testify on behalf of the United States, they were under the strict and especial charge of the government officers.

Besides, the Moyamensing prison is notoriously insecure. Scarcely a month passes by that there are not escapes. The iron bars in the windows of each cell are merely let into the mortar, which a prisoner has only to remove with his knife. The bar can then easily be displaced; and if a little management is used to escape the observation of the keepers, a defendant need not wait for the verdict of a jury to restore him to liberty.