The following pages contain a short history of the late Christiana Treason Trials. During their progress a phonographic report of all the proceedings was taken and printed, by order of the Court, for the use of the Judges and Counsel employed in the cause. For this a copy right was secured, and proposals issued for publishing it in full. Though more than six months have elapsed, this has not yet been done, and the only account of the transactions to which the public have access, is contained in the daily papers of New York and Philadelphia. This pamphlet has been prepared to supply the deficiency.
The sources of information used in compiling it, have been the phonographic report already referred to; a transcript of the docket of Alderman Reigart of Lancaster; a transcript of the docket of E. D. Ingraham, Esquire, Commissioner of the U. S., resident in Philadelphia; the records of the Philadelphia County Prison; the records of the Circuit and District Courts; and the files of the Evening Bulletin. Where these have not furnished a connected story, the deficiency has been supplied from the writer’s own recollection, or that of his friends, who attended upon or participated in the trial.
Some of the most glaring absurdities and incongruities contained in Mr. Brent’s pamphlet, which he calls “A Report to his Excellency Governor Lowe in relation to the Christiana Treason Trials,” have been pointed out. The very limited circulation of this work, confined, we believe, to a few who received copies as a personal favor, would render any notice of it unnecessary, had it not been published in a measure by the authority of the State, whose imaginary wrongs its author has, by these means, sought to vindicate. The almost scurrilous terms in which it denounces the majority of the citizens of Philadelphia, the people of Pennsylvania, the officers of the Court in which the trials were held, the Judges who presided, and, in short, every one connected with the case, except counsel and the witnesses for the prosecution, are conclusive evidence of more anxiety to emit spleen and mortification, than to subserve the purposes of truth and justice.
A popular, not a professional view of the subject has been attempted. It is amongst the body of the people that false reports have been spread, and to the people this statement is addressed, in hopes that it may tend to correct the evil.
In accordance with the wish of the publishers, a brief introduction has been prefixed, embracing a connected view of all the many attempts which have been made, at various periods to settle, by Congressional legislation, the embarrassing question of slavery. The main object is to show the views entertained upon the subject by the great statesmen who framed the Constitution, and watched over its first developments; and accordingly much more space has been devoted to that early legislation, than to measures which are still fresh in the recollection of those whom we address. The essay is thought to be appropriate in this connection, because the late great Compromise, of which these trials are one of the earliest fruits, is the legitimate consequence of long antecedent measures, and cannot be fully understood or appreciated without bestowing much previous study upon our early political history. The sources from which this introduction has been compiled are strictly original, consisting, as far as possible, of official or semi-official documents and reports.
SLAVERY AS A NATIONAL QUESTION.
The following brief essay is not intended to be an argumentative discussion of the subject upon which it treats. Discussions of that sort have abounded so much of late years, that there would be much more presumption than wisdom in any attempt to increase the number. But perhaps it may be matter of interest, now that the conflict has been going on for more than sixty years, to know something of its earlier phases, of its varied successes, and of the deeds done and the words spoken by those who fought the same battle long ago in the infancy of the republic. The region of historical research which we are about to explore, appears to be almost a terra incognita to the majority of the fiery debaters who now-a-days are prosecuting this wordy war; or if they occasionally plunge into it for a moment, it is only to hurry back in premature triumph, dragging captive some unhappy straggling passage of Jefferson or Jay, to serve as a bone of contention for a whole generation of self-constituted agitators in and out of Congress. Now if the object is merely to perpetuate the agitation, the course pursued is unquestionably a wise one; for, short as our national history is, the stock of facts which it supplies us with upon the subject is assuredly large enough, if used with but a tithe of the economy heretofore exhibited, to last till the Union and Time itself shall be no more. But there are some quiet spirits still left who get weary of this hopeless strife, and who can scarcely afford to adopt the advice of the Scotch clergyman—to wait for rest till they get to heaven; who cannot help calling out, “Peace, peace,” however discordant the answer may be; and who, if they needs must fight, would be glad to know what they’re fighting about, fight in earnest and be done with it. To answer, then, at least one of these questions, and suggest to this rapidly increasing class precisely what the present phase of the battle is, and what hopes there are of final peace, this brief historical sketch is attempted. The purpose is not, we repeat it, to discuss the subject; the author aims not at the dignity of a disputant; he is more than satisfied with the humbler task of supplying materials for those who do,—in hopes that if rage and anger have hitherto filled the place of armorers in our battle-field, history may in future discharge the duty a little more creditably. It is proposed, then, to trace the slavery question at length, so far as it has been the source of national difficulties, embarrassments and legislation, with especial reference to its earlier history, and to the clause in the Constitution respecting fugitives, which has lately been made the subject of Congressional action.
It will not be necessary to extend our inquiries to any period anterior to the revolution, or in any way to examine the peculiar causes which first established and have long perpetuated slavery amongst us. Prior to that event, it was of course a question between Great Britain and her colonies, and nice casuistry might perhaps be needed to determine the relative amount of guilt chargeable on each of the two parties. The moral value, too, of a solemn judicial decision, “that no slave could breathe the air or stand on the free soil of England,” may be a little questioned, when it is remembered that such property would of necessity be almost worthless in her climate; and that at the very moment when a reluctant Judge pronounced these boasted words, her capitalists were rolling in wealth that grew out of the sweat on negro brows in her American plantations. We have heard of high bred Southern families in which a thousand out-door slaves are never suffered to pollute the pure air of the saloons and chambers that their masters breathe, or tread the rich carpets that their toil has paid for. The custom is undoubtedly refined and agreeable, but we never heard that it boasted to rest on higher grounds than ordinary mortals venture on.