To the Editor of the Commercial:
Your admirable and interesting sketch of the career of the late
Thomas Garrett contains one or two statements, which, according
to my recollection of the facts, are not entirely accurate, and
are perhaps of sufficient importance to be corrected.
The proceedings in the U.S. Circuit Court were not public
prosecutions or indictments, but civil suits instituted by the
owners of the runaway slaves, who employed and paid counsel to
conduct them. An act of Congress, then in force, imposed a
penalty of five hundred dollars on any person who should
knowingly harbor or conceal a fugitive from labor, to be
recovered by and for the benefit of the claimant of such
fugitive, in any Court proper to try the same; saving, moreover,
to the claimant his right of action for or on account of loss,
etc.; thus giving to the slave-owner two cases for action for
each fugitive, one of debt for the penalty, and one of trespass
for damages.
There were in all seven slaves, only the husband and father of
the family being free, who escaped under the friendly help and
guidance of Mr. Garrett, five of whom were claimed by E.N.
Turner, and the remaining two by C.T. Glanding, both claimants
being residents of Maryland.
In the suits for the penalties, Turner obtained judgment for
twenty-five hundred dollars, and Glanding, one for one thousand
dollars. In these cases the jury could give neither less nor
more than the amount of the penalties, on the proper proof being
made. Nor in the trespass case did the jury give "larger damages
than were claimed." A jury sometimes does queer things, but it
cannot make a verdict for a greater sum than the plaintiff
demands; in the trespass cases, Glanding had a verdict for one
thousand dollars damages, but in Turner's case only nine hundred
dollars were allowed, though the plaintiff sued for twenty-five
hundred.
It is hardly true to say that any one of the juries was
_packed_, indeed, it would have been a difficult matter in that
day for the Marshal to summon thirty sober, honest, and
judicious men, fairly and impartially chosen from the three
counties of Delaware, who would have found verdicts different
from those which were rendered. The jury must have been fixed
for the defendant to have secured any other result, on the
supposition that the testimony admitted of any doubt or
question, the anti-slavery men in the state being like Virgil's
ship-wrecked mariners, very few in number and scattered over a
vast space.
What most redounds to the honor and praise of Mr. Garrett, in
this transaction, as a noble and disinterested philanthropist
is, that after the fugitives had been discharged from custody
under the writ of _habeas corpus_, and when he had been advised
by his lawyer, who was also his personal friend, to keep his
hands off and let the party work their own passage to a haven of
freedom, not then far distant, or he might be involved in
serious trouble, he deliberately refused to abandon them to the
danger of pursuit and capture. The welfare and happiness of too
many human beings were at stake to permit him to think of
personal consequences, and he was ready and dared to encounter
any risk for himself, so that he could insure the safety of
those fleeing from bondage. It was this heroic purpose to
protect the weak and helpless at any cost, this fearless
unselfish action, not stopping to weigh the contingencies of
individual gain or loss, that constitutes his best title to the
gratitude of those he served, and to the admiration and respect
of all who can appreciate independent conduct springing from
pure and lofty motives. He did what he thought and believed to
be right, and let the consequences take care of themselves. He
never would directly or otherwise, entice a slave to leave his
master; but he never would refuse his aid to the hunted, panting
wretch that in the pursuit of happiness was seeking after
liberty. And who among us is now bold enough to say, that in all
this he did not see clearly, act bravely, do justly, and live up
to the spirit of the sacred text:--"Whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them?"