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Show 18 MASSACRE States, were liable to suffer the same outrages to which their ancestors bad l>oen subjected. It is a most singular feature in slave-holding morals, that if tbe parents be robbed of thciT liberty, deprived of the rights with which their Creator Las endowed them, the perpetrator of these wrongs be· comes entitled to repeat them npon the children of their former victims. ~rhcrc were. also some few parents and grandchildren; as well as middle-aged persons, who sought protection within the walls of the Fort against the vigilant sl:.wc~c.c'\tcbcrs who oc· casiona11y were seen prowling around the fortifications, but who clare not venture within the power of those whom they sougbt to enslave. These fugitives bad planted their gardens, ancl some of them hacl flocks roaming in the wilderness; all were enjoying the fruits of their labor, ::rntl congratulating thcmsel ves upon being safe fmm the attacks of those who enslave mankind. But the Rpirit of op· pression is inexorable. ~'he slaveholclcrs finding they could not themselves obtain possession of their in· tended victims, call eel on the President of the U nitcd States for assistance to perpetrate the crime of enslaving their fellow men. ~'hat functionary had been AT BLOUNT'S FORT. 19 reared amid southern institutions. Ile entertained no doubt of the right of one man to enslave another. Ilc did not doubt that if a man held in servitude should attempt to escape, be woulcl be worthy of death. In short, he fully sympathised with those wl10 sought l1is official aiel. Ile immediately directed the Secretary of \Var to issue orders to the Commander of tl1c "Southern Military District of the United States" to semi a clctaclnlrent of troops to destroy "Blount';; Fort/' and to "set'ze those who occupied it and 1·elul'n them to tlu:ir masle1's.n·:·:- Gencral Jackson, at that time Commander of the Southern '!ilitary District, directed Li~ut. -Coloncl Clinch to perform the barbarous task. I was at one time personally acquainted with that officer·, and know the impulses of his generous nature, and can readily account for the failure of Iris expedition. He marched to the vicinity of the Fort, maclc the neces· sary rccognisancc, and l'ciurned, making report that "the fortification was not accessible by bnd."t • Vide Executive documents of the 2d Session 13th Congress. t lt is believed that this report was suggested by the hum!luity ~f Col. Clinch. Jlil wa!-1 reputed one of the bmves~ nnd most cncrgebo officers iu the sc1·vicc. He possessed au indomitable pcrsev~l·ancc, and could probably have captured tho :Fort in one hour, had he desired to do so. |