This evening we listened to Lieutenant Kingsley's thrilling description of the cruel irons he filed off from a number of slaves, who were too intelligent to be held without severe measures. He said these men made soldiers who hesitated not to brave the greatest dangers. His experience reminded us of the words of another:
"Beware the time when that chain shall break,
That galls the flesh and spirit;
When the yoke is thrown from the bended neck,
That is chafed too much to hear it
There's a God above, that looks with a frown,
To see how long you have trodden him down."
In distributing the remainder of our tracts and Testaments to prisoners we met a number of very intelligent men, who appeared to be men of Christian principles. I always made it a point to say nothing to a prisoner of the particular crime that placed him in confinement, but directed his thoughts to the Lord Jesus, the lover of sinners. As my sympathies became deeply enlisted in behalf of many of the prisoners in irons, I inquired of Captain Noyce, in whose charge they were, what crimes these soldiers had committed, that they should be confined in irons. "No crime," he answered.
"Then please tell me," I said, "why they are here?"
"For drunkenness, being late at roll-call, absence without leave, and selling government property, mostly exchanging rations for groceries, such as sugar and tea."
"Is this possible?" I exclaimed. "All these trivial offenses have been settled in their own regiments wherever else I have been."
"So they have wherever I have been, until I came here. But you seem almost to disbelieve my word. If you do, you can step into my office and examine the record for yourself. You will find these men sentenced from one year to thirty-eight for the offenses I have named."
"I have no reason to doubt your word, but I will thank you for the privilege of examining that record. Who pronounced these sentences?"
"Judge Attocha."
"Who is Judge Attocha?"