Marshal, for that sum, and afterwards sold by him to Robert Bown for $20, by which the Marshal lost,

64 82

Arthur Neal sold for amount of his jail fees and maintenance, to the Marshal, being

$46 06

Sold afterwards by private sale to J. G.

Hutton for

40 00

Lost by Marshal,

$06 06

The letter concludes thus: "The Marshal has always considered it to be his duty whenever a negro was committed as a runaway by a Justice of the Peace, who in all cases under the law commits them, which negro had not in his possession proof of his freedom, but alleged himself to be a freeman, to write to any part of the United States to persons who the negro affirmed could prove his freedom, urging them to send on their certificates of such negro being free; and in many instances, these letters of the Marshal or his jailor have been the means of bringing proof that the negro was free.

"The law of Maryland in force in this District, directs that the balance of sales of negroes (sold as runaways) shall remain in the Marshal's hands until the runaway was identified as the property of some master; and in conformity thereto, the Marshal has uniformly handed over such balance whenever the master proved his property. In a late case, Mr. Sprigg of Louisiana, lost a valuable slave, who escaped from him, and made his way to this District, and was committed to my custody, advertised and sold, according to law; leaving a balance of five hundred dollars, after paying maintenance, etc. in my hands. The negro was carried to Louisiana by the person who

purchased him of me, discovered by his former master, Mr. Sprigg, who sent on here and claimed his money. Having ascertained that this negro was the property of Mr. Sprigg, I paid the $500 on demand to his agent here, Mr. Josiah Johnson, Senator of Congress from that State.

TENCH RINGGOLD, Marshal, Dist. Col." Such are the secrets of the prison-house, established by the Federal Government. It may be well to contemplate them in detail. It appears from the cases of SI and NEAL, that the Marshal of the United States after deciding on the liberty or bondage of his prisoners, is allowed to take his fees in human flesh, and the condemned becomes the property of the very judge who sentenced him to servitude, and who carries him into the market there to make out of him as much money as he can. True it is, Mr. Ringgold's speculations appear not to have been very productive, but other jailor-judges may have less honesty, or more skill in negro flesh. The Marshal it seems sold his fees in the shape of S1, for only $20. No reason is assigned for this nominal price. Very probably it was a case similar to the one described by Mr. Miner, in his speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, in 1829. "In August, 1821," said Mr. M. "a black man was taken up, and imprisoned

as a runaway. He was kept confined until October, 1822, four hundred and five days. In this time, vermin, disease, and misery had deprived him of the use of his limbs. He was rendered a cripple for life, and finally discharged as no one would buy him."

The Hannah and James Green sold for fees, were most likely man and wife, and may remind us that the law we are considering is utterly reckless of the most sacred relations. The proceeds of three of the five sold in 1826-7, after deducting fees, &c. is $242,56, and this sum, according to law, the Marshal retains till called for; but if the negroes were free, then, there being no claimant, the money can never be called for, and becomes the perquisite of office, and the income of the Judge of course fluctuates according to the number of freemen he condemns to slavery. Thus does the law literally press upon the Marshal the wages of unrighteousness — thus does it bribe him to the commission of wickedness. In one instance, the receipts of a single condemnation were $500, of which the Marshal was deprived only by a most extraordinary accident.

And now let us review the conduct of the Federal Government towards the free coloured citizen of any State, who presumes to visit the city

of Washington. At the will of a Justice of the Peace he is thrown into prison. His jailor, if he possesses the humanity and disinterestedness of Mr. Ringgold may, if he pleases, write letters to distant parts of the confederacy, although he knows that a favourable answer may keep some hundred dollars from finding their way into his pocket. If no such answer arrives, without any evidence that the letter of inquiry was ever received, the poor wretch is condemned as a slave, and the price of his bones and muscles is paid to the judge who condemned him.

And by whom is this accursed law kept in force? By Northern Representatives and Senators in Congress. On the 8th February, 1836, the House of Representatives resolved, that "Congress ought not to interfere in any way with slavery in the District of Columbia," and no less than 82 northern men had the hardihood to record their names in favour of the resolution. To place if possible, in a still stronger light, the conduct of these men, it may be mentioned that the law we have been considering, belonged to the code of Maryland, at the time the District was ceded, and was continued in force by Act of Congress. In the meantime, the Legislature of Maryland, composed of slaveholders, yielding to the spirit of the age, has erased this foul stain from her