Poor little Tommy stood begging and crying for his friend and companion, for he heard Mr. Grimshaw give an imperative order to the jailer not to allow visitors into his cell. “Never mind, Tommy, we shall soon meet again, and sail companions for the old owners. Don't cry; the jailer will let you see me to-morrow,” said Manuel.
“No, I can't do that; you heard my orders; I must obey them. I should like to do it, but it's out of my power,” returned the jailer, awaiting with a bunch of keys in his hand.
Manuel turned to the little fellow, and kissing him as he would an affectionate child, bade him adieu, and ascended, the steps leading to the third story (Mount Rascal) in advance of the jailer, to be confined in a dark, unhealthy cell, there to await the caprice of one man. To describe this miserable hole would be a task too harrowing to our feelings. We pass it for those who will come after us. He little thought, when he shook the hand of his little companion, that it was the last time he should meet him for many months, and then only to take a last parting look, under the most painful circumstances. But such is the course of life!
Copeland had received notice to hold himself in readiness, as his vessel would be ready for sea the next morning. He was not long in getting his few things in order, and when morning came he was on hand, prepared to bound from the iron confines of the Charleston jail, like a stag from a thicket. As he bade good-by to his fellow-prisoners in the morning, he said, “This is my last imprisonment in Charleston. I have been imprisoned in Savannah, but there I had plenty to eat, comfortable apartments, and every thing I asked for, except my liberty. Never, so long as I sail the water, shall I ship for such a port as this again.” He requested to see Manuel, but being refused, upon the restraint of orders, he left the jail. It was contrary to law; and thus in pursuing his vocation within the limits of South-Carolina, his owners were made to pay the following sum, for which neither they nor the man who suffered the imprisonment received any compensation. “Contrary to Law.” Schooner “Oscar Jones,” Captain Kelly, For William H. Copeland, Colored Seaman. To Sheriff of Charleston District. 1852,
To Arrest, $2; Registry, $2, $4.00 To Recog. $1.31; Constable, $1, 2.31 To Commitment and Discharge, 1.00 To 15 Days' Jail Maintenance of Wm. H. Copeland, at 80 cts. per day, 4.50 Received payment, $11.81 J. D—, Per Charles E. Kanapeaux, Clerk.
God save the sovereignty of South Carolina, and let her mercy and hospitality be known on earth!
CHAPTER XXIII. IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN PAUL, AND JOHN BAPTISTE PAMERLIE.
IN order to complete the four characters, as we designed in the outset, we must here introduce the persons whose names fill the caption. The time of their imprisonment was some two months later than Manuel's release; but we introduce them here for the purpose of furnishing a clear understanding of the scenes connected with Manuel's release.
John Paul was a fine-looking French negro, very dark, with well-developed features, and very intelligent,—what would be called in South Carolina, “a very prime feller.” He was steward on board of the French bark Senegal, Captain—. He spoke excellent French and Spanish, and read Latin very well,—was a Catholic, and paid particular respect to devotional exercises,—but unfortunately he could not speak or understand a word of English. In all our observation of different characters of colored men, we do not remember to have seen one whose pleasant manner, intelligence, and civility, attracted more general attention. But he could not comprehend the meaning of the law imprisoning a peaceable man without crime, and why the authorities should fear him, when he could not speak their language. He wanted to see the city-what sort of people were in it-if they bore any analogy to their good old forefathers in France; and whether they had inherited the same capricious feelings as the descendants of the same generation on the other side of the water. There could be no harm in that; and although he knew something of French socialism, he was ignorant of Carolina's peculiar institutions, her politics, and her fears of abolition, as a “Georgia cracker”