Chapter XXI: Part 21

Finding they could do nothing further, Hanaway and Lewis both
started to leave, again counselling the slave-hunters to go
away, and the colored people to peace, but had gone but a few
rods, when one of the inmates of the house attempted to come out
at the door. Gorsuch presented his revolver, ordering him back.
The colored man replied, "You had better go away, if you don't
want to get hurt," and at the same time pushed him aside and
passed out. Maddened at this, and stimulated by the question of
his nephew, whether he would "take such an insult from a d----d
nigger," Gorsuch fired at the colored man, and was followed by
his son and nephew, who both fired their revolvers. The fire was
returned by the blacks, who made a rush upon them at the same
time. Gorsuch and his son fell, the one dead the other wounded.
The rest of the party after firing their revolvers, fled
precipitately through the corn and to the woods, pursued by some
of the blacks. One was wounded, the rest escaped unhurt. Kline,
the deputy marshal, who now boasts of his miraculous escape from
a volley of musket-balls, had kept at a safe distance, though
urged by young Gorsuch to stand by his father and protect him,
when he refused to leave the ground. He of course came off
unscathed. Several colored men were wounded, but none severely.
Some had their hats or their clothes perforated with bullets;
others had flesh wounds. They said that the Lord protected them,
and they shook the bullets from their clothes. One man found
several shot in his boot, which seemed to have spent their force
before reaching him, and did not even break the skin. The
slave-holders having fled, several neighbors, mostly Friends and
anti-slavery men, gathered to succor the wounded and take charge
of the dead. We are told that Parker himself protected the
wounded man from his excited comrades, and brought water and a
bed from his own house for the invalid, thus showing that he was
as magnanimous to his fallen enemy as he was brave in the
defence of his own liberty. The young man was then removed to a
neighboring house, where the family received him with the
tenderest kindness and paid him every attention, though they
told him in Quaker phrase, that "they had no unity with his
cruel business," and were very sorry to see him engaged in it.
He was much affected by their kindness, and we are told,
expressed his regret that he had been thus engaged, and his
determination, if his life was spared, never again to make a
similar attempt. His wounds are very severe, and it is feared
mortal. All attempts to procure assistance to capture the
fugitive slaves failed, the people in the neighborhood either
not relishing the business of slave-catching, or at least, not
choosing to risk their lives in it. There was a very great
reluctance felt to going even to remove the body and the wounded
man, until several abolitionists and Friends had collected for
that object, when others found courage to follow on. The
excitement caused by this most melancholy affair is very great
among all classes. The abolitionists, of course, mourn the
occurrence, while they see in it a legitimate fruit of the
Fugitive Slave Law, just such a harvest of blood as they had
long feared that the law would produce, and which they had
earnestly labored to prevent. We believe that they alone, of all
classes of the nation, are free from responsibility for its
occurrence, having wisely foreseen the danger, and faithfully
labored to avert it by removing its causes, and preventing the
inhuman policy which has hurried on the bloody convulsion.

The enemies of the colored people, are making this the occasion
of fresh injuries, and a more bitter ferocity toward that
defenceless people, and of new misrepresentation and calumnies
against the abolitionists.

The colored people, though the great body of them had no
connection with this affair, are hunted like partridges upon the
mountains, by the relentless horde which has been poured forth
upon them, under the pretense of arresting the parties concerned
in the fight. When we reached Christiana, on Friday afternoon,
we found that the Deputy-Attorney Thompson, of Lancaster, was
there, and had issued warrants, upon the depositions of Kline
and others, for the arrest of all suspected persons. A company
of police were scouring the neighborhood in search of colored
people, several of whom were seized while at their work near by,
and brought in.

CAstner Hanaway and Elijah Lewis, hearing that warrants were
issued against them, came to Christiana, and voluntarily gave
themselves up, calm and strong in the confidence of their
innocence. They, together with the arrested colored men, were
sent to Lancaster jail that night.

The next morning we visited the ground of the battle, and the
family where young Gorsuch now lives, and while there, we saw a
deposition which he had just made, that he believed no white
persons were engaged in the affray, beside his own party. As he
was on the ground during the whole controversy, and deputy
Marshall Kline had discreetly run off into the corn-field,
before the fighting began, the hireling slave-catcher's eager
and confident testimony against our white friends, will, we
think, weigh lightly with impartial men.

On returning to Christiana, we found that the United States
Marshal from the city, had arrived at that place, accompanied by
Commissioner Ingraham, Mr. Jones, a special commissioner of the
United States, from Washington, the U.S. District Attorney
Ashmead, with forty-five U.S. Marines from the Navy Yard, and a
posse of about forty of the City Marshal's police, together with
a large body of special constables, eager for such a manhunt,
from Columbia and Lancaster and other places. This crowd divided
into parties, of from ten to twenty-five, and scoured the
country, in every direction, for miles around, ransacking the
houses of the colored people, and captured every colored man
they could find, with several colored women, and two other white
men. Never did our heart bleed with deeper pity for the peeled
and persecuted colored people, than when we saw this troop let
loose upon them, and witnessed the terror and distress which its
approach excited in families, wholly innocent of the charges
laid against them."

On the other hand, a few extracts from the editorials of some of the leading papers, will suffice to show the state of public feeling at that time, and the dreadful opposition abolitionists and fugitives had to contend with.

From one of the leading daily journals of Philadelphia, we copy as follows:

"There can be no difference of opinion concerning the shocking
affair which occurred at Christiana, on Thursday, the resisting
of a law of Congress by a band of armed negroes, whereby the
majesty of the Government was defied and life taken in one and
the same act. There is something more than a mere ordinary,
something more than even a murderous, riot in all this. It is an
act of insurrection, we might, considering the peculiar class
and condition of the guilty parties, almost call it a servile
insurrection--if not also one of treason. Fifty, eighty, or a
hundred persons, whether white or black, who are deliberately in
arms for the purpose of resisting the law, even the law for the
recovery of fugitive slaves, are in the attitude of levying war
against the United States; and doubly heavy becomes the crime of
murder in such a case, and doubly serious the accountability of
all who have any connection with the act as advisers,
suggesters, countenancers, or accessories in any way whatever."

In those days, the paper from which this extract is taken, represented the Whig party and the more moderate and respectable class of citizens.

The following is an extract from a leading democratic organ of Philadelphia:

"We will not, however, insult the reader by arguing that which
has not been heretofore doubted, and which is not doubted now,
by ten honest men in the State, and that is that the
abolitionists are implicated in the Christiana murder. All the
ascertained facts go to show that they were the real, if not the
chief instigators. White men are known to harbor fugitives, in
the neighborhood of Christiana, and these white men are known to
be abolitionists, known to be opposed to the Fugitive Slave Law,
and _known_ to be the warm friends of William F. Johnston,
(Governor of the State of Pennsylvania). And, as if to clinch
the argument, no less than three white men are now in the
Lancaster prison, and were arrested as accomplices in the
dreadful affair on the morning of the eleventh. And one of these
white men was committed on a charge of high treason, on Saturday
last, by United States Commissioner Ingraham."

Another daily paper of opposite politics thus spake:

"The unwarrantable outrage committed last week, at Christiana,
Lancaster county, is a foul stain upon the fair name and fame of
our State. We are pleased to see that the officers of the
Federal and State Governments are upon the tracks of those who
were engaged in the riot, and that several arrests have been
made.

We do not wish to see the poor misled blacks who participated in
the affair, suffer to any great extent, for they were but tools.
The men who are really chargeable with treason against the
United States Government, and with the death of Mr. Gorsuch, an
estimable citizen of Maryland, are unquestionably _white_, with
hearts black enough to incite them to the commission of any
crime equal in atrocity to that committed in Lancaster county.
Pennsylvania has now but one course to pursue, and that is to
aid, and warmly aid, the United States in bringing to condign
punishment, every man engaged in the riot. She owes it to
herself and to the Union. Let her in this resolve, be just and
fearless."

From a leading neutral daily paper the following is taken: "One would suppose from the advice of forcible resistance, so familiarly given by the abolitionists, that they are quite unaware that there is any such crime as treason recognized by the Constitution, or punished with death by the laws of the United States. We would remind them, that not only is there such a crime, but that there is a solemn decision of the Supreme Court, that all who are concerned in a conspiracy which ripens into treason, whether present or absent from the scene of actual violence, are involved in the same liabilities as the immediate actors. If they engage in the conspiracy and stimulate the treason, they may keep their bodies from the affray without saving their necks from a halter.

It would be very much to the advantage of society, if an example could be made of some of these persistent agitators, who excite the ignorant and reckless to treasonable violence, from which they themselves shrink, but who are, not only in morals, but in law, equally guilty and equally amenable to punishment with the victims of their inflammatory counsels."

A number of the most influential citizens represented the occurrence to the Governor as follows:

"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 power of the law:

That your memorialists are not aware that 'any military force'
has been sent to the seat of insurrection, or that the civil
authority has been strengthened by the adoption of any measures
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."

Under this high pressure of public excitement, threatening and alarm breathed so freely on every hand, that fugitive slaves and their friends in this region of Pennsylvania at least, were compelled to pass through an hour of dreadful darkness--an ordeal extremely trying. The authorities of the United States, as well as the authorities of the State of Pennsylvania and Maryland, were diligently making arrests wherever a suspected party could be found, who happened to belong in the neighborhood of Christiana.

In a very short time the following persons were in custody: J. Castner Hanaway, Elijah Lewis, Joseph Scarlett, Samuel Kendig, Henry Spins, George Williams, Charles Hunter, Wilson Jones, Francis Harkins, Benjamin Thomson, William Brown (No. 1), William Brown (No. 2), John Halliday, Elizabeth Mosey, John Morgan, Joseph Berry, John Norton, Denis Smith, Harvey Scott, Susan Clark, Tansy Brown, Eliza Brown, Eliza Parker, Hannah Pinckney, Robert Johnson, Miller Thompson, Isaiah Clark, and Jonathan Black.

These were not all, but sufficed for a beginning; at least it made an interesting entertainment for the first day's examination; and although there were two or three non-resistant Quakers, and a number of poor defenceless colored women among those thus taken as prisoners, still it seemed utterly impossible for the exasperated defenders of Slavery to divest themselves of the idea, that this heroic deed, in self-defence, on the part of men who felt that their liberties were in danger, was anything less than actually levying war against the United States.

Accordingly, therefore, the hearing gravely took place at Lancaster. On the side of the Commonwealth, the following distinguished counsel appeared on examination: Hon. John L. Thompson, District Attorney; Wm. B. Faulney, Esq.; Thos. E. Franklin, Esq., Attorney-General of Lancaster county; George L. Ashmead, Esq., of Philadelphia, representative of the United States authorities; and Hon. Robert Brent, Attorney-General of Maryland.

For the defence--Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, Reah Frazer, Messrs. Ford, Cline, and Dickey, Esquires.

From a report of the first day's hearing we copy a short extract, as follows:

"The excitement at Christiana, during yesterday, was very great.
Several hundred persons were present, and the deepest feeling
was manifested against the perpetrators of the outrage. At two
o'clock yesterday afternoon, the United States Marshal, Mr.
Roberts, United States District Attorney, J.H. Ashmead, Esq.,
Mr. Commissioner Ingraham, and Recorder Lee, accompanied by the
United States Marines, returned to the city. Lieut. Johnson, and
officers Lewis S. Brest, Samuel Mitchell, Charles McCully,
Samuel Neff, Jacob Albright, Robert McEwen, and ---- Perkenpine,
by direction of the United States Marshal, had charge of the
following named prisoners, who were safely lodged in Moyamensing
prison, accompanied by the Marines:--Joseph Scarlett, (white),
William Brown, Ezekiel Thompson, Isaiah Clarkson, Daniel
Caulsberry, Benjamin Pendergrass, Elijah Clark, George W.H.
Scott, Miller Thompson, and Samuel Hanson, all colored. The last
three were placed in the debtors' apartment, and the others in
the criminal apartment of the Moyamensing prison to await their
trial for treason, &c."

In alluding to the second day's doings, the Philadelphia Ledger thus represented matters at the field of battle:

"The intelligence received last evening, represents the country
for miles around, to be in as much excitement as at any time
since the horrible deed was committed. The officers sent there
at the instance of the proper authorities are making diligent
search in every direction, and securing every person against
whom the least suspicion is attached. The police force from this
city, amounting to about sixty men, are under the marshalship of
Lieut. Ellis. Just as the cars started east, in the afternoon,
five more prisoners who were secured at a place called the Welsh
Mountains, twelve miles distant, were brought into Christiana.
They were placed in custody until such time as a hearing will
take place."

Although the government had summoned its ablest legal talent and the popular sentiment was as a hundred to one against William Parker and his brave comrades who had made the slave-hunter "bite the dust," most nobly did Thaddeus Stevens prove that he was not to be cowed, that he believed in the stirring sentiment so much applauded by the American people, "Give me liberty, or give me death," not only for the white man but for all men. Thus standing upon such great and invulnerable principles, it was soon discovered that one could chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight in latter as well as in former times.

At first even the friends of freedom thought that the killing of Gorsuch was not only wrong, but unfortunate for the cause. Scarcely a week passed, however, before the matter was looked upon in a far different light, and it was pretty generally thought that, if the Lord had not a direct hand in it, the cause of Freedom at least would be greatly benefited thereby.

And just in proportion as the masses cried, Treason! Treason! the hosts of freedom from one end of the land to the other were awakened to sympathize with the slave. Thousands were soon aroused to show sympathy who had hitherto been dormant. Hundreds visited the prisoners in their cells to greet, cheer, and offer them aid and counsel in their hour of sore trial.

The friends of freedom remained calm even while the pro-slavery party were fiercely raging and gloating over the prospect, as they evidently thought of the satisfaction to be derived from teaching the abolitionists a lesson from the scaffold, which would in future prevent Underground Rail Road passengers from killing their masters when in pursuit of them.

Through the efforts of the authorities three white men, and twenty-seven colored had been safely lodged in Moyamensing prison, under the charge of treason. The authorities, however, had utterly failed to catch the hero, William Parker, as he had been sent to Canada, _viâ_ the Underground Rail Road, and was thus "sitting under his own vine and fig tree, where none dared to molest, or make him afraid."

As an act of simple justice it may here be stated that the abolitionists and prisoners found a true friend and ally at least in one United States official, who, by the way, figured prominently in making arrests, etc., namely: the United States Marshal, A.E. Roberts. In all his intercourse with the prisoners and their friends, he plainly showed that all his sympathies were on the side of Freedom, and not with the popular pro-slavery sentiment which clamored so loudly against traitors and abolitionists.

Two of his prisoners had been identified in the jail as fugitive slaves by their owners. When the trial came on these two individuals were among the missing. How they escaped was unknown; the Marshal, however, was strongly suspected of being a friend of the Underground Rail Road, and to add now, that those suspicions were founded on fact, will, doubtless, do him no damage.

In order to draw the contrast between Freedom and Slavery, simply with a view of showing how the powers that were acted and judged in the days of the reign of the Fugitive Slave Law, unquestionably nothing better could be found to meet the requirements of this issue than the charge of Judge Kane, coupled with the indictment of the Grand Jury. In the light of the Emancipation and the Fifteenth Amendment, they are too transparent to need a single word of comment. Judge and jury having found the accused chargeable with Treason, nothing remained, so far as the men were concerned, but to bide their time as best they could in prison. Most of them were married, and had wives and children clinging to them in this hour of fearful looking for of judgment.

THE LAW OF TREASON, AS LAID DOWN BY JUDGE KANE.

The following charge to the Grand Jury of the United States District Court, in reference to the Slave-hunting affray in Lancaster county, and preparatory to their finding bills of indictment against the prisoners, was delivered on Monday, September 28, by Judge Kane:

"Gentlemen of the Grand Jury:--It has been represented to me,
that since we met last, circumstances have occurred in one of
the neighboring counties in our District, which should call for
your prompt scrutiny, and perhaps for the energetic action of
the Court. It is said, that a citizen of the State of Maryland,
who had come into Pennsylvania to reclaim a fugitive from labor,
was forcibly obstructed in the attempt by a body of armed men,
assaulted, beaten and murdered; that some members of his family,
who had accompanied him in the pursuit, were at the same time,
and by the same party maltreated and grievously wounded; and
that an officer of justice, constituted under the authority of
this Court, who sought to arrest the fugitive, was impeded and
repelled by menaces and violence, while proclaiming his
character, and exhibiting his warrant. It is said, too, that the
time and manner of these outrages, their asserted object, the
denunciations by which they were preceded, and the simultaneous
action of most of the guilty parties, evinced a combined purpose
forcibly to resist and make nugatory a constitutional provision,
and the statutes enacted in pursuance of it: and it is added, in
confirmation of this, that for some months back, gatherings of
people, strangers, as well as citizens, have been held from time
to time in the vicinity of the place of the recent outbreaks, at
which exhortations were made and pledges interchanged to hold
the law for the recovery of fugitive slaves as of no validity,
and to defy its execution. Such are some of the representations
that have been made in my hearing, and in regard to which, it
has become your duty, as the Grand Inquest of the District, to
make legal inquiry. Personally, I know nothing of the facts, or
the evidence relating to them. As a member of the Court, before
which the accused persons may hereafter be arraigned and tried,
I have sought to keep my mind altogether free from any
impressions of their guilt or innocence, and even from an
extra-judicial knowledge of the circumstances which must
determine the legal character of the offence that has thus been
perpetrated. It is due to the great interests of public justice,
no less than to the parties implicated in a criminal charge,
that their cause should be in no wise and in no degree
prejudged. And in referring, therefore, to the representations
which have been made to me, I have no other object than to point
you to the reasons for my addressing you at this advanced period
of our sessions, and to enable you to apply with more facility
and certainty the principles and rules of law, which I shall
proceed to lay before you.

If the circumstances, to which I have adverted, have in fact
taken place, they involve the highest crime known to our laws.
Treason against the United States is defined by the
Constitution, Art. 3, Sec. 3, cl. 1, to consist in "levying war
against them, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and
comfort." This definition is borrowed from the ancient Law of
England, Stat. 25, Edw. 3, Stat. 5, Chap. 2, and its terms must
be understood, of course, in the sense which they bore in that
law, and which obtained here when the Constitution was adopted.
The expression, "levying war," so regarded, embraces not merely
the act of formal or declared war, but any combination forcibly
to prevent or oppose the execution or enforcement of a provision
of the Constitution, or of a public Statute, if accompanied or
followed by an act of forcible opposition in pursuance of such
combination. This, in substance, has been the interpretation
given to these words by the English Judges, and it has been
uniformly and fully recognized and adopted in the Courts of the
United States. (See Foster, Hale, and Hawkins, and the opinions
of Iredell, Patterson, Chase, Marshall, and Washington, J.J., of
the Supreme Court, and of Peters, D.J., in U.S. vs. Vijol, U.S.
vs. Mitchell, U.S. vs. Fries, U.S. vs. Bollman and Swartwout,
and U.S. vs. Burr).

The definition, as you will observe, includes two particulars,
both of them indispensable elements of the offence. There must
have been a combination or conspiring together to oppose the law
by force, and some actual force must have been exerted, or the
crime of treason is not consummated. The highest, or at least
the direct proof of the combination may be found in the declared
purposes of the individual party before the actual outbreak; or
it may be derived from the proceedings of meetings, in which he
took part openly; or which he either prompted, or made effective
by his countenance or sanction,--commending, counselling and
instigating forcible resistance to the law. I speak, of course,
of a conspiring to resist a law, not the more limited purpose to
violate it, or to prevent its application and enforcement in a
particular case, or against a particular individual. The
combination must be directed against the law itself. But such
direct proof of this element of the offence is not legally
necessary to establish its existence. The concert of purpose may
be deduced from the concerted action itself, or it may be
inferred from facts occurring at the time, or afterwards, as
well as before. Besides this, there must be some act of
violence, as the result or consequence of the combining.

But here again, it is not necessary to prove that the individual
accused was a direct, personal actor in the violence. If he was
present, directing, aiding, abetting, counselling, or
countenancing it, he is in law guilty of the forcible act. Nor
is even his personal presence indispensable. Though he be absent
at the time of its actual perpetration, yet, if he directed the
act, devised, or knowingly furnished the means for carrying it
into effect, instigated others to perform it, he shares their
guilt.

In treason there are no accessories. There has been, I fear, an
erroneous impression on this subject, among a portion of our
people. If it has been thought safe, to counsel and instigate
others to acts of forcible oppugnation to the provisions of a
statute, to inflame the minds of the ignorant by appeals to
passion, and denunciations of the law as oppressive, unjust,
revolting to the conscience, and not binding on the actions of
men, to represent the constitution of the land as a compact of
iniquity, which it were meritorious to violate or subvert, the
mistake has been a grievous one; and they who have fallen into
it may rejoice, if peradventure their appeals and their counsels
have been hitherto without effect. The supremacy of the
constitution, in all its provisions, is at the very basis of our
existence as a nation. He, whose conscience, or whose theories
of political or individual right, forbid him to support and
maintain it in its fullest integrity, may relieve himself from
the duties of citizenship, by divesting himself of its rights.
But while he remains within our borders, he is to remember, that
successfully to instigate treason, is to commit it. I shall not
be supposed to imply in these remarks, that I have doubts of the
law-abiding character of our people. No one can know them well,
without the most entire reliance on their fidelity to the
constitution. Some of them may differ from the mass, as to the
rightfulness or the wisdom of this or the other provision that
is found in the federal compact, they may be divided in
sentiment as to the policy of a particular statute, or of some
provision in a statute; but it is their honest purpose to stand
by the engagements, all the engagements, which bind them to
their brethren of the other States. They have but one country;
they recognize no law of higher social obligation than its
constitution and the laws made in pursuance of it; they
recognize no higher appeal than to the tribunals it has
appointed; they cherish no patriotism that looks beyond the
union of the States. That there are men here, as elsewhere, whom
a misguided zeal impels to violations of law; that there are
others who are controlled by false sympathies, and some who
yield too readily and too fully to sympathies not always false,
or if false, yet pardonable, and become criminal by yielding,
that we have, not only in our jails and almshouses, but
segregated here and there in detached portions of the State,
ignorant men, many of them without political rights, degraded in
social position, and instinctive of revolt, all this is true. It
is proved by the daily record of our police courts, and by the
ineffective labors of those good men among us, who seek to
detach want from temptation, passion from violence, and
ignorance from crime.

But it should not be supposed that any of these represent the
sentiment of Pennsylvania, and it would be to wrong our people
sorely, to include them in the same category of personal,
social, or political morals. It is declared in the article of
the constitution, which I have already cited, that 'no person
shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two
witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open
court.' This and the corresponding language in the act of
Congress of the 30th of April, 1790, seem to refer to the proofs
on the trial, and not to the preliminary hearing before the
committing magistrate, or the proceeding before the grand
inquest. There can be no conviction until after arraignment on
bill found. The previous action in the case is not a trial, and
cannot convict, whatever be the evidence or the number of
witnesses. I understand this to have been the opinion
entertained by Chief Justice Marshall, 1 Burr's Trial, 195, and
though it differs from that expressed by Judge Iredell on the
indictment of Fries, (1 Whart. Am. St. Tr. 480), I feel
authorized to recommend it to you, as within the terms of the
Constitution, and involving no injustice to the accused. I have
only to add that treason against the United States, may be
committed by any one resident or sojourning within its
territory, and under the protection of its laws, whether he be a
citizen or an alien. (Fost. C.L. 183, 5.--1 Hale 59, 60, 62. 1
Hawk. ch. 17, § 5, Kel. 38).

Besides the crime of treason, which I have thus noticed, there
are offences of minor grades, against the Constitution and the
State, some or other of which may be apparently established by
the evidence that will come before you. These are embraced in
the act of Congress, on the 30th of Sept., 1790, Ch. 9, Sec. 22,
on the subject of obstructing or resisting the service of legal
process,--the act of the 2d of March, 1831, Chap. 99, Sec. 2,
which secures the jurors, witnesses, and officers of our Courts
in the fearless, free, and impartial administration of their
respective functions,--and the act of the 18th of September,
1850, Ch. 60, which relates more particularly to the rescue, or
attempted rescue of a fugitive from labor. These Acts were made
the subject of a charge to the Grand Jury of this Court in
November last, of which I shall direct a copy to be laid before
you; and I do not deem it necessary to repeat their provisions
at this time.

Gentlemen of the Grand Jury: You are about to enter upon a most
grave and momentous duty. You will be careful in performing it,
not to permit your indignation against crime, or your just
appreciation of its perilous consequences, to influence your
judgment of the guilt of those who may be charged before you
with its commission. But you will be careful, also, that no
misguided charity shall persuade you to withhold the guilty from
the retributions of justice. You will inquire whether an offence
has been committed, what was its legal character, and who were
the offenders,--and this done, and this only, you will make your
presentments according to the evidence and the law. Your
inquiries will not be restricted to the conduct of the people
belonging to our own State. If in the progress of them, you
shall find, that men have been among us, who, under whatever
mask of conscience or of peace, have labored to incite others to
treasonable violence, and who, after arranging the elements of
the mischief, have withdrawn themselves to await the explosion
they had contrived, you will feel yourselves bound to present
the fact to the Court,--and however distant may be the place in
which the offenders may have sought refuge, we give you the
pledge of the law, that its far-reaching energies shall be
exerted to bring them up for trial,--if guilty, to punishment.
The offence of treason is not triable in this Court; but by an
act of Congress, passed on the 8th of August, 1845, Chap. 98, it
is made lawful for the Grand Jury, empanelled and sworn in the
District Court, to take cognizance of all the indictments for
crimes against the United States within the jurisdiction of
either of the Federal Courts of the District. There being no
Grand Jury in attendance at this time in the Circuit Court, to
pass upon the accusations I have referred to in the first
instance, it has fallen to my lot to assume the responsible
office of expounding to you the law in regard to them. I have
the satisfaction of knowing, that if the views I have expressed
are in any respect erroneous, they must undergo the revision of
my learned brother of the Supreme Court, who presides in this
Circuit, before they can operate to the serious prejudice of any
one; and that if they are doubtful even, provision exists for
their re-examination in the highest tribunal of the country."

On the strength of Judge Kane's carefully-drawn up charge the Grand Jury found true bills of indictment against forty of the Christiana offenders, charged with treason. James Jackson, an aged member of the Society of Friends (a Quaker), and a well-known non-resistant abolitionist, was of this number. With his name the blanks were filled up; the same form (with regard to these bills) was employed in the case of each one of the accused. The following is a

COPY OF THE INDICTMENT.

Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ss.:

The Grand Inquest of the United States of America, inquiring for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, on their oaths and
affirmations, respectfully do present, that James Jackson,
yeoman of the District aforesaid, owing allegiance to the United
States of America, wickedly devising and intending the peace and
tranquility of said United States, to disturb, and prevent the
execution of the laws thereof within the same, to wit, a law of
the United States, entitled "An act respecting fugitives from
justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters,"
approved February twelfth, one thousand seven hundred and
ninety-three, and also a law of the United States, entitled "An
act to amend, and supplementary to, the act entitled, An act
respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the
service of their masters, approved February the twelfth, one
thousand seven hundred and ninety-three," which latter
supplementary act was approved September eighteenth, one
thousand eight hundred and fifty, on the eleventh day of
September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred
and fifty-one, in the county of Lancaster, in the State of
Pennsylvania and District aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction
of this Court, wickedly and traitorously did intend to levy war
against the United States within the same. And to fulfill and
bring to effect the said traitorous intention of him, the said
James Jackson, he, the said James Jackson afterward, to wit, on
the day and year aforesaid, in the State, District and County
aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction of this Court, with a
great multitude of persons, whose names, to this Inquest are as
yet unknown, to a great number, to wit, to the number of one
hundred persons and upwards, armed and arrayed in a warlike
manner, that is to say, with guns, swords, and other warlike
weapons, as well offensive as defensive, being then and there
unlawfully and traitorously assembled, did traitorously assemble
and combine against the said United States, and then and there,
with force and arms, wickedly and traitorously, and with the
wicked and traitorous intention to oppose and prevent, by means
of intimidation and violence, the execution of the said laws of
the United States within the same, did array and dispose
themselves in a warlike and hostile manner against the said
United States, and then and there, with force and arms, in
pursuance of such their traitorous intention, he, the said James
Jackson, with the said persons so as aforesaid, wickedly and
traitorously did levy war against the United States.

And further, to fulfill and bring to effect the said traitorous
intention of him, the said James Jackson, and in pursuance and
in execution of the said wicked and traitorous combination to
oppose, resist and prevent the said laws of the United States
from being carried into execution, he, the said James Jackson,
afterwards, to wit, on the day and year first aforesaid, in the
State, District and county aforesaid, and within the
jurisdiction aforesaid, with the said persons whose names to
this Inquest are as yet unknown, did, wickedly and traitorously
assemble against the said United States, with the avowed
intention by force of arms and intimidation to prevent the
execution of the said laws of the United States within the same;
and in pursuance and execution of such their wicked and
traitorous combination, he, the said James Jackson, then and
there with force and arms, with the said persons to a great
number, to wit, the number of one hundred persons and upwards,
armed and arrayed in a warlike manner, that is to say, with
guns, swords, and other warlike weapons, as well offensive as
defensive, being then and there, unlawfully and traitorously
assembled, did wickedly, knowingly, and traitorously resist and
oppose one Henry H. Kline, an officer, duly appointed by Edward
D. Ingraham, Esq., a commissioner, duly appointed by the Circuit
Court of the United States, for the said district, in the
execution of the duty of the office of the said Kline, he, the
said Kline, being appointed by the said Edward Ingraham, Esq.,
by writing under his hand, to execute warrants and other process
issued by him, the said Ingraham, in the performance of his
duties as Commissioner, under the said laws of the United
States, and then and there, with force and arms, with the said
great multitude of persons, so as, aforesaid, unlawfully and
traitorously assembled, and armed and arrayed in manner as
aforesaid, he, the said, James Jackson, wickedly and
traitorously did oppose and resist, and prevent the said Kline,
from executing the lawful process to him directed and delivered
by the said commissioner against sundry persons, then residents
of said county, who had been legally charged before the said
commissioner as being persons held to service or labor in the
State of Maryland, and owing such service or labor to a certain
Edward Gorsuch, under the laws of the said State of Maryland,
had escaped therefrom, into the said Eastern district of
Pennsylvania; which process, duly issued by the said
commissioner, the said Kline then and there had in his
possession, and was then and there proceeding to execute, as by
law he was bound to do; and so the grand inquest, upon their
respective oaths and affirmations aforesaid, do say, that the
said James Jackson, in manner aforesaid, as much as in him lay,
wickedly and traitorously did prevent, by means of force and
intimidation, the execution of the said laws of the United
States, in the said State and District. And further, to fulfill
and bring to effect, the said traitorous intention of him, the
said James Jackson, and in further pursuance, and in the
execution of the said wicked and traitorous combination to
expose, resist, and prevent the execution of the said laws of
the said United States, in the State and District aforesaid, he,
the said James Jackson, afterwards, to wit, on the day and year
first aforesaid, in the State, county, and district aforesaid,
and within the jurisdiction of this court, with the said persons
whose names to the grand inquest aforesaid, are as yet unknown,
did, wickedly and traitorously assemble against the said United
States with the avowed intention, by means of force and
intimidation, to prevent the execution of the said laws of the
United States in the State and district aforesaid, and in
pursuance and execution of such, their wicked and traitorous
combination and intention, then and there to the State,
district, and county aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction of
this court, with force and arms, with a great multitude of
persons, to wit, the number of one hundred persons and upwards,
armed and arrayed in a warlike manner, that is to say, with
guns, swords, and other warlike weapons, as well offensive as
defensive, being then and there unlawfully and traitorously
assembled, he, the said James Jackson, did, knowingly, and
unlawfully assault the said Henry H. Kline, he, the said Kline,
being an officer appointed by writing, under the hand of the
said Edward D. Ingraham, Esq., a commissioner under said laws,
to execute warrants and other process, issued by the said
commissioner in the performance of his duties as such; and he,
the said James Jackson, did, then and there, traitorously, with
force and arms, against the will of the said Kline, liberate and
take out of his custody, persons by him before that time
arrested, and in his lawful custody, then and there being, by
virtue of lawful process against them issued by the said
commissioner, they being legally charged with being persons held
to service or labor in the State of Maryland, and owing such
service or labor to a certain Edward Gorsuch, under the laws of
the said State of Maryland, who had escaped therefrom into the
said district; and so the grand inquest aforesaid, upon their
oaths and affirmations, aforesaid, do say, that he, the said
James Jackson, as much as in him lay, did, then and there, in
pursuance and in execution of the said wicked and traitorous
combination and intention, wickedly and traitorously, by means
of force and intimidation, prevent the execution of the said
laws of the United States, in the said State and district.

And further to fulfill and bring to effect, the said traitorous
intention of him, the said James Jackson, and in pursuance and
in execution of the said wicked and traitorous combination to
oppose, resist and prevent the said laws of the United States
from being carried into execution, he, the said James Jackson,
afterwards, to wit, on the day and year first aforesaid, and on
divers other days, both before and afterwards in the State and
district aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction of this court,
with the said persons to this inquest as yet unknown,
maliciously and traitorously did meet, conspire, consult, and
agree among themselves, further to oppose, resist, and prevent,
by means of force and intimidation, the execution of the said
laws herein before specified.

And further to fulfill, perfect, and bring to effect the said
traitorous intention of him the said James Jackson, and in
pursuance and execution of the said wicked and traitorous
combination to oppose and resist the said laws of the United
States from being carried into execution, in the State and
district aforesaid, he, the said James Jackson, together with
the other persons whose names are to this inquest as yet
unknown, on the day and year first aforesaid, and on divers
other days and times, as well before and after, at the district
aforesaid, within the jurisdiction of said court, with force and
arms, maliciously and traitorously did prepare and compose, and
did then and there maliciously and traitorously cause and
procure to be prepared and composed, divers books, pamphlets,
letters, declarations, resolutions, addresses, papers and
writings, and did then and there maliciously and traitorously
publish and disperse and cause to be published and dispersed,
divers other books and pamphlets, letters, declarations,
resolutions, addresses, papers and writings; the said books,
pamphlets, letters, declarations, resolutions, addresses, papers
and writings, so respectively prepared, composed, published and
dispersed, as last aforesaid, containing therein, amongst other
things, incitements, encouragements, and exhortations, to move,
induce and persuade persons held to service in any of the United
States, by the laws thereof, who had escaped into the said
district, as well as other persons, citizens of said district,
to resist, oppose, and prevent, by violence and intimidation,
the execution of the said laws, and also containing therein,
instructions and directions how and upon what occasion, the
traitorous purposes last aforesaid, should and might be carried
into effect, contrary to the form of the act of Congress in such
case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the
United States.

JOHN W. ASHMEAD,

Attorney of the U.S. for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The abolitionists were leaving no stone unturned in order to triumphantly meet the case in Court. During the interim many tokens of kindness and marks of Christian benevolence were extended to the prisoners by their friends and sympathizers; among these none deserve more honorable mention than the noble act of Thomas L. Kane (son of Judge Kane, and now General), in tendering all the prisoners a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner, consisting of turkey, etc., pound cake, etc., etc. The dinner for the white prisoners, Messrs. Hanaway, Davis, and Scarlett, was served in appropriate style in the room of Mr. Morrison, one of the keepers. The U.S. Marshal, A.E. Roberts, Esq., several of the keepers, and Mr. Hanes, one of the prison officers, dined with the prisoners as their guests. Mayor Charles Gilpin was also present and accepted an invitation to test the quality of the luxuries, thus significantly indicating that he was not the enemy of Freedom.

Mrs. Martha Hanaway, the wife of the "traitor" of that name, and who had spent most of her time with her husband since his incarceration, served each of the twenty-seven colored "traitors" with a plate of the delicacies, and the supply being greater than the demand, the balance was served to outsiders in other cells on the same corridor.

The pro-slavery party were very indignant over the matter, and the Hon. Mr. Brent thought it incumbent upon him to bring this high-handed procedure to the notice of the Court, where he received a few crumbs of sympathy, from the pro-slavery side, of course. But the dinner had been so handsomely arranged, and coming from the source that it did, it had a very telling effect. Long before this, however, Mr. T.L. Kane had given abundant evidence that he approved of the Underground Rail Road, and was a decided opponent of the Fugitive Slave Law; in short, that he believed in freedom for all men, irrespective of race or color.

Castnor Hanaway was first to be tried; over him, therefore, the great contest was to be made. For the defence of this particular case, the abolitionists selected J.M. Read, Thaddeus Stevens, Joseph S. Lewis and Theodore Cuyler, Esqs. On the side of the Fugitive Slave Law, and against the "traitors," were U.S. District Attorney, John W. Ashmead, Hon. James Cooper, James R. Ludlow, Esq., and Robert G. Brent, Attorney General of Maryland. Mr. Brent was allowed to act as "overseer" in conducting matters on the side of the Fugitive Slave Law. On this infamous enactment, combined with a corrupted popular sentiment, the pro-slavery side depended for success. The abolitionists viewed matters in the light of freedom and humanity, and hopefully relied upon the justice of their cause and the power of truth to overcome and swallow up all the Pharaoh's rods of serpents as fast as they might be thrown down.

The prisoners having lain in their cells nearly three months, the time for their trial arrived. Monday morning, November 24th, the contest began. The first three days were occupied in procuring jurors. The pro-slavery side desired none but such as believed in the Fugitive Slave law and in "Treason" as expounded in the Judge's charge and the finding of the Grand Jury.

The counsel for the "Traitors" carefully weighed the jurors, and when found wanting challenged them; in so doing, they managed to get rid of most all of that special class upon whom the prosecution depended for a conviction. The jury having been sworn in, the battle commenced in good earnest, and continued unabated for nearly two weeks. It is needless to say, that the examinations and arguments would fill volumes, and were of the most deeply interesting nature.

No attempt can here be made to recite the particulars of the trial other than by a mere reference. It was, doubtless, the most important trial that ever took place in this country relative to the Underground Rail Road passengers, and in its results more good was brought out of evil than can easily be estimated. The pro-slavery theories of treason were utterly demolished, and not a particle of room was left the advocates of the peculiar institution to hope, that slave-hunters in future, in quest of fugitives, would be any more safe than Gorsuch. The tide of public sentiment changed--Hanaway, and the other "traitors," began to be looked upon as having been greatly injured, and justly entitled to public sympathy and honor, while confusion of face, disappointment and chagrin were plainly visible throughout the demoralized ranks of the enemy. Hanaway was victorious.

An effort was next made to convict Thompson, one of the colored "traitors." To defend the colored prisoners, the old Abolition Society had retained Thaddeus Stevens, David Paul Brown, William S. Pierce, and Robert P. Kane, Esqs., (son of Judge Kane). Stevens, Brown and Pierce were well-known veterans, defenders of the slave wherever and whenever called upon so to do. In the present case, they were prepared for a gallant stand and a long siege against opposing forces. Likewise, R.P. Kane, Esq., although a young volunteer in the anti-slavery war, brought to the work great zeal, high attainments, large sympathy and true pluck, while, in view of all the circumstances, the committee of arrangements felt very much gratified to have him in their ranks.

By this time, however, the sandy foundations of "overseer" Brent and Co., (on the part of slavery), had been so completely swept away by the Hon. J.M. Read and Co., on the side of freedom, that there was but little chance left to deal heavy blows upon the defeated advocates of the Fugitive Slave Law. Thompson was pronounced "not guilty." The other prisoners, of course, shared the same good luck. The victory was then complete, equally as much so as at Christiana. Underground Rail Road stock arose rapidly and a feeling of universal rejoicing pervaded the friends of freedom from one end of the country to the other.

Especially were slave-holders taught the wholesome lesson, that the Fugitive Slave Law was no guarantee against "red hot shot," nor the charges of U.S. Judges and the findings of Grand Juries, together with the superior learning of counsel from slave-holding Maryland, any guarantee that "traitors" would be hung. In every respect, the Underground Rail Road made capital by the treason. Slave-holders from Maryland especially were far less disposed to hunt their runaway property than they had hitherto been. The Deputy Marshal likewise considered the business of catching slaves very unsafe.

* * * * *

WILLIAM AND ELLEN CRAFT.

FEMALE SLAVE IN MALE ATTIRE, FLEEING AS A PLANTER, WITH HER HUSBAND AS HER BODY SERVANT.

A quarter of a century ago, William and Ellen Craft were slaves in the State of Georgia. With them, as with thousands of others, the desire to be free was very strong. For this jewel they were willing to make any sacrifice, or to endure any amount of suffering. In this state of mind they commenced planning. After thinking of various ways that might be tried, it occurred to William and Ellen, that one might act the part of master and the other the part of servant.

Ellen being fair enough to pass for white, of necessity would have to be transformed into a young planter for the time being. All that was needed, however, to make this important change was that she should be dressed elegantly in a fashionable suit of male attire, and have her hair cut in the style usually worn by young planters. Her profusion of dark hair offered a fine opportunity for the change. So far this plan looked very tempting. But it occurred to them that Ellen was beardless. After some mature reflection, they came to the conclusion that this difficulty could be very readily obviated by having the face muffled up as though the young planter was suffering badly with the face or toothache; thus they got rid of this trouble. Straightway, upon further reflection, several other very serious difficulties stared them in the face. For instance, in traveling, they knew that they would be under the necessity of stopping repeatedly at hotels, and that the custom of registering would have to be conformed to, unless some very good excuse could be given for not doing so.