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Show 56 POR TRAJTtfRE OF SLAV!R 1·. The specimen here gi:ven of man-stealjng, fO';'lS but a mere speck in an extensive system of thts nefanous pro. fession, which for many years has been, and continues to be pursued, with increasing vigor and pecuniary profit, in all the middle states. Even the city of Philadelphia is not exempt from thts moral pestilence. To enumerate all the horrid and aggravating instances of men-stealing, which are known to have occurred in the state of Delaware, within the recollection of many of thecitizens of that state, would require a heavy volume. In many cases, whole families of free coloured people have been attacked in the night, beaten nearly to death with clubs, gagged and bound, and dragged into distant and hopeless captivity and slavery, leaving no traces behind, except the blood from their wounds. During the last winter, since the seizure of the woman and infant, as related above, the house of a free black fa. mily was broken open, and its defenceless inhabitants treated in the manner just mentioned, except, that the mother escaped from their merciless grasp, while on their way to the state of Maryland. The plunderers, of whon't there were nearly half a dozen, conveyed their prey upon horse' ; and the woman being placed on one of the horses, behind, improved an opportunity, as they were passing a house, and sprang o[; and not daring to pursue her, they proceeded on, leaving her youn~st child a .little .fa:ther along by the side of the road, m expectatwn, tt ts supposed, that its cries would attract the mother, but she prudently waited until morning, and recovered it again in safety. I consicler myself more fully warranted in particularising this fact, from the circumstances of h;lving been at New-Castle at the time that the woman was brought with her child, before the ~rand jury, for examination; and of having seen several ol the persons against whom bills ?f indictment were found, on the charge of being engaged m tl1e perpetration of the outrage; and also that on~ ~r !\':" of them were the same who were accused of asstStmg m l'OR'fRAITUR£ OF SLAVERY. 5.7 seizing and carrying off the woman and child whom I discovered at vVashington. The ingenuity and stratagems employed by kidnappers, in effecting their designs, are such as to prove, that the most consummate cunning Is no evidence of wisdom or mor3l purity, nor incompatible with the most comsummate villainy. A monster, in human shape, was detected in the city of Philadelphia, pursuing the occupation of courting and marrying mulatto women, and selling them as slaves. In his last attempt of this kind, the fact having come to the knowledge of the African population of this city, a mob was immediately collected, and he was only saved from being torn in atoms, by being deposited in the city prison. They have lately invented a method of attaining their objects, through the instrumentality of the laws :-Having selected a suitable free coloured person, to make a pitch upon, the conjuring kidnapper employs a confederate, to ascertain the distinguishing marks of his body, and then claims and obtains !lim as a slave, ~efore a magistral~, by de~cribing those marks, and provu1g the truth of hts asseruons, by his well.instrncted accomplice. '· From the best information that I have had opportunities to collect, in travelling by various routas through the states of Delaware and Maryland, and from sL1tements of an ingenuous trader exclusively, (as I believe) in lawful slaves, I am fully convinced that there are at tlus time within the jurisdiction of the United States' several thoU: sands o~ legally free pe?ple of colour, toihng under the yoke of m~oluntar.y s:"vttude, and t.~nsmittinll' the same fitte to thetr postenty. If the probabtltty of thi6 fact could be _authenticate~! to the recognition. of the congress of the Umted States, tl ts presumed that tis members as agents of the co~stitntion,. and guard~ans of the public liberty, would, wathout he~ntat10n, dcv1se means for the rE-storation of those unhappy victims of violence and avarice to their freedom and c?nstitutional personal rights. Thls is a work_, both from lts nature and magnitude, impraeticable. to HK!tv_tduals or ben~v?knt societies to accomplish; bes1dc.s, 1t IS perfectly a 1\:.ltt?nal business, and claims na .. tlonal mterfercncc, equ:tlly wtth th~ pptivity of our sailors H |