CHAPTER III.
VERMONT.
SEVEN HUNDRED BRITISH SOLDIERS
ESCORTED BY A COLORED PATRIOT - REV. LEMUEL HAYNES -
JUDGE HARRINGTON'S ANTI-FUGITIVE-SLAVE-LAW DECISION.
AUGUST 16th,
1777, the Green Mountain Boys, aided by troops from New
Hampshire, and some few from Berkshire County,
Massachusetts, under the command of Gen. Stark,
captured the left wing of the British army near
Bennington. As soon as arrangements could be made,
after the prisoners were all collected, - something more
than seven hundred, - they were tied to a rope, one on
each side. The rope not being long enough, Gen.
Stark called for more; when Mrs. Robinson,
wife of Hon. Moses Robinson, said to the General,
"I will take down the last bedstead in the house, and
present the rope to you, on one condition. When
the prisoners are all tied to the rope, you shall permit
my negro man to harness up my old mare, and hitch the
rope to the whiffletree, mount the mare, and conduct the
British and tory prisoners out of town." The
General willingly accepted Mrs. Robinson's
proposition. The negro mounted the mare, and thus
conducted the left wing of the British army into
Massachusetts, on their way to Boston.
The General also addressed a similar letter to John
Hancock, and again to the Provincial Congress, in
which he stated that the foregoing were facts which were
altogether incontrovertible.
LEMUEL
HAYNES was born in Hartford, Conn., July 18, 1753.
His father was an african, his mother, white. It
was his good fortune to fall into kind hands, and he
enjoyed excellent advantages of education, both before
and after the Revolution. He ultimately became a
ripe scholar, and, in 1804, received the honorary degree
of A. M. from Middlebury College, Vt. After
completing a theological course of study, he preached in
various places in Connecticut, until the year 1788, when
he made a permanent settlement in West Rutland, Vt., and
remained there thirty years, being one of the most
popular preachers in the State.
In 1805, Mr. Haynes preached his noted sermon
from Gen. iii. 4, the fame of which, and his discussion
with the venerable Hosea Ballou, was world-wide.
He was no less distinguished for his patriotism than
for his theological attainments. He enlisted as a
minute man in 1774, and became connected with the
American army. After the battle of Lexington, in
1775, he joined the army at Roxbury. Two years
after, he was a volunteer in the expedition to
Ticonderoga, to stop the inroads of Burgoyne's Northern
army. His neighbors and friends often heard him
describe his sufferings while engaged in that campaign.
His social qualities were of a high order. He was
a somewhat eccentric man, very musical, and full of wit
and anecdote, but serious and reverent when the occasion
demanded. He was a kind neighbor and a warm
friend. He lived to the age of 81, dying on the
28th of September, 1833.
The opinion of Judge Harrington of Vermont, in
the case of a person claimed as a fugitive slave, is
probably familiar to most Abolitionists. In answer
to some inquiries with regard to the particulars of the
case, by Hon. Samuel E. Sewell, of
Massachusetts, the Hon. Dorastus Wooster, of
Middlebury, Vt., says: -
"The transaction to which you allude is somewhat an
ancient one. The case occurred before my time; but
I have the history of it from the lips of an
eye-witness, who was present at the time, - the Hon.
Horatio Seymour, formerly a Senator from this State
in Congress. There was a person of color in
Middlebury, who was claimed as a slave by his master,
from the State of New York. He was brought before
two Justices of the Peace, and they decided to surrender
him. Loyal Case, Esq., counsel for
the slave, brought him up, on the habeas corpus,
to the Supreme Court, then in session, for his
liberation. The master brought forward documentary
and other evidence to show his title to
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the slave. Judge Harrington, who was then
on the bench, gave the opinion of the Court. He
said that the evidence of title was good, as far as it
went, but the chain had some of its links broken.
The evidence did not go far enough. If the master
could show a bill of sale, or grant from the Almighty,
then his title to him would be complete: otherwise, it
would not. And as he had not shown such evidence,
the Court refused to surrender him, and discharged him.
This is the opinion of the Court, as delivered by
Judge Harrington, as well as can be recollected
after such a lapse of time. The transaction took
place about the year 1807. Judge Harrington
is now dead. He possessed a powerful mind, not
fond of technicalities: had a strong sense of justice,
and was a great friend to liberty."
Two points in this case merit particular attention: -
1. The decision was made only about seventeen years
after the Constitution of the United States went into
operation.
2. It was the solemn and deliberate decision of the
Supreme Court of Vermont, not the opinion of Judge
Harrington alone. As such, it becomes of great
weight as a legal authority, and should be cited
whenever a person, claimed as a fugitive slave, is
brought before any Court.
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