FROM 
 
 DWIGHTC. KILBOURN 
 LITCHFIELD, CONN 
 
MEMOIR OP TORREY 
 
, S-it. i 
 
 : 
 
7>-ts / 
 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 REV. CHARLES T. TORREY, 
 
 WHO DIED IN THE 
 
 PENITENTIARY OF MARYLAND, 
 
 WHERE HE WAS CONFINED 
 
 FOR SHOWING MERCY TO THE POOR. 
 
 BY 
 
 -J, C. LOVE. JO Yv 
 
 Copy-right secured to Mrs. Torrey. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT & CO 
 1847. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by 
 
 JOHN P. JEWETT & Co. 
 In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 LILL AND WARDWELL, 
 A!DOVER. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " DUST thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," is a 
 decree against which mortals struggle in vain. Not only 
 does the body return to the earth, but the actions and words 
 perish with it. 
 
 The ancients lifted the marble from its bed, and bade the 
 chisel shape it into the form of a living man but it was only 
 a likeness, imperfect and unable to perpetuate the man that 
 once lived and walked and acted. 
 
 Types and the press have furnished us with a cheaper 
 mode of preserving the words and actions of men. Yet 
 " how small is the sum of them." Far more is lost than can 
 be preserved. Still we love to survey the skeletons of the 
 extinct races of animals. 
 
 " The proper study of mankind is man." 
 
 Biography furnishes the materials for this study. Little 
 need be said to introduce the papers of Mr. Torrey. The 
 editor has only to say, that under the circumstances in which 
 he was placed, he has done what he could, to arrange them 
 so as to give a fair picture of his life. 
 
 It properly devolves upon an intimate friend to prepare 
 materials from the hand of the dead for the eye of the living. 
 The individual selected for that purpose by Mr. Torrey, was 
 admonished by his declining health that he could undertake 
 no such task. The alternative was thus presented to the 
 writer, that either there would be no memoir of Mr. Torrey, 
 
 Ml /I 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 or he must prepare it. He chose the latter ; and if the reader 
 finds it not what he would like ; the comparison is not be 
 tween this and a better one, but this or none. 
 
 Mr. Torrey was a profuse writer. Sermons, diaries, edi 
 torials, essays, letters in huge and dire masses lay around us, 
 as we began the work like chaos at creation, a vast heap 
 of unshaped material. We have read and culled, and cut 
 and arranged, till the brain is tired and the hand weary ; 
 if you, reader, are in any measure thankful for our labor, we 
 take it kindly, and are more than repaid ; if you buffet us 
 for faults, we are clad in the best of shields : in the midst of 
 other cares and duties, we have done what we could. 
 
 J. C. L. 
 
 November, 1846. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE, 
 
 Birth, Parents, Early Education .... I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 College Life 5 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 School-keeping . 24 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Studies Theology. Letters to his Wife before Marriage. Ordina 
 tion at Providence. Letter to his Wife. Dismission. Reset 
 tled at Salem. Leaves Salem 32 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Letters to Rev. P. Cooke 42 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Continues to Lecture. Reporter at Washington Goes to Annap 
 olis. Imprisonment. Letters 85 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Becomes Editor of a Paper in Albany. Goes to Virginia to assist 
 a man to get his Wife and Children. Carriage seized. Story 
 of the Webb Family 104 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Arrest and Imprisonment of Mr. Torrey. Letters from Baltimore 
 
 Jail. Letter to a Convention at Salem ... 126 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Letters to his Wife. Attempts to escape from Jail . . . 148 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Letters to Mr. Alden . To Mrs. Williams. To Mr. Mc Kim . 160 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Trial of Mr. Torrey Conviction . . - . -. * - . 171 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Letters from the Penitentiary 214 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Letters to Mrs. Torrey, while in Prison 237 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Last Letters to and from Mr. Torrey 245 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Efforts for the Release of Mr. Torrey. His Sickness and Death 282 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Funeral. Extracts from the Sermon preached on the occasion 294 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Sketches of Mr. Torrey. Resolutions of Public Bodies. Voice of 
 
 the Press. Poetry 308 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH, PARENTS, EARLY EDUCATION. 
 
 " THOUGH dead, he yet speaketh." Who does not love to 
 listen to the gentle whisper that comes up to the ear from the 
 grave ? All the angry passions that from within and without 
 beset their victim, lie quietly sleeping around his tomb. The 
 things said and the deeds done are the mirror in which you 
 may see the man. On a fly leaf without date, but in the 
 hand writing of Mr. Torrey, is the following record. 
 
 " Some particulars of my parents, etc., furnished by my 
 grandmother, etc., when I was at home last. 
 
 " My mother, Hannah Tolman Turner, was born Jan. 28, 
 1794 My father, Charles Torrey, was born . They 
 were married March 21, 1813. I, Charles, was born Nov. 21 , 
 1813. My name afterwards was altered by general court to 
 Charles Turner, in 18 . Hannah was born April 14, 1815. 
 Father died October , 1815, of consumption, aged . 
 My sister died March 28, 1816, of dropsy in the head, aged 
 11 months and 17 days ; was a very beautiful child. Mother 
 died March 29, 1817, of consumption, aged 23 years, 2 months 
 and 1 day.y She was a member of Mr. Thomas s church ; 
 said to be very beautiful, amiable, etc. Mother was born in 
 the house at present occupied by uncle Theodore ; father, in 
 a house in Boston, formerly occupied by Mr. Burr. They 
 lived, were married, and died in Scituate. He died in his 
 1 
 
2 t MEMOIR X)F TORRE Y. 
 
 own house, near the late "Augustus Clapp s, in the North 
 parish. / Hannah aisp dfe-Uierp. Mother afterwards moved 
 to grandfather s house," w here she was born; there she died. 
 A short time before she died she solemnly consecrated me to 
 God, hoping that I might be his. My parents, immediately 
 after their marriage, removed to the house near Mr. Clapp s, 
 whence they never removed. Father was a merchant. I 
 have, ever since a short time previous to my mother s death, 
 lived with my grandparents : first, till 1825, at Scituate ; 
 thence, till Oct. 1827, at Charlestown ; thence, till May 30, 
 1828, at Chelsea; from June 1, 1828 to Aug. 20, 1830, I 
 was at Exeter, N. H., attending Phillips Academy ; boarded, 
 except the last term, with Mr. John Gardner ; thence till 
 October 15, at Chelsea ; then came to Yale college, and here 
 am I. I remember very little about my parents or sister ; 
 perhaps nothing ; for impressions may have been made on 
 my mind so in unison with what may have been my feelings 
 at the time, that I remember them. For instance ; I think 
 I remember playing with my little sister; remember my glee 
 at the pleasant ride I thought we had when she was buried ; 
 my father s greatcoat, which hung in a particular place; my 
 mother s sick bed ; aunt Amanda s parching corn for her ; 
 my playing about father s house, near a board fence ; going 
 into the shop ; and perhaps some other trifling circumstances ; 
 must, when I next see Scituate, endeavor to renew my 
 recollections, by visiting my former home, no longer the 
 home indeed to which my heart clings." 
 
 The young and beautiful mother of Mr. Torrey, at the 
 early age of 23 years, resigning life and the fond hopes that 
 hovered around her darling boy, consigned him, upon her dy 
 ing bed, to the arms of her father and mother. In the same 
 family resided a sister of his grandmother, who loved Charles 
 with the fondness of a mother. The lonely orphan commit 
 ted to their care, displayed, even in his childish prattle, evi- 
 
BIRTH, PARENTAGE, EDUCATION. 3 
 
 dence of uncommon intelligence, which was perceived by less 
 partial witnesses than the loving grandparents. His memory 
 was strong and retentive, and his mind ever on the alert to 
 obtain information, led him, at an early age, to take freely of 
 the "tree of knowledge of good and evil." In his walks, to 
 and from school, he amused himself with examining the bugs, 
 caterpillars, grasshoppers, worms, butterflies, frogs, polywogs, 
 and flowers of every hue which intersected his path. This 
 occupied so much time his fond grandmother often started in 
 pursuit of him, when she would find him returning with his 
 little dinner pail filled full of the various specimens of Natu 
 ral History and Botany which he had been studying. He 
 would then, by reading and conversation, learn all he could 
 respecting them ; and this knowledge, thus acquired, in after 
 years, he always had at command. 
 
 He loved not the rude sports common to children of his 
 age ; but found his chief delight in retiring to a closet, and 
 reading the books, both grave and gay, which had come down 
 to the family from past generations, or in conversation with 
 his grandmother upon theology, and with his grandfather up 
 on the political affairs of his native town and country, so far 
 as he could obtain information. 
 
 At the age of five and six years, he always attended the 
 town meetings with his grandfather, who was generally mod 
 erator ; sat with him, watched every proceeding, counted eve 
 ry vote, and was able to carry home a correct account of all 
 that transpired there. It was probably here, that he first ob 
 tained his taste for politics. 
 
 No wonder that they marvelled at him, and felt proud at 
 the astonishment with which others heard him converse. But 
 unfortunately, he soon learned, what was not the less true, 
 that he displayed intelligence and mental power beyond his 
 years. This led him to place great reliance upon his own 
 wisdom ; and as his passions were also equally developed 
 with his mental faculties, rendered it exceedingly difficult for 
 
4 MEMOIR OF TOREEY. 
 
 the trembling hand of age to hold the reins of discipline with 
 sufficient sternness to guide such a comet through his child 
 hood and youth. 
 
 He accordingly grew up lovely in his person, sprightly in 
 his manners, with uncommon knowledge, ability, and self- 
 confidence, and swayed by passions which yielded to no con 
 trol. 
 
 God has his purposes to execute, deeper and wider than 
 any we can form ; and upon every character, when it is com 
 pleted, will be found this inscription : " For this same pur 
 pose have I raised thee up." Thus it must be, and thus the 
 Scripture is fulfilled ; not written with pen and ink indeed, 
 but in those deeper lines, where the finger of God writes his 
 will upon the hidden columns that support his throne. 
 
 When fifteen years of age, his long black hair was 
 smoothed around his brow, his trunk packed with books and 
 clothing, and the last kiss of aunt and grandmother im 
 pressed upon his ruddy lips, and with many prayers, cher 
 ished hopes, and large expectations, he left " Home" for Ex 
 eter Academy, there to fit for college. Two years there 
 not only fitted him for college, but well nigh unfitted him for 
 this world and the next. 
 
 Take care ! that young boy goes out upon the ocean of life 
 freighted with hopes richer than the gold of Ophir. 
 
 " Take heed, ye guardians of the youthful mind 
 That facile grows beneath your kindly care : 
 Tis of elastic mould, and, if confined 
 With too much stress, shoots madly from its sphere, 
 Unswayed by love, and unrestrained by fear." 
 
 There is enough to fill the fond parent with overwhelming 
 apprehension, in sending out a son upon the world at that age 
 when the magazine of passion is about to be uncovered, and 
 sparks are flying around it in all directions. The pure 
 minded boy joins the older circle of companions, and must 
 for himself choose the good or perish by the evil. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 
 
 It scarcely needed the vivid imagination of the pure minded 
 Greek to paint this danger in a beautiful allegory. The 
 great, the wise, and the good Dr. Arnold of Rugby, felt this 
 danger with all a parent s solicitude. Nothing but the re 
 flection that there is no virtue that is not tried, could recon 
 cile him to the exposure to which he saw the younger mem 
 bers of his school subject. 
 
 It was joy to him to see the bending reed recover itself, 
 after the rude blast had swept over it, and standing firmer 
 with its roots broader and stronger, promising to be a tree 
 which no wind can shake, no storm disturb. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 COLLEGE LIFE. 
 
 By the restraining grace of God, Mr. T. was kept during 
 the two years at the Academy, and entered Yale College, in 
 autumn of 1830, in his 17th year. He entered the Sopho 
 more class, though, young as he then was, it would have been 
 better had he entered the Freshman class. Of his first year 
 in college he has left no trace behind, save the record of his 
 expenses. His father left him a small patrimony, in the 
 hands of Hon. Charles Turner, his grandfather, which, with 
 great prudence, and some exertion on his part, would have 
 nearly educated him. But this he did not understand. His 
 doubly fond grandparents, who loved two in one, had always 
 abundantly supplied every want ; and it was not till, in the 
 midst of his collegiate course, when his resources began to fail 
 by his repeated demands upon them, that he first began to feel 
 the worth of money. Though it was now necessary for his 
 guardian to teach him lessons of economy, it was as painful 
 to him as to the subject of his discipline. He was now obliged 
 1* 
 
6 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 to resort to credit, for the remainder of his education. And 
 he who knows not how to spend ready money, will know still 
 less about regulating his expenses, when the pay day is dis 
 tant. He accordingly graduated in debt, which was aug 
 mented unnecessarily by the purchase of a library, and other 
 useful things, which it would have been better to have re 
 mained without, till he really needed them, or was able to pay 
 for them. The following sums passed through his hands 
 while in college. 
 
 First year $39 6,87 J 
 
 Second year 303,80 
 
 Third year 601,25 
 
 During the first year of Mr. Torrey s college life, he be 
 came the subject of religious impressions, which resulted in 
 his hopeful conversion to Christ. In his journal is found the 
 following record : 
 
 Sabbath day, March 13, 1831. 
 
 " Though I have repeatedly resolved on my course, I have 
 never written it down formally. I will do so now ; and, after 
 prayer to my Maker, sign it. 
 
 " Whereas my attention has been for some time called to the 
 all-important subject of my soul s salvation, I, being fully 
 convinced and persuaded, and feeling in my heart, that the 
 service of God is the only satisfsctory service, with prayerful 
 earnestness and solemnity, having the eternal consequences 
 in view, in the presence of God, appealing to him for the sin 
 cerity of my intentions and for his aid and assistance, do now 
 resolve that I will be, in very deed, his disciple ; that I will 
 take him in Christ as my only portion and hope, for time and 
 for eternity, putting away all lusts and everything inconsist 
 ent with his honor and glory and the devotion of my whole 
 heart and life to his cause : that I do now and forever conse 
 crate myself to his service ; that he shall be my God, and I 
 will be his child. And may God, in his infinite mercy and 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 7 
 
 love, enable me, in reliance on the Savior, to keep this reso 
 lution : to which I now, in his presence, affix my hand. 
 
 (Signed,) CHARLES TURNER TORREY. 
 
 2 1 minutes after nine o clock, P. M. 
 
 " I have done it. The act has been solemnly done, in the 
 presence of God ; and I know before this it is recorded in 
 heaven. May he enable me to abide by it in eternity. He 
 can and will. In him do I put my trust. I think I had bet 
 ter read this daily, till it is impressed upon my mind. I feel 
 that I am acting no trifling part ; that my future state has 
 now been decided, and I will trust in my Maker that it is de 
 cided that I shall be of the number of those who love him." 
 
 [Common-place Book and Journal, 1831.] 
 
 " Yale, New Haven, July 1. 
 
 " The following is the Covenant and Confession of Faith 
 in our college church." 
 
 After writing out the Confession of Faith, he says : 
 " This, then, is the solemn covenant I entered into with 
 my Maker and his church. And how have I kept it ? God 
 is a covenant-keeping God ; but I, his creature, have vio 
 lated my vows. Now would I renew them ; and may his 
 grace enable me to keep them. This day, as usual, wrote 
 a little. In the evening, attended the usual college prayer- 
 meeting ; very few were present ; most of the students prob 
 ably attended the preparatory lecture in the Center church. 
 The meeting was a precious one to me. I do enjoy some of 
 our meetings for social prayer very much. My private devo 
 tions, too, are generally most precious seasons, especially 
 when I can, in any measure, realise the fact, that my Lord 
 and Savior is present ; when I can cast myself at his feet, and 
 ask his forgiveness and blessing. How unsearchable are the 
 riches of his goodness, which can forgive such sins as mine ! 
 renewed daily and hourly. Some time since, when the 
 thought of my sinfulness, my persisting in the same sins for 
 
8 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 which I have often asked forgiveness, came into my mind, I 
 felt ashamed to go and ask pardon. And I fear this emotion 
 of pride kept me from my Maker when I should have con 
 fessed my vileness and humbled myself before him. But 
 happily I was led to see the error of this being ashamed to go 
 to my Maker when oppressed with the sense of guilt, by 
 some remarks made in the Theological Chamber, by one of 
 the brethren " 
 
 From this Journal Mr. Torrey will have some communion 
 with the reader on various topics during the remaining pe 
 riod of his college life. You can see that he formed his own 
 opinions at that early age, and knew how to express them. 
 You have, too, many of the struggles of the human and di 
 vine light and darkness, sin and holiness contending with 
 each other. In these journals, the marked and prominent 
 attribute of his mind, fertility, is everywhere apparent, His 
 mind was like the ground of the rich man, it brought forth 
 plentifully. It yielded its fruit not only every month, but 
 every day. 
 
 He was in the habit of writing an abstract of the sermons 
 which he heard on the sabbath, and then appended his own 
 remarks. Of one sermon he says : " This sermon was sim 
 ple and eloquent, came from the heart, and in many instances, 
 no doubt, reached it. As in the case of Miss C., I went there 
 after meeting. She appeared much affected ; had a serious 
 and affectionate conversation with her. She went to her 
 closet and returned, as we trust, a new creature. Her first 
 question, when she returned, was : How one felt, or could 
 know, when they had submitted themselves to Christ?" 
 
 The following remarks are just as good for the new pro 
 geny of darkness, Odd-fellows, as for their ancestors, the 
 Masons. 
 
 " July 4, 5, 6. "Wednesday. Now for a composition. 
 What shall I write about ? Masonry. If the prince of the 
 powers of the air, that old serpent, otherwise called the devil, 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 9 
 
 should appear bodily in the midst of us, p attempt to set up his 
 kingdom here openly, in the view of all men, there can be but 
 little doubt, that he would be driven out of the country, with 
 every mark of disgrace and contempt. But when he as 
 sumes the form of an angel of light, promises to those who 
 will blindly follow him, all the happiness and rewards attend 
 ant upon integrity of heart, then people begin to imagine that 
 he who once appeared not less than archangel ruined, is an 
 archangel still ; though, if they would examine his character 
 and designs, the archfiend would plainly appear. Now sup 
 pose he had come into this country, and in this mild, heavenly 
 disguise, set up a kingdom here, concealed his character, 
 displayed an outside of pomp and splendor, of beauty and 
 benevolence, to the eyes of the admiring crowd ; and thus in 
 duced thousands, of the good as well as the bad, to serve him. 
 Suppose again, that on a certain occasion his cloven foot, his 
 fiendish nature, should accidentally appear to a few of his fol 
 lowers ; they, alarmed and convinced of his real character 
 and designs, labor and print and pray to convince the other 
 blinded followers of the Old Gentleman of it, to induce them 
 to join to overthrow his government, drive his majesty satanic 
 to his own place. . . Now what should one say of those who 
 opposed this so desirable revolution ? Why, common sense 
 would dictate the answer : their own principles had become 
 assimilated, if not identified, with those of their ruler. Sup 
 pose again, that thousands of these devil-worshippers, aroused 
 to examine his nature, should spurn his allegiance, and sol 
 emnly warn their countrymen to shake off his chains, which 
 were soon to be riveted upon their bodies and souls, and 
 themselves made the servile tools of his fiendish majesty, to 
 conquer other provinces to himself. Washington has left it 
 on record, and every freeman ought to think of it : that he 
 believed secret societies were the bane of civil liberty. And 
 why ? Because secret societies enter into obligations unknown 
 to the civil law, and exercise, in consequence, an influence for 
 
10 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 which they cannot be made responsible to the law. If this 
 influence be bad, the foundations of government are destroyed. 
 This Washington thought, and has declared. Let every lover 
 of liberty remember it : secret societies are the bane, etc. 
 Now to show that Masonry has this effect. In New York, 
 as all know, there has been a number of Masons tried, for 
 procuring the inhuman murder of Morgan, and not one has 
 been found guilty, though the evidence has been such as to 
 render it perfectly certain that the individuals tried were 
 guilty. Why ? Because a mason was on the jury, and 
 would not convict a brother mason, though a murderer. And 
 in nearly a hundred cases, Masons have refused, though fined 
 and imprisoned in consequence, to give testimony on the trial 
 of a brother, when they knew that their testimony would con 
 vict him. When asked why they refused to testify, they an 
 swered, that they regarded the Masonic oaths as superior in 
 their obligation to the civil oaths, and they perjured them 
 selves to clear their guilty Masonic brethren. Can a govern 
 ment subsist where justice is thus baffled ? 
 
 " Take your Bibles and read there the titles of the Most 
 High God : I am that I am, < the King of Heaven, * the 
 King of Kings. Enter a lodge of Masons and hear these 
 titles, and manv others, applied to the Grand Masters, and 
 other Masons, and then answer it to your consciences and to 
 your God, whether you will not oppose an institution which 
 blasphemes the God of heaven ; whose officers assume his 
 titles ; and which thus marks all we reverence as holy, all we 
 rely upon as lovely, in the religion of Christ. Even those 
 who insist most strongly upon the natural tendency of the hu 
 man mind to great and noble deeds and purposes, must ad 
 mit that it is, in a majority of instances, strangely perverse, 
 is wonderfully inclined to receive gilded errors, rather than to 
 search for the hidden things of truth. No greater proof of 
 this is needed than the almost innumerable systems of re 
 ligion current at the present day, but one of which, from the 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 11 
 
 nature of things, can be entirely right. Again, most of us 
 have observed what a wonderful difference there is between 
 a dream and the reality, which an examination by daylight 
 presents to the mind. On these two principles we may per 
 haps account for that beauty which appeared in a certain tree, 
 of which we had an eloquent description last week. To one 
 thoroughly awakened, the tree appears to be rotten, the 
 branches leafless and withered ; those reclining under it half 
 bad the rest, indeed good ; but contented to suppose the tree 
 shady, because they are told so, and never looked up to see 
 its barrenness ; but spell-bound by the master spirit who sits 
 on the tree scattering poison over the whole multitude of 
 sleepers." 
 
 A good Bath for Soul and Body. 
 
 " July 6. Had a delicious bath going to A., and on return 
 ing, in two fresh brooks. I trust my soul, too, was bathed ; 
 received an unction from on high while I was there, for which 
 I shall have reason ever to bless and praise the Lord of 
 Hosts." 
 
 Cold Water to a Thirsty soul. 
 
 11 Heard joyful news from "Washington. The Lord is 
 pouring out his Spirit there in a wonderful manner, turn 
 ing sinners to himself. Truly when I heard of the in 
 stances of conversion there, I could feel the force of the ex 
 pression : * What hath the Lord wrought ! Wednesday, 
 spake in the chapel for Stoddard. Read most of the P. M. 
 in a desultory manner, to find something to speak in the 
 evening in the Society. Spoke as I did ; a manner which I 
 am now sorry for ; for I fear I did not recollect the presence 
 of God. Came home very late, studied a little, and then to 
 bed. After spending a day of what ? I accomplished 
 something, to be sure ; but what bearing my conduct had on 
 
12 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 the prosperity of Zion, is another question. Father, forgive 
 my sins against thee." 
 
 Self-examination. 
 
 " Well, now, what advances in holiness have I made to-day ? 
 What, added to my knowledge of God s character and my 
 duties to him ? How have I improved the great advantages 
 I have enjoyed ? These are questions which I must answer 
 at the bar of my Maker ; but, alas ! what can I say, but with 
 the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner ? I fear I for 
 get one thing too much : that I ought to remember and dwell 
 upon the truths I hear on the sabbath, during the week, and 
 not drive them from my mind, like the way-side hearers, af 
 ter the sabbath is over. Well, I must repeat the prayer, and 
 I know it is to the God of mercy and love, be merciful to 
 me/ This I must repeat, again and again, till the end of life." 
 
 Backsliding of Christians ; Description of the Heart, by Pol- 
 
 lok ; Original Lines added, 
 
 "July 14, 15, 16. Thursday. Why is it that Christians, 
 almost invariably, become cold and careless about the con 
 cerns of eternity ? Can it be accounted for on any of the 
 known principles of the human mind ? But there is a cause : 
 indwelling sin and corruption of the heart, which is sure to get 
 the mastery if the Christian does not continually watch unto 
 prayer. But is there any need of this being the case ? The 
 children of the world are wiser than the children of light. 
 They do not abandon the great objects they set before them 
 till they are obtained. And may not Christians, who have in 
 finitely higher motives before them, persevere unto the end, 
 till the crown awaiting them is twined about their brows ? 
 Oh that the day might speedily come, when this deathlike 
 slumber shall no longer affect the church of Christ ! I here 
 insert Pollok s true description of the heart after it is re 
 newed by the spirit of God. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 13 
 
 What seest thou here ? what mark st ? observe it well : 
 Will, passion, reason, hopes, fears ; joy, distress : 
 Peace, turbulence ; simplicity, deceit ; 
 Good, ill ; corruption, immortality ; 
 A temple of the Holy Ghost, and yet 
 Oft lodging fiends : the dwelling place of all 
 The heavenly virtues charity and truth, 
 Humility, and holiness, and love ; 
 And yet the common haunt of anger, pride, 
 Hatred, revenge, and passions foul with lust ; 
 Allied to heaven, yet parleying oft with hell ; 
 A soldier listed in Messiah s band, 
 Yet giving quarter to Abaddon s troops ; 
 With seraphs drinking from the well of life, 
 And yet carousing in the cup of death. 
 An heir of heaven, and walking thitherward, 
 Yet casting back a covetous eye on earth ; 
 Emblem of strength and weakness ; loving now, 
 And now abhorring sin ; indulging now, 
 And now repenting sore ; rejoicing now, 
 With joy unspeakable, and full of glory ; 
 Now weeping bitterly, and clothed in dust ; 
 A man willing to do, and doing not ; 
 Doing, and willing not ; embracing what 
 He hates, what most he loves abandoning. 
 Half saint, and sinner half half life, half death : 
 Commixture strange of heaven, and earth, and hell." 
 
 "A true picture this, of my heart, and the heart of every 
 Christian ; but blessed be God that, 
 
 When the great Immanuel comes 
 To reign on earth, in all the glory of 
 His Father s throne, and souls renewed 
 And sanctified shall be like Him glorious 
 In holiness, in faith, in charity, in love ; 
 And then we shout the praises of our Jesus 
 Name, in strains which men nor angels 
 Ever heard : Glory to Him who bought us 
 With His blood ; honor, and power, and praise, 
 Immortal praise, forever. Sing ye 
 Heavens, and earth, and seas ; burst forth 
 2 
 
14 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 In songs of glory to the Prince of Life, 
 
 Redeemer of a lost and ruined world. 
 
 No fetters then, of sin, shall clog our worship : 
 
 From our hearts it shall ascend before the 
 
 Throne, Avhere reigns the Savior God, 
 
 The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords." 
 
 "Wednesday, August 31, 1831. Went to meeting this 
 morning quite stupid, but enjoyed it better than I sometimes 
 do. Enjoyed secret prayer much ; felt not much elevation of 
 feeling, but some confidence in God. It does seem as if I 
 made no advance at all in divine life ; as if I wasted every 
 opportunity, and abused every means of growth in grace. 
 And yet I am spared, in great mercy, I speak, too, of my 
 sins and God s mercies as carelessly as if they were things of 
 no moment. When shall I feel that God is and must be the 
 only source of my joys the only object of my devotion in time 
 as well as in eternity ! When 1 compare my feelings and my 
 conduct with my high promises, I am ready to despair of do 
 ing or being anything in the cause of Christ. But well I may 
 do so. To His name be all the praise. He alone can make 
 me fit for anything but eternal banishment from his blessed 
 presence. This morning received a letter from sweet Amanda, 
 containing both good and bad news ; to God be the praise for 
 the first. There is quite a revival in Medford, especially 
 amongst the little children in the sabbath school." 
 
 It is always pleasant to meet, and praise is comely to the 
 , Bard of Liberty." We cannot deny the reader a part of 
 the pleasure we had in finding the extracts and criticisms 
 which we here give. The critique, though written by a 
 young man of eighteen, is quite equal to most of the Notes of 
 Johnson on Shakspeare. 
 
 " The following beautiful piece is from the pen of J. G. 
 Whittier, editor of the New England Weekly Review. Its 
 sublimity is worthy of Milton. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 15 
 
 Christ in the Tempest. 
 
 1 Storm on the midnight waters ! The vast sky 
 
 Is stooping with its thunder. Cloud on cloud 
 
 Keels heavily in the darkness, like a shroud 
 Shook by some warning spirit from the high 
 And terrible wall of heaven. The mighty wave 
 
 Tosses beneath its shadow, like the bold 
 Upheavings of a giant from the grave 
 
 Which bound him prematurely to its cold 
 
 And desolate bosom. Lo ! they mingle now 
 Tempest and heaving wave, along whose brow 
 
 Trembles the lightning from its thick cloud fold ! 
 
 ****** ** 
 He stood upon the reeling deck his form 
 
 Made visible by the lightning ; and his brow 
 Uncovered to the visiting of the storm, 
 
 Told of a triumph man may never know 
 Power underived and mighty: PEACE ! BE STILL !" 
 
 The great waves heard him, and the storm s loud tone 
 Went moaning into silence, at his will ; 
 
 And the thick clouds, where yet the lightning shone 
 
 And slept the latent thunder, rolled away, 
 Until no trace of tempest lurked behind ; 
 Changing upon the pinions of the wind 
 
 To houseless wanderers, beautiful and gay. 
 
 Dread ruler of the tempest ! Thou before 
 Whose presence boweth the uprisen storm 
 
 To vrhom the waves do homage, round the shore 
 Of many an island empire ! if the form 
 
 Of the frail dust beneath thine eye, may claim 
 
 Thy infinite regard oh ! breathe upon 
 
 The storm and darkness of man s soul the same 
 Quiet and peace and humbleness, which came 
 
 O er the roused waters, where thy voice had gone 
 A minister of power to conquer in thy name ! 
 
 " Indeed this is a most beautiful piece. The sublimity of 
 the second and third stanzas exceeds almost anything of the 
 kind that I ever read. It consists in the simplicity of the ex- 
 
16 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 pressions and the elevation of the subject, the want of all 
 those high-sounding epithets and adjectives with which our best 
 poets are too apt to disfigure their pages. The scene is one 
 of the noblest ever described by the poet or painter, the exhi 
 bition of almighty poiver in calming the tempest. I should 
 like much to see Raphael s painting of the scene, said to be 
 his best production." 
 
 A College Incident. Criticism on Aristotle. 
 " Yesterday morning some ninny locked the door of our re 
 citation room : So we adjourned, whereat Tutor seemed 
 
 as pleased as any of us. Not so tutor D , our Tutor. He 
 
 was most grievously offended ; for, as he said, he was anxious 
 to report his division to the faculty as proceeding orderly and 
 successfully in their studies, etc. But this he could not do, if 
 we locked the door to avoid recitation ; and accordingly, he 
 directed us to get a double lesson ! Magnanimous man ! 
 We have, for a few days past, been reading Aristotle on 
 Magnanimity, etc. But in my humble opinion, all that he says 
 on the subject, would be esteemed folly, if it was not sanc 
 tioned by antiquity ; all his arguments and conclusions, 
 founded on suppositions, rather than on fixed principles. 
 However, if I should assert this in Salamanca, I doubt not 
 that I should be burnt for heresy ; or at least considered as a 
 blind ass, who could not see the sense in metaphysical distinc 
 tion between things precisely alike. Aristotle s magnanim 
 ity is, as he defines it, a good opinion of one s own merits ; 
 that is, self-sufficiency. Mine is of a very different order. 
 To be sure, I think sufficiently well of my own transcendant 
 merits ; but in this I see no magnanimity. Magnanimity is 
 rather elevation of mind, of opinion, and sentiment, and ambi 
 tion to be great by being good, an expansion of mind. His 
 observations concerning friendship, are far more just; but 
 though, when written, they were original, they would now 
 seem dull and common-place." 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 17 
 
 Birth-Day Reflections. Poetry. 
 
 Monday, November 21, 1831. My birth-day. This day 
 I have completed my 18th year. Eighteen years of sin and 
 folly ; eighteen years have I enjoyed the rich blessings of 
 heaven ; friends have been given me, and all that could ren 
 der life desirable. And I know that in reference to my 
 Maker, my feelings have been and are different. However 
 much I have wandered from God, however cold and stupid I 
 am, still his house is a place I love, in his service I find all 
 the enjoyment I obtain. In his name 1 delight to speak and 
 hear, and to his service I am devoted. In his cause I will 
 spend my life, my all. I have even, I believe, been enabled 
 to do a little in his cause. But what is it, compared with 
 my duty and opportunities? Nothing. I have neglected 
 many of my best opportunities of serving him, and very illy 
 improved the small remainder. And when I compare the 
 slow advances I have made in divine knowledge, and the un 
 holy life I have lived with the requirements of Jesus, I am 
 ashamed and ready to ask, what is to become of such a sin 
 ner ? In a season of peculiar enjoyment of the presence of 
 God, I resolved I would never, by his aid, doubt that I had 
 been renewed by his grace. And notwithstanding my cold 
 ness, I see no reason to give up, and distrust God. The 
 negligence of duty which I indulge in, ought to humble me 
 deeply, but may God preserve me from doubting him. Give 
 me the deepest distrust of self, and reliance on thy will. O 
 may I not, any more, dishonor God by neglecting him as I 
 have done. I have deeply offended him ; prayer I have often, 
 especially lately, neglected. I have not studied the Bible as 
 I should. I think very little of my duty to him ; very little 
 of his love. In meetings I become excited, usually ; but it 
 has little permanent effect upon my conduct. I abuse the 
 privileges he has given me to grow in grace. I have thought 
 little, done less. Have mercy, Lord, for Jesus sake, upon me, 
 2* 
 
18 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 a guilty sinner. I have acquired some knowledge of the 
 heart and its operations ; some little experience in the prac 
 tical duties of religion. Have had, recently, some struggles 
 with the corrupt passions of my heart, which almost overcame 
 rae. Vile thoughts, especially, have led away my affections 
 from God. May he have mercy on me, according to the ex 
 ceeding riches of his own tender mercies, which are neither few 
 nor small, as I can see. Thanks be unto the Lord for his 
 great goodness to us, the sinful children of men. Out of his 
 mercies to men, he has given us a great share. And how 
 little of gratitude is there in our hearts. How many causes 
 have we for humiliation, that we have so much abused the 
 goodness of our God ; that our national faith has been vio 
 lated ; and the cause of God suffered so much from the bit 
 terness of party strife ; so little done to promote his glory. 
 But still give, 
 
 Thanks to the Lord above 
 For all his mercies shown ; 
 Praise him for his heavenly love, 
 And make his goodness known. 
 
 Favored by His fostering care, 
 
 Our sails are whitening every sea; 
 
 Wealth have they brought, and fruits and flowers, 
 
 And spices sweet from Araby. 
 
 The Heralds of the cross have gone, 
 The Love of Jesus to proclaim ; 
 To shout aloud : A Savior s born ! 
 Angels and men adore his name ! 
 
 The islands of the sea have heard 
 The music of the heavenly choir ; 
 In Pagan hearts the Heavenly dove 
 Has kindled love th immortal fire ! 
 
 The Spirit of the Lord has come, 
 And breathed upon the stony heart; 
 And many thousands gathered Home, 
 From their Redeemer ne er to part. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 19 
 
 Plenty has crowned the circling year, 
 The hand of industry was blessed ; 
 And, free from strife, and free from fear, 
 Our land has been a heavenly rest. 
 Oh Lord, forgive our sinful ways, 
 And teach our sinful hearts to praise ; 
 Let all the earth, and all above, 
 Now bless thy mercy, truth, and love." 
 
 Interest in the subject of Missions. 
 
 "March 13, 1832. Monday. Thursday, Friday, and Sat 
 urday, was quite fully occupied in removing, getting regu 
 lated, etc. Thursday evening joined the missionary circle, 
 solemnly devoting myself to this sacred cause, trusting in the 
 Lord to sustain me in this determination. Enjoyed the meet 
 ing very much ; felt more determined to be devoted to God 
 than I had for a long time past, Friday evening College 
 prayer meeting; very excellent. Some of the brethren 
 seemed to be a little revived ; oh how little. Much do we 
 need the reviving influences of the Spirit of God. Little do 
 we to obtain it." 
 
 Mourning for Sin. 
 
 " Sabbath, July 29, 1831. Have sinned much within a 
 few days past, in unholy thoughts, desires, and actions. It 
 seems to have giant power over me ; and I have indeed felt 
 a little of the misery of a body of sin and death, and the need 
 of a Savior who is mighty to deliver out of every device of 
 the evil one, and from the deceits and vileness of my own 
 heart, which is indeed a sink of iniquity. I wonder not at 
 the declaration of the Bible, that * the hearts of the sons of 
 men are set in them to do iniquity, to do only evil continually. 
 It seems as though I needed all my time to repent in. I 
 trust 1 shall be benefited by the word of God preached to-day ; 
 that, seeing the evil of sinning against God, and the free- 
 
20 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 ness of the justifying grace of God, I may not dare or desire 
 to pursue a course of sin another day. I find my resolutions 
 broken nearly as soon as formed, my purposes of holy obe 
 dience turned aside by my lusts, and my soul in misery : 
 my mind ill at ease, my heart full of bitterness, chiefly 
 through the procrastinating habits which I have formed, and 
 my wasting more than half my time. Of this aunt Mary 
 warned me, as she did in relation to prudence and the care of 
 my health, the last time 1 ever saw her. May I be led by 
 the Spirit of God to constant and active obedience, from now 
 henceforth and forever, for the sake of the atoning sacrifice." 
 
 Shooting. 
 
 " Took up a gun the first time for two years ; found my 
 skill at murder about as great as formerly ; the exercise of my 
 body did me good ; the exercise of my moral feelings, while 
 thus engaged, was perhaps of much more questionable utility. 
 I am not fully persuaded that shooting is proper for a 
 Christian or any one else. Its influence on the moral sense 
 is the most objectionable part of it ; the cruelty of it is an 
 other objection, though it may be necessary, as for instance 
 shooting destructive animals." 
 
 Creature expectations disappointed. 
 
 " I went to Carmel, not primarily to glorify God, but to 
 see a young lady ; of course I was disappointed in every re 
 spect. I may have done good while there. Doane did, I 
 know. Since we returned, he has received a letter from 
 there. We had considerable conversation about drinking tea 
 and coffee ; the girls talked it over, and asked their father if 
 he would devote the sum they usually expended for tea, cof 
 fee, etc., to the missionary cause. He agreed, if they would 
 leave off tea and coffee, to give them five dollars apiece an 
 nually, for that object, tie will probably give nearly thirty 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 21 
 
 dollars, if not more, in consequence. So much saved from 
 sensual indulgences to the cause of Christ ! Query ? Can t / 
 save more for it ?" 
 
 Procrastination. Struggles against it. 
 " The time I spent at West Haven was beneficially spent 
 in several respects ; but laziness and neglect of prayer fol 
 lowed me ; so have they done all this term, though I have 
 prayed more than usual ; have, I believe, felt more interest 
 in missions and in religion in every shape than I ever did be 
 fore ; yet it appears to me I have sinned more than I ever 
 did ; I have hardly made one effort to warm the heart of one 
 Christian, or to convert one sinner. * My works do follow me/ 
 I have not had enjoyment, except now and then a day, or a 
 few hours ; and then I have fallen into sin. Procrastination 
 has been my ruin. The habit of reading newspapers in the 
 morning, when I should have been praying, has been a seri 
 ous injury to me. I have begun many things, but have fin 
 ished very little, through indolence and sin. My God, have 
 thou mercy upon me ! I do desire to make one effort to 
 break off my habits of procrastination ; to be punctual in all 
 things, to be holy in all things. This term very many in 
 teresting things and circumstances have taken place or come 
 to my knowledge ; but many of them I must leave unwritten." 
 
 Early Views of Human Government. 
 " I love the principles of a republic, because they are 
 those of religion applied to the science of government. Re 
 ligion recognizes nothing arbitrary, no despotic power over 
 the conduct of men ; it aims only to draw them by the 
 power of motive. So does a republic of Religion ; unfolds 
 to man his true dignity, and proclaims him a freeraan ; lays 
 the foundation of social order in the mutual wants of men. A 
 republic is but an expression of the same views applied to 
 the general purposes of government. The reward of religion 
 
22 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 in this world is found chiefly in the consciousness of rectitude 
 and in mental enjoyment. In a republic, the praise of having 
 benefited others, of having done well, is the chief reward of 
 him who serves his country, together with the mental and be 
 nevolent pleasures arising from rectitude of motive and action. 
 Religion proposes to man to act for the highest good of the 
 world. A republic addresses no man with prospects of per 
 sonal aggrandizement, but asks the services of men who will 
 act for their country s good, and that alone. That other mo 
 tives do not have their influence, and far more than their 
 proper influence, none will deny. But the principles of the 
 government hold out no such motives to any man. They 
 speak but the united voice of reason and Scripture : Love 
 thy neighbor as thyself/ the golden rule of human action. 
 
 " It is frequently said that until men are enlightened, edu 
 cated, etc., they require the strong arm of monarchical, power 
 to restrain the outbreakings of sinful passion. This remark 
 includes a tacit acknowledgment that the principles of mon 
 archies are vitally wrong ; and contains other fallacies: 1st, 
 that men may be degraded, and be incapable of being moved 
 and governed by moral power alone ; which the missionaries 
 of the cross have demonstrated to be untrue, within ten years 
 past. 2d. It takes for granted two things ; first, that a mon 
 archy has more means of repressing violence than a republic, 
 (at least, a doubtful assertion,) and second, that a govern 
 ment adapted to man s social capacities, and fitted to secure 
 his attachment, will have less power over its citizens, than 
 one (monarchy, which the assertion grants to be) founded up 
 on men s fears" 
 
 Late Rising. 
 
 " Sabbath, August 5, 1832. Sat up late last evening, 
 studying and washing myself. Hence I laid till nearly eight 
 this morning, a very bad practice, which I do now resolve to 
 break off at once ; I must retire earlier, lesson or no lesson. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 23 
 
 I waste time enough to do twice as much as I do generally. 
 Forgive me, Lord, my master. Help me to be diligent in thy 
 service, and fervent in spirit. I will record the good deeds 
 of God that while I have sinned, wasted my time, put off 
 and neglected prayer, and his word, and done nothing for 
 him, yet he has granted me some sense of my sinfulness, and 
 several sweet seasons of communion with Him. He has not 
 taken from me his Holy Spirit ; my cup has run over with 
 undeserved blessings. 
 
 Prayer, and Interest in Missions. 
 
 " The prayer meetings are attended with increased interest, 
 for Christians are beginning to recognize the truth that prayer 
 is to effect something, or it is not prayer ; some in college 
 are awake ; I trust more will awake before the term closes (a 
 week from Wednesday). I have little doubt that there will 
 be a powerful revival here next term, or before. God grant it. 
 
 There is more piety in the theological school than there 
 ever has been before. Tutor Stevens s departure seems to 
 have taken hold of them ; and I hope it may lead not a few 
 of them to leave father and mother, wife and children, and 
 follow him, or rather follow their Master, to China ; so that 
 a constant, annual stream shall flow over that vast empire, to 
 elevate and sanctify the mass of mind there assembled. If 
 Tale College would adopt China with its 350 millions, and 
 take up the work of converting it to God, as a business to be 
 effected by the instrumentality of its students, surely the work 
 would be effected; God would be glorified in the salvation of 
 that empire, and the earth would feel and see that our Lord 
 was God indeed !" 
 
 The above extracts, taken from the diary of Mr. T., are 
 sufficient to show the character of his feelings while in col 
 lege. Much of his writings at this period, consist of notes 
 
24 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 taken from the sermons he heard on the Sabbath, and other 
 lectures from the Professors at Yale. 
 
 Though a very good classical scholar, he was never a hard 
 student. He acquired, however, a great amount of know 
 ledge on a great variety of subjects. Nor let the reader sup 
 pose this was accomplished without labor. He was versatile, 
 turning easily from one thing to another ; quickly grasping 
 what he supposed might be known of one subject, he has 
 tened to lay hands on something new. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SCHOOL-KEEPING. 
 
 Mr. Torrey went from college to that transition-state of 
 existence for professional men, school-keeping. 
 
 How the course of life ran with him here, his own record 
 shows. There is here given : A young man of great literary 
 acquisition, little knowledge of the world, unused to govern 
 or be governed : will he make a schoolmaster ? The unruly 
 boys and fond parents will work out this problem. Let us 
 see how the subject of the experiment bears himself while in 
 the crucible. 
 
 Chelsea, Sabbath, Oct. 20, 1833. After the lapse of al 
 most two years, preserved by the long-suffering and kindness 
 of God, I resume my journal. God make it a means of im 
 provement to me, both in humble devotion to his service and 
 intellect. Since I last was here, I have completed my college 
 conrse ; left that fair city, where I have spent so many hap 
 py hours, and where first the Spirit of God shed his holy in 
 fluences abroad in my heart. There, notwithstanding all my 
 sins, God provided me with friends dear to my heart both 
 from their intellectual and religious character. Though I 
 
SCHOOL-KEEPING. 25 
 
 did not improve my advantages as I should, while there, 
 though I now feel my consequent mental weakness, and 
 though I have a few dear friends there, yet I do not on the 
 whole regret leaving New Haven and old Yale. I have other 
 objects and scenes before me, calling for all my time and at 
 tention. Have enjoyed many pleasures since I returned from 
 New Haven. When I arrived here, the two Misses S. 
 were here, with whom I enjoyed many pleasant hours. After 
 a short visit at Scituate, I went to Salem, where I again saw 
 them and their sister C. Went on to Hamilton. The next 
 morning went on to Ipswich, where I had a long interview 
 with Miss Grant, on the subject of teaching, and gained many 
 valuable hints from her. Went on to Newburyport. Passed the 
 afternoon and evening at Mr. D. s. The next morning went over 
 to Exeter. Saw old friends. Returned to Amesbury in the 
 afternoon ; supped with old uncle Currier. In the night rode 
 on to Hamilton. Put up my horse in Mr. P. s barn, and 
 failing to wake them, I couched on the hay-mow very pleas 
 antly till daylight, when the folks were up. Came on to Sa 
 lem. Spent the afternoon in the East India museum, with 
 the Misses S. In the evening returned home. The next 
 Thursday I went to Scituate, where I tarried working hard 
 most of the time till last Tuesday, when I returned to this 
 place. Last evening went to Medford and Mr. Osgood s, 
 Charlestown. To-morrow I leave this for West Brookfield, 
 to take upon myself the responsible office of teacher in the 
 Female Seminary." 
 
 " West Brookfield, Wednesday, 24th, 1833. On the scene 
 of my future labors safe and well, through the kindness of 
 God. Left Boston on Monday morning, 1 o clock, in the 
 mail stage. Rode on in sleepy but sleepless silence to Fra- 
 mingham, which place we reached about 5 o clock. Some of 
 us broke our fast, and at six, when we started, notwithstand 
 ing the rainy, murky weather and close stage, there was light 
 enough to see each other s faces. Rev. Mr. Pierpoint of B. 
 3 
 
26 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 and a very intelligent gentleman from Pittsfield were among 
 the passengers, from whose conversation I derived much in 
 formation : Depth of loam in Grand Prairie 10 ft,, very much 
 like a couch for softness, being, in fact, only decayed vegetable 
 fibre ; then some clay ; then a stratum of limestone about 8 
 inches thick ; beneath which was an immense and thick de 
 posit of ancient trees, the remains of some primeval forest ; 
 then gravel and water. I am not quite sure the clay was not 
 below the trees. From the conversation of both gentlemen, 
 I derived much information in regard to our public men, 
 both living and dead. Limestone and sandstone, boulders of 
 granite, scattered on the surface in Western States. At Ba 
 ton Rouge, first from Gulf up the river. Immense size of 
 corn and vegetation generally 11 feet kind, between Vir 
 ginia yellow and Carolina white. Reached Worcester at 9 ; 
 South Brookfield at 1, where we dined ; this place at 2. 
 Stopped at Mr. Newell s, and here I am at the present time. 
 Same evening was introduced to Mr. Horton the minister, 
 with whom, in two days, I have become quite acquainted. 
 Though not one of the. Trustees, he does < more than they all r 
 for the Seminary, and now interests himself much in its pros 
 perity, making active exertions to secure scholars, etc. Was 
 unwell Monday night ; kindly nursed by Mr. and Mrs. N. 
 Have received every attention from them. They are admi 
 rable, both of them ; as a man and woman intelligent, un 
 usually so, and sincerely pious, very amiable. Yesterday 
 was the anniversary of the Worcester South A. Miss. Soc., 
 celebrated here ; rainy day ; comparatively few attended ; 
 but those were delighted, I doubt not. Have a sketch of the 
 addresses ; must write it to-morrow, before it grows colder. 
 Have spent much time, yesterday and to-day, making ar 
 rangements, conversing with Trustees, etc., about the school." 
 " Thursday 25th, Friday 26th, Saturday 27th. Making 
 arrangements to commence school on Wednesday next, con 
 versing with Trustees, concocting advertisements, reading, 
 
SCHOOL-KEEPING. 27 
 
 writing, etc. Yesterday, rode to Western with Mr. Horton. 
 Sabbath, 28. Mr. Stone, of South BrookfieU, preached in 
 the evening. Mr. Horton read from the report of the General 
 Association, and made remarks. I, for the first time, made a 
 tew. Lecture for me Wednesday. Monday, 29th. Meeting 
 of the Trustees. Was elected Principal of the Seminary. 
 Have not made conditions on which to engage. Had con 
 siderable conversation with the Trustees." 
 
 " Now for some ideas for my Lecture on Education. The 
 true and only proper end of education is to train the soul for 
 an eternal existence ; to train the intellect and the passions, 
 the whole man, for eternity. It is to teach the young immor 
 tal to think clearly, correctly, to feel aright, and to act aright, 
 in time and in eternity. An impression made upon a child is 
 made upon mind, and is to endure while mind endures. No 
 matter what the impression is, eternity cannot efface it. The 
 want of definite ideas, upon the most common subjects of con 
 versation. By this every intelligent teacher is continually 
 tormented. Remedy: be sure the child understands, etc. 
 
 " Wednesday eve, Oct. 31. Delivered a Lecture on the 
 above topics, about an hour long, to a room full, in the Semi 
 nary. Mr. Horton made a few remarks. 
 
 " In the forenoon, about 10, commenced school with Jive ! 
 pupils ! ! ! ! ! Courage ! afternoon, six ! Spent most of the 
 time in examining them on various matters. 
 
 " Saturday, Nov. 3. School, same ; a little more regular. 
 P. M., most of the time at Mr. Newell s and the Bookstore. 
 This evening, spent a few minutes in a little prayer meeting 
 at Mr. G. s; went in late; very pleasant." 
 
 " 1834, Jan. 5. Communion Sabbath. What have I been 
 doing all this time 1 God has blessed me infinitely beyond 
 my deservings. My school has increased to twenty ; and 
 though it has tried my patience, and I have been discouraged 
 by my small number and want of success in several respects, 
 
28 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 yet on the whole it has been to me a source of happiness. It 
 has afforded me constant employment a great blessing; 
 regular also. I have not secured the affection of all the 
 pupils, though in most cases I think I have." 
 
 "Feb. 21, Friday. Have for a long period omitted any 
 record of passing events ; a record which, as far as my soul 
 is concerned, would have been one of shame and vileness in 
 departing from my God ; and, as far as my temporal matters 
 are concerned, one of disappointment and almost pecuniary em 
 barrassment ; for at this moment I have not one cent on hand ; 
 the number of pupils small ; some considerable debts ; and I 
 hardly know what prospects, as to the future, I may expect. 
 In truth, I have been, for some time past, quite discouraged, 
 having no rational prospects of better times. Sure now, it is 
 hoping against hope, to suppose I shall prosper in my school. 
 But if I do not, I know not what I shall do. I know not 
 where to look for resources to pay my debts." 
 
 Hark! ye law- makers, 
 
 Here is the voice of experience. 
 
 " I am afraid I spoke in too loud a tone, when I made the 
 law. I am not sober enough, jest too much ; and foolish 
 talking and jesting are always attended by their appropriate 
 reward, as far as I know. I must take immediate measures 
 to remedy the evil. It produces disorder and vexation to me 
 and the pupils." 
 
 Young Human Nature. 
 
 " Tuesday. All things as usual. E. B. very roguish yet ; 
 his roguery contortions of the face ; moving round ; seeing 
 and laughing at every movement another makes ; cutting and 
 scratching slate-pencil, bench, or book, or anything in his 
 way ; whispering every convenient opportunity, and stoutly 
 denying his misdeeds, when brought up for them." 
 
SCHOOL-KEEPING. 29 
 
 A steady rein makes a gentle horse. 
 
 u Unless I insist upon exact obedience, greater and greater 
 liberties will be taken, until obedience is at an end, 
 
 " It seems to me wrong, or rather injurious, to reprove one 
 for general misconduct, even if it be manifest, without some 
 specific instance of transgression. It affords them a shelter 
 from reproof. My difficulties out of school have affected my 
 countenance and tone in school too often, rendering me, I fear, 
 a little irritable. Indeed, for weeks past, my countenance 
 has been sad, if not gloomy, even if my feelings have been 
 otherwise. 
 
 " Thursday, 20th. Found it necessary to speak, in the 
 most decided terms, of playing in the Seminary and ringing 
 the bell ; both of them crying or brawling evils. What will 
 be the effect, I cannot say. Oh that I and mine feared God 
 more ; then would they not need to be watched and warned." 
 Friday, 21st., No more new pupils, nor am I likely to have 
 any, as far as I know, except fiv^e males or so. Womankind 
 avoid me. Eh ! well bien ; be it so. Then I ll close school 
 and go to work to pay my debts. What I shall do, God 
 knoweth, I do not. Am I young and unmarried, so that 
 the female part of the creation fear me, or something else ! 
 So it is said. Is it my fault that I am not as old as Methu 
 selah? How can I help my youth ? I would not, if I could. 
 But alas ! the way to China seems hedged up with difficul 
 ties. What shall I do ? 
 
 " There are two rocks here. If pupils are treated as 
 though you expected them to do wrong, they will be sure not 
 to disappoint you ; all manner of evils will abound the mo 
 ment your back is turned, often before your face. The other 
 is, that a few will always abuse the confidence you place in 
 them ; and the example of a few will infect others ; till, if the 
 teacher lacks in decision and watchfulness, his authority will 
 3* 
 
30 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 be trampled upon, and he himself despised for his easy good 
 nature/ 
 
 " As a general remark, correcting individual errors in pub 
 lic, has but little beneficial effect, either upon the guilty or 
 others. 
 
 " A growing levity in some, leads me to see my faults and 
 their consequences. 
 
 " It requires more wisdom to censure so as to reclaim the 
 offender and retain the good will of others, than it does to 
 flatter and praise a month." 
 
 This experiment of school-keeping is drawing to a close. 
 How the young man of talents and ignorant of the way to 
 govern, struggled and breasted the storm gathering around 
 him, we can only see through the clouds darkly. But of all 
 the ships for young navigators to steer o er the troubled waves 
 of life, none is more difficult than this same " select school" 
 of special rogues and premature misses, sent not to be gov 
 erned and taught, but to put on airs and patronize the teacher 
 and encourage the school. See how he turns the bitter wa 
 ters of disappointment into the gold dust of treasured expe 
 rience. This is the right use of the " means of grace." 
 
 " But the result of my school-projects is uncertain. Per 
 haps I need the stern trial of poverty to compel me to learn 
 that prudence which nothing else has, in time past, taught me. 
 It may be that present difficulties and struggles will be the 
 blessed means of preparing me to labor efficiently in the vine 
 yard of the Lord. 
 
 " About every difficulty originates either in my ignorance 
 of human nature, or in want of self-control, which is never 
 taught except at home." 
 
 " Sabbath, March 2, 1834. Solemn sermon this forenoon ; 
 text, < What do ye more than others ? i. e. to prove your claim 
 
SCHOOL-KEEPING. 31 
 
 to the character of Christ s disciples ; to prove, that sin does 
 not rule you still? What I do, I can hardly say, but that now 
 and then I struggle feebly with my chain, arid then it seems 
 riveted more firmly than ever. Oh ! for relief from the chain 
 of sin. I know the fountain is open in which its links will 
 melt away. 
 
 "Have fully determined to leave West Brookfield im 
 mediately, for sufficient reasons. Very beautiful and brilliant 
 rain-bow last night, after a rainy day. Its brilliancy in 
 creased to the utmost degree of splendor, exhibiting a double 
 bow by reflection ; then its brilliancy faded till almost extin 
 guished ; and, as the sun was in the act of setting, it lighted 
 up as distinctly, and almost as vividly, as ever. I noted, 
 what I never saw before, a circle of red light, quite distinct, 
 within the indigo circle, whether from double refraction or 
 difference of refrangibility, I cannot tell. There seemed to be 
 faint traces of several such circles ; the bow apparently con 
 tinued after sun-set, for several minutes, perhaps ten or fif 
 teen. 
 
 " Tuesday, 10th. Life is checkered. Some of the bitter 
 is ever mingled with the sweet, lest we grow mad with too 
 
 much joy. Yet to-day, a letter from my dear cousin D , 
 
 tells me that she has given her heart to the Savior ! and that 
 quite a number of others in Chelsea have become the friends 
 of Christ. I ought to praise God and rejoice at this, with an 
 heart full of joy, as an object for which I longed and prayed, 
 and labored not a little." 
 
 Here is the end of it ! Began Nov. 2, 1833, and closed 
 the first period of his public life, March 8, 1834. Four months 
 and four days, all he could give and all Providence allowed 
 him, in this hard and thankless work. 
 
 " Night previous replaced all the minerals, and brought 
 home part of my things, in anticipation of closing school. 
 Yesterday, brought home all that could possibly be spared. 
 
32 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 And is it true, in four days more my teaching days here, 
 where I had so confidently hoped for a residence for years to 
 come, will be over ! What have I done for the pupils in 
 trusted to my charge ? The present term, indeed, I have not 
 been faithful as I ought. My mind has been occupied, anx 
 iously so, with the difficulties and discouragements of my situ 
 ation. It has affected my countenance and my feelings, and 
 so unfitted me for the duties of my station. Hence my mild 
 ness and firm demeanor, or what was meant for it, has too 
 often appeared sour and forbidding, and alienated affection 
 from me." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 STUDIES THEOLOGY. LETTERS TO HIS WIFE BEFORE MAR 
 RIAGE. ORDAINED AT PROVIDENCE. LETTER TO HIS 
 WIFE. DISMISSED. RESETTLED AT SALEM. LEAVES 
 SALEM. 
 
 In October, 1834, he entered the Theological Seminary at 
 Andover. Of this period, no record is found among his pa 
 pers, save the following Certificate from one of the Trustees. 
 
 " Theol Sem. Andover, Oct. 19, 1835. 
 " Mr. Charles T. Torrey, the bearer, has been a member 
 of this seminary one year ; and when his health has permit 
 ted, he has regularly pursued his theological studies. While 
 resident here he has maintained a Christian character. On 
 account of the feeble and precarious state of his health, and 
 his pecuniary circumstances, he is now, at his own request, 
 dismissed from the seminary. 
 
 In behalf of the Trustees of Phillips Academy, 
 
 SAMUEL FARRAR." 
 
THEOLOGICAL COURSE. 33 
 
 After leaving Andover, Mr. Torrey took a long journey 
 on foot ; and although physicians regarded him as almost in 
 curable, yet by travelling in this way, with the impulse his 
 mind received from visiting new places, his health was re 
 stored ; and, in 1835, he resumed his theological studies, un 
 der the care of Rev. L. A. SpofFord, Scituate, Mass. With 
 Mr. SpofFord he remained six months. About this time he 
 assisted Rev. Mr. Moore, then of Cohasset, in a revival. In 
 June, 1836, he went to West Medway, to complete his studies 
 with Rev. Dr. Ide. Here he not only received the Doctor s 
 theology, but was fortunate in obtaining the consent of his 
 daughter to be the future companion of his pilgrimage. Octo 
 ber 25, 1836, Mr. Torrey was licensed to preach the gospel, 
 by the Mendon Association. From this period till the time 
 he was settled in Providence, his history may be gleaned 
 from the following letters. 
 
 " Cohasset, Dec. 16, 1836. 
 
 " My beloved Mary I have just one hour to write you a 
 few words, all about doings and prospects. Reached Boston 
 about 2 o clock. Had about an hour to do my errands. Of 
 course did not go to Chelsea. Have since heard from the folks 
 there ; all well as usual. At 3 o clock got into the Hingham 
 stage. Reached Mrs. Beals s at 5. Was very cordially re 
 ceived, so far as I could judge. Many kind inquiries were 
 made after my Mary. So I told them some half a hundred of 
 your faults ! Did, upon honor. Next morning made several 
 calls upon old friends. Packed up a few books and went, in 
 the stage, to Marshfield, which I reached about 4J o clock. 
 The Hingham folks had as many excuses for not writing to me 
 as there are grasshoppers in August ; none, however, quite 
 equal to aunt Fanny s : * It wasn t for want of a will, for I 
 wrote one, but neglected to send it ! That s what I call a new 
 way to pay old debts. I don t know whether I made upon 
 
34 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 your mind the impression, that it was very uncertain whether 
 I remained at M., notwithstanding the Commit tee had asked me 
 to do so. When I went to Medway, I left it optional with the 
 Committee to withdraw their proposal for me to remain 
 through the winter, if they should see cause. When I re 
 turned, they told me they had concluded that it was, on the 
 whole, best. So next Sabbath will be my last there. I 
 exchange with Mr. Moore, at whose house and in whose 
 study I now am. If the Orthodox should recover their cour 
 age, they may want me in W. again. But they do not now 
 feel prepared to take a stand. I shall, God willing, go to the 
 city on Monday ; and unless I see some prospect of employ 
 ment soon, shall probably be in Medway once more in the 
 course of the week, or the next week. The Lord will send 
 me somewhere, if he has anything for me to do for him, as a 
 minister of Christ. Pray for me, dear Mary, that I may be 
 kept from sin, and led in the path of duty to God. And how 
 is your heart, dearest? God has given me some peace since 
 I left you, though I have had some bitter struggles with evil 
 thoughts. I trust you have been enabled to overcome and 
 deny yourself, and live near to the throne. 
 
 " We had a very good temperance address here, night be 
 fore last, from Mr. Taylor of Boston. Some of it ludicrous ; 
 but on the whole solemn, pungent, appealing to the con 
 science with great power. He lectures wherever the people 
 will give hirn a collection for his Nautical Free School. Let 
 me hear from you Monday. Direct to me at Boston. I shall 
 stay at Mr. Bliss s some of next week. Friends at Scituate 
 full of inquiries why you did not visit them. The Moore s 
 all pretty well ; send regards to the family. My love to all 
 friends, and especially the family. God bless and keep you 
 in his love, and guide you by his Spirit, my beloved. 
 Your affectionate 
 
 CHARLES T. T." 
 
LETTERS TO HIS WIFE. 35 
 
 "Chelsea, Jan. 9,1837. 
 
 " My beloved Mary, I received your letter, dated Jan. 5, 
 Saturday morning, and perused it with great pleasure. I was 
 just about setting out for the city, but did not go till just at 
 night ; and after wandering about an hour or two to do er 
 rands, I went to Mr. Lord s. Found that he and Br. Rogers 
 had made a bargain about me, without asking will I, or nil I ; 
 but I was contented with it. So, after a night of pleasant 
 slumber, and committing my ways to the Lord, and seeking 
 his help, I went, in the morning, to the Odeon, and preached 
 to the largest assembly I have ever yet addressed. Probably 
 1100 or 1200 were present ; very attentive listeners to a rather 
 long sermon. I felt something of the responsibility of address 
 ing, even what I know is truth, to such an assembly. How 
 many would be hardened by its exhibition ! How few, proba 
 bly, would be savingly affected by it ! And under what awful 
 sanctions does the minister of the Lord Jesus Christ stand, 
 when he addresses them ; knowing, that even if he is faith 
 ful, the truth will prove to perhaps a majority of his hearers 
 only the savor of death unto death. I was enabled to speak 
 with more ease and comfort to myself, than I could in your 
 father s house. Text, Luke 10: 22, " Thou shalt love the 
 Lord," etc. In the morning, Mr. Lord plead the cause of 
 the sailor, in Park Street; and a good contribution in the af 
 ternoon, and many tears at the time, testified to the interest 
 he excited in behalf of the sons of the ocean. By the way, 
 a sailor complained of my prayer, last Thursday evening, at 
 the Bethel. He said to Mr. Lord, that I ( did not pray salt 
 water enough / What s that mean ? * Why, he did not 
 pray distinctly for seamen ! The fact was, I forgot the sai 
 lor in the sinner; and, in praying and preaching, thought 
 only of the particular sinners before me, part sailors, part not ; 
 the majority, females. However, I shan t soon forget praying 
 salt water. In the afternoon preached, on the subject of the 
 
36 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 death of Christ, at Park Street. Pretty full congregation, six 
 or eight hundred. Made very little effort, contrary to the usual 
 practice of those who preach there, but filled the house with 
 great ease. Was heard distinctly in every part. I am in 
 clined to think the difficulty of preaching there, is all a bug 
 bear; that the trouble is, ministers speak too loud, but not 
 distinctly. Of course, they are soon exhausted, and yet un 
 heard by one quarter of their audience. I spoke slowly, dis 
 tinctly, but not very loud, and the people were very atten 
 tive. In the evening, I talked at the prayer-meeting, in Park 
 Street vestry, and Mr. Homer gave me a gentle rebuke, as I 
 walked home with him, fordoing so, after preaching twice on 
 the Sabbath. He was very affectionate to me; the rest of 
 the family, kind. All well. Staid there an hour, and then 
 returned to Mr. Lord s for the night. Grandma interrupts 
 me, by saying, Give my love to Mary, and respects to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Ide, Isabella and all ; and tell Mary not to worry 
 herself about your old wrapper, for he wears grandpa s cloak 
 and looks quite dignified in it ! I hope to doff my old wrap 
 per before long ; but when, I can t say. I hope the Master 
 will send me to some permanent location ere long; but his 
 will be done. He has always dealt kindly with me, with us 
 both, dear Mary, though we have often murmured, and 
 thought otherwise. But think you we shall, if we enter heav 
 en, and thence look back upon the whole process of the for 
 mation of our characters, under the dispensations of Provi 
 dence, ever suppose we had too many disappointments ? Or 
 one trial that could have been spared ? One cross too much ? 
 Never ! What son is he whom his Father chasteneth not ? 
 And then, we are always recalling scenes of sin and sorrow, 
 while God s mercies, holy feelings, and joyous moments, pass 
 away from memory as a dream of the night, and we feel as if 
 our waking hours had been almost filled up with sin and its 
 twin sister misery. But was there ever a cross, a trial, a 
 scene of suffering, in which we have not found some mercy- 
 
LETTERS TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 drops mingled ? Some connected joy, to calm the mind and 
 heal the wounded spirit ? Came home this morning, or rather 
 noon, after an hour spent in reading about Animal Magnetism, 
 and another in talking with old Mr. Andros> formerly pastor 
 inBerkely for forty-six years, and Mr. Oliver, once of Beverly, 
 of whom it was said, he ought never to leave the pulpit, or never 
 to enter it. Spent the afternoon writing for grandfather ; and 
 here I am, 9J o clock, writing to my dearest of all earthly 
 friends. Aunt Fanny sits by me, reading the Three Ex 
 periments of Living ; sends love to you. The letter sent in 
 my bundle was a long and affectionate one from uncle Wm. 
 T. Torrey. You may open and read all my letters, before 
 you send them ; should like to have you. 
 
 " Pray the Lord, not so much to give me a place to preach, 
 as to jit me to preach, glorying in nothing save the cross of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto 
 us, and we unto the world. At least, it must be so with us, 
 my dear M., if we are permanently useful in the kingdom of 
 our Master. Thanks to Bella for her short P. S. Hope 
 she may have a year of so much peace and holy happiness, 
 that it will be a new year to her. I hope the next P. S. may 
 be a little longer. Much love to her, to your honored pa 
 rents and to all the family. Please send me some of my 
 papers, and the tooth-brush, and some letters, in a little bun 
 dle, by Miller, to be left at Peirce s Book Store. Hope your 
 toothache has departed. I can toothily (rather than heartily) 
 sympathize with you. Tis one of my old familiar comforts ! 
 I know I need not ask my Mary to write soon. May God 
 bless and keep you, guide and sanctify you ; and prepare us 
 both for an open and abundant entrance into the everlasting 
 kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be 
 glory forever. Amen. I am yours, in esteem and love, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY. 
 
MEMOIR OF TORKEY. 
 
 Providence, Feb. 6, 1837. 
 
 "My beloved Mary, Though sadly disappointed when I 
 found no letter came Saturday night from Medway, I feel hap 
 py to resume my pen once more and converse with the one 
 nearest to my heart of all earthly friends, except yes, allow 
 one exception, and be my dearest still. Let me feel and say 
 to one friend, There is none upon earth that I desire besides 
 thee. And I shan t love you the less. But I really did feel 
 disappointed, though well aware that you must have had the 
 very best reasons to be found in all Norfolk county. Well, 
 last Wednesday afternoon, I met the Maternal Association ; 
 talked to the mothers and children ; stormy day ; very few 
 present ; new business to me. Thursday, P. M. y preached 
 for Mr. Blair, at his protracted meeting. That meeting has 
 closed ; the results, not very striking ; a very few conversions ; 
 about twenty anxious. Previous to the meeting, there was ris 
 ing thirty cases of hopeful conversion ; and Mr. Blair told me 
 that the seriousness was increased by the meeting ; for, a fort 
 night before, it had declined. The suspicions about protracted 
 meetings, so prevalent in our State, have reached but few minds 
 here. Mr. Underwood was a great blessing to High Street 
 church (Mr. Lewis ). Its numbers were about doubled during 
 his stay here, and no evils resulted, so far as I have learned. 
 But to return. Thursday eve, I preached again in our ves 
 try ; and it was a long sermon, too, on backsliding. Doc 
 trines : a backslider is one who, though once converted, is 
 now living in sin, with few or no holy exercises ; us a back 
 slider, being impenitent, has no more title to the promises, 
 than any impenitent sinner. He must repent, and return to 
 God, like a sinner, throwing himself upon naked sovereignty 
 as his only hope. He cannot plead the promises ; none are 
 made to him. None of his prayers are acceptable, while he 
 continues a backslider. Have some reason to hope the Spirit 
 accompanied the word. Friday eve was the preparatory lee- 
 
SETTLEMENT AT PROVIDENCE. 39 
 
 ture, in the vestry. Quite full and attentive audience. Yes 
 terday, as I could not administer the sacrament, exchanged 
 in the forenoon with Br. Lewis. Had an attentive audience 
 of 2oO, though the day was snowy. Returned to the Rich 
 mond Street church in time to partake of the communion ; 
 enjoyed the season very much. Afternoon, preached on the 
 law of God, " Thou shalt love," etc., to about 700 or 750. 
 The storm kept many ladies at home. I was exhausted ; 
 and in the eve appointed a conference, intending to say but 
 few words; but I did preach quite a sermon, on confessing 
 and forsaking sin, because it is in itself hateful. Somehow, 
 my preaching lately all tends directly to two points, divine 
 sovereignty and disinterested benevolence ; and here, as in 
 other churches, there are a few who cry out hard sayings. 
 This morning, you may well suppose, I was pretty much dis 
 posed to cling to my couch, and to-day have made but two 
 calls. Have been reading Helen s Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 
 a book of some real merit. You will have concluded by my 
 not coming, that they want me to stay longer. I am to preach 
 next Sabbath ; and on Monday after, the society have their 
 quarterly meeting ; and the committee will then ask for in 
 structions whether to employ me any longer or not. If they 
 wish me to continue, the church will then act about a call, if 
 they see cause. I have said to the Committee, that I did not 
 feel it to be my duty to preach more than six weeks as a can 
 didate ; a,t least, without consulting Mr. Ide. I do not think 
 it will be necessary ; for I have no doubt most persons, if not 
 quite every one in the Society, have fully made up their minds 
 now ; and I have reason to believe the most are desirous that 
 I should remain. However, the matter will speedily be de 
 cided. My abolitiomsm and Emmonaitm might cause a few 
 to leave, and would draw in some others. The friends of the 
 slave are determined to have one abolition church, and the 
 abolitionists are the sound men in doctrine. Still, something 
 
40 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 may occur to cause a struggle, and prevent my remaining 
 here. Be prepared for disappointment, my love. I have 
 endeavored to leave the matter entirely to God, and I think 
 the hardest point to submit has been, that you would feel it, 
 if I should not be liked here. Next Monday or Tuesday, 
 God willing, I purpose to be with you. Pray for me, love, 
 that the word I preach may both benefit me and those who 
 listen to it. There is need of a revival ; the church, as a 
 body, is very lifeless. Do let me hear from you this week. 
 My love to your father, mother, Isabella, Em., Let., Julia, 
 and little Georgy, and all friends. May your soul prosper, 
 my beloved Mary. I am your affectionate, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRE Y. 
 
 : P. S. Tuesday morning. Dearest M. Received your 
 letter this morning. Thank Bella for her P. S. I trust my 
 Mary improves in other things as well as in housewifery, 
 May both of you live nearer to God than you ever have done, 
 and grow in all Christian graces, as well as in those graces 
 of this life which make home the best image of heaven 
 earth offers to our view. I don t know how I wrote about 
 my bath. I begin with face and hands, and end with feet. 
 I think I have been essentially benefited by it. Friction at 
 night, and cold water and friction in the morning, are truly 
 delicious. Good bye. Let me hear again as soon as you re 
 ceive this. Yours, C. T. 
 
 March, 1837, he was ordained over the Richmond Street 
 Congregational church, Providence, R. I. About a week 
 after, he was married. Mr. Torrey remained in Providence 
 till October of the same year ; when, by his own request, he 
 was dismissed from his pastoral relation to that people. 
 
 We give, here, only one letter, between the time of his 
 leaving Providence and his settlement at Salem. 
 
LETTERS TO HIS WIFE, 41 
 
 East Randolph, Thursday, Nov. 16, 1837. 
 " Somehow, 1 love to write to my dear wife, I think, 
 quite as well, if not a little better, than I did before we 
 were- * one flesh. I can think of her, and seem to see 
 her, and hear her talk, and peep and smtYe, now and then, 
 even if we are absent in body from each other. I was 
 a little disappointed Monday night, and last night not a little, 
 when I went to the office and no letter came from my Mary. 
 But then I found up, as you say, a dozen good reasons 
 why it should be so, and was tolerably contented. I do 
 want you with me every day, to counsel, sympathize with, 
 reprove and comfort me, not a little. But the way of the 
 Lord is in the darkness, and his pathway in the deep. He 
 hideth himself. And what he hath in store for us, he knows, 
 and perhaps we ought not to desire to know, till the day de 
 clares it. The benefit of most of God s dispensations would 
 evidently be lost, if we knew beforehand what should be our 
 portion in life. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. 
 I feel more and more desire to be with you. Without these 
 separations, you have said sometimes, that I did not sympa 
 thize with you, in your trials and sufferings. But it is not so, 
 my love ; far from it. If I have erred, it has been in the 
 other direction. I am conscious, however, that as a matter of 
 habit, there is an almost constant concealment of my feelings 
 on every subject, and a neglect of the expression of them, to 
 an extent which you never thought of. I remember once 
 a classmate to whom I was always ardently attached, one clay 
 burst out in expressions of astonishment, when I casually al 
 luded to my warm affection for him. He had never dreamed 
 of it ! Now I never could tell, exactly, what had hindered 
 me from manifesting my love to him by words or by an affec 
 tionate deportment. Yet so it was. And whatever be the 
 cause, I believe it is, in a measure, true of my feelings of 
 sympathy with you as a wife. As to love to you, it has been 
 4* 
 
42 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 manifest enough, surely. But we do often refrain from ex 
 hibiting feelings which are very strong in our bosoms, and yet 
 cannot tell why we do it. But when we do, we forget that the 
 proper expression of any emotion strengthens it." 
 
 Soon after leaving P., he simultaneously received two calls 
 to resettle. The one from Randolph, the other the Harvard 
 Street church in Salem, Mass., formerly under the pastoral 
 care of Rev. Dr. Cheever. The church was so well united 
 in him and in each other, and their views of the great moral 
 questions which then agitated the Christian public, so nearly 
 coincided with his own, that he considered it an indication of 
 Providence, that God had called him to that place. In De 
 cember he removed to Salem, and in Jan. 1838, was in 
 stalled over a united and happy people. For a time he en 
 gaged with zeal and devotion in the labors of a pastor ; soon 
 his calls from abroad, and his numerous labors in the anti- 
 slavery cause, diverted his mind from his duties to his own 
 charge, and he found it necessary to yield the one or the other. 
 He relinquished his home and the quiet of a pastor s life for 
 the stormy conflict with slavery. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 
 
 It is but just to Mr. Torrey, that he should here speak for 
 himself, and set forth in his own language his views and his 
 motives. 
 
 We find a series of letters, prepared about this time, em 
 bracing a review of a Sermon by Re v. Parsons Cooke. 
 These letters, as will be seen, were written for the Boston 
 Recorder, but for some reason were not published in that 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 43 
 
 paper, although Mr. T. had been publicly challenged to re 
 view the Sermon in question through the Recorder. 
 
 We give largely of these letters, because they not only 
 show good reasons for anti-slavery action, reasons which need 
 to be read again and again, but they also give a very fair con 
 ception of Mr. Torrey as a vigorous writer. We give these 
 in preference to any selection from his sermons, because 
 more in accordance with the latter period of his life, in which 
 the community are more particularly interested. Mr, Tor 
 rey was employed at this time as a Lecturer, by the Massa 
 chusetts Abolition Society, and wrote this series of Letters 
 at such intervals as he could command, while going from 
 place to place. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 " Dear Brother, Before entering upon the discussion of 
 the general principles involved in your discourse, entitled 
 * Moral Machinery simplified, there are a few points which I 
 desire to notice. The most of them may be arranged under 
 this running title : 
 
 Things in which we agree. 
 
 1. " That it is very difficult to ascertain the path of duty, 
 sometimes, in relation to a given object, or society ; and that, 
 consequently, we need the teachings of the word and provi 
 dence of God, received with a prayerful humble spirit, to 
 guide us aright. And if a man enters upon any course of ac 
 tion, without such guidance, and such a temper of heart, he 
 will not gain the favor of God. He will be more likely to 
 resemble Jehu the son of Nimshi, than Jesus of Nazareth. 
 He may destroy the wicked, and repress open crimes, like 
 the former ; but he will not be very likely to lead a sinner to 
 the cross. And while the wicked man may be really useful 
 to society, in promoting social order, and external purity, he 
 will not, by such means, save his own soul, nor will his influ- 
 
44 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 ence have any very direct or special tendency to save the 
 souls of others. Hence, if such a man, in consequence of his 
 zealous efforts to reform men externally, is ranked, by him 
 self or others, among true Christians they make a lamentable, 
 and he a fatal mistake. 
 
 2. " Whenever any tendency to exalt one branch of Chris 
 tian morality or benevolence, above its just place in the esti 
 mation of mankind, appears, it ought to be resisted, kindly 
 but firmly. The cause of education should not be sacrificed 
 to that of Missions ; nor the cause of the slave to either. Ef 
 forts to promote the observance of the Sabbath should not be 
 urged to the neglect of the duty of prayer ; nor should the 
 importance of revivals of religion in our churches, induce us 
 to omit to urge upon them suitable measures to bring men- 
 stealers to repentance. Wherever this censurable tendency 
 has appeared in our abolition efforts, I have always rebuked it. 
 So have others. But it cannot be wholly repressed ; it re 
 sults rather from the laws of the human mind, and the par 
 tial knowledge and imperfect holiness of men, than from the 
 peculiar nature of any topic of interest. Men are as much 
 disposed to be * hobby-horsical on the subject of missions, or 
 education, as abolition. 
 
 " Yet we both agree that sometimes a particular object may 
 have claims upon the attention of the humane and pious para 
 mount, for the time, to all others ; and that their time and re 
 sources should be devoted more exclusively to it, than duty 
 would allow in different circumstances. May it not be so, 
 now, in relation to the three millions of the enslaved? So 
 long neglected by most men, in the church and out of it, 
 is it not time to awake to special, penitent efforts for their 
 rescue ? May not men urge their claims with special ear 
 nestness, without being chargeable with perverting the gos 
 pel, or over-valuing one branch of Christian duty or morality ? 
 
 3. " That Consociation is but another name for a Pres 
 bytery, I am glad to see a man of so much influence as your- 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 45 
 
 self boldly affirm. Would that you, or some one, could wake 
 up in our churches, and especially among our ministers, a 
 more hearty attachment to the scriptural, anti-slavery prin 
 ciples of the church polity of our fathers ! That Congrega- 
 tionalists (including Baptists, Lutherans, etc.) can engage in 
 efforts to spread the gospel, or relieve the poor and needy and 
 oppressed, beyond the immediate neighborhood of their indi 
 vidual churches, in no way but by forming voluntary associa 
 tions for these ends, is most true, and a truth of no little im 
 portance. A local church, if faithful, can succor the needy, 
 and supply the spiritual wants of saints and sinners, in its 
 own locality. But if its members have pecuniary ability, 
 talents, and hearts large enough to do more than this, it must 
 be done by a voluntary combination of their individual re 
 sources, in a society, committee, or corporation. These asso 
 ciations may, or may not be formed to organize new churches 
 elsewhere. They may exist, to preach Christian doctrine or 
 duty, or morality, according to the demands of the case in 
 view. But for what object soever they are formed, they are 
 purely voluntary ; the free union of individuals, to employ 
 means to secure certain ends. Remark, if you please, that 
 such societies are not formed by the united action of churches 
 as such ; but solely by the union of such men and women as 
 are disposed to form them. Each society may define, for it 
 self, the terms of membership in it. These may be, a public 
 profession of faith, in a Congregational or some other church, 
 hopeful piety, or the payment of a sum of money, or sign 
 ing one s name as a token of assent to certain doctrines and 
 measures. But such societies are not churches. If any man 
 assents to the terms of membership, there is, and can be, no 
 way of excluding him, for hypocrisy, or anything else, not 
 embraced explicitly in those terms. The character and influ 
 ence of a member or members, may be dangerous to every 
 interest of the church and the world ; but so long as they 
 
46 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 comply with the conditions of membership, they cannot be 
 set aside. 
 
 " And I will just add, for your information, that the terms of 
 membership in the A. B. C. F. Missions, the Am. Educa 
 tion, and in short of all our public societies for every object, 
 set up no bars to exclude the infidel, the drunkard, the de 
 bauchee, the universalist or other errorist, the atheist even. 
 All persons, men and women, old and young, Christians and 
 heathen, may become members/ by paying a given sum of 
 money ! And every such person is eligible to any and every 
 corporate or administrative office in these societies. What 
 * wicked societies ! to invite good men and bad men 
 alike to join in doing good ; in * preaching the whole gospel/ 
 or a part of it. Good and bad men, professors and non-pro 
 fessors of religion, virtuous and some vicious men, belong to 
 all these societies. There is no propriety in saying that these 
 societies are religious societies (you do not) so far as the 
 terms of membership are concerned. The * churches are 
 connected with them only through their individual members, 
 who choose to join -just as the churches are connected with 
 abolition or moral reform societies. * How liable are such 
 societies to perversion ! some will exclaim. Suppose a 
 ( controlling portion of their members and officers get to be 
 corrupt, or and- orthodox men. When money is the only 
 term of membership, are they not peculiarly liable to perver 
 sion ? One Foreign Mission Society has already been so 
 perverted, in this State. We both reply, that we have other 
 and ample securities, in the character of the officers, the vigil 
 ance of the community, and above all, in the control of our own 
 pockets, against such perversion. No man, however great or 
 influential or Jesuitical, can control and sustain any voluntary 
 society long, after it appears that he perverts its funds or in 
 fluence, unless by the free consent of its supporters. If they 
 agree to it ; they unite with him in changing its character and 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 47 
 
 objects. It is no longer the same body in truth, though it 
 may be in name. And here is all the security we need, or can 
 rationally ask, that any voluntary society (not corporate, for 
 a given end) shall not be perverted. It is the only real se 
 curity, in regard to a church or any other jure divino society. 
 Abolition, missionary, and all other existing societies, merely 
 voluntary, stand, in this respect, on a common level. 
 
 4. We agree that corrupt public sentiment ought to be 
 reformed, by wise and proper means. And the means to be 
 employed, must depend upon whether that corruption exists 
 in the churches or in the State ; and upon the nature of the 
 * corrupt sentiment which needs purification. One mode of 
 action may be salutary and efficient at one time, and futile at 
 another. Wisdom is profitable to direct us how to act for 
 this end. We agree that the opinions of the public can 
 be changed only by such means as will reach and mould 
 those of individuals. Will not the united expression of indi 
 vidual opinions affect the views of others ? Is it not one proper 
 mode of doing this ? Surely, you must change the whole so 
 cial constitution of man, before you deny it, or denounce such 
 action as mean or anti-christian. We agree, also, that if 
 deference to the opinions of one or of all men be the control 
 ling motive in any given act, there is no moral virtue in the 
 act. It may be beneficial to society, but does not commend 
 the agent to His favor, who looks upon the heart. Hence if 
 all slaveholders left off their crimes, out of deference to hu 
 man opinions, it would not save their souls. But surely, it 
 would be a vast gain, directly to every temporal interest of 
 man, and indirectly to his spiritual interests, by opening wide 
 the door of effort for the good of the two races. 
 
 " Nor do we expect that slavery will be destroyed by the 
 actual conversion of every slaveholder. The history of the 
 world presents no example of such an event. Like all other 
 public crimes, it has fallen under the ban of penal laws, when 
 ever the controlling influences in church and State, were 
 
48 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 sufficiently enlightened and pure, or conscientious, to exe 
 cute judgment and deliver the oppressed. So will it be in 
 every State of our Union. And whenever the opinions, 
 sentiments, and feelings of the major part of any slave State 
 are what they should be, the work will be done. That proper 
 means should be employed to make them right, we both be 
 lieve. That it may be desirable, or necessary to establish 
 many more churches, and send many more ministers, to 
 some States, as a means of changing men s opinions arid feel 
 ings, I may admit or deny. It is an open question. That 
 more ministers and churches, and of a purer character are de 
 sirable for this object and for the salvation of the bond and 
 the free, I admit. That slavery will die without it, I believe. 
 For, imperfectly as we both believe the South to be * evan 
 gelized, I think the first principles of common morality and 
 honesty are well enough understood by the mass of the peo 
 ple, to authorize us to appeal to them, in condemnation of 
 slaveholding; in order to secure the proper church and State 
 action for the suppression of this crime. Perhaps I am wrong ; 
 a few years will determine. 
 
 5. We agree that slaveholding is a sin, more or less ag 
 gravated by the degree of light enjoyed by the sinner. If it 
 be a sin, then the commission of it is inconsistent with Chris 
 tian character. That a man may commit this or any other 
 sin with a very * limited knowledge of his duty in the tfase, 
 and be a Christian, is what you seem to affirm (p. 30, bot 
 tom, of your pamphlet). You seem to suppose some Chris 
 tians slaveholders, now, to be thus ignorant of duty. Perhaps 
 so. But doubtless that number is limited. It cannot em 
 brace many educated men. No son of New England can be 
 thus ignorant. No son of the South, educated here, can be 
 thus excused. At least, I will hold that we agree in this, till 
 you deny it. I would ask, with earnestness, when will the 
 true light shine ? How many centuries more, before the 
 slaveholders in the Southern and Northern churches will 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 
 
 know enough, to be l without excuse ? Is the case so verj 
 difficult of solution ? 
 
 Your friend and brother in Christ, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRE Y." 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 " Respected Sir, It cannot be questioned, that the aboli 
 tion societies of our day, were chiefly in your eye, when you 
 penned your discourse. Every paragraph is distinctly aimed 
 at them. And though allusions are made to others, some of 
 which mi glit be obnoxious to the same charges, it will be suf 
 ficient for me to endeavor to meet your positions in the atti 
 tude in which they are presented, leaving to the agents or 
 friends of other reforms to defend their societies from your 
 assaults. In doing this, however, I mean to meet your main 
 positions fairly. Allow me to add, that I shall take little no 
 tice of the jests and sarcasms with which your pamphlet 
 abounds. If you employ them in reply to me, I will take 
 into serious consideration the propriety of using such l car 
 nal weapons, in retorting upon you. 
 
 " Your general doctrine is, that voluntary associations are 
 lawful and scriptural. Still, they may be needlessly multi 
 plied, and improperly formed. Your object is, to find some 
 principle, on which to separate the precious from the vile. 
 You think you have found it. I do not. Your principle is 
 unsound, or very imperfectly stated ; and the use you make 
 of it, most clumsy and unrighteous, as I intend to show be 
 fore I have done. 
 
 " For certain kinds of voluntary societies you think (pp. 6 
 7) you find a warrant, 1. In apostolic example. Notice 
 that this society, if it was one, was established by Paul and 
 Timothy, to relieve the poor saints at Jerusalem, in a time 
 of famine, by pecuniary collections. It was no part of its 
 5 
 
50 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 object to preach the whole gospel/ or any portion of it. One 
 object of abolition societies is to relieve the poor saints in 
 the South, from a bondage which deprives them of legal mar 
 riage, of the wages of their labor, of the right to read, or 
 to know how to read the word of God ; and, in short, of all 
 personal, social, civil, political and religious rights. If apos 
 tolic example gives a ritual warrant for forming a voluntary 
 society in the one case, some think it must, a fortiori, in the 
 other. What say you ? 2. You argue the expediency and 
 safety of such societies from the goodness of their objects. 
 Surely the abolition of slavery and caste, are good objects/ 
 That the goodness of the object of a society secures it from 
 perversion, or has any strong tendency to do so, I question. 
 And the simplicity of the machinery, in any case, only makes 
 it easier to wield it for any purpose, good or bad. What ob 
 ject so good as the salvation of souls ? How constantly per 
 verted, in every age, has the machinery for this purpose 
 been ! How simple the frame-work of Congregational 
 churches; and yet, has it not been often perverted? Of 
 all men, you will be the last to deny it. 3. You are in favor 
 of such societies, because of the nearly unmixed good they 
 have done ; which, you say, is a token that the smiles of 
 heaven rest upon this method of doing good. So, I argue r 
 that the nearly unmixed good, done in our land and England, 
 by abolition societies, is a token of God s favor, just as truly. 
 But you and I are both too orthodox, too wise, I trust, to affirm 
 seriously, the truth of the general principle involved in your 
 statement : Success in doing good, a token of God s approval 
 of the instrument ! be that instrument a man or a society. 
 The principle is not sound. The wrath of rnan shall PRAISE 
 him Yet he approves it not. If a society or individual has 
 a good object, employs right means, and acts from right mo 
 tives, God approves ; not otherwise. That success or failure 
 betide an effort, is no valid argument either way. What abo- 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 51 
 
 lition efforts have done, I will notice hereafter. I only say 
 here, that all your good reasons for favoring any voluntary 
 society, seem to apply to abolition societies, in full force. 
 
 " The distinction you endeavor to make, between existing 
 societies, has no foundation in fact. You call the two sorts 
 * benevolent arid public opinion societies. Both have cen 
 tral and auxiliary societies, State, county, and local. Both 
 employ agents, and use funds. You might have added, both 
 have good objects, both employ the public press, arid presses 
 of their own, both urge upon Christians the duty of prayer 
 for the success of their endeavors. And here, you think, the 
 parallel ceases. The first aim, chiefly, to collect and use funds 
 for their objects. The second, to create, and then use, a 
 1 public opinion, of a given kind, to a certain end. The one 
 appeals to God s wrath ; the other to man s frown, to gain 
 their ends. The one, you think, combine good men ; the 
 other, good and bad men, to accomplish their purposes. The 
 first employ the whole gospel ; the other, only l public in 
 dignation, to accomplish good. These are all the distinctions 
 you point out in your definitions. They will vanish when 
 you look at them : 1. Good and bad men are combined in 
 them. This is equally true of both sorts of societies- In all 
 our foreign and domestic Mission, Tract, Bible, Seamen s 
 Friend and Education societies, the only condition of member 
 ship is the payment of money. In virtue of such payment, 
 some vicious, and many unconverted , men belong to them; 
 are life, honorary, and corporate members. If you do 
 not know it, you ought to have known it, better than your 
 4 young brother. I am not blaming these societies for it. 
 Your principles censure them; mine do not. 
 
 " To be a member of any abolition society, an assent to 
 principles of truth, and a pledge to correspondent action is 
 required, in addition to paying money. So that (if their prin 
 ciples are true) they are better guarded against perversion, 
 by the union of l bad men with them, than the societies you 
 
52 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 approve. To be a President of the Bible Society, or of the 
 A. B. C. F. M., a man is not required to be a good man, or 
 a moral man, or theoretically sound in theology or ethics or 
 political economy, by any other or higher law than this same 
 public opinion you so cordially detest. The constitution of 
 these bodies are silent on such points ; they only require 
 moneyj to promote their several objects. 
 
 "It is true, that most persons interested in them are Chris 
 tians. So are the great majority of all who are members of 
 abolition societies, judged by your and my own standard of 
 Christian character. And if the character of the membership 
 entitles the one to support, it does equally entitle the other to 
 aid from us as Christians. The argument is a frail one, in 
 both cases. Unless, therefore, you are prepared to abandon 
 all your favorite societies, because they invite the coopera 
 tion of bad men, cease to attack abolition and other reform 
 societies, on the same ground. Your way of escape from this 
 dilemma, I will hedge up, by and bye. 
 
 2. " Benevolent societies employ the whole gospel, in 
 * due proportion and harmony, to accomplish their ends. The 
 Tract society seems to pose you ; and well it may. For 
 you dare not, on your responsibility to God, affirm that it uses 
 the * whole gospel, or anything like it. It does not all * evan 
 gelical truth, and you know it cannot. It aims to affect the 
 opinions/ and lives, and hearts of men, by employing and 
 spreading those principles in which its supporters agree. 
 Precisely the course taken by the anti-slavery societies ! 
 And let me add, on no other principles can men, who differ 
 at all, in religious belief and practice, unite in societies to 
 promote any given end. The abolition society unites all 
 who agree to diffuse certain principles on one subject, to af 
 fect the hearts and lives of men. The Am. Tract society, 
 unites all who agree to diffuse certain principles on several 
 classes of topics, for the same ends, to affect men s hearts 
 and lives. Both take it for granted that men have intellects, 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 53 
 
 and endeavor to address them (often imperfectly), that through 
 the mind they may affect the conduct and heart. Some 
 times both reach the mind, heart and conduct. Sometimes 
 they affect men s conduct, and reach not their hearts. At 
 other times they reach the mind, but neither the heart nor life. 
 I admit that denominational Tract societies exist, not to 
 preach, but to diffuse the whole gospel, as they understand 
 it. And your principles would restrict each man to such so 
 cieties ; your heart does not, because you are a Christian. I 
 quarrel with your logic, not with you. Query? How is it 
 that these societies for the spread of * the whole gospel, con 
 trive, so uniformly, to leave out the abolition part of it? 
 Why has no American, or denomination tract society printed 
 a single tract on slavery ? i Echo answers, Why ? 
 
 " In what sense the Education, or Colonization societies 
 exist to i preach the whole gospel, it puzzles me to see. One 
 is to furnish men with means to get an education for it ; the 
 other does nothing towards it, in any way. It only takes men 
 from one country and carries them to another. It spends not 
 a dollar for religious purposes. Yet you support both as 
 * benevolent societies. 
 
 " Besides ; all these societies, alike, aim to affect the 
 1 opinions of the public. Their support is derived from pub 
 lic favor. If they do good to the souls and bodies of men, it 
 is chiefly by affecting the opinions of individuals and of the 
 public at large, so as to lead to right feeling and action. Some 
 of them aim at universal reform, in the religion, morals, gov 
 ernment, sciences, arts, ethics, manners and customs of na 
 tions (e. g. the A. B. C. F. M.) ; and that too, not merely by 
 4 preaching the gospel, but by schools, the press, and all the 
 machinery of civilized and Christian lands. Universal reform 
 is needed, therefore it is attempted. Those portions of the 
 work are first attempted, which the means and numbers of 
 those employed best warrant. In our own land, similar ef 
 forts have already accomplished parts of the work of univer- 
 5* 
 
54 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 sal reform. We aim to do what is not yet done. If it be 
 right to form a society to do the whole work, where it is 
 needed, I cannot see why it is not right to associate to do a 
 part of it, where only a part remains to be done. The very 
 right to associate to accomplish the whole work, involves the 
 right to associate to accomplish any particular part. The right 
 to form a Dorcas society, or a missionary society for the hea 
 then, is a logical deduction from the right and duty of forming 
 that society for every holy purpose, called a church. For a 
 church is, or ought to be, both the one and the other. If 
 more hungry men are to be fed than individual resources can 
 feed, it is right to associate for the purpose. If more need 
 clothing than the resources of the church, as such, can sup 
 ply, form a Dorcas society, to do it. If the views and prac 
 tices of the church and State need to be changed on one par 
 ticular topic, and if need so require, form a society for that 
 end. The only limits of truth and wisdom, as to the number 
 of societies to be formed, are, 1. the objects to be accom 
 plished, and, 2. the wise adaptation of any form of effort 
 to the attainment of a given and good object. Here is a 
 4 principle of common sense, by which you may try all socie 
 ties, whether Tract, Missionary, Bible, Abolition or Educa 
 tion, and determine their propriety. 3. Your benevolent 
 .societies strive to reform men, by appealing to God s wrath 
 to deter men from sin. Indeed ! What is the creed of the 
 Colonization, Education, and Bible societies, respecting fu 
 ture retribution ? Were you older than Methuselah, and 
 wiser than Daniel and Solomon, you could not tell. Indi 
 vidual members of them have all sorts of creeds about it. But 
 neither of them, by its constitution, or through its officers or 
 agents, presents any creed, or has a right to do so. They urge 
 men to duty by various motives, of social enjoyment, public 
 and private interest, and religious feeling; just as abolition 
 societies always have done. But all these attempted distinc 
 tions rest upon a common falsity, viz. that abolition and other 
 
LRTTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 00 
 
 reform societies aim to form, and then use, as the instrument 
 of reform, a monster which you term now, public opinion, 
 and then, public indignation. In my next, I will expose it. 
 Your friend and brother, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRE Y. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 " My dear Brother, It is the purpose of the present let 
 ter to state the true position of abolition societies, especially 
 with regard to their intended effects upon public opinion. 
 That you have mistaken and misstated it, will not appear 
 strange, when we remember how uniformly you have opposed 
 and ridiculed their principles and measures ; nay, how con 
 temptuously you rejected information in regard to both, but a 
 few years since, in a letter to this very paper. But with you, 
 as with many others, the progress of our cause has wrought 
 gradual changes of views ; till now, the sin of slaveholding, 
 the safety, expediency, and duty, of unconditional, immediate 
 emancipation, and the obligation resting upon Northern men 
 and Christians to endeavor to bring about this result, are no 
 longer disputed points. And so plain do they now appear to 
 every one, that it almost surpasses belief, that four brief years 
 ago, they were not only denied, but derided ; and made the 
 ground of the justification of lynching and mobbing our meet 
 ings and agents, by public meetings in BOSTON, NEW YORK, 
 and scores of other towns and cities, and by the leading jour 
 nals of the day. Thank God ! that day of darkness is now 
 passed. Our general principles are now almost universally ad 
 mitted to be correct, at the North ; and, very extensively, at 
 the South also. The continuance of our associated operations 
 but a few years longer, will leave none to question the correct 
 ness of our doctrines. 
 
 " Yet many men do not love the instruments by which they 
 have been convinced of the truth. Our measures have been 
 
56 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 assailed as fiercely as our theoretic principles ever were ; and 
 as vainly. The conviction is now fastened upon the majority 
 of the reflecting part of the community, that the measures of 
 abolition societies are only the common sense ways of spread 
 ing and enforcing upon men s consciences and practice, the 
 principles they associated to defend. The errors and follies 
 of a few influential abolitionists have retarded this result, but 
 they cannot prevent it, in the end. 
 
 " What are those measures ? 1. The employment of public 
 agencies, to utter our views in the ears of the community. 
 The gospel institution of public preaching is a divine warrant 
 for the use of this means of diffusing the truth on any subject ; 
 to say nothing of its obvious adaptation to the nature and 
 wants of mankind. Most of our agents have always been 
 * ministers of the gospel of the different sects ; selected, be 
 cause they were better fitted, and more disposed to this work 
 than other classes of men generally are. 
 
 " 2. The Press, book and periodical, for the diffusion of 
 truth, the conviction of gainsayers, and the rebuke of wilful 
 opposers, has been employed, to a great extent, and with the 
 happiest results. Thirty thousand copies of a single book, 
 Slavery as it is, have been put in circulation, all over the 
 land, in six months ! chiefly, too, by sale ! Six years ago, 
 five hundred copies could hardly have been given away, to 
 men who would promise to read them. 
 
 "3. The encouragement, and employment (in suitable 
 cases) of church and other ecclesiastical action, to free every 
 thing which is called a church of Christ, and every man 
 called a minister of Christ, from all connivance at, or par 
 ticipation in, the sin of oppression ; so that our common Chris 
 tianity might no longer be disgraced and corrupted, by shel 
 tering the slaveholder within its folds, or shielding his con 
 science from rebuke, and his character from deserved infamy. 
 As we both agree that * slaveholding is a sin, this measure is 
 one of obvious duty. 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 57 
 
 "4. The encouragement, and employment (in suitable 
 cases) of political action, in the forms of petitions, the ballot, 
 legislation, judicial decisions, and executive agency, to break 
 the yoke of the oppressor, to execute judgment, and de 
 liver the oppressed from the hands of the wicked. And if 
 slaveholding be a public crime, a violation of the plainest dic 
 tates and laws of social morality, the duty of such action is 
 plain. No one who believes in the rightful existence of hu 
 man governments can question it. Your deserved rebuke of 
 those who deny the rightful authority of the civil power, and 
 still employ or favor such action, would come with greater 
 force from a man who had done a little more to promote right 
 political action on this subject, than yourself. But deserved 
 it is, and I will not abate its force ; they ought to have re 
 buke and satiric scourges, from your caustic pen. And all 
 who uphold their folly, are like unto them. 
 
 " 5. Prayer, though last in order (save one), not the least 
 important. The first abolition meeting ever held in Boston 
 began with prayer. The first ever held in another city, led 
 a deist to his Savior. Prayer has been our life. The con 
 cert on the last Monday of the month, has ever been a favorite 
 measure, one, I think, that you have adopted, at our recom 
 mendation. Good can come from Nazareth. And ever de 
 voutly recognizing our dependence upon Almighty God, to 
 prosper all right means to secure the great result, we have con 
 tinually urged on all men this duty, according to their vari 
 ous forms of discharging it ; you, in yours, the Quaker in 
 his. Tens of thousands of praying hearts, continually do 
 cry unto the GOD OF SABAOTH, for his guidance and bless 
 ing, in every part of our land. That we have always been 
 guided by the spirit of grace and supplication, I will not try 
 to prove, until you give proof that the old and new school, Tay- 
 lorite, Unitarian, and other controversies in the evangelical 
 churches we love, have been conducted and guided by that 
 Spirit. I speak not to reproach these churches, but to anticipate 
 
58 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 the reply of a practised controversialist. More prayer might 
 have prevented some of the errors of a portion of our gathering 
 anti-slavery host. Hearty prayer may yet bring them back 
 to their duty to the slave. 
 
 " 6. Associated action ; consisting, as in the case of Bible, 
 Tract, and other societies, of central, State, and local affili 
 ated societies, to diffuse the truth, and facilitate the collection 
 and employment of funds. 
 
 " Our societies are the basis of all our other operations to 
 spread, and urge upon men in their lives, conformity to our 
 principles. This you, and every man of sense, knows. 
 Hence, in attacking our associated action, you strike at the 
 foundation of our whole enterprise. 
 
 " What, then, was that state of things which warranted the 
 formation of societies for the overthrow of slavery ? Provi 
 dence leads a few men, Bowne, Lundy, Rankin, Goodell, 
 Garrison, Perry, Tappan, and others of lesser note, to take 
 right views and to feel deeply on the subject. What shall 
 they do ? All existing civil and religious organizations are 
 either foreign from or corrupted by SLAVERY, the very evil to 
 be removed. What shall they do ? You reply, * use the church, 
 or some other existing body, as the means of reform. The 
 reply is, there was no church, or other body then ready to be 
 used for the purpose. None could be fitted for use, but 
 by the preparation of it, through changes of views and feelings 
 in the bosoms of its individual members. When a majority, 
 in any existing body is ripe for all the action properly re 
 quired of it in the premises, so far the society s work is done. 
 When all the existing bodies are thus fitted for their duty, 
 our temporary society expires by its own limitation. When 
 we have diffused the truth, and enforced it upon men s con 
 sciences and hearts, till the major part of the members of all 
 other organizations are ready to do their duty, we shall dis 
 band ; not before. 
 
 " But we aim to effect all this by * public sentiment, say 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 59 
 
 you ; and public opinion is a dreadful thing. It will be so, 
 in the day when the memory of the wicked shall rot / when 
 the wicked shall rise to shame, and everlasting CONTEMPT ; 
 when, in a word, sin shall become as infamous as it is wicked. 
 We are willing to do a little to hasten that consummation ! 
 True, we aim to affect public opinion/ How? By chang 
 ing the views and feelings of individual men. By diffusing 
 what we believe to be truth, in the customary modes in which 
 men, in this age, diffuse their views on other subjects ; and 
 by urging the truth upon the consciences, hearts, hopes, fears, 
 interests, and sensibilities of men. In a word, we strive to 
 address all that is in man, by the truth in regard to slavery ; 
 and we employ all those modes of address, employed by other 
 men, on other subjects. We utter truth in prose and rhyme. 
 We reason, persuade, entreat, rebuke, denounce, and expos 
 tulate, according to our several ability/ and as our judg 
 ment dictates. We err in adapting means to ends, like other 
 men, yourself included. Some of us are open to correction ; 
 others, not just as in other societies. We have some wrong- 
 headed good men among us, too wise to learn, and some 
 bad men, (just as in those societies which make money only 
 the condition of membership,) who don t wish to learn. 
 But with all our imperfections, we go on, effecting such 
 changes in individual opinions and feelings, as the world 
 has seldom known. 
 
 " But when you have your public opinion manufactured 
 to order, you ask, what is gained? Profound wisdom! 
 Question most logical ! I reply, We aim to change men s 
 opinions, as the only rational means of leading them to a 
 changed course of action. When, with God s blessing, we 
 have gotten their opinions right, we expect, with his help, 
 to induce them to act accordingly. When the opinions of 
 the individual members of a local public, e. g. a church, 
 in Lynn, or elsewhere, are right, we expect they will bear 
 their testimony against slavery, by excluding slaveholders 
 
60 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 who persist in their sin, from the pulpit and communion table. 
 1 What concord hath Christ with Belial? The individual 
 members of that church, (having done all they could in their 
 church capacity,) we expect, will continue to act out their 
 views in social life, in every station entrusted to them. When 
 the opinions of the MASSACHUSETTS public are right, we 
 expect the legislative, judicial, and executive powers will all 
 be wielded, so far as may be, in favor of liberty, and against 
 slavery. When the majority of the NATIONAL public are 
 right, CONGRESS will sweep away every vestige of slavery, 
 within the limits of its constitutional power. Separate States 
 will, one by one, do the same ; and so on, till the work is 
 done. We believe slaveholding, 1. sinful, or a violation of 
 the principles of the divine law ; 2. immoral, a crime of 
 such a nature that church discipline and public law can reach 
 it, in the persons of the guilty, if they cease not to transgress ; 
 and, 3. in its nature, considered as unmitigated oppression, 
 and a violation of every right, deserving to be classed with 
 murder and other crimes, now considered infamous. We 
 wish to persuade every body else to think the same, and act 
 accordingly, in their various stations in life. Hence our 
 measures. Individual resources were too weak to effect the 
 work. We associated to do it. Societies have called into 
 being all the other forms of effort we need to secure the result. 
 They go on and prosper ; yea, and they will prosper, for * a 
 blessing is in them. And we believe also, that so plainly 
 true are our principles, so self-evident are they ; with such 
 power do they appeal to the consciences and hearts, and hopes 
 and fears of the slaveholders, that if we can purify public 
 opinion, and induce right action, in the churches and States 
 of the North, and thus leave them without sympathy or coun 
 tenance in their guilt, the slaveholding States Avill abolish 
 slavery in their own limits by public law. And we believe 
 this the more, because the social, religious, business, and po 
 litical connections of the North and South are so multiplied, 
 
LETTERS TO KEY. P. COOKE. 61 
 
 that in securing the needed change in opinion and practice 
 at the North, we shall secure an almost equal change of opin 
 ion and practice there. And so, slavery shall peacefully pass 
 away. 
 
 " And this is the only way in which we propose to use 
 public opinion. That you will question the propriety of so 
 doing, none will be more slow to believe, than your friend 
 and brother, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 " Dear Brother, Your general position is, that the church, 
 by its ministry, and other suitable agencies, is God s ap 
 pointed instrument to reform men ; and that those who form 
 Abolition or other reform societies, assume to be wiser than 
 he, and supersede the means of his appointment. This I 
 take to be your meaning, though you have stated it in such 
 forms, that it requires no little labor to decipher it. It would 
 have been well, had you explained your proposition a little. 
 
 " God, you tell us, has given us a platform and model of a 
 reform society, in the church. What church ? The Episco 
 pal ? The Presbyterian ? or in a Congregational, or Metho 
 dist church ? If you answer, a Congregational church ; I 
 ask, how am I to reform a corrupt, slaveholding * Presby 
 terian or * Methodist church. You leave me no way but by 
 going and establishing a Congregational l church 1 by their side, 
 and under my denominational banner, hold forth the truth. 
 In a word, if I desire to reform any body out of my sect, I must 
 do it in a sectarian form. Your principle, as you state it, 
 precludes me from everything but sectarian action. If my 
 Methodist brother and myself see a particular evil in both, 
 and in other denominations, we may not unite our purses to 
 diffuse the truth, to overthrow that one evil ! We must do 
 everything in our < church, or sectarian capacity ! Again, 
 6 
 
62 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 you speak of the gospel, by its ministry, and other agencies 
 appropriate, and appointed by itself, as the divinely appointed 
 means of reform. Here again, you talk mysteries. The institu 
 tion of preaching, abolition societies do employ. They per 
 suade l settled ministers to preach on slavery and its remedy, 
 and men s duties to the bond and the free. And they employ 
 special ministers, to preach, to supply the * lack of service/ 
 on the part of others, and urge on all men, of every sect and 
 no sect, the performance of duties so long neglected. They 
 feel that special preaching is needed, to counteract the disas 
 trous effects of former neglect of duty, and to roll back to the 
 pit the dark waves of oppression. But what are those other 
 agencies appropriate T For it seems the ministry is, after 
 all, not enough ! I can think of nothing but the press, lec 
 tures, discussions, and political action, and societies to collect 
 and apply funds to sustain and urge on these agencies. These 
 seem to me appropriate to the wants of the case. But these 
 other agencies are appointed by itself. Appointed by 
 what, or whom ? The gospel ? Where, and what are they ? 
 In whom is the appointing power vested ? In ministers ? Or in 
 laymen ? In church meetings V Or in a voluntary assembly 
 of men ? Sir, I fear it would require a new address, to sim 
 plify your moral machinery, so as to make it intelligible I 
 If you have any meaning at all, it must be, that ministers^ 
 and church members may appoint, and set in motion, under 
 their exclusive control, any other agencies they think prop 
 er; but not another man but they, must have aught to do 
 with them ; a principle not easily reconcilable with the con 
 stitutions of all our benevolent societies, which admit every 
 body, good and bad, on the payment of MONEY ! But I 
 confess you have written something hard to be understood. 
 Perhaps some of our great men can decipher it. But what 
 ever you may mean in this statement, I propose to show three 
 things in this letter. And, 
 
 " 1st. The l churches of every sect, were not prepared, when 
 
LETTERS TO KEY. P. COOKE. 63 
 
 we began to form abolition societies, to do what they could, 
 for the overthrow of slavery. At least the exceptions were 
 few, and those almost wholly in the slave States. The Quakers, 
 the Covenanters, Reformed Presbyterians, Emancipationists 
 (Baptists in Kentucky and Pennsylvania) were alone in their 
 testimony against slavery, and their exclusion of the impeni 
 tent slaveholder from the ministry and the Lord s table. 
 In nearly every other church, of every sect, at the South, 
 and at the North also, slaveholders were welcomed to both. 
 The number of slaveholding professors and ministers had 
 been rapidly increasing for several years. The sinfulness of 
 slaveholding, in practice, was generally denied, while in the 
 abstract, a cold-hearted formal admission of its evil character 
 was common. New churches were indeed formed, at the 
 South ; but, far from exerting any influence for the overthrow 
 of slavery, they were corrupted by it, and served only to in 
 crease the number of slaveholding professors. The religious 
 bodies of the North, of every sect, while they remembered 
 the heathen of other lands, the sailor, the Catholic, the Jew, 
 the drunkard, and the prisoner, uttered no voice of sympathy 
 for the slave, or of warning to his oppressor. The religious 
 Press was almost wholly silent ; or if it spoke at all, it was 
 not to expose and rebuke oppression, but to express sympa 
 thy with the guilty, with the rarest exceptions. What little 
 sympathy for the slave still lingered in men s bosoms, was 
 turned into the delusive channel of colonization on the hea 
 then shores of degraded Africa. The great body of church 
 members were almost entirely ignorant of the condition and 
 wants of the slaves ; and there were no means in existence 
 to enlighten them. Few could be persuaded even to read on 
 the subject. Few houses of worship were open to him who 
 plead for the poor. Few would assemble to hear his plea. 
 The duty, safety, and expediency of emancipation, were 
 generally arid scornfully denied. Compensation for ceasing 
 to rob the poor and helpless, every where demanded. Eman- 
 
64 MEMOIR OF TORRES . 
 
 cipation on the soil, seemed the image of amalgamation, 
 wild beasts turned loose, and a thousand visionary horrors. 
 That man s memory is a short one, and withal somewhat 
 treacherous, who cannot recal these and other facts, in con 
 trast with the wonderful change which our associated efforts 
 have wrought. Now, our leading doctrines are admitted to be 
 true. Information is abundant, accessible to all, and widely 
 diffused. The majority of the religious presses are decidedly 
 abolition presses. Sympathy for the slave is warm and quick 
 in many hearts once cold to his wrongs. More than one half 
 of the ecclesiastical bodies of the free States have sent forth 
 voices of rebuke, warning, remonstrance, and condemnation, 
 in regard to slavery. Full 3000 churches have solemnly 
 withdrawn fellowship from slaveholders, and many more pri 
 vately act on the same principle. And probably full 5000 
 ministers will neither receive a slaveholder to their pulpits, 
 nor tolerate his polluting presence at the table of the Lord. 
 And the social influences of religion, in private life, have 
 been brought to bear, in a thousand forms, most powerfully, 
 upon the hearts and consciences of the guilty. No southern 
 oppressor now leaves New England unrebuked and unwarned. 
 When you so fondly record the echo s answer to your own 
 inquiry, What has abolition done ? we should suppose you 
 had forgotten that echo only gives back the voice it hears! 
 Like the man in Sleepy Hollow, you must have dreamed for 
 eight years past, or else measured the rest of the religious 
 world by the standard of the few in and around Boston, who 
 know so little of the state of feeling in the churches, and 
 among ministers generally, as to suppose the majority share 
 their views, or sympathize with their expressions of feeling, 
 except when, in rare cases, they correspond with abolition 
 views. 
 
 " But enough. The ministry and the churches were not 
 prepared to act; not even to do their plain duty to the poor 
 slaves. 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 65 
 
 " The courses were open. The one which you seemingly 
 recommend in your pamphlet and your No. s in this paper, 
 but which abolitionists had too much sense and piety to adopt, 
 viz. to vacate the title of all existing churches, which coun 
 tenanced slavery, to the name of Christian churches; and 
 then form purer churches for the overthrow of slavery. This 
 course would have made endless strife, and only ended in 
 forming some dozen new sects. And accordingly, when a 
 few men, (the excellent and philanthropic CHARLES STUART, 
 among others) proposed to change the mode of effort, and 
 conform it to your views, the good sense of the mass of abo 
 litionists at once rejected the idea. We did not believe in 
 unchurching the body of our churches, without suitable ef 
 forts to lead them back to their duty. And happily, as I have 
 before intimated, we have been so favored of God, in this 
 thing, that we have no occasion to resort to the suicidal course 
 you urge upon us ! 
 
 " The second course was the one we adopted, viz. to form 
 societies to collect funds, and employ them in gathering facts, 
 diffusing truth, and by reasoning, by persuasion, by rebuke 
 and denunciation, as occasion called for the one or the other, 
 to induce the ministers and members of existing churches to 
 do their duty ; taking it for granted that timely and efficient 
 labor would persuade them to it. Nor have we been greatly 
 disappointed, 
 
 " Besides, we were Christians, but of every sect. We 
 wished to lead every sect, every church, called CHRISTIAN, 
 to testify, in its own appropriate forms, against the sin and 
 crime of slaveholding ; so that our common Christianity miyht 
 no longer be blasphemed. We believed that every sect of 
 nominal disciples, however doctrinally or practically corrupt 
 they might be in some respects, retained enough of love, or 
 respect for the general principles of God s law, of natural jus 
 tice, of humanity, and the requirements of the gospel, to war 
 rant the hope and confident expectation that all might be 
 6* 
 
66 MEMOIR OP TORRE Y. 
 
 united in their testimony against this sin. Nor have our 
 hopes been vain. And we now believe, that in a few brief 
 years, no church of any sect, will be so corrupt, as to tolerate 
 the slaveholder in its fellowship. Or if one should be found, 
 it would be an outcast ; and the whole family of churches, of 
 every name, would repudiate its claims to bear the name of 
 our Savior. We had no occasion, we have none now, to ope 
 rate by seceding, and forming new churches. The old are 
 good enough in all other respects ; many are now so in this ; 
 all, we trust, soon will be. We did not choose to put a con 
 structive or real slight upon the Founder of the churches 
 of Christ, as you would persuade us to do, in your anything 
 but wisdom. What did we need to do ? Individually we 
 were feeble, our resources limited. Together we were strong. 
 We needed to collect and diffuse information, to employ 
 preaching and the press to do it, and to urge action in corre 
 spondence with discovered truth and duty ; and the gathering 
 and employment of funds to accomplish all this, was necessary. 
 This must be done by some responsible bodies, whose charac 
 ter was a pledge of fidelity. We formed, therefore, large 
 and small societies for these purposes. We were weak ; now, 
 we are strong, through the good hand of our God upon us. 
 Soon, as the result of our efforts and prayers, the whole influ 
 ence of the whole * church of God, of every sect, will, we trust, 
 be turned in favor of freedom to the slave ; and then the ju 
 bilee is near ! We formed a voluntary society, from the very 
 necessities of the case. We could cooperate in the work, in 
 no other way. We included, in the terms of membership, 
 nothing but what was necessary to the end in view. And if a 
 few nominal infidels assented to them and joined us, it only 
 proves that in this one respect, they were in advance of your 
 self. If errorists in theology joined us, it only shows that 
 4 orthodoxy may sometimes be dead, while humanity and 
 justice outlive correct theories, in the bosoms of men. But 
 we could no more prevent such men from joining a voluntary 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 67 
 
 society (had we desired to do it), if they assented to the terms 
 of membership, than they can be excluded, constitutionally, 
 from the Bible, Tract, and Missionary societies, which make 
 money the only term of membership. The other two points 
 I am obliged to defer to my next letter. 
 
 Yours, with Christian affection, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRE Y." 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 " My dear Sir, I referred, in my last, to three things I de 
 sired to notice ; one was, that the churches were not pre 
 pared to do their duty to the slave, when abolition societies 
 were first formed. Another remark I wish to make is this : 
 That if the churches of every sect had been disposed to be 
 faithful, something more than church action was needed to 
 abolish slavery. I. What could the churches do, if disposed ? 
 They could exclude the slaveholder from the ordinances of 
 the gospel, from the ministry of the word, and from fellow 
 ship, unless he repented and reformed. They could, as 
 churches, unite in adopting and sending forth appeals and 
 testimony against the continuance of this sin and crime. 
 And the various quasi church, or ecclesiastical bodies could 
 do the same things. All this has been done, to a great ex 
 tent. It will be done more extensively yet ; and indeed it 
 must be, ere slavery falls. Congregational churches, as such, 
 can do no more. If all did so much, it would tell, with mighty 
 power, upon the hearts, consciences and sensibilities of the 
 whole mass of slaveholders, professors and profane. Nor 
 can other sects, as churches, do much else. We and they, or 
 rather individual members of our, and other sects, might form 
 voluntary associations, to send ministers to the South, who 
 would dare to preach the whole truth about slavery, and 
 establish more abolition churches there. Perhaps we ought 
 
68 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 to do it. What say you, to a NEW MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 to * evangelize the slaveholders and their slaves ? whose mis 
 sionaries shall preach that * the laborer is worthy of his hire ? 
 who shall denounce wo unto them that use the services of 
 their neighbors without hire, and pay them not for their work ; 
 who shall, in spite of slavery and its bloody laws, teach the 
 slaves to read the Bible, and then put Bibles and tracts into 
 their hands ? who shall insist upon the sacredness of the mar 
 riage tie between slaves ; who shall preach against selling 
 men, women and children, * by auction or private sale, for 
 gold ; who shall preach against the sundering of 150,000 
 slave families every year, to make gain out of the poor ? 
 What say you to such a movement ? Do you say the men 
 who attempt it will be slain for the witness of Jesus ? Is it 
 less a duty to die for him in America than in Sumatra ? It 
 is my solemn conviction that the time for such efforts is come ! 
 I do not desire to see any more churches established in the 
 South, to lull the sinner to sleep, by folding him in their em 
 braces. Let Zion awake, and put on her garments of beauty, 
 and make war upon slavery ; and she shall be more * terrible 
 than an army with banners. A few more Lovejoys might 
 fall ; but the yoke of slavery would be broken ; for we should 
 see that slavery could not endure pure Christianity. But for 
 such efforts, 4 the churches are not prepared. Few individual 
 members are so. We need more piety, and more reform/ 
 in the churches first. 
 
 " 2. Not only must the latent power of the church be brought 
 out and made to bear on slavery but the STATE too must 
 needs act. SLAVEHOLDING is A PUBLIC IMMORALITY ; and 
 as such, it may be reached by legislative enactments ; just 
 as in England, Mexico, etc. It ought to be, in law, marked 
 with other felonies, as one of the greatest violations of pub 
 lic morals, of private right, and social duty. So President 
 EDWARDS predicted, in 1795, that it would be, in our coun- 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 69 
 
 try, in fifty years, in 1845. May God grant it, for his Son s 
 sake ! But how shall this end be secured, we asked, at the 
 outset of our abolition efforts ? In one of two ways either 
 1st, by confining our efforts in the first instance, entirely to 
 the purification of the churches, and then, wait for the 
 gradual influence of religion to mould legislation, without 
 special effort to secure it ; or, 2d, to commence efforts, si 
 multaneously, for the purity of the church and to secure right 
 legislation from the State to aim at both moral and political 
 action. The latter course was chosen, for several reasons ; 
 among which were the following: 1. CHURCH and STATE 
 action were equally important in their proper place ; equally 
 obligatory upon the consciences of men ; and the same rea 
 sons called for, and justified both so that in urging one we 
 must, in effect, urge both. It was wisest to do it openly, and 
 not cover up one under the folds of the other, e. g. to urge 
 legislation under the cloak of religion, or vice versa. 2. We 
 might secure many items of valuable legislation, by urging 
 the general principles of natural justice and equity, before 
 the whole, or any great part of the churches were freed from 
 connivance at slavery. For after all, the great principles of 
 truth and duty were recognized in our constitutions and laws, 
 and only needed fresh applications to new statutes, to secure 
 much good. Had you consulted any thing but dame Echo, 
 for this history of legislation, these five years past, you might 
 have known that we have been prospered in this respect be 
 yond our most sanguine hopes. The present winter will 
 witness the renewal of our efforts and successes, in various 
 States for similar purposes. 
 
 3. We felt that just so far and so fast, as the influence of 
 the ministry and the churches was changed for the better, we 
 could appeal with power and success to the States and to 
 Congress, to legislate down the greatest of public crimes, 
 slaveholding. And could we now point to the unanimous 
 public testimony of all sects against slavery as a SIN, we 
 
70 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 could soon write it down a CRIME, in every statute book in 
 the nation. 
 
 Yours, etc. 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 "My dear Brother, Having disposed of your main posi 
 tion, allow me to make a few remarks on some lesser items 
 employed in the illustration and defence of it ; your first po 
 sition, viz. that the church is the only divinely authorized 
 reform society, I have already noticed. It is not true. Civil 
 government is an institution for i reform in respect of public 
 crime, for the terror of evil doers, and the praise of them 
 that do well. Yet civil governments do not oppose all sin ; 
 but only such sins as are acted out in immoral conduct. On 
 your principle, no Christian can join with bad men, or im 
 penitent sinners, in maintaining the civil power. If you re 
 ply, as you did to brother Tyler, that civil government is a 
 divine institution, I rejoin, that in this case, God has com 
 manded us to act on a principle which you proclaim unknown 
 to the New Testament/ and the parent of all evil ! The truth 
 is, that like all ultra anti-reformers, you have started away 
 from the follies of Garrison and his school, and nearly 
 reached the same position by going round the other way ! 
 The very principle to which you object, viz. the combina 
 tion of good and bad men, men of every creed and no 
 creed, penitent and impenitent, to promote a select class of 
 those moral and social ends which are aimed at in the law of 
 God and the precepts of the Gospel, is the very basis of all 
 civil government ; and every one of your arguments against 
 your straw-castle, public opinion societies , is conclusive 
 against civil government. Again proclaiming the truths of 
 the Bible, and of natural justice and equity also, in regard to 
 a particular thing which is both a sin against God and a pub- 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 71 
 
 lie crime, like slaveholding, will have a twofold effect. 1st. 
 It will lead some sinners to true repentance before God. 2d. 
 It will lead others, perhaps the mass, to leave off the out 
 ward act ; and thus secure great social benefits. In this way 
 murder has been banished, while hatred to our brother man 
 still burns in many a bosom. The gospel contemplates both 
 these results, and, where it is faithfully preached, measurably 
 secures them, directly and indirectly ; but if the regular 
 administrators of the gospel, to a great extent, while faithful 
 in other respects, are not so in regard to one crime, is it not 
 every man s duty to proclaim this forgotten truth or duty ? 
 May not two, or ten thousand unite, in printing, preaching, 
 and praying, or sustaining others in doing so, till the regular* 
 ministry change their course, and the civil power, following 
 the church, does so likewise ? Meet this position fairly and 
 directly, or else retract your whole pamphlet, for logic s sake ! 
 Again your ad hominem argument in reference to the per 
 version of abolition societies by some few of our coadjutors , 
 falls to the ground ; inasmuch as our basis of organization, 
 so far from setting aside the Christian ministry, only aims 
 to lead the ministry to act in its appropriate sphere for the 
 slave, to remember the forgotten claims of our brethren 
 fallen among thieves. It urges settled pastors or bishops 
 to do this ; and it supports agents or ministers at large , to 
 persuade them to it, and help them persuade a slavery-besot 
 ted people to do so. Some of your ad captandum illustra 
 tions under this first head, I may retort upon you lawfully. 
 Simon Magus may work well for a while, as President of 
 the A. B. C. F. M., for he might be chosen according to its 
 charter and by-laws. Ananias and Sapphira would pass 
 muster as officers or life-members of the Bible, Tract, or 
 Home Mission Society, if they paid their money freely ! 
 Men who hate the objects of these noble societies, may join 
 in large numbers, get the control of them, and turn them 
 against the church and ministry, and you cannot rightly, or 
 
72 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 at any rate consistently, complain. They may reply to your 
 groanings, Ah ! friend, thou art mistaken, this is the ism we 
 subscribed to ; did we not pay our money, all that you asked ? 
 Again mob-law. Would it not be mob-law, or wrong, for 
 good men to agree to unite to aid the regular operations of 
 law, in a lawful way ? To form a society, e. g. to * detect 
 horse-thieves, such as exist all over this State ? Mob-gos 
 pel , indeed ! when individuals unite their resources to spread 
 neglected truth, and persuade the regular administrators of 
 the truth, to abide by it ! 
 
 " Your second objection is obscurely worded. It seems to 
 mean (p. 12), that the members of abolition societies will 
 join them from different views some to promote Christian 
 ity, some to promote infidelity. Be it so. What is to hinder 
 them from doing the same thing in regard to the A.B.C.F.M. ? 
 MONET? But are abolition principles true and scriptural ? 
 If so, to spread them, and lead men to act upon them, is a 
 gain to religion and human happiness. If infidels have 
 sense enough to see the advantage to spreading such views, 
 or to aid in supporting civil government, I say, amen ! to their 
 doing it. As to many infidel coadjutors, we have them not. 
 If we had, it would not be the first time that men from the 
 mere impulses of sympathy and natural conscience, had put to 
 shame professed disciples of the Redeemer. Stones in the 
 streets and dumb asses may sometimes rebuke teachers of 
 the law. 3d. You assert that we assume a false principle in 
 morality. That a man unconverted may be relied on to help 
 put down a single form of depravity, while he loves sin in 
 general. How much are such men relied on to support the 
 preaching of the gospel in New England ? How much to 
 sustain civil government? To enforce law and good order 
 in society ? This same false principle of morality you will 
 find every where, even in some divine institutions. Who 
 relies upon their aid ? Does Jehovah ? He putteth NO 
 TRUST in HIS SERVANTS. But he uses the aid of < wicked 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 73 
 
 men for some purposes. And he authorizes his people to use 
 their services to maintain law, public worship, spread politi 
 cal and religious truth by the press, preaching, voluntary so 
 cieties, such as the A. B. C. F. M., and abolition societies. 
 How much they are to be relied on, in emergencies, is 
 another question. Our * benevolent societies take their aid, 
 while they will give it ; so do we. If any of them get the 
 t generalship of the A. B. C. F. M., of Massachusetts aboli 
 tion societies, and pervert them to evil purposes, if no other 
 remedy can be found, we will leave them, and try again. 
 But as for saying to such men, we repulse your aid, so far 
 as you will give it to good ends, we shall not do it. If vol 
 untary societies were churches, the mode in which their aid 
 would be sought, would be different. But they are not 
 Hence, they are welcomed as members in all of them. If you 
 may ask such men to join the A. B. C. F. M., to promote the 
 t whole of religion and morality, in a land where neither re 
 ligion nor morality exist, then I may ask them to join an 
 abolition society to promote some parts of religion and mo 
 rality, in a land where the other parts of morals and religion 
 flourish. And when you have turned all such men out of 
 all our benevolent societies which ask only money as an 
 admittance fee, come to us and ask us to do the same in our 
 abolition societies, where some outward respect for a part of 
 the political and social principles of revelation is a condition 
 of membership. 
 
 "Your fourth objection to reform societies (p. 14) is, 
 that it is of the nature of a profession of religion to join 
 them. The answer to this is already given by implication. 
 Apply your objection to civil government. The suppression 
 of vices and crimes is the great end of religion, so far as 
 time is concerned. Men who love some sins, join with some 
 Christians to uphold a civil power, the object of which is, 
 so far as it goes, the same as that of religion. If their no 
 tions of religion are confused, they will mistake this part 
 7 
 
74 MEMOIR OF TOKRET. 
 
 for the whole of religion ; (just what occurs every where I) 
 Hence they will * denounce as time-servers , all professors 
 of religion" who don t uphold the civil power in maintaining 
 a few limbs of religion, while the root of depravity re 
 mains untouched ! Anti-slavery societies are not churches y 
 but merely voluntary societies i to collect and use funds to 
 spread certain truths, moral and political, about which their 
 members agree, and urge them upon men s hearts arid con 
 sciences as rules of conduct. 
 
 "Your fifth objection is, that such societies give great 
 power into the hands of a few, who may be bad men. And 
 that such men have peculiar scope for gaining the ascen 
 dancy. I reply : No societies in the world wield such tre 
 mendous power as our Foreign and Home Mission societies. 
 MONEY alone is the term of membership. Hence there is 
 peculiar scope for bad men to get them under their control 
 and pervert them to vile purposes. Do you reply : If their 
 conduct is exposed, they will soon be without support ? Not 
 if they have l permanent funds, or can gain unbounded confi 
 dence from thousands of the community, so that the bad man 
 or men cannot be separated from the cause ; and then, wo 
 to the Christian ministry, and everything else that opposes 
 the society s oracle ! Our abolition societies have no perma 
 nent funds. The press is free to expose their perversion. I 
 grant you, a few of them have been partially perverted. You 
 ought to have recalled the Evangelical Missionary society, 
 now in Unitarian hands ; the Groton, Cambridge, and count 
 less other church funds, before you uttered a taunting com 
 plaint. Churches, aided by trustees and the laws of the 
 land, cannot always prevent such perversions. And if you 
 are disposed to argue this point at length, I will fill a quarto 
 volume with just such perversions, under ecclesiastical ma 
 chinery, and by < churches, and professors of religion, it 
 you will promise to bear the expense of printing it. Your 
 argument proves a little too mucli for your purposes. 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 75 
 
 " 6. You say, our principle of combination is an absurdity 
 and the parent of absurdities. And you instance Thomas Paine 
 and David Brainerd, uniting to abolish slavery, because they 
 agree in regard to the great principles of human rights. You 
 think one must confide in the other s assent to his Christianity 
 or infidelity, in this matter, in joining an abolition society. 
 Sir, have you yet to learn, whether it is Christianity or infi 
 delity that condemns slaveholding as a moral wrong, and de 
 mands its immediate overthrow ? Have you yet to learn, 
 that while the Christian may condemn this wrong as a sin 
 against a God of holiness, and grieve at the dishonor done to 
 his law, by those who commit it; yet both the Christian and 
 infidel have consciences ; may discover the moral turpitude 
 of slavery ; may be sensible of the moral and social evils it 
 inflicts upon the slave and entails upon his oppressor ; and 
 unite in suppressing this PUBLIC CRIME by law ? May 
 unite in sustaining presses and agents, and printing books, to 
 induce men to do it ? If not, it may * edify you to learn that 
 THOMAS PAINE was an officer of the legislature of Pennsyl 
 vania which abolished slavery in that State ; and that HIS 
 official signature, as Clerk, gave validity to that deed of Chris 
 tian love and duty. Nay, more ; he was a prominent pro 
 moter of the act ! And if David Brainerd had been a mem 
 ber of that legislative body, and refused to aid him in the deed, 
 everything holy in religion, or naturally good in humanity, 
 would have condemned him, in spite of his eminent piety. 
 My dear brother, the happy emancipated slaves rejoiced most 
 heartily at such a noble absurdity, as that I have named. 
 I hope to see more of them, before you and I go to heaven. 
 If Brainerd will not help Thomas Paine, and every body 
 else, by giving, preaching, praying, printing and voting, to do 
 the work of humanity, justice, mercy and truth, save me from 
 his * piety ! If he refuses the aid of Paine or others, in the 
 same work, save me from his self-righteous bigotry ! The 
 true principle of action is, the Christian ought to unite in ac- 
 
76 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 tion with all other men (not Christians) in doing everything 
 that is right, by right and wise means. The time to refuse co 
 operation is when something wrong is proposed, or unwise 
 means to attain it are presented. This principle forbids me 
 to admit an unbeliever to the church/ as a means of doing 
 good ; but it does not prevent us both from joining the * How 
 ard Benevolent society/ to relieve the wants of the poor, or 
 the A. B. C. F. M., or an abolition society. 
 
 " As your exposure of Mr. Garrison s inconsistencies (p. 
 17) has no apparent connection with your argument, I will 
 only reply to it, " Let him that is without (the same) sin, 
 cast the first stone." On the other hand, I affirm, as a mat 
 ter within my own knowledge, that thousands acknowledge 
 their indebtedness to the abolition effort, for increased spiritu 
 ality of mind, and zeal in every good word and work. 
 7. Whether in unsettling the peace and order of society 
 to some extent, abolition and other reform societies have done 
 good or evil, depends upon the question, whether the evil to 
 be removed, had not twined itself so completely through all 
 the fibres of society, that such an unsettling was the necessary 
 result of freely preaching the truth, and urging it upon the 
 heart. But your whole paragraph on this point is unanswer 
 able ; as it consists not of argument, or of facts stated, but 
 verba verba inana/ such as, gaping after wonders/ 
 spiritual quackery/ milleniums by steam/ gullibility of 
 the people/ jargon of crudities/ etc., etc. All this and more, 
 in twenty-five lines, from one who complains of hard words 
 and denunciation 1 And here end your arguments against 
 abolition societies. I have omitted none, misstated none, so 
 far as they were intelligibly stated. Some few things, indeed, 
 were too deep or too high for me. You will have inferred, 
 from what I have already said, that our strong arguments 
 in favor of abolition societies, are something more than a mere 
 popular analogy drawn from the history of the temperance 
 reform. The nature of the case, the wants of the slave, the 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 77 
 
 claims of obvious duty, and the facilities for effort, in this 
 Christian land, are a better basis of action than a mere anal 
 ogy, however good. 
 
 Your friend and brother, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 " Dear Brother, Your second general position, that < pub 
 lic opinion, when formed to our wish, is not the best instru 
 ment of reform, being true in itself, to a great extent, though 
 not universally, I have little quarrel with it, I will, however, 
 notice in passing, a few of your general proofs, 1. That the 
 apostles never appealed to the numbers converted as a motive 
 to conversion, or to induce men to examine the claims of re 
 ligion, is a little more than you can prove. They relied 
 mainly on the truth. So do we. They chronicled their suc 
 cesses. So do we ; both that God may be praised, and our 
 brethren encouraged to further effort. They tell us of their 
 * new auxiliaries in Pontus, Pamphylia, Ephesus, Antioch, 
 etc., just as we speak of them, and for the same reasons. 
 They also knew, that when the controlling majority were 
 christianized, idolatry would be made a public crime. So we 
 know, in respect of slavery. The day, to them, was far off; 
 to us, it is near ; and increasing numbers show it. 2. Pub 
 lic opinion, or regard to the approbation of others, / do not 
 consider * one of the meanest of passions. Rightly governed 
 and properly appealed to, it. is the source of the noblest good. 
 When God holds up before men everlasting shame and con 
 tempt, as a fruit of sin, I suppose he appeals to it as a means 
 of leading men to consider the truths by which they may be 
 saved. It is an high example, and of binding authority. 
 3. That abolition societies do not deal with the sinner s con 
 science, is gratutious assertion, directly contrary to a mass of 
 evidence which, of itself, makes a small library. See Weld s 
 7* 
 
78 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Bible Argument, Green s New Testament Argument, 
 * Phelps Lectures, and books, pamphlets, and papers without 
 number. Your assertion is a fair inference from, your premises, 
 "but contrary \ofact. 4. That * public opinion is not always a 
 right opinion, we know, and hence before using it as the in 
 strument of reform -ed legislation and church action, we seek to 
 make it so, by using appropriate means. But that a * reforming 
 public opinion was t e foundation of the proceedings against 
 the witches of other days, is a truly valuable historical discov 
 ery ! You have made others, to be noticed hereafter. When 
 the wrong l opinions of men, lead them to cherish slavery in 
 the churches, and support it by law. common sense tells us that 
 we must spread the truth about slavery, and change their 
 opinions, in order to induce different action. When slavery, 
 imprisonment for debt, and other like evils, may be done away 
 by the action of the majority in church and State, we must 
 change the opinions of the majority of that public, on whom 
 action depends. And then, that enlightened public will do 
 the needful reforming acts. Before they do, however, 
 many individuals, by the force of truth, will be led to right 
 individual action. But afterwards the majority of the public, 
 by force of law and an upright magistracy, will restrain the 
 minority from the continued commission of the crime. In 
 doing the preparatory work to such a result, the gospel, by 
 the ministry, by its social influences, and judicial or disci 
 plinary acts, has its appropriate place. Individual and asso 
 ciated effort to spread truth and urge action, have their ap 
 propriate sphere. WOMAN has hers ; man has his. And 
 if, when one part of those who ought to do a share of it, neg 
 lect their duty, it will not be more strange if a man or woman 
 get out of their sphere, to supply the defect, than that Ba 
 laam s beast got out of hers in talking. Nor will it be strange, 
 if some who neglect their duty, and perhaps find fault with the 
 mistakes of those who try to do it, however imperfectly, 
 should be denounced, not always with Christian moderation 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 79 
 
 and meekness, but as upholding mob-law, or mob-gospel. 
 5. * Public opinion societies tend to the cultivation of an 
 unchristian spirit, say you. You are wisely careful, under 
 this head, to insinuate much, and say little. I reply only, I 
 see no such tendency in abolition societies. Their aim is to 
 spread truth, and urge the performance of duty, on the pub 
 lic, and on individual men. I see great tendencies in oppo 
 sition to abolition efforts, to produce an unchristian spirit. I 
 think I can give you examples, without number. But cui 
 bono ? As you have misrepresented our societies, in saying 
 that we rely upon a wicked world s opinions, in distinction 
 from the force of truth and the right or wrong of those opin 
 ions, why waste time in words about tendencies, either way ? 
 I deny that abolitionists have * denounced their religious or 
 their irreligious opponents, so much or so harshly, as their oppo 
 nents have denounced them ; and stand ready to prove it, 
 from the columns of the leading religious and political papers, 
 as compared with abolition papers. But again, cui bono ? 
 It is sometimes right to denounce; sometimes wrong; cir 
 cumstances must decide. There ore important interests staked 
 upon the result of abolition efforts. I ought to feel deeply, 
 and speak strongly, when men ignorantly or lightly, and 
 especially when they obstinately, oppose them. Nor am I to 
 be charged with impatience of contradiction, etc., when I 
 do so. And when we consider the incessant storm of abuse 
 lavished on every prominent abolitionist, it is no great won 
 der that some have grown morose and waspish. I defend 
 them not. We ought always to be gentle, easy to be en 
 treated, etc. 6. That abolition societies * unsettle the bal 
 ance of religious minds, or make them hobby men, I deny. 
 It is no more true than of any topic of deep interest to the 
 human mind. I have seen a revival crushed by zeal for 
 foreign missions ! It was made a hobby, and hobby men 
 mounted and rode it. I have sometimes thought your op 
 position to our abolition cause, was a very great hobby ! 
 
80 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Your final objection, that we only aim to stop one (or 
 more) issue of human depravity, without healing or dimin 
 ishing the fountain, is the essence of all Garrison and H. 
 C. Wright s objections to the operations of civil government ; 
 and is as good in the one case as the other good for nothing. 
 As abolitionism does not reduce to the authority of mere hu 
 man advisement the argument against slavery, but con 
 stantly appeals to the authority of God, to induce men to 
 cease from this sin, and to induce churches and States to re 
 prove and legislate down this crime, the gospel argu 
 ment against all sin, is not weakened thereby. It pre 
 sents a neglected and disowned portion of the gospel, to 
 those who profess to receive the rest of it ; and so helps to 
 secure the proclamation of the whole of it, in its connections, 
 to all men. It seeks not to divide labor, but to do that which 
 is left undone by others. And, if Paul and Peter were now 
 living, it doubts not, that to exterminate slavery from this 
 Christian and free land, Paul would joyfully become secre 
 tary, and Peter general agent of the MASSACHUSETTS 
 ABOLITION SOCIETY. If they were going to labor in a 
 purely heathen land, they would not, but would do as they did 
 formerly, viz. preach the whole law and gospel, to a people 
 utterly ignorant of every principle of both. We address a 
 people needing * light and love on a select class of topics, 
 while in other respects they know their duty. Hence our 
 present position. 
 
 Yours, fraternally, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 " Dear Brother, You have a plan to abolish slavery. 
 First, you delineate the course of the apostles, and justify 
 their conduct in refraining from any very special assault up 
 on slavery. Your whole train of thought seems borrowed 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 81 
 
 from George Thompson s address in Boston, Lynn, Ando- 
 ver and elsewhere ; and is, for the most part, just and forci 
 ble. A few slight matters, I dissent from. I find no apostolic 
 recognition of the fact, that under some circumstances, and 
 with a limited knowledge of duty, a man might be a Christian 
 and a slaveholder. What circumstances, and how limited 
 that knowledge must be, are topics well worthy of inquiry, 
 on the part of all slaveholders and their friends. How little 
 must a man know, to excuse him for robbing the poor of their 
 wages ? What can excuse him for holding man as an article 
 of property ? * SLAVEHOLDING is sinful, say you. I admit 
 it. I infer, that like all other sins, like property stealing, 
 adultery, and murder, man-stealing is not consistent with 
 Christian character. How much, or how long, any man may 
 commit a particular sin and be a Christian, I believe the apos 
 tles do not inform us ! I hope we shall never know ! But 
 that the slaveholders of America are * without excuse , may 
 be seen in the fact, that the same statute book which care 
 fully strips the colored man of every right, with equal care, 
 guards every right of the white man ! The same men who 
 exercise the power of robbing the black man of his rights, 
 know how to respect the same rights in the white man ! But 
 God judgeth the heart of each man. I do not. I only af 
 firm the guilt of the sin, and its inconsistency with piety and 
 honesty, and warn men to leave it off. 
 
 " 2. You admit that minisers ought to be more direct 
 in preaching against slavery, than the apostles were. Agreed ; 
 the terrors of apostolic example neglected, no longer cluster 
 about us. We are placed in different circumstances and have 
 different duties. So the missionaries in the Sandwich Islands 
 may laudably adhere closely to apostolic example there, where 
 the whole work of enlightening the mind and creating law is 
 to be done ; while they send home fervent exhortations to us 
 to act more directly against slavery, in a land of gospel light 
 and constitutional liberty like ours. Oh, that all southern, 
 
82 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 and all northern ministers would be, not a little, but a good 
 deal more direct in preaching against slavery. It would be a 
 great help to our struggling cause. My dear brother, I beg 
 you to write and print an address to them, to urge this duty \ 
 At least 5000 of them now discharge it. The Lord hasten 
 the day when the few slaveholding ministers of Massachusetts 
 shall be alone in neglecting it ! Don t ask me who they are, 
 while southern slaveholders find access to northern pulpits ! 
 
 "3. Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon ! Well, 
 you have found out that he did not send him back to be a 
 slave. I think it plain that he sent him back to be e- 
 mancipated. Knowing the faith and love of Philemon ; 
 knowing how very plainly his own preaching had shown 
 Philemon the irreconcilable hostility between slaveholding 
 and piety ; knowing that Philemon hated slavery and would 
 not practice it, and desirous that Onesimus, now a Christian 
 bishop, should have the civil benefits and legal rights of a 
 freeman, he sends him with an inspired letter of introduction, 
 back to his brother beloved, to be received as a dear friend, 
 even as Paul the aged. Paul will even pay Onesimus 
 debts ! or make up for his thefts when a slave ! if he ever 
 was one. Whenever I have as good evidence of the * obe 
 dience of any converted slaveowner, and can send back 
 converted slaves transformed into ministers of the gospel, 
 with inspired letters of introduction, I will send them back to 
 their masters ; but in every other case, I shall treat the poor 
 fugitive according to the law of God Deut. xxiii. 1C. In 
 a word, this epistle of Philemon utterly condemns every 
 slaveholder who is converted, and then holds on to his slaves 
 still. No man, guided by its letter or spirit, could hold man 
 in chattel-slavery an hour. 
 
 " 4. You suppose that we have closed up our way of 
 access to the minds of slaveholders, by telling them plain 
 ly to * let the oppressed go free. You are mistaken. The 
 misrepresentations of the northern servile press closed up the 
 
LETTERS TO REV. P. COOKE. 83 
 
 door of effort for a time. Now it is opening more and more 
 widely on every hand. The south now understand us better, 
 because of our publications which have been widely read 
 there ; and we have every reason to believe that we shall dis 
 cuss slavery in three years as freely in New Orleans, as we 
 now do in Delaware and parts of Virginia and Maryland, or 
 in the free States. * Christ crucified, by which I suppose 
 you mean the atonement and its kindred doctrines, have long 
 been known and preached all over the South. But slavery 
 has grown stronger and stronger. The anti-slavery part of 
 divine truth has been hid under a bushel. It is this that 
 needs to be urged at the south and at the north ; and then, 
 the prison doors will open before the Lamb of God. Your 
 cautious way of preaching, has preached 150,000 slave-hold 
 ers into Christian churches! It is high time to enlighten 
 them, and strive to bring them to repentance, or turn them 
 out again, if they will not give up their sin. This we are 
 trying to do. Not a few have already been led to repentance 
 by our efforts ; others are under conviction ; others blas 
 pheme, as we expected. One of the penitent ones, Dr. NEL 
 SON, has told us, that the stand taken by those northern 
 Christians who hold back from abolition efforts, is the great 
 est obstacle he finds in leading his friends who hold slaves, to 
 repentance. Oh, that you, my dear brother, would hear the 
 truth from his lips the lips of a penitent, reformed slave 
 holder a slaveholder no longer. 
 
 " 5. I am surprised to see you avow that you think 
 that the fact that the lives of abolitionists were endangered 
 by going to the south, a proof that they were wrong in their 
 principles and measures ! Surely, this is one of your ultra- 
 isms ; not a sober opinion. On such a principle, every mar 
 tyrdom to truth is justifiable ; but you are surely straining 
 a point here, and not arguing soberly. 
 
 " Before closing this letter, allow me to notice some more 
 of your historical discoveries. 1. That the feudal system 
 
84 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 was slavery, chattel-slavery, and that it was done away by 
 Christianity, Had you ever glanced over Sismondi s literary 
 and historical works, to say nothing of the life of Napoleon, 
 you would have made no such assertion. Infidelity and war 
 had quite as much to do with its extirpation, as the Bible and 
 Christianity ; and commerce much more. 2. That the aboli 
 tion of slavery was effected in the now free States, without 
 abolition societies ! Shades of Jay, Woolman, Benezet, 
 Franklin, Sewall, Edwards and Rush ! How soon are your 
 memories, and your associated and successful efforts forgot 
 ten ! Not by abolitionists but by those who oppose them, 
 in the face of all history. Surely, you need to refresh the 
 knowledge of your * school boy days, ere you make such a 
 statement again, lest the * uncircumcised laugh at you. 3. 
 That West India emancipation was not the work of societies 
 acting on the same principles as our abolition societies ! ! ! 
 
 Oh pro , I was about to burst out in Latin, the better to 
 
 cover up my indignation at a falsehood so notorious, so glar 
 ing. That you meant to deceive, I will not believe ; yet, it 
 is hard to suppose a man of your intelligence so ignorant of 
 facts. Perhaps it was a lapsus pennae ! 4. That no influ 
 ence from this country had the weight of a feather in effect 
 ing British emancipation! Here, again, I impeach your 
 competency to testify you speak ignorantly. 5. Lady echo 
 has told you, that abolitionists have done nothing ! I some 
 times think that you have repeated this till you believe it. 
 GLADSTONE, the great Demarara slaveholder, is said to have 
 taunted the abolitionists in Parliament, the very night the 
 emancipation bill passed, that they had labored forty years 
 and done nothing ! You ought to know better the state of 
 our cause than to make a similar assertion. You ought to 
 know that the visible results of efforts in such a cause, bear, 
 at first, small proportion to the real changes wrought. As in 
 the missionary field, so here, the preparatory work seems la 
 bor wasted to the unthinking. True, we have procured leg- 
 
CONTINUES TO LECTURE. 85 
 
 islative enactments and judicial decisions favorable to free 
 dom in several States; true, we have excited church and 
 ecclesiastical action all over the north ; true, we have called 
 into being, and now employ an array of means to spread our 
 views and enforce them on men s hearts, in every part of the 
 land; true, we have emancipated many hundreds of slaves 
 by our efforts ; true, we have ample encouragement from in 
 telligent slaveholders to go on ; true, we have placed our 
 tried friends in the halls of legislation to plead for the poor ; 
 true, we have awakened discussion, all over the land, never 
 again to cease, till slavery dies ; true, we have led hundreds 
 of thousands to think, and feel and pray for the overthrow of 
 slavery, as they ought ; but you go to echo s cave still, and 
 cry where ! and therefore come away unacquainted with 
 the state and progress of our cause. Still, I see in your 
 pamphlet, as compared with some former effusions, indica 
 tions of our influence in leading you on in knowledge and 
 duty ; and therefore I despair not of the hardest cases ! 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 Worcester, Nov. 30, 1839. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONTINUES TO LECTURE. REPORTER AT WASHINGTON. 
 
 GOES TO ANNAPOLIS. IMPRISONED. LETTERS. 
 
 During the latter part of the year 1839, Mr. Torrey was 
 engaged in lecturing on the subject of slavery. He contin 
 ued in this employment most of the time, occasionally edit 
 ing a paper, till the commencement of the year 1842. We 
 give a single letter of this period. 
 8 
 
86 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 " Wiscasset, Aug. 21, 1841. 
 
 " My Dearest Wife, I am homesick, with long waiting in 
 vain to hear from you, and moreover, begin to suspect that 
 the quickest way to get a good long letter, will be to set you 
 a good example ! Besides, I have got my hand in, for letter- 
 writing to-day, this being my sixth letter. I have had a 
 fortnight s hard labor, and rather more, since I left our dear, 
 dear home. I have lectured every evening, about two hours, 
 each night ; besides one afternoon lecture of 2J hours. I 
 have given, therefore, eighteen lectures already. I have been 
 regularly tired out, once a day, and rested again almost every 
 day, not quite. But I feel better and stronger than I did 
 last week. And the thought that I am toiling for my belov 
 ed wife and children will help me to go on, though the ser 
 vice be a hard one. I feel renewed confidence in our heav 
 enly Father, that he will provide for us, even though I can 
 not see how it may be done, farther ahead than the Spring. 
 But how many, holier and better than we are, have not had 
 where to lay their heads, or means of living even for one 
 day ! Tried as I am in regard to it, I do believe He will 
 open some path before us, by which we may be fed and pro 
 vided for, so that it may be honest before Him, and before 
 our fellow men also. 
 
 " I go hence to Waldoboro , Thomaston, Camden, Belfast, 
 (where I shall be the 31st and hope to find a letter from 
 my dear Mary I have had none yet,) and then up to Wa- 
 terville, and other towns, on the river from Hallowell. My 
 next move from this place, will take me to green fields again, 
 I hope, and then, to my Mary. Mary, can we not love one 
 another with the freshness and purity, and tenderness of our 
 first affection ? I was thinking of it much the other night, 
 as I spent a long while, after midnight, praying for you and 
 myself, and thinking over how much holier and happier we 
 might be, if we had more forbearing tenderness for each 
 
LETTER TO HIS WIFE. 87 
 
 other. Oh ! Mary, you are very dear to me ! Oh ! if we loved 
 our Saviour better, we should love one another more tender 
 ly. May his love rest upon us, and be in us. Tell Charlie, 
 Pa loves him, and prays for him, every day, that he may be 
 a good boy, and love God, and rnind mother, and love sister. 
 Kiss little Mary for me, and don t let her forget papa ; and 
 may the love of God rest upon all the members of my dear 
 household. Remember me to all our friends ; and write me 
 at Belfast, by next Wednesday. If you want any thing, let 
 me know. And now, beloved, I commend you to God, and 
 the word of His grace. 
 
 I am your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 The winter of this year, he spent at Washington, as a 
 correspondent for several papers, in Boston, New York, 
 and other places. His family at this time were in Boston. 
 As he has been somewhat censured for leaving them at this 
 time with scanty means of support, it is but just that he 
 should be permitted to speak of his pecuniary embarras- 
 ments as they pressed upon him. That it was exceedingly 
 difficult for him to labor with others, either as a pastor, a lec 
 turer, or an editor, we do not deny. He was not a regular 
 planet, nor a fixed star in the firmament of mankind. Com 
 et-like, he had his own orbit. It was difficult for him to earn 
 money ; but, that he felt deeply for his family, not only his 
 letters, but his nights of toil, and long days of labor with 
 scanty fare, testify. More than once he could have signed 
 his long and vigorous productions, like the great unfed Ras- 
 selas, " Charles T. Torrey without a dinner" During all 
 this time, let it be remembered, he had a debt of five hun 
 dred dollars upon him, contracted while getting his education. 
 
 It will be seen by the following letter, that Mr. Torrey 
 reached Washington in December, 1841. 
 
88 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 " Washington, Dec. 13, 1841. 
 
 " My Beloved Mary, I think of you so much, and I have 
 so many things to say, that I must begin a long letter, even 
 if it is not finished this morning. You will see, in the Evan 
 gelist, which I have directed to be sent to you, my account 
 of matters and things during the session of last week. The 
 people s right of petition, for the time being, is again destroy 
 ed. But the subject of abolition cannot be kept out of Con 
 gress. We shall get it in, in a multitude of forms, before the 
 session closes. I have so many things to say, I must begin 
 item by item. 1. I want you to find my volume of cata 
 logues, up stairs, and send me a list of all the names of 
 Southerners, in the catalogue of 1832, in the College classes, 
 with their residence ; for example, write them thus : 
 
 6 John P. Bobbins, Snow Hill, Md. 
 
 I am sorry to give you this trouble, but I forgot the book 
 when I left home. By the way, I have but one pocket 
 handkerchief, but I shall get one or two more soon. 2. I ex 
 pect to write to cousin Charles J. Peterson s paper, which 
 will add a few dollars more, weekly, to my income. I shall 
 send it to you. The first number will probably contain a 
 new Tale, I have written since I came here, founded on the 
 story you have heard me tell. So in temporal matters, God 
 is still prospering me. I have hope of getting still more to do, 
 yet. As it is, with common diligence and good health, our 
 living is safe till next August. So God is kind to the evil 
 and unthankful. Let us strive, my dear love, to be more 
 grateful. 3. My daily routine is about this : a breakfast 
 at 8 to 8i ; write till 11 J, or mend my clothes, or do any little 
 chores of that sort ; then walk up the street to the Capitol. 
 The House meet at 12, and remain in session, now, about an 
 hour. I take notes of their doings, talk with the few members 
 and others, I know, for a while, read a little, go to the Post- 
 
LETTERS TO HIS WIFE. 89 
 
 Office, and get home a little before dinner, which is 3 o clock. 
 After dinner, I write again, till supper. Several evenings, I 
 have been out, others at home, writing. I get to bed about 
 12 rather late hours, but that is the custom here. One even 
 ing, I spent very pleasantly with Mr. Slade, of Vermont; he 
 is a warrn-hearted Christian ; I was very much pleased with 
 him. I have not delivered any other of my letters of intro 
 duction yet. I have renewed my acquaintance with Mr. 
 Borden, of Fall River, with whom I spent one very pleasant 
 evening, and with Mr. Saltonstall, of Salem ; with Mr. Gid- 
 dings, of Ohio, and brother Leavitt, I spent a long evening, 
 Saturday night. Mr. Giddings is a plain, frank, open-hearted 
 man ; I feel quite attached to him. Another evening I went 
 into a debating society, which meets weekly ; I rather think, 
 I shall join it ; it has many literary men of high standing 
 among its members. The society with which I have mingled, 
 hitherto, has been, on the whole, quite agreeable ; and if you 
 and the dear children were here, I should not desire to be 
 happier. 4. In my boarding house, there are some little 
 matters worth mentioning. The landlady, Mrs. Padgett, is 
 a Methodist woman ; she appears to be a worthy woman ; 
 hires slaves as help ; I believe she owns none, but of course, 
 she would not object to it. Her children, except one daugh 
 ter, are away ; she, is lame, engaged, etc. 
 
 " 5. Yesterday morning, I went into the Baptist church, and 
 heard a tolerable sermon, from a young man. In the after 
 noon, I went to a colored church, one of the i Wesleyan/ so 
 called, a denomination of Methodists, who have separated en 
 tirely from white slaveholding churches ; they are all colored. 
 There was no sermon, only a class-meeting ; but I have not 
 enjoyed the i communion of saints, so much, for a long time, 
 as when mingling with that little band of despised colored 
 people, partly slaves ; and, when one of the poor women, 
 nearly white, spoke of the persecution she endured, with 
 sobs, I felt my heart filled with new energy to make war upon 
 8* 
 
90 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 that hateful institution that so crushes the disciples of the 
 Lord to the earth. I have determined to commune only 
 with the colored churches, while I stay here ; I will strive to 
 be pure from the blood of the poor. I have had much more 
 communion with God, since I came here, than for months 
 before ; pray for me. By the way, I learn that the good old 
 colored minister, from Georgetown, D. C., who, you will re 
 collect, came to our house in Salem, succeeded in getting 
 money enough to redeem his grandchild and its mother. I 
 refer to Mr. Cartwright. I am going to see him soon, and 
 then I shall write out his whole history for publication. It 
 will be of thrilling interest ; I have often made the stout 
 hearted weep by the imperfect recital of it. 
 
 6. I met quite unexpectedly, in the street, yesterday, a 
 dear old friend and bed-fellow, liufus W. Clark, of New- 
 buryport. He is now a minister, and will, I expect, be 
 chosen one of the chaplains of Congress. It was a treat to 
 meet with one whom I have long known and loved, as a dear 
 friend and devoted Christian. It is he who writes for the 
 Boston Recorder. 7. I inclose you a couple of nicknacs, 
 hold them between the light and the wall, in the evening, and 
 you have fine heads of the Saviour and the Virgin Mary. I 
 cut them out after a pattern, because I thought they might 
 please you. Perhaps, if they reach you in season, you can 
 cut out a few, by this pattern, for the ladies Fair ; they ought 
 to be on stiff pasteboard. 
 
 Tuesday, 14th, no letter yet from my dear wife ! I have 
 been to the Post-Office with more and more hope, for several 
 days past, but found no letter, till I have become a little, just 
 the least bit in the world, homesick ! I do want to see you 
 all once more. But it must be some months first. I have 
 been hoping to receive some letters about corresponding with 
 more papers in New England, so that I could enlarge your 
 means of comfort and enjoyment, and hope I shall yet. 
 
 I wish, when you write, you would take a large sheet, like 
 
SLAVEHOLDERS CONVENTION. 91 
 
 this, and fill it full. If you send me that list of names, it will 
 take one sheet by itself, almost, so don t give me nothing 
 but that for a feast. Tell dear Charles, Papa thinks of him, 
 every day, and wants to have him love mother, and mind her, 
 and be good to little sister. Kiss little Mary for Pa, and tell 
 her, Pa says she must be a good child. My love to aunt 
 Fanny, Mr. Collins family, and all our friends. How are 
 you getting on ? Is Phebe well, and a good girl ? Have 
 you any boarders engaged ? Write soon, and let me know 
 all about yourself? I am, dear Mary, 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 Early in January, Mr. Torrey went to Annapolis, Mary 
 land, to report the proceedings of a slaveholders convention. 
 What befel him there, you have in his own words, as com 
 municated in the following letter to the New York Evan 
 gelist. 
 
 " Washington, Jan, 23, 1842. 
 
 " Messrs. Editors, I propose to give you, first, a correct 
 account and analysis of the proceedings of the slaveholders* 
 convention at Annapolis ; and then, a narrative of my own ad 
 ventures among the hospitable people of that ancient capital 
 of Maryland. I reached Annapolis on the morning of the 
 12th ult. The cars were filled with delegates, busy in whis 
 pered discussions of what was to be done to defend the insti 
 tution loved of all the patriarchs, from the joint assaults of 
 northern freedom, low prices of tobacco, and consequently of 
 human cattle, and from the evident and increasing numerical 
 preponderance of free laborers, white and colored, over the 
 slaveholders. A large part, even of those in Maryland, who 
 hate slavery, led away by the false political economy and de 
 lusive philanthropy of their unsuccessful effort to colonize the 
 people of color, have no very clear or consistent notions of any 
 possible scheme of converting their discontented, profitless 
 
92 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 slaves, into industrious free laborers, like the colored men of 
 the North. Light, however, is gradually increasing. 
 
 " From the morning I reached Annapolis, I noticed looks 
 of suspicion and inquiry cast upon me, and an occasional 
 whispered remark, or a finger pointed towards my seat. But 
 as long as I confined myself to my own business, and re 
 mained unmolested, I did not deem it proper to seem to take 
 any notice of what might be accidental, or grow out of my 
 being a stranger. I may here remark, that I expected to 
 meet some old friends in the convention ; college-mates, the 
 name of one of whom was on the roll of the convention ; but 
 he was not present. Nor did I see but one person, a class 
 mate, whom I knew ; but I had no chance to speak to him. 
 And before I left Annapolis, I learned that the whole excite 
 ment against me grew out of letters from Washington city. 
 Even remarks made at the table, in my boarding-house, 
 were sent there, to create a fever of wrath. There was no 
 marked exhibition of feeling, save a few 7 curses, not designed 
 for my ear, until Thursday evening. The president of the 
 convention, in a feeble tone which I did not distinctly hear, 
 requested all who were not members to retire to the lobbies, 
 when most of the spectators did so. The reporters and mem 
 bers of the legislature, however, did not. While I was hesi 
 tating whether to retire or not, J. M. S. Causin, who was af 
 terwards employed against me, moved that no person be ad 
 mitted to the floor of the house, as reporter, unless he was 
 vouched for by some member of the convention. While this 
 was under consideration, the door-keeper was sent to me to 
 ask if I was a delegate, and request me to retire to the lob 
 bies, which I did. I stood there till the resolve passed and 
 several reporters, known to the members, had been voted a 
 place on the floor. As the rule adopted was just like the 
 rule in the House of Representatives here, and precluded no 
 one from taking notes in the gallery, I concluded to go there 
 and wait until after the adjournment, and then introduce my- 
 
SLAVEHOLDERS CONVENTION. 93 
 
 self to some member, and get a seat on the floor, at the next 
 session. I did so. But a spy had been set to watch me in 
 the gallery, and the moment he saw me taking notes of the 
 report of the committee, he made signs to those below, and 
 the door-keeper was sent up, as he said, to order me to leave 
 the house. (Causin says he sent him merely to request me 
 not to take notes.) When I went down with him, he seized 
 me by the collar, and ordered me to come into the committee- 
 room, to await the disposal of the convention. I denied his 
 and their authority to detain me, and when he found it would 
 be no easy matter to force me in, he urged me to go in on the 
 ground that the convention would probably admit me to the 
 floor. I therefore yielded, and went in. He spoke to Cau 
 sin, who brought the subject before the body. A Babel-like 
 confusion of opinions was uttered, as to what should be done. 
 The debate was loud and long, lasting until after I was thrust 
 into prison. Some of the gentlemen of the convention were 
 for admitting me at once to the floor. But the mobocratic 
 part soon filled the committee-room, and began to question 
 and revile me. A few of the citizens of Annapolis, friends 
 of good order, who feared violence, urged me to leave the 
 committee-room and the town at once ; and almost compelled 
 me to leave, by their friendly urgency. I consented, very re 
 luctantly ; and went quietly to the tavern, where I stopped 
 and took some books I had borrowed, to return them to their 
 owner, Mr. Hughes, the editor of the Annapolis paper, a 
 worthy man, a friend. But before I had gone ten rods in the 
 street, the mob was bawling after me, and I was seized forci 
 bly by the arm, and forced back to the tavern, and compelled 
 to pay my tavern-bill. They went with me to my bed-room, 
 where they took my private papers from me and read them. 
 I had nothing save my notes, and copies in a manifold letter- 
 writer, of a few old letters and newspaper articles, some on 
 the subject of slavery, some on private business, and family 
 affairs. These were looked over, and seemingly commented 
 
94 MEMOIR OF TORRES". 
 
 upon. They were now at a loss what to do. Some urged 
 to take me five miles out of the town and let me go. Others 
 were for hanging, tar and feathering, etc. ; but too many re 
 spectable Annapolis people had now gathered around to al 
 low this ; and I believe the perfect composure I was able to 
 maintain, calmed them. But a large and noisy crowd as 
 sembled below and outside of the house, full of violence. At 
 this crisis, a warrant was made out by a kind and worthy 
 but timid magistrate, Mr. Huster, of Annapolis, to commit me 
 to jail ; and to that felon s prison I was carried, a crowd of 
 two or three hundred men and boys preceding and following 
 me with screams, and yells, and curses, that gave one a lively 
 idea of Pandemonium broke loose. The jail is old and ruin 
 ous. A jack-knife would free any prisoner in two hours. 
 My cell was cold, and for two days very damp. The windows 
 were too crazy to exclude the wind ; and for two nights and 
 one day, I was very uncomfortable. The mild weather, at 
 other times, made it less so. 
 
 " The State of Maryland, in its chivalrous humanity, 
 provides neither bed nor bedding, nor even straw for a priso 
 ner, whether condemned or awaiting trial, or arrested on sus 
 picion, as I was. But by paying for it, and by the kindness 
 of the jailor, I procured a good bed and good food. The al 
 lowance of the State is a fire, and money enough to furnish 
 hot cakes and hominy. There was one person in prison 
 charged with crime, and thirteen of God s children, detained 
 under these circumstances : they consisted of two men, their 
 wives and children (including two infants), manumitted by 
 their owner, J. D. Hutton, in his lifetime. After his death, 
 b eing insolvent, his creditors seized them as a part of the 
 estate. On proof he was not insolvent when he freed them, 
 they twice gained their suit, and received free papers, first in 
 the County Court and next in the Court of Appeals. But the 
 Chancellor reversed the decree, and adjudged them to be 
 slaves. Efforts are still in progress to obtain a new trial for 
 
SLAVEHOLDERS CONVENTION. 95 
 
 them. It is thought that it will terminate in their sale to the 
 traders. They appear to be a very inoffensive family. Their 
 aged mother, who had bought her own freedom, manifested 
 deep feeling as she spoke of their unjust doom. I feel with 
 more force than ever, the injunction to remember them that 
 are in bonds as bound with them ; and after listening to the 
 history of their career, I sat down and wrote, and signed, and 
 prayed over a solemn re-consecration of myself to the work of 
 freeing the slaves, until no slaves shall be found in our land. 
 May God help me to be faithful to that pledge made in An 
 napolis jail. In that cell, God helping me, if it stands, I 
 will celebrate the emancipation of the slaves of Maryland, 
 before ten years more roll away. 
 
 " Monday morning, at 11 o clock, I was called before Judge 
 Brewer, for examination. Thomas S. Alexander, of An 
 napolis, the first lawyer of the State, and Jos. M. Palmer, of 
 Frederick, an excellent counsellor, a northern man by birth, 
 became my counsel ; and their kindness, zeal, and gratuitous 
 services (for they declined all compensation), I am happy to 
 acknowledge in this public manner. I shall ever remember 
 them with gratitude. As my best wish to them in this life, I 
 express my ardent hope that they will soon cease to sustain 
 the unholy character of slaveholders a character, I believe, 
 as onerous to their consciences, as it is unworthy of men 
 whose natures are so truly noble and generous. The prose 
 cution was commenced by Causin, before spoken of, and the 
 Thomas F. Bowie, whose brief speech is given above. The 
 former entered on the work with all his heart. Bowie had 
 evidently little zeal, after he saw how the matter stood, and 
 did not appear after the first day. He is a kind-hearted 
 young man, of a generous temper, though, of course, sharing 
 in the prejudices of his slaveholding friends on the subject of 
 abolition. Causin showed himself an acute casuist. Several 
 witnesses were examined, but no definite charge could be 
 made out of their testimony. It was not questioned that I 
 
96 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 was an abolitionist, and had been an agent to such societies. 
 It was not denied that I came there to report the doings of 
 the body for abolition, as well as other papers. It was shown 
 that I had made notes of remarks made by several persons, 
 which I put in my pocket ; and which, as they were made 
 public there, I feel no hesitation in quoting. 
 
 " A delegate said to a friend, that it was * now or never 
 with them. If they could not put down the colored freemen 
 and those who sympathized with them, they would be put 
 down themselves. In fact, we are down now, was the re 
 ply. The latter then began to talk of an abolitionist from 
 Baltimore, who was in town, and to curse Mr. Alexander 
 (Wilson, 1 understood them at the time), of Annapolis, for an 
 abolitionist, because he humanely defended free colored peo 
 ple, when unjustly assailed. It was his curses that led me 
 to send for Mr. Alexander to defend me. If such an one ac 
 cused him for such deeds, it was natural to infer that he was 
 a good and upright man. I noticed also a remark of Mr. 
 Hughes, that the mass of the people would not acquiesce in 
 violent measures for the removal of free colored people. And 
 that if the slaveholders resorted to them, it would serve to 
 identify the mass of the people who opposed such measures 
 (in the eyes of the slaveholders) with the Northern aboli 
 tionists, however they might differ from the latter in their 
 views and measures. He thought, too, that Colonization had 
 not been sufficiently tried ; and he was in favor of depriving 
 the people of color of the right to hold real estate, though he 
 was averse to Judge Chambers idea of compelling them to 
 become agricultural laborers. When Mr. Hughes questioned 
 me, as I thought rather impertinently, as to my residence, etc., 
 I evaded his questions, designedly, and he inferred, though 
 with little justice, that I meant to give him the impression 
 that I was a delegate from Washington. Another person tes 
 tified, that I told him of a remark made me by a colored man 
 in Baltimore, to the effect that free colored men preferred 
 
SLAVEHOLDERS CONVENTION. 97 
 
 death to removal from the State (to Africa, I said). Here 
 was all the proof of my crime, if any crime there was, in hear 
 ing and making notes of remarks, such as were made publicly 
 in the convention, and such as expressed the feelings of the 
 colored people everywhere, as every man well knows. But 
 Causin practised every artifice to create excitement, read ex 
 tracts from abolition papers, perverted my brief penciled notes, 
 which I understood, but which no one else could, and ap 
 pealed to the crowd around, as well as to the Judge, against 
 me, as one guilty of writing, if not circulating, l incendiary 
 matter. The crowd was dense, the members of the Legisla 
 ture and of the convention coming in, so as to leave no quo 
 rum in either body, and the rabble following them and shout 
 ing applause at the demagogue appeals to the passions. My 
 counsel replied briefly, and I did likewise, to the statements 
 and arguments of the prosecution ; and the Judge promptly 
 decided that there was nothing, so far, to warrant my deten 
 tion. He chose, however, to remand me till Monday, to give 
 time to inquire into the occasion of the remark I heard from 
 the negro at Baltimore. The Judge now made out a new 
 commitment, in legal form. 
 
 " Sabbath evening, David A. Simmons, of Boston, came 
 from Washington, at the request of some of our Massachu 
 setts delegation in Congress, among whom I would gratefully 
 mention Mr. Borden ; and by his promptness, address, and 
 the representations he was authorized to make concerning me, 
 manifestly changed the current of feeling among the men of 
 influence, in regard to me. I have great reason to be grate 
 ful for his kindness, as also for the sympathy of Rev. Mr. 
 Winslow (formerly of Medford, Mass.), now the episcopal 
 clergyman of Annapolis, and others, here and there. I 
 passed a quiet Sabbath in the prison, finding communion 
 with God unusually sweet. 
 
 "Monday afternoon the case was argued at length, by my 
 counsel, in the most able and satisfactory manner, and by 
 9 
 
98 MEMOIR OF TOBRET. 
 
 Causin with great ability. The next morning, an old lady, 
 who had warned off some men last summer, who had preached 
 to her negroes, and another person, were sent for, but testi 
 fied they had never seen me. The dispersion of the conven 
 tion, the efforts of Mr. Simmons, and the arguments of my 
 counsel, had allayed the excitement, and some of the more 
 reflecting slaveholders began to believe they had made a 
 great blunder, in allowing such an invasion of my rights as a 
 citizen of the United States. Indeed a leading man declared 
 that it would destroy all the effect of the convention ; not 
 more by the use I might make of it, than by the fact that 
 it opened every body s mouth to speak of their doings, and of 
 the slavery they were endeavoring to protect. The strangely 
 expressed opinions of leading men against their doings on 
 Monday and Tuesday, tended not a little to confirm this im 
 pression. I can only say, that if my imprisonment has such 
 an effect, I shall devoutly thank God for it. That it has al 
 ready unsealed the lips of thousands, and waked up a new 
 spirit in the public press, the splendid article in the Daily 
 Ledger of Philadelphia is a pregnant proof. So may all the 
 devices of slaveholders be turned to their own confusion I 
 The Judge took from Tuesday morning to Wednesday, 
 3 P. M., to consider as plain a case as was ever decided, 
 and then made a decision which I venture to say, on the au 
 thority of eminent lawyers, stands without a precedent. He 
 found no cause to detain me, not one of all the allegations and 
 suspicions having even a plausible, or any proof whatever, to 
 sustain them. He ordered me to give bail, in $500, to keep 
 the peace till April ! My counsel, while they advised that 
 no law justified such a decision, urged a present submission 
 to it, and very nobly became my securities. I am taking ad 
 vice as to the best mode of bringing the case up again, to dis 
 charge the bail. For, aside from the loss to myself, about 
 $75, and the false imprisonment, and the imputation upon me 
 as one < bound over to keep the peace, when I have never, in 
 
SLAVEHOLDERS CONVENTION. 99 
 
 word, deed or thought violated it, I think that the violation of 
 the constitutional right of a free citizen of the United States, 
 is not a matter to be passed over lightly. I returned to this 
 city the same afternoon, and have resumed my usual avoca 
 tion. Of one thing I am certain, God helping me, slavery 
 shall be no gainer by this attempt to strike down constitu 
 tional liberty, in my person. Be it, that in the estimation of 
 some timid persons, I was imprudent, to exercise my un 
 questionable right to attend a public meeting, open to all, and 
 note its proceedings. That does not affect the merits of the 
 case, nor alter one principle involved in it. The question 
 whether freedom and right shall be sacrificed to maintain sla 
 very, still remains to be considered and decided by all who 
 love their country, or regard the purer impulses of humanity 
 and religion. When Garrison was thrust into Baltimore jail, 
 guiltless of crime, the death of the system was decreed. And 
 now God has written upon the walls of Annapolis jail also, 
 * Slavery must die/ 
 
 Yours, with respect, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 " Annapolis (Md.) JAIL, Jan. 14, 1842. 
 " My beloved wife, You will allow me, I know, to call 
 you so still, though I address you from the usual abode of 
 criminals, inasmuch as I am here for no offence against the 
 laws of God or man. I write to relieve your anxieties, lest 
 you should hear that I was in prison, and be alarmed too much, 
 at an event so strange. I came down here on Wednesday 
 morning, to attend the slaveholders convention ; and took my 
 notes, as a reporter. Some evil minded person had spread 
 the report that I was an abolition agent, and excited suspicion 
 against me ; and I was arrested on suspicion by the MOB, 
 and finally committed, last night, to prison for examination, 
 by the justice. To-day I was examined by Judge Brewer; 
 and because they could find no evil thing, definitely, against 
 
100 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 me, am detained till Monday, for further examination ; when, 
 I trust in God, I shall be freed from this vile and cold place. 
 Do not be grieved or alarmed. God is with me, and sup 
 ports me. And I have the ablest counsel the land will fur 
 nish. And though the excitement is very high against me, 
 I have little doubt of a speedy deliverance. * Meantime, pray 
 for me, that I may be strong in the Lord, and in the power 
 of his might. I will write you again on Monday, and let you 
 know the result. Do not write to me here, but to Washing 
 ton, under cover to Mr. Giddings. 
 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 " Washington, D. C., Jan. 19, 1842. 
 
 " My dearest wife, The date of this will assure you that 
 I am again at liberty, and unscathed by these human hyenas, 
 commonly called slaveholders. Thank God, that he suffered 
 them to rage in vain, and finally delivered me from their 
 power. I cannot, to-day, \vrite you a minute, detailed ac 
 count of the matter ; that you will see in the next Evangelist. 
 Suffice it to say, that after an illegal and unjust detention for 
 a week, I was set free, there being found no reason for de 
 taining me, even in the judgment of an unjust Judge. I was 
 treated with the greatest personal kindness by the jailor, and 
 by my counsel, Thomas S. Alexander, of Annapolis, the first 
 lawyer in the State, and Joseph M. Palmer, of Frederick, a 
 distinguished lawyer, and member of the legislature. They 
 were untiring in effort, and utterly refused to receive any 
 compensation for their services. The members of Congress 
 from our State, took a deep interest in it, and sent down a 
 first rate lawyer, Mr. Simmons of Roxbury, to aid my coun 
 sel. The old Bastile of slavery was shaken more effectually 
 by the arrest and its consequences, than it could have been 
 in any other way, in five years. Thank God for it. The 
 pecuniary loss to me, however, is great hard to be borne, in 
 
LETTERS TO HTS :WIEE, 101 
 
 my present position ; but God yill provide. . I.gQt.your Jong 
 and welcome letter this forenoon, and I. ^fl ^jt^^caj -ai ^ 
 long letter in a day or two. I hope you have received the 
 money I ordered sent you, from various sources. Write as 
 soon as you get my next letter ; and believe me, as ever, 
 your faithful friend and affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 Washington, D. C., Feb. 2, 1842. 
 
 " My beloved Mary, Your welcome letter of Jan. 28, I 
 received this morning, and I begin a reply, which I cannot 
 send for a day or two. I am grieved and surprised that you 
 received no more money. By the 12th, I hope you will re 
 ceive something near seventy-five dollars ; perhaps not quite 
 so much. But I will send every cent I can ; and as soon as 
 possible I will send you more. 1 am trying to enlarge my 
 income still more, and hope I may succeed. As to giving 
 up our house, I am not prepared to assent to any change, till 
 my future arrangements can be definitely settled. I had 
 thoughts of removing to Medway, or some other abolition 
 town, in the fall. I am very glad you are not encumbered 
 with a house full of boarders. My conscience has troubled 
 me much about imposing such a load upon my dear wife, and 
 I am glad you are free from it. Now let me suggest a thing 
 or two. Teach Charley and little Mary. Begin and read 
 some hours, daily ; and write another book, either didactic, 
 or finish the one so long ago begun, or a new one. I will try 
 hard to find the bread and butter for you and the dear little 
 ones, and for Phebe ; for I can t think of having you left 
 entirely alone. Besides, Emmons will return in a month, as 
 he writes me, and will want a home ; and I think he wi.l get 
 one or two fellow-boarders, if you want them. So, if my 
 beloved Mary can be happy there, and keep a little home 
 ready for her wandering husband, when the weary months 
 have passed away, I shall be glad to have you be where you 
 9* 
 
102 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 are, for the present. Before we remove, if we do, in the fall, 
 r.i u-l), : )] p&fKgid&tfee must take place, and many arrange 
 ments, to which I cannot attend for two or three months to 
 come. So be patient, my love. God will be with us and 
 prosper us, if we look to him. The editors of the New York 
 Evangelist very handsomely continued to pay me, while I was 
 absent, for the letters T did not write, as well as for those I 
 did. So I meet with generous kindness, from more than one 
 source. 
 
 "You ask how I felt, in regard to my imprisonment. I an 
 swer, that while I was in the hands of the mob, raging and 
 threatening around me, as you will see described in the Evan 
 gelist or Emancipator, this week, I was perfectly cool, col 
 lected, fearless of evil, as I ever was in my life. Not that 
 there was no real danger, or that I was unconscious of it ; 
 for no one could be so, with several hundreds raging and 
 menacing around him, and but few of the friends of good 
 order near to restrain their violence. But the Lord restrained 
 them, and was with me to keep me from all essential harm. 
 That I was deeply affected when I found myself so un 
 righteously thrust into a felon s cell, is true. But I was ena 
 bled to look up to the Lord, and trust in him ; and most of 
 the time, I enjoyed great peace and composure of mind. My 
 cell was a perfect abolition lecture-room ; for every one 
 who came in, wished to talk about it ; and I believe what I 
 said made a good impression on many minds. I know it did 
 on several. I had a Bible and a few odd volumes of every 
 nort, hardly one of them whole, belonging to the prison, which 
 helped to pass away that part of the time 1 spent in solitude. 
 I did not dare to write much, not knowing how long I might 
 be detained there. I think my first letter to you must have 
 been detained in the post-office at Annapolis a week, as one 
 or two other letters apparently were ; though none were lost, 
 that I know of. 
 
 " Since I returned here, I have been treated with unusual 
 
LETTERS TO HIS WIFE. 103 
 
 respect and kindness. A few slaveholders swear about me a 
 little, to exercise their venomous tongues ; but that does no harm 
 to anything but their own souls. They are civil to me, per 
 sonally, though some of them look rather hard at me. Cost 
 Johnson, of Maryland, scowls at me, every time he passes me. 
 On the whole, it will give me character and influence wherev 
 er our language goes ; so that I shall have no great reason to 
 regret it, on my own account ; and I will try to have my 
 dear Mary love me as well, and my little ones too, as if I had 
 not been in jail ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 "Washington, D. C., Feb. 26, 1842. 
 
 " My beloved Mary, Your letter, so welcome and so sad 
 too, came to-night ; and I was lover enough to kiss it a few 
 times ! though my heart ached at the description of your 
 trials, both personal and pecuniary. My letter of last night 
 will inform you of my having sent orders which will relieve 
 you on the latter score, as I hope, in all next week. I, too, 
 have had some trials of that sort. My income, at present, is 
 adequate to our wants, and to pay our bills, IF it was punc 
 tually paid, according to promise. I hope it will all come 
 next week, and enable me to set all straight with our credi 
 tors. For the last month I have been paying seven dollars 
 a week ; but to-day I have cut it down to five, by dispensing 
 with a fire, though I expect some cold days and nights to 
 write in, yet. But it will be the more saved for my 
 dear little family. With all your trials from illness, I 
 need not tell you how deeply I sympathize with you. May 
 God our Father bless you and our dear little ones with health 
 and strength. May you be enabled to go on, and sustain the 
 trial laid on you. I shall not feel easy till I hear again how 
 you and the dear children, and Phebe are getting on. You 
 don t know how I long to be with you and help you in your 
 
104 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 troubles. I am well pleased with the arrangement in regard 
 to Mr. Osgood ; I hope he will continue to be a pleasant 
 boarder. But do not overtask your strength. Emmons, I sup 
 pose, will be back in about a fortnight, and will be able to aid 
 you much. As to pens, go to Light s, or to King s, and get 
 some, and pay when the money comes. If there is no fail 
 ure, you will soon receive enough to pay the rest of the rent, 
 and for the coal and wood, and any little matters, with about 
 half each of Bond s and Reed s bills. Your position is 
 dark, indeed, and it wounds me to the heart. But look up 
 ward, and in the words of a colored minister I heard preach 
 some time ago, don t think it strange that the Lord fulfils 
 his glorious promise. My dear wife, there are many ques 
 tions, in ray various letters about home affairs, that I have 
 waited to hear about, in just such letters as your last, full of 
 all manner of little details, that would show me the every 
 day life in my dear family circle. But let it pass. Write me 
 soon, and believe me, as ever, your most affectionate hus 
 band, CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BECOMES EDITOR OF A PAPER IN ALBANY. GOES TO VIR 
 GINIA TO ASSIST A MAN TO GET HIS WIFE AND CHIL 
 DREN. CARRIAGE SEIZED. STORY OF THE WEBB 
 
 FAMILY. 
 
 In the autumn of 1842, Mr. Torrey went to Albany, and 
 became the editor of the Tocsin of Liberty, afterward changed 
 to the Albany Patriot. He was engaged at first on a salary, 
 but afterwards became the proprietor of the paper, which in 
 volved him in great perplexity and embarrassment. Night 
 and day, he labored to fill up the increasing hiatus between 
 his expenses and his income. In about one year, his mat- 
 
BECOMES EDITOR. 105 
 
 ters were so involved that he found it necessary to abandon 
 the enterprise, and seek a living in some other mode. Mr. 
 Torrey s family were at Albany, most of this time, and a 
 part of the year were in want of many things deemed the 
 ordinary necessaries of life. When he closed his labors in 
 Albany, he must have felt well nigh discouraged. 
 
 His family returned to the house of her father, at Medvvay. 
 Mr. Torrey has been blamed for not making proper provi 
 sion for his family while at Albany. But if those who cen 
 sure him, had watched his hours of unremitting labor, and 
 his prolonged fasts, that they might be fed even with scanty 
 fare, they would abate somewhat of their censure. 
 
 Meanwhile, a slave, who had escaped to Canada, came to 
 Albany, and entreated Mr. Torrey to go to Virginia, and 
 bring out from the house of bondage, his wife and his little 
 ones. To this urgent call he could not turn a deaf ear. In. 
 company with the husband and father, he started. When 
 on the borders of Pennsylvania, they procured a span 
 of horses and a carr age, and drove near to the residence 
 of the family of the slave. The carriage was left under the 
 shed of a colored man in the Distr ct of Columbia. The 
 family were to meet Mr. Torrey and the father at this point. 
 They came and took their seats in the carriage. Mr. T. and 
 the slave with him were absent a short distance. Before 
 they reached the place of meeting, they learned that the 
 family, and horses and carriage, had all been seized by the 
 police. Mr. Torrey and his associate escaped, but poor 
 Bush, under whose roof the horses were found, was arrest 
 ed, and is now in prison.* Mr. T. was obliged to send to his 
 friends and get money to pay for the horses and carriage. 
 
 He went to Delaware and labored a short time for the 
 slave. On his return through Philadelphia, he met with 
 Emily Webb, whose story will best be told in her own 
 
 Recently acquitted by the Court- 
 
106 . MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 words. Her deposition, and that of her husband, were taken 
 at the request of Mr. Torrey, to be used on his trial in Vir 
 ginia, at the suit of Bushrod Taylor. 
 
 NARRATIVE OF EMILY WEBB. 
 
 " I now reside in the town of Hamilton, in the Province 
 of Upper Canada, with my husband and five youngest chil 
 dren. I was born in Berkley county, in the State of Vir 
 ginia, at a place called the Falling- Waters, seven miles, or 
 thereabout, from Martinsburgh. I have no record in my pos 
 session fro" m which to determine certainly my age, but I be 
 lieve I am about forty-five or forty-six years old. I was born 
 a slave, and was the daughter of my master, Edward Clare, 
 a white man ; and after his death, I was owned by his son 
 and my half-brother, James Clare, late of Frederick County, 
 Virginia, also a white man, who died about twenty years ago. 
 After my birth, my mother married an Irishman named John 
 Carr, and they gave me his name and called me Emily Carr. 
 About the year 1815 or 1816, I was married to John Webb, 
 a slave owned by Beverly Whiting, Bullskin, Jefferson Co., 
 Virginia. He is my present husband, and I never had any 
 other. We were read together, as it is called, by a colored 
 parson whose name was Josiah Lovett. I lived at the time 
 of my marriage on my master s plantation on Longmarsh, in 
 what is now Clark county, Virginia, about seven miles from 
 where my husband was owned. My father died when I was 
 an infant. Josiah Lovett, who married me, is dead, and I do 
 not recollect the name of any one living that was present at 
 my marriage. There was no white man present. My chil 
 dren were all born in Virginia. I have been the mother of 
 thirteen children, and all by my present husband. The first 
 six of my children were born on Longmarsh, where I lived 
 at the time I was married. My next five were born at Ber- 
 
NARRATIVE OF EMILY WEBB. 107 
 
 ryville, Clark county ; and ray two youngest were born in 
 Winchester since I purchased my freedom. The following 
 are the names and ages of my children : William, my old 
 est child, died in his fifth year, and would now, had he lived, 
 been twenty-eight years old. Samuel, my second child, is 
 now in his twenty-seventh year, and lives in Hamilton, Upper 
 Canada. Philip, my third child, is now in his twenty-fifth 
 year ; he lives at Drummondsville, and is now employed as 
 cook on board the steamer Emerald, plying between Buffalo 
 and Chippewa. Clarissa, my fourth child, died in the third 
 year of her age. James, my fifth child, died when eleven 
 days old. John, my sixth child, is about twenty-two years 
 old, and was sold about five years ago as a slave into Georgia. 
 In 1842, I received a letter from him. He was then owned 
 by a Railroad Company in that State. I have not heard 
 from him since. William, my seventh child, is now about 
 nineteen years old. He was sold as a slave at the same 
 time with his brother John, and sent to N. Orleans, where he is 
 owned by a Mrs. Jane Bennett. I heard from him about two 
 months ago. John and William were purchased and sent 
 
 south by Newbern Bowly and Crow, slave-traders. 
 
 George, my eighth child, is in his sixteenth year, and lives 
 with me at Hamilton. Martha, my ninth child, is now in her 
 fourteenth year, and is also living with me. Sarah, my tenth 
 child, died when nine months old. Mary, my eleventh child, 
 is in her eleventh year, and is also living with me. Charles, 
 my twelfth child, is now in his eighth year, also living with 
 me. Emily, my thirteenth child, is now in the fifth year of 
 her age, and is also living with me, at Hamilton. 
 
 " My mother had straight hair, and was the mother of sever 
 al children besides me. When my son Philip was six months 
 old, my mother was sold and sent to the south, and I have 
 heard nothing from her since. Till I was seven years old 
 I lived with a Mrs. Brady, a white woman, a paternal aunt of 
 James Clare, my half-brother and master, and my aunt also. 
 
108 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 When I was Mrs. with Brady I was sent to school to a 
 Mr. Crewson, a white teacher. In my eleventh year I was 
 sent to school three months to a Mr. Pilcher, by my master 
 Clare. I have never attended school since. All the instruc 
 tion that I obtained afterwards, was given me by master 
 Clare, who taught me himself. I can read well, and write 
 a little. 
 
 " I lived with my master, James Clare, from the time I was 
 seven years old. At the time of his death I lived with him 
 on his plantation on Longmarsh. He was about fifty years 
 old when he died. He married Kitty Svvanggym, a sister of 
 Eli and Jack Svvanggym. He had no children by his wife. 
 She died a few months before he did. He had no brother, 
 and but one white half-sister living at the time of his death, 
 Eliza, who married Dr. Alexander Fitz Hugh, Falmouth, 
 Stafford county, Va. Having no children, he adopted a 
 niece of his wife, Susan Svvanggym, daughter of Jack. 
 Susan s mother died when she, Susan, was an infant. Susan 
 and I were brought up together. At the death of her aunt, 
 Mrs. Clare, Susan, in her sixteenth year, went to Hagers- 
 tovvn, in Maryland, to live with her father, who had removed 
 thither some years before, where she married Dr. Samuel 
 Rench, and now resides there. 
 
 " James Clare always treated me as his sister. He was 
 much attached to my children. He treated them as his own, 
 and made a great deal of them. When disposing of some of 
 his property after his wife s death, he reserved a horse and 
 gig for my son Philip s use, on Philip requesting him to do 
 so. Bushrod Taylor knows the manner in which I and my 
 family were treated by Mr. Clare and wife. James Clare 
 repeatedly said that he intended to free me and my children. 
 He often spoke upon the subject, during the many years I 
 was with him, and he uniformly said that it was his intention 
 to make us all free at his death. He owned a plantation of 
 four or five hundred acres which he inherited from his father, 
 
NARRATIVE OF EMILY WEBB. 109 
 
 and about ten slaves besides me and my family. His habit? 
 were very bad. From his wife s death to his own, a space 
 of some eight or nine months, he was almost constantly in 
 toxicated. About two months before he died, Eli and Jack 
 Swanggym, his late wife s brother, got him to go to Eli Swang- 
 gym s house, seven miles from his own, where, in a state of 
 intoxication, it was said he was induced to make his will. Jack 
 Swanggym prevailed on him to will me and my children to 
 his, Jack s daughter Susan, now Mrs. Rench, instead of mak 
 ing us free as he had always promised and I had always ex 
 pected. He also gave her the furniture in the house. The 
 rest of his property he gave to the children of Mrs. Fitz 
 Hugh. He disliked Mrs. Fitz Hugh and her husband, and 
 often declared they should never have a dollar of his. The 
 last two months of his life I was constantly with him and 
 nursed him. A few days before his death, Redmond Jack 
 son came to see him. Jackson lived near Berryville, about 
 twelve miles from Winchester, when I left Virginia, and is a 
 white man. Jackson asked him why he had not given me and 
 my children our freedom, in his will, as I was as near to him 
 as Mrs. Fitz Hugh. He replied that it had always been his in 
 tention and wish to do so, but that he had been told that by law 
 he could not do it without compelling us to go out of the 
 State, which would be unkind, and that Susan would treat us 
 kindly and better than Mrs. Fitz Hugh or any body else. 
 Jackson then remarked to him that he had been misinformed 
 as to the law, and that he could legally free us without our 
 leaving the State, by making us legatees and freeholders un 
 der the will. My master then said the will should be altered, 
 and directed me to send for Augustus Smith and William 
 MacCormack. They were witnesses to the will. Smith 
 came, but MacCormack did not. Smith was directed to 
 make the alteration, by my master. Smith said it could be 
 done only in the presence of the witnesses, and they were ab 
 sent that it could not be done at that time. My master died 
 10 
 
110 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 shortly after and before the alteration could be made, and I 
 and my children became the slaves of Susan. My mas 
 ter died on Sunday, about 9 o clock in the morning. He 
 was buried Sunday evening. I held the lantern at the 
 grave. Dr. Fitz Hugh and his wife were present. The 
 former arrived the previous Saturday, and the latter sev 
 eral days before. After the arrival of Doctor Fitz Hugh, 
 my master became stupid and insensible, and continued 
 so till he died. His tongue turned black. Dr. Fitz Hugh 
 and his wife treated his remains with levity and disrespect. 
 Mrs. Fitz Hugh was angry because the furniture had been 
 given to Susan. She tried to induce me to send off secretly, 
 or conceal a trunk containing silver ware and bed clothing ; 
 and when I refused to do so, she abused me and accused me 
 of having used her brother s property as my own, and of act 
 ing as though I were one of his family, and said if I had 
 been left to her, she would have sent me away as far as hand 
 could carry me. 
 
 In 1835 I bought myself of Dr. Samuel Rench, Williams- 
 port, Maryland, the husband of Susan. He demanded three 
 hundred dollars for me and my then two youngest children. 
 But his wife prevailed on him to sell me separately at one 
 hundred and fifty dollars. I paid him one hundred and fifty 
 dollars cash. And thus I became free. I earned the money 
 by washing in Berryville. Since James Clare s death and 
 up to this time, Dr. Rench had given me my time, in consid 
 eration of my bearing and maintaining my children till they 
 arrived at an age to be profitable to him. He or his wife 
 took them away to Maryland as fast as they arrived at ten 
 years of age. I fed, nursed and clothed them, and paid their 
 doctor s bills till removed. The children that were taken 
 away from me by Dr. Rench or his wife, were Samuel, Philip, 
 John, and William. My two youngest children, having been 
 born after I purchased my freedom, were born free. 
 
 "In 1838 Samuel and Philip fled from Dr. Rench to Cana- 
 
NARRATIVE OF EMILY WEBB. Ill 
 
 da. Thereupon Dr. Rench sold the other two boys to Bow 
 ly and Crow, slave-traders, Charlestown, Virginia. Dr. 
 Rench had promised me that I should be allowed to furnish 
 a purchaser, whenever he wished to sell my boys. I went to 
 Williamsport and expostulated with him. He justified him 
 self by saying the traders were sent to him by Bushrod Tay 
 lor, who pretended that he was to have my two boys, for 
 whom he was to give Bowly and Crow some newly bought 
 slaves in exchange. Dr. Rench said he was, however, as 
 good a friend to me and my children as Bushrod Taylor, who 
 got his money by slave-dealing. On searching the records in 
 the Clerk s office at Hagerstown, Maryland, I found that the 
 names of my sons had been omitted to be registered within 
 thirty days from the time they were brought into the State, 
 as the laws of Maryland required. I got a certificate from 
 the Clerk, of the fact In the opinion of the Clerk, Macky 
 Tidball, brother of Thomas Allen Tidball, Winchester, my 
 sons were free by reason of the omission. Bowly and Crow 
 had taken my sons to Charlestown, Virginia, with the inten 
 tion of selling them south. I hurried thither. I caused a 
 suit to be brought against them for the freedom of the boys. 
 My lawyers were Edward Cook and Richard Bird, since a 
 member of Congress. Bowly and Crow s lawyers were Moses 
 Hunter and Mr. Berry. Bowly and Crow were arrested 
 sometime in October, 1838, and compelled to give bail for 
 the appearance of the boys, in two thousand dollars ; for one 
 night the boys were induced to conceal themselves to prevent 
 their being smuggled off by Bowly and Crow before a writ 
 could be served on them. Bowly came to Carter s tavern, 
 where I was staying, and calling me out said, Your boys 
 have run off, and you are the cause of it. If you don t tell 
 
 me where they are, you d d infernal yellow bitch of h 1, 
 
 I will kill you, G d d n you. Judge Douglas presided 
 
 in the Court in which the suit was brought. A trial was had 
 about the 20th of June, 1839, and the Judge decided that the 
 
112 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 boys were slaves. I was advised by. my attorney to appeal. 
 I did so. Another trial was had at Richmond, and the deci 
 sion was again against the boys. John R. Cook argued the 
 case at Richmond. Dr. Rench appeared by counsel and de 
 fended the suit. My counsel were quite confident of gaining 
 the suit. After the trial I was advised that the only way to 
 save the boys was to get them back again into Maryland, 
 where it was thought that by law they were free. Fearing I 
 should be waylaid by Bowly and Crow if I rode my horse, I 
 sent him on, and took the cars to Winchester. I explained 
 the plan to Bushrod Taylor of that place, my husband s 
 master, and requested him to permit my husband to go to 
 Charlestown and get the boys out of jail and run them back 
 into Maryland. Taylor inquired what the penalty would be, 
 if my husband were detected ? I answered, thirty-nine lashes, 
 cropping, and banishment from the State. Well, said Taylor, 
 your husband must take the will for the deed I will give 
 him permission to try. He gave my husband a general pass. 
 The same day that I arrived, having hired a horse and bug 
 gy, my husband set off for Charlestown. He afterwards in 
 formed me that on arriving there in the night, he entered the 
 jail-yard fronting the street, and succeeded in rousing the 
 boys and in getting the youngest and smallest one through 
 one of the grated openings. But the opening was too small 
 to permit the older and larger boy to pass through. My hus 
 band then urged the youngest boy to fly with him, but he re 
 fused to do so, declaiing he would go back and die, rather than 
 to leave his brother to be driven away alone into the south. 
 He returned into jail, and my husband returned to Winches 
 ter. Taylor told my husband that he was a fool for not forc 
 ing the youngest boy away, as i one was better than none. 
 At my earnest entreaty and with Bushrod Taylor s permis 
 sion, my husband made a second attempt to rescue the boys, 
 but failed. Soon after, Bowly and Crow took the boys about 
 a mile and a half from Charlestown under pretence of taking 
 
NARRATIVE OF EMILY WEBB. 113 
 
 them to dig potatoes. They then chained them, and they 
 were seen passing Snigger s Ferry, twenty or thirty miles 
 from Charlestown, handcuffed, in a carryall on their way 
 south. John was sold at Augusta, Georgia; William in New 
 Orleans. On their return, Bowly and Crow boasted to me 
 that my sons, being fine, intelligent boys, sold higher than 
 any they had ever sold of their age. 
 
 " In 1838, soon after my sons John and William were sold 
 by Dr. Rerich, Bushrod Taylor purchased of Dr. Rench my 
 three children, George, Martha, and Mary. Dr. Rench 
 agreed to sell the two girls for $300, on condition that Tay 
 lor would sell them to me for that sum, and to sell him 
 George for $400. Taylor asked me to buy the two girls, 
 but I had not at that time the means. Soon afterwards, 
 however, I was enabled to purchase the two girls for $300 
 $200 for the oldest and 100 for the youngest. To pay for 
 the oldest I borrowed $200 of David Fontleroy, a colored 
 hostler, and gave him a lien on the girl for security. I bor 
 rowed $100 of Sally Cannon, a cousin of Taylor s, to pay 
 for the youngest, and gave her a lien on the youngest for se 
 curity. In January, 1841, having got together $90, a por 
 tion of it by raising hogs and making and selling soap, I 
 offered it to Miss Cannon towards what I owed her, but she 
 refused to receive it, on the ground she would have the whole 
 or none, Taylor then offered to lend me the balance that 
 would be due Miss Cannon, $22, (the whole debt being with 
 interest $112,) providing I would buy George at $450, and 
 for security give him a lien on George, Martha, and Mary 
 for both sums, being $472, he to give me five years to pay 
 it in, the interest to be paid annually. I accepted the pro 
 position and executed to him the trust deed or mortgage, a 
 certified copy of which is attached hereto. The first year s 
 interest, $28,32, I paid. I failed to pay the second year s. 
 I engaged in the grocery business in a small way, in which 
 I was unfortunate. In 1842, in July, for the purpose of pro- 
 10* 
 
114 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 curing the means to pay off Taylor, from my sons, I travelled 
 to Upper Canada and returned to Virginia the January fol 
 lowing, without having effected my object. My sons had been 
 unsuccessful in business. After my return, Taylor mani 
 fested a disposition to oppress me. He came to my house 
 with the sheriff, and on one occasion threatened to break my 
 head with the stick in his hand. He was my husband s 
 master. 
 
 " Bushrod Taylor was a dealer in slaves. He often bought 
 and sold them. He was connected, in the business, with Ben 
 Lewis. He speculated in slaves. He sold slaves to be sent 
 south, and sent others to the south to be sold there. He 
 was a hard master to slave women. He kicked and cuffed 
 them publicly. He was a tavern keeper. One of his female 
 slaves ate some of the remnants of the breakfast table, which 
 she had been forbidden to do. Taylor knocked her down. 
 She fled to the room of a lady boarder for protection. He 
 pursued her there and cowhided her ; and, on her refusing to 
 work for him, after such treatment, he sold her to one Offert, 
 who carried her south, and forced her to become his mistress. 
 Sam Bayler, James Whiton, John Brooks, and Lucy, with 
 her four or five children, were amongst the slaves that Bush- 
 rod Taylor sold. 
 
 " The following white gentlemen and ladies knew me while 
 I lived in Virginia, and can certify as to my character. Col. 
 Treadwell Smith, Miss Mary Noble, and Jacob Iseler, all of 
 Berry ville, Clark county, Virginia. John M. Blackamore, of 
 Frontroy, Virginia, Samuel Brown and Aaron H. Griffith, of 
 Winchester, Virginia. EMILY WEBB. 
 
 " State of New York, County of Erie, ss. 
 
 " Be it remembered, that on this twenty-fourth day of Au- 
 ust, A. D. 1844, Emily Webb, above named, came before the 
 subscriber, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, of said 
 county of Erie, and made solemn oath, in due form of law, 
 
NARRATIVE OF EMILY WEBB. 115 
 
 that the facts and circumstances in the foregoing statement 
 contained, and by her signed, covering nine folio pages, are 
 true, to her best knowledge, information, and belief. 
 FRED K P. STEVENS, 
 
 Judge of Erie County Com. Pleas" 
 
 " State of New York, Erie County, ss. 
 
 " George W. Jonson, of the city of Buffalo, in said county, 
 attorney and counsellor at law, being duly affirmed accord 
 ing to law, deposes and says, that at the instance of Emily 
 Webb, he wrote down the foregoing statement, and the facts 
 and circumstances therein contained ; and that, after the 
 same were so written, he carefully and truly read the same 
 and every part thereof to her, the said Emily, and that she 
 signed the same in his presence, and in his presence swore to 
 the same before the Hon. Frederick P. Stevens, one of the 
 judges of the Court of Common Pleas, in and for said county, 
 of the degree of counsellor, and that the above jurat was writ 
 ten and signed by said Stevens, in the presence of this affirm- 
 ant ; and further, he says not. GEORGE W. JONSON. 
 
 Affirmed before me, this 31st day of August,1844. 
 FRED K P. STEVENS, 
 
 Judge of Erie County Court" 
 
 " THIS INDENTURE, made the 1st day of January, 1841, 
 between Emily Webb, a free woman of color, of Frederick 
 county, Virginia, of the first part ; Alexander S. Tidball, 
 trustee, of the second part, and Bushrod Taylor, of the third 
 part witnesseth, That whereas, the said Emily Webb is 
 indebted to the said Bushrod Taylor in the sum of four hun 
 dred and seventy-two dollars, as appears by her note, bearing 
 equal date herewith, and payable in five years, with interest 
 from the date, the interest to be paid annually, and the said 
 Emily Webb being desirous of making the said debt safe, 
 
116 MEMOIR OF TOREEY. 
 
 and securing the punctual payment of the interest annually : 
 Now, This Indenture witnesseth, that for and in considera 
 tion of the premises aforesaid, and of the sum of one dollar 
 to the said Emily Webb in hand paid by the said Alexander 
 S. Tidball at or before the sealing and delivery hereof, she, 
 the said Emily Webb has granted, bargained and sold unto 
 the said Alexander S. Tidball, the following slaves, to wit: 
 George, a mulatto boy, about twelve years of age ; Martha, 
 a mulatto girl, about ten years of age ; and Mary, a mulatto 
 girl, aged about seven years to have and to hold the said 
 male and female slaves to the said Alexander S. Tidball, on 
 the following trusts and conditions, that if the said Emily 
 Webb shall fail to pay off the said note when the same be 
 comes due, or shall fail to pay the interest thereon punctual 
 ly on the first day of January in each and every year, until 
 the principal becomes due, it shall be the duty of the said 
 Alexander S. Tidball to proceed to sell the said slaves, or so 
 many of them as may be necessary, at public auction, for 
 each, having given two weeks previous notice of the time 
 and place of sale, in some public newspaper printed in Win 
 chester, and from the proceeds of sale, after deducting a com 
 mission of five per cent, and all other costs attending the exe 
 cution of the trust, the said Alexander S. Tidball shall pay to 
 the said Bushrod Taylor, whatever may be due on said note, 
 of principal and interest at the time of such sale, and the fees 
 of writing and recording this trust, and the balance, if any, 
 pay over to the said Emily Webb, her heirs and assigns. 
 It is agreed between the parties, that the said Emily Webb 
 may remain in possession of said slaves until a sale becomes 
 necessary under this trust ; but she is not to be at liberty to 
 remove them out of the limits of Frederick county ; and 
 she, said Emily Webb covenants, that she will give peaceable 
 and quiet possession of said slaves to the said Alexander S. 
 Tidball, whenever demanded for the purpose of executing 
 
NARRATIVE OF JOHN WEBB. 117 
 
 this trust. In testimony whereof, the parties have affixed 
 their hands and seals the day and year aforesaid. 
 
 her 
 
 EMILY X WEBB. 
 
 mark. 
 
 " Frederick County, ss. 
 
 " On the llth day of January, 1841, This Indenture was 
 acknowledged before me, Clerk of the Court of the County 
 aforesaid, by Emily Webb, party thereto, and admitted to 
 record. T. A. TIDBALL. 
 
 A copy, Attesf, T. A. TIDBALL, ClerL" 
 
 NARRATIVE OF JOHN WEBB. 
 
 " I was born in Berry ville, Clarke county, Virginia. lam 
 about fifty years old. I am now residing with my wife, Emi 
 ly Webb, and my five youngest children, in Hamilton, in the 
 province of Upper Canada. I have been the father of thir 
 teen children by my present wife, whom I married about the 
 year 1815. I have never been married but once. My wife 
 was the daughter of Edward Clare, a white man, and has 
 straight hair. My children were called William, Samuel, Phil 
 ip, Clarissa, James, John, William, George, Martha, Sarah, 
 Mary, Charles, and Emily. George, Martha, Mary, Charles, 
 and Emily, are now with me and my wife in Hamilton. 
 Samuel lives in Hamilton, and has a family. Philip lives in 
 Drummondsville, Upper Canada, and has a family, John 
 and William were sold into the South, and are now living in 
 slavery there ; William, my eldest son, Clarissa, James, and 
 Sarah, are dead. I am a son of Tarleton Webb, of Berry- 
 ville, a white man, who has been dead about twenty years. 
 My father was a merchant. He kept a dry goods store, and 
 owned a house and lot in Berryville. He had no wife, and 
 never had. He died very poor. My mother s name was 
 Patty Peterson. She was the slave of Beverly Whiting, a 
 white man, Bullskin, Jefferson county, Virginia. In the di 
 vision of his property, at his death, she fell to his daughter, 
 
118 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Elizabeth Whiting, of the same place, who has never been 
 married, and is now living at the age of between eighty and 
 ninety, at Bullskin, unless she has died within a year. My 
 mother had no white blood. Her mother came from Africa, 
 and her father also, and they spoke but broken English. My 
 mother was never married. She hired her time of Elizabeth 
 Whiting, and went to live at Berryville, where she was em 
 ployed by my father as a servant, about his house and store, 
 on wages. She lived with my father about fifteen years, 
 and had by him five children besides myself. For the use of 
 her time, my mother supported, at her own charges, her chil 
 dren during their childhood, and paid Elizabeth Whiting fif 
 teen dollars a year, which was always paid. I was my moth 
 er s second child, and lived with her at Berryville, till I was 
 six years old ; when a brother, older than myself, and I were 
 taken by Elizabeth Whiting to Bullskin, to live with her, in 
 order to relieve my mother from a part of the burden of sup 
 porting her family. The estate of Beverly Whiting proved 
 inadequate to pay his debts, without selling his slaves, some 
 fifty in number. My mother and her five children, all except 
 me, were sold for that purpose, and sent to Louisville, Ken 
 tucky, where they were owned by Smally Bates of that city. 
 My brother William and sister Sally are yet living in Louis 
 ville, the slaves of the widow of Smally Bates. My mother 
 and the rest of the children are dead. I heard from the sur 
 vivors last Christmas. When my mother and her children 
 were sold, she had lived with my father about fifteen years. 
 I lived with Elizabeth Whiting three years, at Bullskin, 
 when she hired me out to Frederick Clapper, Shannondale 
 farm, Jefferson county, Virginia. He afterwards removed to 
 Martinsburgh, Berkley county, Virginia, and carried me with 
 him. I lived at the last two mentioned places two years each, 
 when I was returned to Elizabeth Whiting. Soon after, she 
 placed me with a neighbor of hers, named Dolphin Drew, a 
 tanner, Snigger s Ferry, Clark county, Virginia, to learn the 
 
NARRATIVE OF JOHN WEBB. 119 
 
 tanner s trade. I remained with him, an apprentice of the 
 business, four years. It was here I first knew Bushrod Tay 
 lor. He was a fellow-apprentice in the tannery. We worked 
 together two years, the last two years I was with Drew. Af 
 ter I had been with Drew four years, I was taken home by 
 Elizabeth Whiting and made the body servant of herself and 
 her brother Beverly. I lived with her, in that capacity, eight 
 years. Bushrod Taylor continued an apprentice to Drew, at 
 the tanning business, about two years after I left. He then 
 quit him and rode sheriff, under his brother William. About 
 five years afterwards, he bought Drew s tannery, at Snigger s 
 Ferry, and carried on the business of a tanner. Dolphin Drew 
 removed to Bullskin, and Beverly Whiting being dead, Eliza 
 beth Whiting made Drew her manager. At this time, I had 
 been married about four years, and was twenty-five years old. 
 Drew and I fell out, in consequence of which my mistress 
 proposed to Bushrod Taylor to buy me. Taylor refused to 
 buy me without my consent, but desired me to come and see 
 him, to settle on the terms, etc. I went to Snigger s Ferry, 
 and Taylor and I agreed on the following terms : He was 
 never to strike me ; he was to allow me to choose my mas 
 ter, if he should ever sell me ; and permit me to buy for my 
 own account, and tan in the yard, without charge to me, all 
 the sheep, dog, and hog skins I had the means to buy ; and 
 he was to loan me money for that purpose, if I requested it. 
 I shared this privilege in common with the other hands in the 
 yard, white and colored. He paid Elizabeth Whiting six 
 hundred dollars for me. After I had worked in the tannery 
 about four years, Taylor hired me out to Thomas Whiting, a 
 colored shoemaker, in Berryville, to work at shoemaking, at 
 one hundred and twenty dollars a year, Taylor reserving to 
 himself one month of my time, and clothing me. I was to 
 have no part of my time nor earnings. Soon after, Taylor 
 sold his tannery at Snigger s Ferry ; and after having lived a 
 farmer at Berry ville about four years, he went to Winchester, 
 
120 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 Frederick county, Virginia, and commenced tavern-keeping 
 and slave-trading, where he now resides. I was hired out to 
 Thomas Whiting about ten years, by Taylor. I then hired 
 myself of Taylor, at the rate of one hundred and twenty dol 
 lars a year, I to clothe myself. This was a better bargain 
 for Taylor by twenty dollars, the expense of my clothes, than 
 that with Thomas Whiting. At this time I had a wife and six 
 children to support, and my wife was struggling to raise the 
 means to buy her freedom. I was induced to hire my time 
 of Taylor, as above mentioned, in order that, by extra labor, 
 I might acquire the means to aid her. I paid Taylor, promptly, 
 the price agreed on for my time, during three years ; the first 
 two years monthly, and the last quarterly, in cash. I worked 
 for Thomas Whiting. The first year I earned, over and above 
 the one hundred and twenty dollars going to Taylor, about 
 sixty-eight dollars ; out of which I had to board and clothe my 
 self ; the residue I gave to my wife, towards making up the 
 sum necessary to purchase her freedom. The next two years 
 I did a little better. I had to work early and late. My ac 
 count books are now in the hands of Marshal Nickling, Ber 
 ry ville, and they will show the amount of my earnings. Thom 
 as Whiting was slow pay, and Taylor had to sue him for my 
 wages ; and it was this that induced Taylor to sell me my 
 time. Whiting died sixty dollars in my debt, which I lost. 
 At the end of three years from the time I hired myself, Bush- 
 rod Taylor took me from Berryville to Winchester, where he 
 was keeping tavern, and placed me in his stable as night hos 
 tler. During the day I worked out of the stables, at all-work. 
 I was allowed no privileges except the small gratuities that 
 gentlemen were pleased to bestow on me when they left the 
 tavern with their horses at night, while the other hostlers re 
 ceived like gratuities through the day as well as night. Thus 
 I labored for a year, during which, with the above exception, 
 I got nothing above my food and clothes. During the next 
 four years I was the principal hostler, and the gratuities I re- 
 
NARRATIVE OF JOHN WEBB. 121 
 
 ceived amounted to some three or four York shillings a day, 
 which went to support, in part, my family, and towards pay 
 ing for my two daughters, Mary and Martha. The first year 
 after I went into his stables, Taylor denied me the right to se 
 lect my master, in case I was to be sold, and said he would find 
 me a master, if I wanted one. He threw me into the county 
 jail, and kept me there a day and night, and only let me out 
 at my wife s intercession. He took this step because Sally Can 
 non, his housekeeper, had informed him that she had been told 
 by Mango, the house-servant, that I had favorably entertained 
 a proposition made me and my wife, by a Mr. Smith, stop 
 ping at his tavern, from Wheeling, Virginia, to buy me and 
 take me and my wife, who was then free, with those of my 
 children that were free, to Wheeling, and pay us higher wages 
 than we were getting where we were, and give me the privi 
 lege of buying myself, which proposition I had declined. He 
 afterwards violated our compact by striking me, for which I 
 was under the necessity of flogging him. After this, I have 
 reason to think that Taylor feared and disliked me. After I 
 had served Taylor five years as hostler, I hired my time of 
 him at eighty dollars a year and found myself, which I did 
 for about three years, till I left Virginia, on the 18th of De 
 cember, 1843, for Canada, where I now reside. Up to the 
 time I left, I paid Taylor for my time as agreed, every frac 
 tion, earning the means to do so by shoemaking. I left my 
 account books on my bureau, on leaving Virginia, for the 
 benefit of Mr. Taylor. There was, on my books, an account 
 of some thirty-five to forty dollars against Betsey Dodd, for 
 whom I worked at shoemaking. For a long time before I left 
 Virginia, I had lost all confidence in the honesty and human 
 ity of Bushrod Taylor, and I was informed by a friend living 
 in Winchester, in the fore part of December, 1843, that Tay 
 lor had said to him, unless the money to pay for my children, 
 which my wife had bought and mortgaged to secure a por 
 tion of the purchase money, was raised in the beginning of 
 11 
 
122 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 January following, those children and myself would be sold 
 south. I thought it doubtful whether the means could be ob 
 tained seasonably to pay for the children and buy myself; 
 indeed, I believed they could not be, and that my only alter 
 natives were to stay and be sold, or fly from my oppressor. 
 I fled. I left Winchester in the night of the 18th of December, 
 1843, on foot, with my youngest child on my shoulder, and 
 my four other children then with me, two girls and two boys, 
 walking by my side. Except these, I was alone. I was 
 accompanied by no other person. 
 
 " Bushrod Taylor is a slave dealer. He has been con 
 nected, as such, and as a gambler, with Ben Lewis, who is now 
 dead ; also with one Offert, Brants Jourdan, Joseph Minch- 
 goomer, Pitman, and others. He used to say he would sell 
 everything he had but his wife. He whipped his slaves a 
 good deal, except me, whom he feared. He was a hard mas 
 ter to female slaves, and showed them no quarter. It was no 
 torious at Winchester, that a Mr. Hector Bell, of Clark coun 
 ty, once a man of large property, had been oppressed by Tay 
 lor, who got Bell s property into his hands, and sold as slaves 
 Bell s colored half-brothers, who were the property of Bell. 
 Taylor had the reputation of driving hard bargains. 
 
 " I am known to the following persons in Winchester, 
 who can certify as to my character. Thomas Allen Tidball, 
 Esq., Samuel Brown, and Aaron Griffith ; and to Tread- 
 well Smith, Esq., Marshall Nickling, Jacob Iseler, Esq., Mary 
 Noble, John Thomson, Esq., an attorney, and John M. Black- 
 more, merchant, all of Berryville. 
 
 " The statement of my wife, Emily Webb, written on nine 
 folio pages, and sworn to before the Hon. Frederick P. Ste 
 vens, on the 24th day of August, 1844, has been carefully 
 read to me ; and the same, so far as the facts stated therein 
 came within my personal knowledge, agrees with my recol 
 lections, and from my own knowledge and from information, 
 I believe the same to be, in every respect, true. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EMILY WEBB. 123 
 
 " A colored man, named John Harris, was thrown into jail, 
 in Winchester, on suspicion of being a runaway slave. He 
 asserted his freedom, and wrote to a friend to furnish the ne 
 cessary proofs. He got no answer and was sold to Bushrod 
 Taylor a slave for life, to pay his civil fees, Taylor promising 
 him, at the sale, that if he would serve him three years, he 
 should be free. At the end of two years, he sold John into 
 the south, in violation of his promise. 
 
 " I have heard Bushrod Taylor say that the surest and 
 most valuable crop a planter could raise for the market, was 
 a crop of young negroes. 
 
 " I can read tolerably well, and write a little. I never went 
 to school. What education I got in my boyhood, I picked up 
 from white children with whom I associated. 
 
 JOHN WEBB." 
 
 " State of New York, County of Erie, ss. 
 
 " Be it remembered, that on this thirtieth day of August, 
 A. D. 1844, at Buffalo, in said county of Erie, John Webb, 
 above named, came before me, the subscriber, a Judge of the 
 Court of Common Pleas of said county, and made solemn oath, 
 in due form of law, that the facts and circumstances in the 
 foregoing statement contained and by him subscribed, cover 
 ing six folio pages, are true to his best knowledge, informa 
 tion and belief. FRED K P. STEVENS, 
 
 Judge of Erie County Common Pleas" 
 
 " State of New York, Erie County, ss. 
 
 " George W. Jonson of the cky of Buffalo, in said county, 
 attorney and counsellor at law, being duly affirmed according 
 to law, deposes and says, that at the instance of John Webb 
 this affirmant wrote down the foregoing statement and the 
 facts and circumstances therein contained, and that after the 
 same were written, he this affirmant carefully and truly read 
 the same and every part thereof to the said John Webb and 
 
124 MEMOIR OP TORREY. 
 
 that the said John Webb signed the same in this affirmant s 
 presence and in his presence swore to the same before the 
 Hon. Frederick P. Stevens, one of the judges of the Court of 
 Common Pleas in and for said county, of the degree of coun 
 sellor, and that the above jurat was written and signed by 
 said Stevens in the presence of this affirmant, and further 
 says not. GEORGE W. JONSON. 
 
 Affirmed before me, this 31st day of August, 1844. 
 
 FRED K P. STEVENS, 
 Judge of Erie County Common Pleas" 
 
 " State of New York, County of Erie, ss. 
 
 " I, Manly Colton, Clerk of the County of Erie, and of the 
 Court of Common Pleas thereof, do hereby certify that Frede 
 rick P. Stevens, Esq., whose name is subscribed to the annexed 
 affidavit and jurat, was, at the time of subscribing the same, a 
 Judge of Erie County Courts, in and for said County, duly ap 
 pointed and sworn, and acting as such. Arid further, that I 
 am acquainted with the hand writing of said Judge, and verily 
 believe the signatures affixed thereto to be his genuine signa 
 ture. 
 
 "In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name 
 and affixed the seal of the Court of Common Pleas of said 
 county, this 31st day of August, A. D. 1844. 
 
 MANLY COLTON, Clerk" 
 
 " We, the undersigned, members of the Common Council 
 of the City of Buffalo, certify, that we are well acquainted 
 with George W. Jonson, Esq., the above affirmant, and that 
 he is an Attorney and Counsellor at Law, practising in this 
 city, and a gentleman of unblemished character. 
 
 LEWIS L. HODGES, 
 SAMUEL F. PRATT. 
 
 PATRICK SMITH, Alderman 1st Ward" 
 Dated Buffalo, N. Y. Aug. 31, 1844. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EMILY WEBB. 125 
 
 If Mr. Torrey met John Webb, and these five wandering 
 children in the night, some miles from the house of Bushrod 
 Taylor, and with rapid wheels and flying studs, drove them 
 on to a land of freedom, was he therefore a thief ? 
 
 We frankly confess he did this. The first night he met 
 them, the carriage broke down ; Webb and his children re 
 turned to their cabin, and Mr. Torrey procured help the next 
 day to repair his carriage, and the second night was success 
 ful. The Webb family are altogether, except the two sons 
 sold south a happy family, and with some hundreds be 
 sides, will ever bless the name of Mr. Torrey. 
 
 It is obvious that a very particular account of the manner 
 in which Mr. Torrey assisted slaves to escape, would embar 
 rass future adventurers in this laudable enterprise. Whether 
 any individual shall engage in this work, is a matter for him 
 to determine. In itself, it is always good. Mr. Torrey had 
 great confidence that it would do much for the general cause 
 of emancipation. It certainly makes it quite hazardous to 
 hold slaves in the border States. 
 
 11* 
 
126 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT OF MR. TORRET. LETTERS 
 
 FROM BALTIMORE JAIL. LETTER TO A CONVENTION AT 
 
 SALEM. 
 
 For such acts of mercy as assisting the Webb family to 
 their liberty, Mr. Torrey was seized at Baltimore, tried, im 
 prisoned, and finally murdered by the State of Maryland. 
 He was arrested June 24, 1844. The following paragraph 
 is from the Boston Morning Chronicle : 
 
 " Mr. Torrey was first arrested on the complaint of one 
 Bushrod Taylor, of Winchester, Va., who swore point blank, 
 that Mr. T. had helped sundry slaves of his to escape from 
 the State of Virginia. He afterwards admitted that he never 
 saw Mr. Torrey, or knew any harm of him ; but he believed 
 all sort of evil [good] of him. Another man swore that on 
 December 9th, 1843, a man came to a hotel in Winchester, 
 and entered his name as C. Turner, staid a day and a half, 
 and then left. That he neither saw or knew any evil of him. 
 Taylor swore that he complained to the grand jury himself; 
 and that he meant to get the C. Turner indicted. 
 
 " This is all the evidence on which Mr. T. was arrested 
 and imprisoned, to await the demand of the governor of Vir 
 ginia. Gov. McDonnell, without inquiry, gave the requisi 
 tion, and made Taylor the bearer of it." 
 
 As soon as Mr. Torrey was arrested on this requisition, 
 Wm. Heckroth brought a suit against him for " aiding, enti 
 cing, or assisting" certain slaves to escape from Maryland. 
 This latter suit took the precedence of the former, and Mr. 
 Torrey was kept in jail to await his trial in Maryland. Of 
 his condition there, his own letters give the best account. 
 
ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT. 127 
 
 Letter to Rev. Wm. Torrey, Holley, N. Y. 
 
 " Baltimore Jail, , . 
 
 " My Dear Uncle, Your welcome letter of the 9th ult., 
 reached me yesterday. I should have answered it before, 
 had not the necessary writing in relation to my defence, oc 
 cupied all the time I have been able to write. * * * 
 I am confined in a room with the worst class of prisoners ; 
 one murderer, one counterfeiter, one receiver of stolen goods, 
 and others charged with the most infamous crimes. For a 
 week or two, vermin, of all sorts abounded ; lice, roaches, 
 bed-bugs by thousands, fleas, weasels, red-ants, and moths. 
 However, in time, by patient effort, we have got quite rid of 
 them. I have now a bedstead, mattress, and a supply of 
 good food. I trust I shall not hereafter suffer any thing, but 
 the irreparable evils of imprisonment. I have very little de 
 sire to become a martyr. How I should act in prospect of 
 being called to swell that glorious host, I don t know. Did 
 you ever hear of a Torrey that suffered martyrdom ? I hope 
 among our good old Puritan ancestors there were some who 
 had the martyr spirit. ******* L e t < the 
 heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing. The 
 Lord liveth / * * * * Your affectionate nephew, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 In a letter to Gerritt Smith, Esq., he says : " The prison 
 rules exclude newspapers, while cards and gambling are daily 
 tolerated. No Bibles are placed in, or found about the prison ; 
 probably on account of the incendiary character of such books." 
 
 Extracts from Letters to his Wife. 
 
 "Baltimore Jail, July 9, 1844. 
 
 " My Dear Wife, * * * * Sometimes I am very 
 much depressed, and reckless of the result. At others, I feel 
 more cheerful, and willing to receive from God, the punish- 
 
128 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 ment of ray sins, in this, or any other form that may seem 
 best to him. If I am to suffer, it is a great consolation to 
 know, that it will not be in vain ; that Providence will use 
 even my sufferings to overthrow, more speedily, the accursed 
 system that enslaves and degrades so many millions of the 
 poor of our land. So in that I do, and I will rejoice. Shall 
 a man be put into the Penitentiary for doing good ? for doing 
 his plain duty to the poor and oppressed ? That is the real 
 question at issue, and it is one which will shake down the 
 whole edifice of Slavery, even if there were no other issue. 
 It should have been raised in the case of Thomson, Burr, 
 and Work, those three devoted Christian brethren, who are 
 now in prison, in Missouri, on the same charge ; but whose 
 case have attracted very little attention from the friends of 
 humanity. I have often lamented it, as a great wrong to 
 those excellent men, and to the cause itself." 
 
 " Baltimore Jail, , . 
 
 " My Dear Wife, I am still in the room with the same 
 class of men I before mentioned to you. I thought it easier, 
 on the whole, to forbear asking for better accommodations. 
 And even while, for two or three days, my health has really 
 required it, I have deemed it best to let things remain as they 
 were. 
 
 " I hope I have been of some use to my fellow-prisoners, 
 most of whom suffer justly, and will yet suffer for the crimes 
 they have committed. They are generally persons whose 
 moral education was wholly neglected, and who are very tho 
 roughly corrupted. Their habitual conversation is loathsome 
 to a degree of which you have never had an opportunity to 
 form an idea." 
 
 After the arrival of Rev. Mr. Phelps, who visited Balti 
 more for the purpose of doing something to ameliorate Mr. 
 Torrey s condition, he writes : 
 
LETTERS FROM BALTIMORE JAIL. 129 
 
 " My prison accommodations are much improved. By pa 
 tient effort we have got one room entirely clean, and a selec 
 tion of the better class of prisoners for room-mates. For a 
 wonder, I am confined with two honest men, to one rogue 
 and one doubtful. 
 
 " Yesterday was a strange day for old Baltimore jail. No 
 Christian minister has visited it since I was imprisoned. So 
 yesterday morning I made a temperance address to a few of 
 the prisoners. In the afternoon I preached to nearly all the 
 prisoners, with the keepers and their families, who asked leave 
 to come in. So I had quite a little congregation. It is prob 
 ably the first time that a prisoner ever preached the gospel to 
 prisoners in this jail, or perhaps in any other in our own 
 country. I hope it will not be quite in vain. At any rate, 
 it gave us one very quiet and pleasant Sabbath ; a day de 
 voted, in part, to something better than gambling and swear 
 ing." 
 
 This preaching would have been continued, had not Mr. 
 Torrey been subsequently forbidden by the keeper. 
 
 From a letter to Dr. Gregory, of Sand Lake, N. Y., we 
 extract the following : 
 
 " I shall feel more for poor prisoners, to the latest day of 
 my life. A few days ago, I took up the cause of a poor col 
 ored lad, fifteen years old, born free, but seized as a slave by 
 a man, who has been a savage tyrant over him, till at last he 
 undertook to sell the child to a trader. The boy ran off, was 
 caught, and put in prison. A few days ago, he was cruelly 
 beaten, knocked down, and stamped upon, by the tyrant, be 
 cause he refused to be sold ! I hope to free him. Oh ! the 
 colored poor man is indeed helpless in these slave countries. 
 The maxim, * Kick him, Dick, he s no friends, is the em 
 bodiment of all their laws, and of their practice under them." 
 
 To Mrs. Esther Moore, of Philadelphia, he writes : 
 
130 MEMOIR OF TORRE T. 
 
 " I have seen much, very much, of the oppression of the 
 poor, both white and colored, since I have been a prisoner. 
 I have seen thorough-paced knaves liberated, and innocent 
 men, because poor or simple-hearted, subjected to imprison 
 ment and loss of property. 
 
 "I do not wonder that persons, who look only at such 
 abuses of law and justice, learn to consider alb human gov 
 ernments as valueless, or worse, The old, but now illegal 
 practice of imprisoning men of color who were free, and then 
 selling them for their jail fees, I think I have broken up in 
 this jail, since I was imprisoned, though I have incurred not 
 a little of the wrath of the lower classes of slaveholders, slave- 
 traders, and their abettors, by so doing. 
 
 " There are opportunities constantly occurring, for doing 
 good in this State, in relation to the slaves. It only needs 
 some one as vigilant as Elisha Tyson. As for the present 
 race of Quakers here, Heaven have mercy on their coats and 
 jackets ! They are afraid even to visit me in prison ; afraid 
 of the least odium in the defence of principles, which they 
 privately profess to glory in, as the best feature of their sect. 
 In some parts of the State, I have met with individuals who 
 had a better, and a bolder spirit. Nothing will stir these Ma 
 ryland anti-slavery men, but some persecution ; something 
 which shall drive them to the wall. Then they will fight, and 
 that successfully. * * * CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 The convention contemplated in the following noble letter, 
 was not held ; but that does not diminish its merits, nor the 
 interest with which it will be read. 
 
 LETTER TO THE ESSEX COUNTY ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 " To the President of the Liberty Convention, Salem, Mass., to meet Aug. 1 , 1 844. 
 
 " Dear Sir, I trust it will not be deemed an intrusion, or 
 an act of presumption, for a poor prisoner, the daily cornpan- 
 
LETTERS FROM BALTIMORE JAIL. 131 
 
 ion of felons, to address you, and through you an assembly 
 composed, 1 presume, chiefly of my personal acquaintances 
 and friends, most of whom are old associates in labors mani 
 fold in behalf of the slave, and other objects of benevolence, 
 dear to the heart of the Christian and philanthropist. 
 
 " You are free ; I am in the common jail of the city of Bal 
 timore. Before you are gathered thronging thousands of up 
 right and Christian men, lovely and pure and self-denying 
 women, to know whom is honor, to be esteemed by whom is 
 happiness. My companions consist of about eighty men and 
 women ; a few of whom are unfortunate debtors, confined by 
 laws as senseless as they are brutal ; a few more, slaves, 
 confined for loving freedom too well ; a few more, free colored 
 persons, shut up in prison to compel them to prove their legal 
 title to be free ; but most of the whole number composed of 
 thieves, murderers, pickpockets, swindlers, men who have 
 brutally beaten their wives, while one or both were drunk, 
 rowdies and loafers from the street-fights, harlots and bawds 
 from the brothels, and a mixed multitude of other like crimi 
 nals ; few of whom have much in their characters, save their 
 guilt and poverty and ignorance, to excite the sympathy 
 which is very scantily accorded to most of them. A few are 
 found, even among such a herd, not wholly fallen from the 
 nobleness of the Deity, that His hand stamped on his chil 
 dren ; and a few men of education and character, one or two 
 of whom are victims of others frauds, are mingled with the 
 mass; just enough of light to make the blackness of such a 
 place of moral darkness more visible ! 
 
 " You are met to bless God for the boon of freedom on 
 800,000 slaves in 1838, and 12,000,000 more in 1843; to 
 note the progress of the great cause of universal liberty, and 
 to devise and execute plans to hasten the hour of its midday 
 brightness. 
 
 " I am a prisoner, charged with aiding a few some half 
 
132 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 dozen of the poor to escape out of the house of their 
 bondage. 
 
 "You are planning certain acts of justice and humanity to 
 many millions. 
 
 " I am in prison, charged with similar, though not pre 
 cisely the same, acts of justice and humanity to a few obscure 
 men and women, whose only crime was their poverty, whose 
 only fault was their helplessness under the power of the task 
 master. 
 
 " You live in a community where no human being can be 
 a slave ; where i jire and water are denied, both by law 
 and public opinion, to the pirate who shall attempt to seize 
 any human creature no matter where they came from with 
 a view to reduce him to slavery. 
 
 " I am in the prison of a city which is the scene of a daily 
 traffic in the persons of men, women and children, which is 
 as much more atrocious than the African slave-trade, as the 
 people are more enlightened than the savages of the dark 
 coasts of that wretched continent. There, a savage, mad 
 dened by liquor, sells to a white stranger, captives taken in 
 war from hostile tribes. Here, native citizens sell American 
 husbands, wives, sons and daughters, in cool blood, as a part 
 of the regular traffic of this Christian city. The traders in 
 souls ride in their carriages ; their families mingle in its so 
 cial circles, and own pews in its churches,* and are very 
 1 respectable men. 
 
 " You live in glorious old Massachusetts, the fountain of the 
 best literature, the choicest works of charity, the most en 
 larged plans and deeds of benevolence, the source whence free 
 principles and just laws emanate, the home and source, for 
 our whole country, of * whatsoever is lovely and of good 
 report. 
 
 * Hope H. Salter, the largest slave-dealer in this city, recently bought 
 a pew in the splendid new Methodist church in Charles street, much to 
 the annoyance of many of the worshippers. 
 
LETTERS FROM BALTIMORE JAIL. 133 
 
 " I am in a State where a few rich men, for many genera 
 tions, have trampled down the laboring classes ; made abject 
 slaves of one half (the colored), and kept the other half in a 
 condition of ignorance, poverty and povverlessness, very little 
 better than slavery. I never fairly comprehended what was 
 meant by the peasantry of European countries, till my tours 
 in the slave States called me to appreciate the condition of 
 the laboring whites of the slaveholding part of our land. Sla 
 very crushes down the free laborer, so that it is not strange 
 that the slaveholder talks in terms of contempt of northern 
 laborers. He very naturally thinks them like their class in 
 the slave States. In this State, as in all other slave coun 
 tries, industry is comparatively unproductive ; half the people 
 being little better than paupers, with few motives to become 
 otherwise. The education of multitudes must be neglected, 
 because that of slaves must be prevented. Religion must fail 
 to secure a pure morality, because it cannot be allowed to in 
 terfere with slavery. Literature must languish between the 
 ignorance of the laborer and the imbecility and indifference 
 of the mass of idle masters. 
 
 " The fields, the fences, the houses of the farmers, their 
 barns, their modes of cultivation, their domestic economy, al 
 most the very air you breathe, reminds you at every step, 
 that thus is slaveholding, degraded Maryland ; not glorious, 
 free MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 "While I ask, with respectful confidence, the sympathy 
 and aid of my old friends and fellow-laborers, who are free, 
 for one who is a prisoner in the cause they love, I ask them, 
 as the sons and daughters of free Massachusetts, to feel still 
 more deeply for the SLAVES OF MARYLAND, the daily vic 
 tims of the American slave trade, the most horrible traffic that 
 the sun ever blushed to look upon ; for the millions in our 
 land whose fate is far worse than that of the prisoners in that 
 penitentiary to which the slaveholding portion would consign 
 me for pitying their victims. 
 12 
 
134 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 " I have an object in addressing you, at this time, higher 
 than that of asking your sympathies, or calling you to contrast 
 your blessed inheritance with the woes of the slave. It re 
 lates to one of the means to be employed for the overthrow of 
 slavery. 
 
 " It is my full, deliberate conviction, that it is the Liberty 
 party, or in other words, the wise employment of our politi 
 cal power, that is destined to put an end to slavery. The va 
 rious religious bodies composing * the church, are too much 
 corrupted by slavery, to be the leading agent in its overthrow. 
 But the thousand influences that link men to a political body, 
 can be employed for the destruction of that which our cor 
 rupt religion cannot cope with. And I have ample reason to 
 know that our political organization is doing more than all 
 other causes to effect the great object. Still, it has ever been 
 a maxim with me that no lawful means to crush slavery 
 should be left untried. We have heads, hearts, hands, and 
 money enough to use them all with their greatest power. 
 
 " The employment of judicial power for this end we have 
 overlooked too much. We have too readily taken it for 
 granted that our courts of law were slavish ; forgetting that 
 they are more readily reached by reforming agencies, in our 
 land, from the very nature of our institutions, and from the 
 universal recognition of the authority of the COMMON LAW, 
 than any other body of men, or any professional caste. 
 
 " Accordingly, we have taken up only such cases as Provi 
 dence has forced upon us, e. g. the Med and Amistad 
 cases. In these, and in various subordinate instances, great 
 good has been effected. And, without any exception worth 
 naming, every case carried by the abolitionists into the State 
 or federal courts, has been ultimately decided in favor of free 
 dom ! 
 
 " Providence now places before the anti-slavery body three 
 cases, each involving distinct and momentous questions, each 
 to come before the Supreme Court of the United States next 
 
LETTERS FROM BALTIMORE JAIL. 135 
 
 winter ; each of which carries death to slavery written all 
 over it; and which, if rightly used, will more than accomplish 
 the work of its universal overthrow. They are as follows: 
 
 " 1 st. The VAN ZANDT case, on appeal from the U. S. Cir 
 cuit Court of Ohio. This will test three very important points : 
 1. Whether Congress has power, at all, to legislate for the 
 recovery of fugitives from slavery. 2. Whether the particu 
 lar law of 1793 is constitutional ; and 3. Whether, in any event, 
 slaves escaping from or to the new States can be recovered, 
 under the constitution. That this will overthrow the law of 
 1793, few lawyers can entertain a doubt. 
 
 " 2d. The BUSH case, now before the local court in Wash 
 ington city. If Bush is not acquitted, on his new trial in Oc 
 tober, it will be carried to the Supreme Court, to test the con 
 stitutionality of slavery in the District of Columbia. Slavery 
 exists there only by an act of Congress ; an act that body had 
 no more business to pass than they have to establish slavery 
 in old Essex county. If Bush is acquitted, a made-up case 
 will be ready at any time, to test the same great issue. No 
 competent lawyer can doubt the issue. It will establish FREE 
 DOM IN THE NATION S CAPITAL. 
 
 " 3d. My OWN CASE. This presents several new, and, in 
 some aspects, f \r more important issues. I am charged with 
 aiding a family (a father and five little children !) out of bond 
 age in Virginia. The governor, McDowell, granted a requi 
 sition for my delivery for trial, in that case. On this I was 
 arrested. The case goes before the Supreme Court on seve 
 ral issues : 1. Is a mere requisition enough to warrant the 
 surrender of a man charged with crime, without the produc 
 tion of the evidence to prove its commission, and that it was 
 done by the person accused ! 2. Is it a felony or other crime, 
 in the meaning of the constitution, to aid a slave to escape? 
 No law can make it a crime for a slave to escape ; it cannot 
 be a crime to help another do what is not a crime for him. to 
 do himself. The constitution, therefore, gives no warrant 
 
136 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 for the surrender of a man charged in one State with helping 
 a slave to escape from another State. If so, Congress can 
 make no laws to aid the recapture of fugitives, or making it 
 an offence for citizens to aid them. States cannot make it a 
 CRIME, and enforce its penalties upon citizens of other States. 
 
 " That these points will be so decided, I have little ques 
 tion. The Supreme Court has virtually decided all these 
 points, in other cases ; cases gotten up by the slave States 
 themselves. 
 
 " In this, as well as in the other case, where I am charged 
 with aiding a mother with her son and daughter to flee from 
 this city, another and broader general issue will be taken, 
 both before the State and United States courts. It is this : 
 3. That by the laws of God and nature, by the common law, 
 by the Constitutions of the United States, of Maryland, and 
 of Virginia even, it is no crime for a slave to escape if he can, 
 and therefore it can be no crime to help him. The local stat 
 ute laws, consequently, which undertake to convert acts of hu 
 manity and mercy into felonies are null and void, not less so 
 in law, than in morality. 
 
 " The State of Maryland, that voted its thanks and swords 
 of honor to those who rescued a few of our countrymen from 
 slavery in Tripoli, CANNOT, by any statute law, make it a 
 crime to help her own native citizens out of slavery on her own 
 soil. The thing is absurd. Courts of equity cannot main 
 tain it. Constitutional judges must laugh such a monstrous 
 folly out of court. 
 
 " Now, these points properly decided, slavery cannot be 
 maintained an hour in any of the border States; and wherever 
 the border is, unless you make it a wall of fire, the result must 
 be the same. It takes from the master all means of keeping 
 his victims but force. Slaveholders, as a class, are too effemi 
 nate and cowardly to holdori to their victims when that is the 
 case, even if their numbers were not too small. 
 
 " And the very agitation of these mighty issues, in courts 
 
LETTERS FROM BALTIMORE JAIL. 137 
 
 held in the bosom of the slave States, will topple down the 
 whole crazy fabric of slavery. Two, if not three years must 
 elapse before the final issue. The press will be unchained. 
 The editors, generally, in the central States, are anti-slavery 
 men. Nearly all in this city are so. Their presses are muz 
 zled by the constant dictation of the overseers. They hate 
 their thraldom, and long to break it. Quietly I find them, 
 not without design, in most cases, filling their columns more 
 and more with foreign and domestic anti-slavery news, sta 
 tistics, anecdotes and arguments. As with the press, so with 
 the oppressed majority of the white people of the South. 
 Just in proportion to the intelligence of the non-slaveholding 
 class, is their longing desire for a day of reckoning with their 
 political and social taskmasters, the slaveholding minority. 
 These great legal issues, thoroughly urged, by able counsel, 
 will break the ice, unlock the lips, and loose the tongues of all 
 this vast multitude. They will contribute, too, to free from 
 thraldom, the entire legal profession, and to bring out their 
 mighty energies on the side of sound principles. 
 
 " When I ask your aid, therefore, it is not merely as a mat 
 ter of personal sympathy. Words, indeed, are not adequate 
 to express how grateful I feel for the prompt liberality of my 
 friends in Boston, Salem, Lynn, Newburyport, Amesbury, 
 and other places in my native State. But, sir, this is only 
 one of the various modes in which we have always meant to 
 carry out our views. Some of you, perhaps, will remember 
 that Wendell Phillips and myself devoted an entire day, in 
 1838, in the court-house in Ipswich, to the discussion, chiefly, 
 of the very issues now to be tried ; little dreaming, at that 
 time, that they would ever be tested in a case involving my 
 own liberty. 
 
 " But God orders all things well. 
 
 u Let Maryland, let Virginia consign me to their peniten 
 tiaries, if they will, if they can, if they dare to do it, in the 
 face of God and before the civilized world. To Him, to them, 
 12* 
 
138 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 I make my appeal. And who can doubt that the voice of 
 Providence, and the shout of the civilized world, will unite 
 in condemning and branding with INFAMY a State, professing 
 to be Christian and republican, that ranks compassion to the 
 poor, and succor to the oppressed, among crimes and felonies ? 
 Let them, if they will, convict and sentence me to the peni 
 tentiary, as a felon. And then let their citizens show their 
 faces in civilized Europe, to say nothing of our own free 
 States, half redeemed from their servility to slavery. 
 
 " To you, my old friends, neighbors and fellow-citizens, I 
 can appeal with honest pride, to testify that there is nothing 
 in my character to justify their deed. I appeal to all who 
 have known me, from my youth up. No Judge O Neill can 
 slander me, as he has poor Brown, not only in that parody on 
 all piety, his judicial sentence, but in a recent letter to the 
 British public, through the Glasgow Argus; and endeavor to 
 lessen the infamy of making it a crime to help men out of 
 slavery, by showing that the personal character of the man 
 in other respects entitles him to no one s sympathy. No, 
 THANK GOD, Maryland and Virginia must go to trial before 
 the tribunal of mankind, on this broad issue : Will you, in 
 order to maintain slavery, (which lives in your States only 
 by the annual sales of the increase of its victims in the South 
 ern shambles,) will you condemn a man of blameless life, and 
 unspotted Christian character, to your prisons as a common 
 felon T I ask you, my old friends and fellow-citizens, to help 
 me to hold them to this issue. I know the consequences, to 
 myself, in the first instance, may be prisons and personal suf 
 fering. It is not what my heart and spirit desire, to be thus 
 torn from my wife and children. 1 came to Baltimore to re 
 side ; had completed my arrangements to engage in business 
 and remove my family hither, when 1 was arrested. Now, I 
 am made, in a manner I never dreamed of, the battle-ground 
 between slavery and freedom. A battle-field is commonly 
 torn up by the violence of the conflict. But let the strife go on! 
 
LETTERS FROM BALTIMORE JAIL. 139 
 
 whether it be over my prison or over ray grave. There can 
 be but one result, one Victor, one triumph. GOD decided that, 
 when he made man in his own image. And the day that shall 
 proclaim liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants 
 thereof, is not, cannot be, far off. I shall live to see it, and 
 shout over it, Blessed be GOD, who hath given us the vic 
 tory ! 
 
 " When the mob imprisoned me, for no crime, at Annapo 
 lis, in 1842, I invited many of the prominent citizens of this 
 State to meet me there, round that old jail, in January, 1852, 
 to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Maryland. I now 
 extend the invitation to you ; with only one correction. If 
 you and all who now labor for the slave are faithful, (as I do 
 not doubt you will be,) I must name an earlier day, and a 
 larger place. Perhaps the area round WASHINGTON S 
 MONUMENT, in the city of Baltimore, will be a better place. 
 It is his monument who declared, almost with his dying 
 breath, that so far as his suffrage could go to abolish sla 
 very, it should never be wanting. Meet me around 
 Washington s monument, on the 4th of July, 1848, to cele 
 brate the peaceful triumph of liberty in Maryland! And 
 may God bless and keep us all to see that happy day. 
 Your friend and prisoner for the slave, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY. 
 
 Baltimore Jail, July 29, 1844. 
 
 The following letter speaks for itself. If any one reads it, 
 to whom it does not speak, nothing can move such an one. 
 The introductory remarks are by the editor of the Emanci 
 pator : 
 
 MR. TORREY S LETTER TO MARYLAND. 
 " The following letter of Charles T. Torrey, to the people 
 of Maryland, was published (as an advertisement) in the 
 Baltimore Sun, of August 30 the paper having the largest 
 
140 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 circulation in that city. Considering the position of Mr. Tor 
 rey, as a prisoner in a slaveholding State, about to be tried 
 for the alleged crime (in the estimation of slaveholders the 
 highest crime that can be committed) of inveigling away 
 slaves, and then looking at the spirit, the comprehensive 
 views, the manly and unsubduable maintenance of RIGHT, 
 the preparation for all that may come, and the solemn sum 
 mons by this prisoner, of two sovereign States, to trial before 
 the tribunal of the world it is one of the most extraordinary 
 documents of the year 1844. It will be read with the most 
 intense interest in Europe ; it will be read in the year 1894, 
 all over America ; it is a part of the history and prominent 
 mark of the progress of the abolition cause. 
 
 " In the beginning of the year 1842, a grand convention of 
 slaveholders was held at Annapolis, for the purpose of over 
 awing the legislature of Maryland, and compelling them to 
 adopt extraordinary measures for the security of the slave 
 interest. The presence of Torrey, as a reporter, threw the 
 convention into a convulsive excitement ; Torrey was sent to 
 jail and subjected to an examination, the result of which left 
 the convention the object of simple contempt. In thirty 
 months from that time, we find the same Torrey boldly ap 
 pealing to the people of Maryland itself, to protect him from 
 injustice, as the only means of saving themselves from general 
 execration. 
 
 " We recollect hearing an old Virginian say, that he con 
 sidered the result of the Annapolis convention as the turning 
 point of the destiny of slavery. He said that it was the first 
 attempt of the slaveocracy to take a stand and turn back the 
 tide of abolition ; and if they had succeeded they would have 
 given us much trouble. But as they failed, their failure there 
 was the index of destiny, and they would continue to fail un 
 til slavery itself is abolished." Morning Chronicle. 
 
 " To THE PUBLIC. The undersigned, a prisoner in the 
 
LETTER TO MARYLAND. 141 
 
 city jail, in Baltimore, asks your attention to the following 
 statements : If I was as widely known to the good people of 
 this State as I am to the citizens of New England, New York, 
 and several of the western States, it would be of very little 
 importance to me that a class of persons, such as traders in 
 slaves, professional fugitive hunters, and subordinate officials, 
 with a few slaveholders of the violent and fanatical class, 
 should employ the venom of tongues reckless of truth, to as 
 sail my character, and endeavor to make Christian men deem 
 me a fit associate for felons, or men of their own grade of so 
 ciety. But to all, save a few college classmates, and a few 
 others whose acquaintance I have, in most cases recently 
 formed, I am a stranger. I am imprisoned on charges that 
 render me obnoxious to the displeasure of that class of the 
 people not very numerous, it is true who deem their in 
 terests involved in the perpetuation of slavery and the 
 slave trade. 
 
 "Let me be distinctly understood Ida not ask for any 
 man s sympathy. Did I desire it, a statement of the real facts 
 respecting the charges against me, and the recklessness of 
 my prosecutors, would secure it. But my demand is not for 
 the sympathy due to even the most obscure and guilty of our 
 race, but for JUSTICE. The verdicts of the courts of law and 
 equity, some of which, in my case, will not be given, in all 
 likelihood, before February, 1846, will, if they are what I 
 confidently expect, render me but tardy justice. Meanwhile, 
 I have an appeal to make, to the men of intelligence of all 
 parties, who are for the GOOD NAME and the PROSPERITY of 
 Maryland, and of our whole country. 
 
 " First, I have to state a few facts relative to my personal 
 history. I do this with reluctance, and solely because certain 
 persons, to whom allusion has already been made, have em 
 ployed base means to convey an impression to the religious 
 public, far different from truth. 
 
 " It is not, then, a matter of boasting, but of simple jus- 
 
142 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 tice for me to state, that my family, education, station, em 
 ployments, and character, have ever placed me in the highest 
 and purest class of society. Deprived of both parents before 
 I was four years of age, I was educated by my mother s father, 
 the late Hon. Charles Turner, of Scituate, Plymouth county, 
 Mass., who will be remembered by the older politicians of this 
 State, as one of the few republican members of Congress, in 
 1812-14, who dared to hold fast their integrity, in the face of 
 a frowning constituency, and vote for a declaration of war. 
 From him a soldier under Washington when Boston was 
 occupied by the British I learned to hate slavery in all its 
 forms. To all who have known me in the thoughtless years 
 of childhood, or when a student in Phillips (Exeter, N. H.) 
 Academy ; a classmate in Yale College, with a Robbins, a 
 Kerr, a McClellan, and others from this State ; a member of 
 Andover Seminary ; a pastor of churches in Providence, R. 
 I., and Salem, Mass. ; agent of benevolent societies ; a con 
 tributor to, or editor of public papers ; or any walk of life, 
 in public or private ; to the tens of thousands in all the States 
 named, in all classes of society, and to all with whom a brief 
 residence in the South has introduced me, I confidently ap 
 peal. Let them say that I am chargeable with one act that is 
 unbecoming the character of an educated Christian gentle 
 man ; one act that shall ever cause my children to honor 
 their father less than nature and affection would bid them. I 
 make this appeal, with a distinct remembrance of the past, 
 that during the last seven years in public life, I have often 
 come in collision with the views, the prejudices, the angry 
 passions of religious and political partizaus of almost every 
 class ; and, at times, have been assailed, and assailed others, 
 with a temper that even the excitement of partizanship poorly 
 
 justifies. But I AM WILLING TO BE JUDGED BY MY ENE 
 MIES, so far as they themselves belong to the reputable por 
 tion of society slave traders and their abettors do not. In 
 THIS State the first effort was made to stamp ignominy on an 
 
LETTER TO MARYLAND. 143 
 
 unsullied name. In January, 1842, by the advice and at 
 the request of several gentlemen among the most prominent 
 whig and democratic members of Congress, I attended a pub 
 lic convention open to all the world in the city of Annapo 
 lis, called to perpetuate the curse and crime of slavery in 
 this State. I was an entire stranger in Maryland, having 
 previously spent but eleven hours in it, seven of which were 
 employed in passing through it. By the malicious acts of 
 certain members of the gambling fraternity, whom I had of 
 fended by exposing their characters, a lawless and drunken 
 mob was excited against me, and I was thrust into jail. No 
 complaint was made, no oath taken, no violation of law, actual 
 or possible, was ever hinted at, to excuse such a violation of 
 the laws, constitution, and hospitality of the State. In all 
 the week of subsequent investigation, not a shadow of a pre 
 text for my detention appeared ; yet certain underlings of the 
 press, from that hour, have sought to connect my name with 
 epithets belonging to the class of felons who figure in the 
 loathsome police reports. The wrong done me by the citi 
 zens and authorities of Maryland at that time, remains unre- 
 dressed ; how much to their and her honor, the world will 
 judge. 
 
 " Four months since, I came to this city, to make it my per 
 manent residence. Within a week from my coming, a noted 
 slave trader commenced that series of machinations that re 
 sulted in my arrest. Whether that arrest, in its results, will 
 bring honor or shame to the individuals and States who are 
 made parties to it, of one thing I am sure ; it will never de 
 stroy my good name, in the eyes of any considerable portion 
 of the Christian and honorable part of mankind. This leads 
 me to my second object. 
 
 " 2. I wish, while I would carefully avoid any statement that 
 can be deemed a prejudgment of the issues to be tendered to 
 the courts of law and justice, to have the public understand 
 the nature of these issues. 
 
144 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 " I am charged with aiding a man, a native of Mary 
 land, sold into Virginia, to escape from slavery in the latter 
 Slate. The governor of Virginia, in the common course 
 of law, demands my delivery for trial there, as a * fugitive 
 from justice. My open residence in Baltimore, with a rail 
 road to Winchester, whence I am charged with aiding this 
 man to flee, looks very much like flight ! to be sure. I am 
 also charged with aiding two women and a boy to escape from 
 an obscure person in this city. It is said that I have been 
 humane enough to help these persons to escape to some free 
 State. To do such acts of kindness to the penniless slave, I 
 am told, has been by statute made a penal offence, in these 
 two States. Whether the facts are truly charged or not, is 
 of very little moment to any but the poor people themselves. 
 If they are free, there is room for twice four more free labo 
 rers, south of Mason and Dixon s line. To myself, while I 
 am neither a martyr nor a stoic, to pretend to be insensible to 
 the evils of a separation from my family, from society, from 
 all opportunities of gaining knowledge and of benefiting so 
 ciety, by an imprisonment with the felons of your penitentia 
 ries, yet I say, without hesitation, I had rather be the prisoner, 
 than the judge who may sentence me. 
 
 " What are the legal issues? 1. One is not peculiar to my 
 case. It is, whether a mere requisition from the authorities 
 of another State, unsupported by evidence of the commission 
 of any crime, or of the identity of the person, shall be deemed 
 sufficient warranty to drag a man from his home, his family, 
 his friends, into a foreign jurisdiction, to be tried by strangers ? 
 If so, we have gained little by the revolution of 1776. 
 2. The second issue is, is it felony or other crime, within 
 the meaning of the constitution of the United States, to aid a 
 slave to escape to a free State ? The local laws of one half 
 of even the SLAVE States do not make it so. 3. Has SLA 
 VERY any constitutional or legal existence in Maryland or 
 Virginia ? or does it exist by mere sufferance : the subject of 
 
LETTER TO MARYLAND. 145 
 
 restriction and regulation, as gambling is in Hamburg, and was 
 in New Orleans at a very recent period ? 4. Is it a crime 
 at all, by the law of God, by the common law, or the consti 
 tutions of Maryland and Virginia, to help a man out of sla 
 very? If not, can a mere local statute law make it so? Can 
 laws make acts of humanity and mercy to the helpless and poor 
 become crimes by the words written on a parchment, and 
 signed by officials ? Can Maryland, who voted public thanks 
 and swords of honor to those who delivered a few of our 
 countrymen from slavery in Tripoli, make it a crime to help 
 her native born citizens to escape from slavery on her own soil f 
 Do the waves of the Atlantic change the nature of justice, 
 mercy, humanity, and make them crimes and felonies ? 
 
 " Here, then, are the issues, not stated with legal form and 
 precision, as my learned counsel may do before the proper 
 tribunal, but plainly ; the issues on which THE STATES 
 OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA WILL GO TO 
 TRIAL BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF MANKIND. 
 " The issue is not whether I have or have not aided four 
 or four thousand slaves to escape from slavery in Maryland 
 or elsewhere. Had I done the last, Maryland, with her popu 
 lation kept sparse, her resources diminished, and her proud 
 name dishonored by slavery, should hold me a public bene 
 factor. But, not without mature deliberation I aver it, I AM 
 NOT ON TRIAL. I shall not be, in the eyes of mankind. 
 This thing cannot be, shall not be, done in a corner. It is 
 no obscure fanatic, reckless of right and duty, with whom the 
 question is brought to an issue. No Judge O Neill can slan 
 der me as he has poor Brown, not only in that parody on pi 
 ety, his judicial sentence, but in a recent letter to the British 
 public, through the Glasgow Argus ; and endeavor to lessen 
 the infamy of making it a crime to help men out of slavery, 
 by showing that the personal character of the man, in other 
 respects, is such as justly to deprive him of every one s sym 
 pathy. No, THANK GOD ! Maryland and Virginia must go 
 13 
 
146 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 to trial before the tribunal of the civilized world on this broad 
 issue : Will you in order to maintain slavery (which lives in 
 your impoverished States only by the annual sales of its in 
 crease in the southern shambles,) will you condemn a man of 
 Nameless life and unspotted Christian character to your pris 
 ons as a common felon ? 
 
 " When the foreign secretary of State of Great Britain, 
 Lord Aberdeen, from his place in Parliament, seconded Lord 
 Brougham in proclaiming the infamy of Brown s judges, he 
 uttered no mere British philipic against anything American ; 
 he spoke the sentiments of all the enlightened part of man 
 kind, save a narrow and daily decreasing circle in our own 
 slave States, in respect to the system of slavery, and in re 
 gard to all who attempt to make it a crime to relieve its vic 
 tims. Already, scores of public meetings in the free States, 
 numbering from one to eight thousand persons each, have 
 spoken of my imprisonment in terms like the following. 
 These resolves were passed at a 4th of July celebration, on 
 Mount Pleasant, the spot fortified by the Americans after the 
 battle of Bunker Hill, by the fathers of many of those present, 
 to my personal knowledge. About two thousand persons 
 were present. 
 
 Resolved, That we have heard, with mingled feelings of 
 indignation and sorrow, of the arrest and imprisonment in 
 Maryland, of a citizen of Massachusetts, Rev. Charles T. Tor- 
 rey, through a requisition of the executive of Virginia, charg 
 ing him with having carried out in practice the doctrine of the 
 Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, 
 and endowed by their Creator with an inalienable right to 
 liberty, and with literally obeying the injunction of holy writ : 
 
 " HlDE THE OUTCAST, AND BETRAY NOT HIM THAT WAN- 
 DERETH ! 
 
 1 Resolved, That as citizens of a State whose bill of rights 
 recognizes no slave in the universe of God, assembled upon 
 the grass-grown remains of one of the first entrenchments 
 
LETTER TO MARYLAND. 147 
 
 thrown up by the men of 1775, within view of the first battle 
 fields of the revolution, and of the old cradle of liberty, on the 
 anniversary of the declaration of independence, we protest 
 in the name of that declaration against this denial of its truths 
 and violation of its principles, on the part of the authorities 
 of Virginia and Maryland, in the case of our fellow-citizen, 
 Mr. Torrey ; and we call upon all who love liberty and hate 
 oppression, to unite with us in indignant reprobation of a sys 
 tem which can only exist by making humanity a crime a 
 practical belief in the doctrines of the revolution, felony and 
 obedience to the commands of God, a penitentiary offence ! 
 
 " Nor are the persons who express such views abolitionists 
 merely. Few men can be found in the entire North who 
 cherish, none who will avow any other sentiments, unless it is 
 to serve some base purpose of a partisan political nature. 
 
 " I may be tried, convicted of doing that which mankind 
 will pronounce a good and honorable deed, and sent to your 
 penitentiary ; the thoughtless crowd, the heated partisan, may 
 think lightly of it ; the fanatical, nullifying slaveholder, may 
 gloat over his fancied triumph ; but there are not wanting 
 men of higher calibre, and more intelligence, in this city and 
 State, who will know that the judge who consigns me to a 
 prison will not send me alone. The honor and good name of 
 the State will bear me company. How will it affect the value 
 of Maryland stocks in anti-slavery Europe, to find such a proof 
 of a fierce zeal to sustain that slavery which is the bane of your 
 prosperity ? What Christian minister, what Christian man, 
 from Maryland, can hold up his head in Europe, when asked : 
 So you send Christian ministers to a felon s prison in Ma 
 ryland, do you, for helping slaves escape from bondage ? 
 
 " Liberty may be taken from me ; my good name cannot, 
 until I have done something more to forfeit it, than acts which 
 nine-tenths of the civilized world deem to be the bare per 
 formance of the duties imposed on us by common humanity 
 and the Christian faith. 
 
148 MEMOIR OP TORREY. 
 
 " I said, I make no appeal to public sympathy. Let the 
 guilty do that ! I shall gi\ 7 e the eminent counsellors who 
 plead my cause in the courts, but one instruction ; it is, 
 that they make no admission, even by way of argument, that 
 it can be a crime to aid one of God s children, formed in his 
 image, to escape from slavery. The crime is, to make God s 
 child a slave ! 
 
 " If any who read this deem my language that of pride, I 
 have only to say that the world will judge. / am a man, 
 and lam right, and therefore speak boldly to those who are 
 my equals and no more. 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 Baltimore Jail, Aug. 29, 1844. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LETTER TO HIS WIFE. ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM JAIL. 
 
 More than two years had now worn themselves away, and 
 Mr. Torrey was goaded, by the suffering he endured within 
 the jail, and the slanders which were circulated without, to 
 attempt to deliver himself out of the hand of the oppressor. 
 The attempt was not successful, and he was kept heavily ironed 
 for the next eleven days. His condition during this period, and 
 the reasons for trying to escape, you have in his own words. 
 
 " Baltimore Jail, Sept. 14, 1844. 
 
 " My Dearest Wife, I am in much affliction. When I 
 wrote you last week, I was suffering with a fever, the ef 
 fects of long and close confinement, Yesterday I made an 
 attempt to escape, which was detected, or rather betrayed by 
 a counterfeiter named Dryer ; and myself and others put in 
 to the cells, in irons. The excitement, with a cold cell, and 
 
LETTERS TO HIS WIFE. 149 
 
 irons so heavy and painful as to prevent all sleep, have brought 
 on the fever again. I suppose I shall be so confined till Oc 
 tober, if I survive so long. I deemed it my duty to try once 
 to escape out of the hands of my enemies. But God knows 
 best, and has ordered it otherwise." 
 
 After giving some directions in regard to his children, if he 
 should be taken away, he proceeds : 
 
 " Do not feel concerned for me, my dear wife. In the 
 darkness and anguish of the last night, loaded with a chain 
 that prevented my sleeping, standing up, or lying down, I 
 was enabled to look up to our Saviour with cheerful confi 
 dence, knowing that his gracious hand will order all things 
 for our good ; and whether by suffering or otherwise, will help 
 me to come off more than conqueror, through him that loved 
 us. The chain that is riveted to my ankles will not hinder 
 our Lord from communing with me. I suffer for his sake, 
 and in his cause, and he will not forsake me. 
 
 " Thank God ! the good men who aided me, are more than 
 one hundred miles of, and far out of the reach of my perse 
 cutors. I will never allow others to suffer on my account, if 
 I can help it. The man, Dryer, who betrayed us, is a negro- 
 trader, and is in prison for passing counterfeit money. He 
 tried to get my confidence, professed to have become an abo 
 litionist, and encouraged us to escape ; all the while betray 
 ing our plans to the keepers. There is no trust to be put in 
 such wicked men. 
 
 " You need not fear that the abortive attempt will harm 
 me, except so far as present suffering is concerned. May 
 God bless and comfort you. Kiss both our dear children for 
 me. Tell them never to forget to pray for poor father. I 
 was much comforted a few days ago, by a letter from brother 
 B., of Cambridge, informing me how extensively I was re 
 membered in the prayers of Christians, in New York as well 
 13* 
 
150 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 as in New England, and even in Pennsylvania and Ohio. 
 God will hear them, however unworthy may be 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRE Y. 
 
 " Sabbath, Sept. 22, 1844. 
 
 "My Dearest Wife, It is the Sabbath; perhaps the last 
 one I shall be permitted to see this side of eternity. I wish 
 to see you once more, but I cannot bear to have you exposed 
 to the insults of the wicked, who are doing all they can to 
 sink me quickly down to the grave. I write in much pain of 
 body. This is the tenth day since I was chained in the cell. 
 
 " I have to write on the floor and at intervals. I am not 
 able to rise alone, from severe illness. My old disorder, 
 which so nearly killed me in 1835, has returned with all its 
 force. My heart throbs constantly and painfully, and my 
 head, and body, and limbs are never free from pain. The 
 last nine nights, I have slept in all, less than fifteen hours. I 
 have not been able to eat what would support an infant. 
 You may judge of the state of my body. In mind, I suffer 
 less, through divine grace supporting me. But I have new 
 sources of trial constantly. On Thursday afternoon, I made 
 my will. It was not completed till about dark. Just then, 
 my physician came in. He and Mr. Andrews, out of sym 
 pathy with a sick man, staid with me an hour longer. To 
 day, I am told, that Mr. Andrews is not to be allowed to see 
 me again ; nor the physician, without the presence of the 
 doctor of the prison. So my enemies rage. But I pray the 
 Xord not to forsake me in my extremity. 
 
 " Your last letter was a cordial to me. The story my per 
 secutors spread, that you had been poisoned by their false 
 hoods, utterly unmanned me. I am sorry my letter to you 
 was miscarried. But Miss M. R. Ball, brother Phelps, Capt. 
 Taylor, and Mr. Andrews will give you full information in 
 regard to all the means they have taken to destroy my cha- 
 
LETTER TO S. E. SEWALL. 151 
 
 racter, as well as to injure me in other respects. May God, 
 in his mercy, forgive them all their wickedness and malice. I 
 do not feel that I have long to live. I would, at least, die 
 free from prison and chains. But Christ, our Lord, knows 
 best ; and, poorly as I have served him, I trust he will not 
 forsake me, in the day of anguish. I believe he has blotted 
 out my sins. 
 
 " And now, my beloved wife, and my little Charles and 
 Mary, farewell. May the God of all compassion bless, 
 guide, comfort and protect you, in life and in death. I may 
 not be able to write you again ; but when we are near the 
 Lord, we shall, I hope, be near each other. * * * * 
 
 " I am, in sickness and health, living or dying, 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRE Y." 
 
 After his irons were removed, he addressed the following 
 letter to Samuel E. Sewall, of Boston : 
 
 " September 28, 1844. 
 
 "My Dear Friend, Your very kind letter, dated Sep 
 tember 14th, I received yesterday, and with it, enclosed, $5, 
 for which I thank you ; but feel much more indebted to you 
 for the sympathy and Christian feeling you express, than for 
 the money. 
 
 " For a fortnight past, my situation has been trying 
 enough, for one who is so little disposed to be a martyr as 
 myself. My lower limbs half paralyzed by a chain ; my 
 nervous system in such a state that I could sleep little, and 
 was not free from intense pain, chiefly in the heart and brain, 
 a single hour. So weak too, as to be unable to sit up, or 
 rise without assistance ; conscious that my mind was wander 
 ing strangely, breathing an atmosphere as foul as the vault of 
 a privy, with little human sympathy, and very little attention 
 save what a chained fellow-sufferer could give me. 
 
152 MEMOIR OF TORKET. 
 
 " With such causes of suffering, bodily and mental, I re 
 gard my continuance in life as a special token of divine good 
 ness ; and feel bound to acknowledge, with deep gratitude, 
 the grace of God in supporting my heart by His good Spirit. 
 My irons were removed on Tuesday ; my bedstead and clean 
 clothing restored in the course of the week ; and again I 
 have a tolerable supply of such things as a sick man needs. 
 I am somewhat better in health, though very feeble. Though 
 unable to sit up, and nearly deprived of sleep, the necessity 
 of exertion rouses some degree of mental elasticity. 
 
 " I must contest my right to be a free citizen of Maryland. 
 In so doing, Maryland will be free. Don t laugh at a poor 
 sick prisoner, for writing in such a strain. I am not quite 
 crazy to-night. Nay, I am sane enough to claim my epau 
 lettes with Col. Whittier, and I am sober enough to see and 
 believe that God is moving in the hearts of this people, to 
 bring about the day of Jubilee. 
 
 " My prison will be the last prison of Liberty in this 
 State. * * 
 
 C. T. TORREY." 
 
 The sufferings, to which Mr. Torrey makes allusion in this 
 and his preceding letters, were not all he was called to en 
 dure, during the eventful period subsequent to his attempt to 
 escape. The scorching remarks of many papers upon his 
 attempt to break jail, together with the " horror" expressed at 
 his unwillingness to " suffer wrong," for a time, blinded some 
 good men, and induced them to withdraw their sympathy 
 from him. As soon as Mr. Torrey s health would permit, 
 these considerations called forth from him the following 
 
 JUSTIFICATION OF HIS ATTEMPT TO BREAK JAIL. 
 
 " I have commonly acted on the maxim of the late venera 
 ble Dr. Emmons, viz. to do what I thought right, and leave 
 
ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM JAIL. 153 
 
 to others the business of justifying me or not, as they pleased. 
 But in this case, when I attempted to do what, in ordinary 
 cases, is a violation oFjust law. I feel bound to depart from my 
 usual course, and ask a hearing. 
 
 " First, As to the facts. I obtained from friends in an 
 other city, some saws and chisels with which to escape from 
 prison. No prisoner but myself knew where they were ob 
 tained, when they came, or who brought them. The persons 
 who brought them to me, in the jail, did not know what they 
 brought. To them I never spoke or wrote on the subject. I 
 had most of the tools many weeks, and all of them for a con 
 siderable time before any prisoner knew it. I never asked 
 any prisoner to unite with me in the effort to escape. Neither 
 the * vigilance of that faithful officer, Mr. John Hoey/ nor the 
 treachery of Dryer, nor anything else but my sickness, and 
 such a degree of physical debility as to hinder me from doing 
 my part of the labor and watching, prevented the entire suc 
 cess of my plan of escape. Sick, myself; betrayed by the 
 counterfeiter, Dryer, (who lived on the food I gave him out 
 of pity, and then basely betrayed me,) my attempt was de 
 feated. I made all the arrangements for the effort before I 
 had been a week in prison. The first arrangements being 
 defective, I made better ones at a later period. 
 
 " Secondly, Why make such an attempt at all ? How does 
 it consist with your duty to submit as a Christian to unde 
 served evils, for Christ s sake ? Can you justify yourself to 
 Him, as well as to society ? My answer shall be frank and 
 simple. One of my motives I cannot wholly approve, on 
 strict Christian principles. In all other respects, I think I 
 have a right to the sympathy and countenance of all honor 
 able and good men, in this matter. 
 
 " 1. When I was committed to jail, every single item of the 
 evidence implicatiny me, in the Heckrotte case, was false and 
 perjured; yet so carefully planned as to make it well nigh 
 impossible to prove it so, by second testimony. Each witness 
 
154 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 was very careful to have met me alone ! One man, however, 
 swore to having seen me f at my mother s house in Harford 
 county, Md., in 1831 or 32. My Massachusetts readers 
 will laugh at so gross a perjury. But the knave was very 
 anxious to identify me ! In the Winchester (Va.) case, 
 where there is not a particle of true evidence against me, a 
 false witness had been prepared to give direct testimony 
 against me there. Not doubting, from the known character, 
 threats and pay of my prosecutors, that such evidence, to any 
 needed extent, would be brought forward, I regarded the hope 
 of escaping it as vain ; at least, while I remained shut up in 
 prison. 2. From the time of my arrest, the whole clique of 
 slave traders, slave-catching police men, low slaveholders, 
 and their abettors, including one or two of the prison officers, 
 have made it their business to abuse and slander me and my 
 friends, with the general object of preventing the existence, 
 or at least the expression, of any personal or Christian sym 
 pathy for me. I have had { too many friends for their pur 
 poses, as they often complained. I found threats, persuasions 
 and falsehoods freely resorted to, to hinder respectable citi 
 zens of Baltimore from visiting me ; and with success. My 
 kind landlady and the young ladies of her family, almost daily 
 called on me, to give me a chance to breathe the fresh air, by 
 walking a few moments in the prison yard. They are poor ; 
 they are not anti-slavery people ; but have human hearts, 
 and are Virginians. They were very kind to one almost a 
 stranger. This was enough for malice to work upon. 
 
 " Suddenly the young ladies were excluded, with rude in 
 sults, from the jail yard. The reason assigned was, such 
 gross lewdness in the sight of half a score of persons, con 
 stantly passing, as would imply in me and the lady, a degree 
 of shameless degradation that not even rashness and drunk 
 enness would excuse in common street walkers ! Such a 
 point is not to be argued. Those who deem me capable of 
 such vice are very welcome to maintain their opinions till the 
 
ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM JAIL. 155 
 
 judgment day ! This shameless tale was trumpeted about the 
 city. Of course, I was the last person to hear of it. It did 
 me much injury in many worthy minds. But QGP" no person 
 who circulated it seemed to be sufficiently respectable to jus 
 tify a direct contradiction or action for slander. It was deemed 
 sufficient, therefore, to connect a general demand for investi 
 gation as to my character and standing, with some other mat 
 ters, in an article in the Baltimore Sun. This, for the time, 
 perfectly silenced the band of miscreants. But they had gone 
 too far to retreat. At this time, Mr. Deane Walker, formerly 
 a merchant in this city, but now a respectable citizen of Med- 
 way, where my family now are, came to Baltimore on busi 
 ness of his own. Hearing the flying and lying reports of these 
 persons, without saying a word to me, he appears to have 
 made some inquiries of them, as to what they alleged against 
 me. 
 
 " \^ =a> Forthwith they spread the story through the city, as 
 far as they could, that Mr. Torrey had long been separated 
 from his wife ; and she had sent on Mr. D. Walker to obtain 
 evidence to get a divorce from him. So one of them impu 
 dently told me. Mr. Walker had brought me a kind letter 
 from my wife ; and I knew her incapable of hypocrisy. One 
 of them met one of my counsel in the street, and told his story 
 in triumph. When the frequency of my correspondence 
 with Mrs. Torrey was suggested as inconsistent with his 
 tale, the wretch dared assail her good name. She can t 
 be his true wife, said the creature. How could I, a prisoner, 
 in the hands of such beings, tell how far their malice had 
 reached. Might they not have poisoned even the confidence 
 of my wife and her friends ? The very thought was mad 
 dening I confess that my feelings, in this matter, were not 
 very Christian. They were too much like indignant nature 
 to be very Christ-like. It was not till after my attempt to 
 escape, that I received from Mrs. Torrey a letter contradict 
 ing the whole of their atrocious falsehoods, so far as they had 
 
156 MEMOIE OF TORRE Y. 
 
 connected her and her friends with their tales. In this con 
 nection it should be said, that these persons have spared no 
 falsehood to destroy the good name of the family in which I 
 boarded. The busiest of these agents of shame are a noted 
 slave trader and two police men. Persons like these, who 
 hunt and sell the poor colored people, may be expected to 
 vilify poor white persons, when they have an end to secure. 
 
 " The time has not yet come for a full exposure of the mo 
 tives of these wretches ; but it is not far off. These slan 
 ders determined me to escape, if I could. 
 
 " Thirdly. Surrounded by low defamers, met by perjury 
 in the lower courts, I deemed my only chance of JUSTICE to 
 be an appeal to the UNITED STATES COURT. This was de 
 layed, first, by the refusal of the Maryland judge to take 
 bail, pending the Virginia requisition ; and, secondly, by the 
 refusal of the U. S. judges to grant a hearing in the Virginia 
 case, till the former was disposed of, by bail or otherwise ! I 
 endeavored to procure bail. Here, too, my vigilant enemies 
 interposed, by persuasions and threats, to prevent my obtain 
 ing bail. Several responsible men agreed to become my se 
 curity, and, in succession, were driven from it by the agency 
 of a certain lawyer, with whom justice has a long score to 
 settle, yet. 
 
 " Thus deprived of my only hope of a fair trial, my health 
 already broken down, and my brain fevered by protracted 
 and close imprisonment, deeming all the charges made against 
 me, criminal in those who made them ; I deemed an escape 
 from Baltimore jail justifiable, on the same principles on 
 which the escape of Paul was justified, when he was let 
 down from the wall in a basket. Let those who judge other 
 wise, give their reasons I will try to give them due weight. 
 But so long as I see SLAVERY to be a HEAVEN-DARING 
 CRIME, and all laws that maintain it, and all persons who en 
 force them, to be obnoxious to the divine displeasure, I am 
 afraid I shall not be convinced of my sin. 
 
ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM JAIL. 157 
 
 Fourthly. But the other prisoners : have you no scru 
 ples as to the escape of men guilty of what you and all men 
 justly deem crimes ? / have. 1. The case of Dryer, the 
 counterfeiter, troubled my conscience not a little : not the less 
 so, because he was a slave trader. Perhaps that is the rea 
 son why the press of Baltimore has treated him with so much 
 tenderness ! 2. There was a boy named Davis, charged with 
 stealing a rein, worth twenty-five or thirty-seven cents, not 
 guilty, as I believe, though not a good boy, by any means. 
 3. A man, named Murphy, who, contrary to law, had already 
 been confined twenty-four days on suspicion only ! since dis 
 charged. 4. An Irishman, charged with a petty theft, com 
 mitted while so drunk as not to know what he was about. 
 The poor man, chained, himself, has, since that time, waited 
 on me, in my severe illness, with the patience and kindness 
 of a brother, without fee or reward. 5. A man charged with 
 aiding in cutting down a Whig pole, while drunk, not a very 
 heinous sin, when sober, though a deed of folly. 6. A man 
 called Southmeade, charged with stealing a horse and sleigh. 
 Such were my room-mates. Casuists may settle for them 
 selves how much guilt I ought to feel for risking the escape 
 of these persons. So far as myself was concerned, I believe 
 it would please God if I could escape with no injury to oth 
 ers, just as certainly as I believe his frown rests on all who 
 keep me in prison, on such pleas as those alleged against me, 
 viz : mercy and compassion to the poor of the land. 
 
 " Fifthly. < But those bullets, that powder, and that torn 
 letter about pistols, and what not, how do you account for 
 that ? I have to say, I am not ashamed of the contents of 
 that letter. I have offered Mr. Pinkney, the deputy attorney, 
 and also the board of visitors, exact copies for publication, 
 (names only omitted,) or for any other use they please to 
 make of them. The powder and balls were sent me by 
 mistake. We had no weapons to use them ; and did not in 
 tend to have any in or near the prison. Some of the com- 
 14 
 
158 MEMOIR OF TORRE T. 
 
 pany insisted on being armed after we left the prison. I 
 commend them to all who believe in the right of self-defence. 
 I do not. 
 
 " THE RESULT : Betrayed, all the parties, save Dryer 
 and the Whig pole man, were heavily ironed, and placed in 
 damp, low arched cells, and treated worse than if we had 
 been murderers. Two of the three murderers now in this 
 jail, have never been ironed ; the third for a few hours only. 
 The first twenty-four hours I was loaded with irons weigh 
 ing, I judge, twenty-five pounds, so twisted that I could neith 
 er stand up, lie down, or sleep. We had the dirty, damp 
 floor, and one backless chair to sit or sleep on. Lighter 
 irons were then placed on me, and kept on twelve days ; du 
 ring all of which, aside from the effects of the irons, I was 
 unable to sit up, and most of the time, to get up without 
 help. It would have touched any heart, not wholly dead to 
 human feeling, to see poor John Stewart holding up his irons 
 with one hand, and with the other raising up the chained and 
 emaciated sick man, and tenderly ministering to his wants and 
 his weakness. If I live, and have the means, LESLIE shall 
 perpetuate it. Instead of reproaches, John constantly cheered 
 me ; but for him, I should not have lived to tell it. May God 
 bless him ! During these twelve days, my bed lay on the 
 hard, damp floor. My linen became loathsome from filth. 
 The air of the cell was constantly like a confined privy vault. 
 [They were cleansing a large vault that for twelve years had 
 been undisturbed !] The air is less impure now. Seven of 
 these twelve nights I slept none, from pain, and the utter 
 prostration of the nervous system. The remaining nights, 
 save one, I slept from one to four hours. I am still nearly 
 deprived of sleep, and am unable to sit up. With pain I 
 stagger across the floor of the cell, when obliged to go, yet I 
 am much better. 
 
 " On Monday, the eleventh of these days of horror, Mr. 
 Pinckney, the acting district attorney, learning my situation 
 
LETTERS FROM BALTIMORE JAIL. 159 
 
 from my physician, came to see me, and ordered the removal 
 of the irons, and the restoration of the comforts and decencies 
 of life, such as my condition required. The humane warden, 
 Mr. Steener, assented ; but his subordinates refused to obey. 
 However, I got my bedstead that day, and the next, he was 
 able to enforce obedience, and the irons were removed from 
 all. The circulation gradually returned to my sleepy, half- 
 paralyzed limbs ; and I am now so much better as to indicate 
 that six months careful nursing might restore my health as 
 it was last June. I am very weak, much emaciated, and my 
 nervous system in the same state in which it was in 1835, 
 when I was compelled to leave Andover seminary, and de 
 vote nearly a year to the sole business of regaining health. 
 
 " Do I complain ? God forbid. * Shall I receive good at 
 the hand of the Lord, and shall I not receive evil ? What 
 ever I may deserve at the hands of my fellow men, (and I 
 think it is not chains and a prison,) I desire humbly to con 
 fess my sins in his sight. Let him do with me as it seems 
 good in his sight. I am in the power of the wicked, but their 
 triumph is short. My God, even the living God, is my trust 
 in prison, my hope in sickness, and my strength in the day of 
 weakness. I deemed it due to him, to my family, to myself, 
 to try to escape from my foes. Having failed, I shall submit 
 cheerfully to his will, and strive to overcome evil by suffer 
 ing, which is the next duty. Such is my justification, writ 
 ten on my bed, with a feeble hand and aching brain. I be 
 lieve it will commend itself to my friends. If not, to that, 
 also, God will help me to submit cheerfully. * He is my 
 strength and my shield. 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRE Y. 
 
 Baltimore Jail, Cell No. 3, Sept. 28, 1844." 
 
160 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LETTERS TO MR. ALDEN. TO MRS. WILLIAMS. TO MR. 
 
 MC KIM. 
 
 In a letter to J. W. Alden, Esq., Boston, Oct. 10, Mr. 
 Torrey gives a minute description of the cell to which he 
 was removed after his attempt to break jail. 
 ********** 
 
 " I wrote a little on familiar topics yesterday. A night 
 without sleep, in spite of powerful opiates, was the conse 
 quence. So it will be to-night, a night of pain and restless 
 ness. This is aggravated by the light of the lamp, which we 
 are compelled to keep burning in such a position as to light 
 the whole cell. It is often like two balls of fire before my 
 eyes. 
 
 " Our cell is about sixteen by eighteen feet, on the floor. 
 It is arched length wise, from the floor, the arch forming about- 
 half a circle, of eight feet radius. The door is in the middle 
 of one end ; the window about thirty inches square, at the 
 side of the other end ; fire-place in the middle of one side. 
 "We are well supplied with rats and mice, red ants, and mos 
 quitoes. The front floor of the cell is about a foot below the 
 level of the ground ; the back, opening on the entry, is about 
 five feet below the surface. Its thin floor rests on small joists, 
 nearly or quite resting on the ground. On the whole it is an 
 exceedingly good place to put a sick man to a lingering death. 
 
 " One of the prison officers told me, it was something to be 
 expected, that the health of a prisoner should suffer* " 
 
 That Mr. Torrey did not prove an exception to this rule 
 of suffering, may be seen from the following letters, though 
 hardly any one would doubt it, when they considered that he 
 
LETTERS TO MR. ALDEN. 161 
 
 was thrust into this cell, which must of necessity be damp, in 
 such warm weather, as to render a fire uncomfortable, 
 
 " I am very feeble, and my nervous system is perhaps in 
 a worse state than ever. My digestion is good, and I sleep 
 some, though it is not very refreshing, I am still in the cell, 
 damp, and too cold, or too hot and fetid, according to circum 
 stances. We have to keep a fire, day and night, to keep any 
 ways comfortable. 
 
 " My former room-mate, John Stewart, or Sterling, his real 
 name, was acquitted yesterday. My lawyers defended him. 
 I am very glad of the result, he was so kind to me. He is a 
 man of some education, broken down by whiskey. He signed 
 a teetotal pledge I wrote for him. Rum and revenge have 
 kept him in different prisons ten years out of the last eighteen 
 Poor man ! 
 
 " They have put in a boy of seventeen to take care of me, 
 a boy of kind feelings, but sleepy and thoughtless, and a poor 
 substitute for Johnny, 
 ********** 
 
 " Our dear, dear little children ; they are often in my mind. 
 God will take care of them, and keep them from evil, far bet 
 ter than I could do, if I was free to watch over them. Fear 
 not ! with niy whole heart and sotd, I gave Charles to the 
 Savior to supply my lack of service to the heathen. Never, 
 for one moment, have I wished him any other destiny ; and I 
 feel sure the Lord accepted him at my hands. I should love 
 to talk with those dear ones once more. In God s time, per 
 haps, he will permit it" 
 
 To Mrs. H. W. Williams, Oct. 23, he writes : 
 
 " Your very kind letter, dated Sept. 28, reached me some 
 ten days since ; but I have been unable to reply to it from 
 weakness, both bodily and mental. It is more than six weeks 
 14* 
 
162 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 since I have been confined to my bed. But enough of these 
 bodily evils. * Fear not them which kill the body, but after 
 that, have no more that they can do. I trust I can heartily 
 enter into the spirit of that word of cheer. I do not consider 
 my restoration to health and usefulness by any means certain, 
 if I was set free to-morrow. But I am anxious, while I have 
 any vigor of body and mind, to give slavery as many blows 
 as I can. * * 
 
 " I find the road to Jesus shorter from the floor of a prison, 
 than it was last summer from your comfortable parlor. So I 
 read, and pray, and sing with a feeble voice, 
 
 " Burst, ye emerald gates, and bring 
 To my enraptured vision !" 
 
 Get the hymn-book and sing the whole of that sweet song." 
 I find peace, such as I have not known for years; so there 
 is no sorrow without its joy. When the sun is dark without, 
 the Son shines within, and there is no night where He is. 
 ********** 
 You see I ramble about, and have little else steady but the 
 heart, which is fixed, trusting in God." 
 Yours, with respect, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRE Y." 
 
 It was stated in an extract above, from a preceding letter, 
 that after Johnny Stewart was released, a boy of seventeen 
 years old was placed in the cell with Mr. Torrey to take care 
 of him. To this boy, Samuel E. Davis, important allusion is 
 made in the following letter to Horace Dresser, counsellor at 
 law, New York city. 
 
 " Baltimore Jail, Nov. 4. 
 
 " A fellow-prisoner, about to be pardoned out, has made a 
 very important confession to me, which may lead to my de 
 liverance from this prison. It relates to a combination of 
 and certain other parties to secure my conviction, by 
 bribed and perjured evidence. 
 
LETTERS TO MR. ALDEN. 163 
 
 " Davis, who made confession to me, said, he was to have 
 two hundred dollars for making certain statements, and other 
 parties were to be proportionally paid. Southmeade, alias 
 Hatch, alias a dozen other names, is to have two hundred 
 dollars and a nolle prosequi in his own case, to testify to pre 
 tended confessions made by me to him, in prison !" 
 
 In a letter to J. W. Alden, upon the same subject, Mr. T. 
 writes : 
 
 " Do you ask, Have I ever made any confessions to him ? 
 I reply, No ; not in the least. Their testimony will be en 
 tirely false. The only fact that Southmeade has to go upon 
 is, that if we got out of jail, we were to meet in a certain 
 grave yard, and to go on a certain road, and to stop at a cer 
 tain house about fifteen miles out of town. 
 
 " They are to testify to the route taken, as well as the 
 identity of the negroes. 
 
 " Is there no escape ? I much, very much doubt. Davis, 
 who confessed to me, is himself worthless. Convicted of pet 
 ty theft, Gallagher got him pardoned. But it seems, from his 
 own statement, that he will swear any way, if paid for it. 
 His only motive for confessing to me was, that he had quar 
 relled with Southmeade. He had also agreed to testify to 
 confessions made by me in prison, and Southmeade and him 
 self wrote what they would testify to the State s attorney." 
 
 How well Southmeade performed the part assigned him, 
 the sequel painfully showed. Davis, after he was pardoned, 
 was not to be found. Perhaps the person, or persons, from 
 whom he was to receive the two hundred dollars, finding that 
 he would not testify, induced him to leave the city, that he 
 might not be summoned against Southmeade. 
 
164 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 THE TRIAL ANNOUNCED. 
 
 On account of ill health, Mr. Torrey s trial had been pre 
 viously deferred till February ; but after the disclosure of the 
 above-mentioned conspiracy, the reader will not be surprised 
 to find in the following letter, the announcement of a more 
 speedy trial. 
 
 " Baltimore Jail, Md., Nov. 21, 1844. 
 
 " My dear Alden, Father Ide has written you to apprize 
 you of the sudden change of tactics in my prosecutors. Now 
 my trial is to be hurried on, as fast as possible, before I have 
 time to overthrow the new devices of the enemy against me. 
 A letter received to-night, disposes of one of their last wit 
 nesses, showing him to be a graduate of Sing Sing, where he 
 took a degree of H. T. (horse thief.) But that will not be 
 enough ; and before your next weekly issue, I shall probably 
 be beyond the reach of succor, and deprived of all intercourse 
 with my friends for many years. Had the steps been taken 
 to place the matter before the Supreme Court, I should have 
 cared less. I am somewhat used to suffering. But to suffer 
 uselessly, comes a little hard. 
 
 " I never saw the paper containing the list of persons who 
 contributed to my relief, and I know but few of them. But 
 to one and all of them, I beg leave to express my heartfelt 
 gratitude for their kindness to me. God will reward them 
 ten-fold in their own bosoms, though I cannot. They who 
 give a cup of cold water, in the name of my blessed Savior, 
 to the least of his children, will not lose their reward in this 
 life or in the life to come ; to which this is the introductory 
 stage, the portico, the adytum. Heaven is only the upper 
 room of our dwelling place, and its rewards are just as near, 
 just as sure. 
 
 " In settling up my accounts, I may be obliged, notwith 
 standing Mr. Johnson s liberal refusal of any further fee, (of 
 
LETTERS TO MR. ALDEN. 165 
 
 which I was not apprised till yesterday,) to draw on you for 
 a small sura, which I trust you will meet. I know various 
 persons have in hand for me more than I shall want, though 
 they are widely scattered. 
 
 " I shall try to reply to Scoble this week ; and also to pre 
 pare a DEFENCE, that will serve at least for a parting salute 
 to slavery. 
 
 "As no further effort can be made, this opportunity hav 
 ing passed away, to place my Virginia case before the Su 
 preme Court till my imprisonment here (if I am convicted) 
 shall end ; and, as I shall then, to all practical purposes, be 
 forgotten by those who head the abolition movement, who 
 will be absorbed in duties and cares, ever new, ever increas 
 ing, I suppose I must prepare my mind and heart for a long 
 continued bondage here and in Virginia. When the slaves 
 chains are broken, mine may be ; but probably not before. 
 In the circle of those who know and love me, my prison will 
 supply at least an additional impulse to labor for the day of 
 redemption for the suffering poor. 
 
 "I judge, from what my wife says, that the tale in regard 
 to my alleged * second attempt to escape, is not understood 
 by my friends. When my clothing, etc., were restored to me 
 some time in September, two saws were placed in my razor- 
 case, by one of the keepers, as a trap. After advising with 
 my counsel, I called in the warden, and handed them to him. 
 Some one of the subordinates, to stir up popular opinion against 
 me, as a most desperate fellow, had a tale of a ( second at 
 tempt to escape put in several of the Baltimore papers. I 
 sent a letter to the American, exposing the hoax, which was 
 but partially inserted. This is the whole truth, so far as I 
 know. If there are any wrong impressions about it among 
 my friends, publish this statement. At the time of this alleged 
 * second attempt, I was too feeble to cross the cell without 
 the help of my fellow prisoner ! 
 
 " I may as well improve this occasion to add a few 
 
166 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF MARYLAND SLAVERY AND 
 SLAVE JAILS. 
 
 " Your readers, in years past, will not fail to recal the 
 atrocious colonization laws of this State ; laws almost perfectly 
 nullified by the voice of public sentiment. Now and then, 
 men greedy of gain will enforce them. A colored man, poor, 
 free, of good character, belonging in Frederick county, Md., 
 went into Pennsylvania with a drove of cattle, and was gone 
 more than the legal twenty days. On his return, two miscre 
 ants, utterly worthless in purse and character, but with whit 
 ish faces, complained of him, got him in jail, and in various 
 ways contrived to run up the bill of fine and costs to over $70. 
 For this he was sold as a slave for life, purchased by a slave- 
 trader in this city, (Slatter, I think,) and sent to the far South. 
 It was this summer. 
 
 " Another case : A certain Dr. D s, of Howard district, 
 
 sent to this jail an old black man, his wife, a light mulatto 
 woman, and her four little children, all whiter than their 
 mother ! Two of them, the woman said, were her master s. 
 The husband said they all were. No doubt of it. They 
 have since been sold to the slave-traders. Such occurrences 
 are by no means unusual here. Yet the CHRISTIANS of Bal 
 timore never know anything about them, when you ask ; in 
 truth, it would be incredible news to nine-tenths of the better 
 sort of people of this city, that from two to four thousand 
 slaves are every year sold, in their midst, including at least 
 five hundred members of the body of Christ, humble, prayer 
 ful, ignorant, but sincere Christians. Such topics they do not 
 inquire into. The righteous perisheth and no man of them 
 layeth it to heart. Why? The victims are poor, black, or 
 yellow, and AMERICAN SLAVES ; victims of the great Amer 
 ican slave trade. But it is perfect folly to rebuke the slave 
 t rade. The trader is the mere agent of the slaveholder. The 
 GREAT CRIME is to hold a man in slavery. 
 
LETTERS TO MR. ALDEN. 167 
 
 " Items of a different class : It is very common here for 
 the police, and other slave hunting knaves, to play tricks on 
 slave holders. I will give you a few samples. One police 
 firm has in pay, over twenty colored spies here, besides oth 
 ers in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Their business is to in 
 veigle slaves to run away, hide them up, and betray them. 
 When the master misses his slave, he soon advertises his 
 $100 reward ; often he applies to this very police firm for 
 aid ! In a few days they are ready, of course, to hand over 
 the poor victim of their arts, and pocket the reward, besides 
 getting praise as very vigilant officers ! They once had in 
 their pay an active member of a northern vigilance commit 
 tee, who is well known to me. He is not now on the com 
 mittee. 
 
 " Another trick is somewhat similar. The colored people, 
 for ten miles round, are induced to come to Baltimore, on the 
 Sabbath, to see their friends, and attend church. The constable, 
 desirous of raising the wind, finds one without a pass, puts 
 him in jail, or some place of confinement sometimes one 
 of the slave prisons says nothing about it till the master of 
 fers his reward ; and then Mr. Constable coolly pockets the 
 reward of his knavery. Besides, the slave, as a suspected 
 runaway, is commonly sold to the traders at a low price, and 
 the trader, out of pure gratitude (!) gives the officer another 
 fee. I defeated one such precious scheme since my impris 
 onment, by writing to the slaveholder a humane man and 
 thus saved a pious slave from being torn from his family for 
 life. I got two enemies by it. 
 
 " Another trick is managed by the connivance of the jail 
 keepers. A runaway is put in jail, and the keepers, for a 
 specified fee, ($5,00,) give exclusive notice to a particular tra 
 der of the fact. This gives the trader a chance to negotiate 
 with the master, at a distance, and get his slave at half price, 
 buying him on the wing. This has often been done this 
 summer. One of the visitors of the jail, to whom I mentioned 
 
I 
 
 168 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 it, defended it as a customary perquisite of the prison 
 officers. 
 
 " Another l perquisite of these gentry, is twenty per cent, 
 of the fees for all the cases they are able to give a lawyer, 
 with whom a bargain is previously made. Of course, none 
 but a very inferior lawyer would degrade himself by making 
 such a bargain. This summer, a very amusing quarrel took 
 place between our keepers and their legal coadjutor, as to the 
 honesty of the latter in paying over the proper share of the 
 fees ! They tried to drive a bargain with another one of 
 my friends but received no countenance from him. You 
 see the art of * sponging is not altogether to be classed 
 among the lost arts of a primeval world. 
 
 " These hungry animals are very ready to plunder the 
 slaveholder ; they do it often, of course ; they will not scru 
 ple to do the like with the free colored man, and others of the 
 more defenceless classes. I believe I owe not a little of the 
 brutality and vile reports of which I have been the object, to 
 the vengeance of parties whom I disappointed of such profits 
 since my imprisonment. I am not sorry for any thing of that 
 kind I have done. God did not endow me with the capacity 
 of sitting still and seeing the poor trampled on, and knavery 
 prospering on their woes. Otherwise, I should have pursued 
 the career of profitable conservatism, to which Dr. Woods 
 tried so hard to allure me ! That I should have pleased 
 God by so doing, I may well doubt. Farewell ; let the slave 
 be always in your heart, and do not quite forget, in my pris 
 on, your brother, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRE r. 
 
 To his friend, J. M. McKim, of Philadelphia, he also 
 writes, in view of his approaching trial : 
 
 " My Dear McKim, Yours, dated October 30, and mail 
 ed November 16, reached me to-day. To-morrow I am to 
 
LETTER TO J. M. MC imi. 169 
 
 be carted over to Court for trial. My trial will not, I sup 
 pose, be urged before Friday, possibly, not till Monday next. 
 But it is probable this is the last letter you will receive from 
 me for years. So strong is the web of perjury around me, 
 that I have no real hope of acquittal, especially as the trial is 
 to be suddenly pushed on, after a formal agreement once 
 made to defer it till next term. 
 
 " I will thank you to acknowledge the receipt for me, of 
 the six dollars you enclosed, from the friends whom I never 
 saw, but to whom I am grateful for their kindness. My im 
 prisonment in the Penitentiary will entirely prevent the trial 
 before the Supreme Court. I consider, therefore, that nearly 
 every useful purpose of my imprisonment, to the cause, is 
 lost. I know there will be * indignation meetings, speeches, 
 and resolves ; that my name, for a while, will give point to 
 now and then an eloquent sentence. But, as to any serious 
 effort for my relief, it will be like Big Ben, in Bucks coun 
 ty. When the three hundred and fifty dollars, to rescue him, 
 were wanted, he was discovered to be a bad man.* He was 
 good food for agitation, but no object of practical benevo 
 lence. Don t say I am unjust, or bitter : I am neither. But 
 I estimate human nature as it is. It is true, I have many, 
 MANY friends. I have slanderers, I have enemies enough, 
 but, go where you will, where I am known, and you will find 
 some of the very best men and women in the world, who are 
 warmly attached to me. I thank God for it ; and their prayers 
 may secure me an abundant supply of the spirit of Jesus 
 Christ in my prison. Still, I expect to be forgotten by most 
 persons. Even those who love me will be absorbed in new 
 cares, new duties. 
 
 " Happily, God is multiplying similar cases to such an ex 
 tent that Abolitionists will not be able to refuse any longer, 
 to discusser embrace better principles on the points involved, 
 
 * Our friend does not seem to know that " Big Ben" was redeemed : 
 six hundred dollars were paid for him. J. M. McKim. 
 15 
 
170 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 than those now current among the mass of them. They must 
 learn the DUTY of making wise plans, and executing them 
 for the personal rescue of the poor of the land from bondage ; 
 just as we would do if our own family relatives were the 
 bondsmen. I intended to write something on this subject, 
 for the press, but I shall not have time now. Perhaps I shall 
 make out a sketch before I close. 
 
 " My bodily health is better. I sleep pretty well, have a 
 good appetite, and digest light food well. My neuralgia, how 
 ever, continues, with frequent and severe pain. My strength 
 is increasing, slowly, though a very little exertion sends me 
 to bed. With your arm, perhaps I could walk from No. 31, 
 to Chesnut street, if I had the chance ! I am afraid Mary 
 land will not make money by my weaving silk, for a long while 
 to come ! 
 
 " At all events, my physical comforts will not be diminish 
 ed by the change to the Penitentiary. Ah the reformed* 
 system of prison discipline, with its horrible secret scourg- 
 ings, shower baths, and six days starvings, (which no man 
 wholly escapes) these ARE charming prospects ahead ! I 
 tell you, McKim, more than one-third of those who are in 
 our reformed prisons two years and more, leave them so im 
 paired in both bodily and mental health, as to be but one short 
 remove from imbecility of mind and actual sickness of body. 
 It is only by frequent pardons that the per centage of insanity 
 and death in these * reformed prisons, is kept so low as it ap 
 pears in the reports. The silence, the enforced mental in 
 action, the prevention of all activity of the affections, the so 
 cial nature ; these directly, and powerfully, tend to overthrow 
 the mind, to make it imbecile while the physical cruelties 
 are enough to break down any nervous or feeble frame. I 
 have been gradually gathering facts on that subject for years, 
 and did hope, this winter, to prepare an elaborate essay on it, 
 for the press. What a host of intentions a prison shuts up ! 
 
 " Am I happy ? Yes, on the whole these ten days my 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 171 
 
 dear wife has cheered my poor cell with her smiles for she 
 will not let me see her shed any tears, lest it make me un 
 happy. Nor will she speak save cheerfully. l The woman 
 is THE GLORY of the man/ But, in prospect of being 
 shut out from all the world, from all society, lam not unhap 
 py for the presence and spirit of our blessed Saviour are 
 not withheld from me. The most painful emotions I feel in 
 regard to it, are, that I am to be condemned to a tiseless ex 
 istence ; no activity for the good of others or my own. I 
 shall be thirty-one years old, the day after the morrow, the 
 21st. The most useful part of life I must spend in prison. 
 But God did not need me, in His service, in freedom, and 
 therefore it is I am in prison. When Peter was wanted, the 
 angel came and opened his prison doors ; but when he had 
 done his work, he was not rescued from the cross. Perhaps 
 God will yet make my prison the day-star of hope to the 
 slaves of Maryland and Virginia. I shall not be very unhap 
 py in solitude that most awful of all solitudes, compulsory 
 silence from year to year so long as God gives me his love 
 and his spirit. Those who are free must labor the more dili 
 gently for the suffering slave/ 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. CONVICTION. 
 
 Mr. Torrey was taken from the jail in Baltimore and con 
 ducted to the court-house for trial, Nov. 29, 1844. Reverdy 
 Johnson, Esq., undertook the defence of Mr. Torrey ; but we 
 must say that he appeared far more anxious to defend Mary 
 land, than to obtain a good deliverance for Mr. Torrey. 
 
 While awaiting his trial at the court-house, expecting 
 every moment to be arraigned, a cordial was administered to 
 
172 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 his agitated feelings by the perusal of a letter from Prof. C. 
 D. Cleveland, Philadelphia, which was handed to him while 
 there, informing Mr. Torrey, that he had written to several 
 persons of his acquaintance, men of influence, urging them to 
 do all in their power to secure for Mr. T. a fair and impartial 
 trial. 
 
 "I wrote," says Prof. Cleveland, "to my honored kins 
 man, Mrs. Cleveland s uncle, Judge Nisbet, not knowing that 
 the case would come before him. I also wrote to my former 
 beloved pupil, George "W. Brown, Esq., of whom I am truly 
 proud, not only for his talents but his high moral worth ; and 
 to my early and richly prized friend, Hon. Charles F. Mayer. 
 From both I received the kindest replies replies worthy of 
 their heads and hearts, showing that they were men, and felt 
 for their brother man, and stood ready to do whatever ser 
 vice they could. 
 
 " I wrote also to Rev. John Duncan, and to Rev. George 
 W. Burnap, quoting to them the words of our blessed Savior : 
 * I was sick, and in prison, and ye visited me. From them 
 I have received no answer, nor do I know whether they have 
 ever complied with my request. If not, I can only pray, that 
 if ever, in the providence of God, they shall be brought to 
 such extremity, they may have some pious brother to visit 
 them and administer consolation. 
 
 ********** 
 Your friend and brother, 
 
 C. D. CLEVELAND." 
 
 Such a letter, and at a time too when he was fearing an 
 unfair trial, could not fail to revive his drooping spirits. 
 
 Whether Mr. Torrey s fears, lest he should become the 
 victim of perjured evidence, were groundless or not, may be 
 seen by a perusal of the report of the trial. We give the re 
 port contained in the Baltimore Sun, which is more correct 
 than that of the other papers, though none of them are per 
 fectly accurate. 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 173 
 
 TRIAL OF REV, C. T, TORREY, 
 
 BALTIMORE CITY COURT OCTOBER TERM. 
 
 Present, Judges Brice, Nislxt and Worthington^ 
 STATE S ATTORNEY, GEO. R. RICHARDSON, ESQ. 
 
 Friday, Nov. 29tk. 
 
 The case of the State v. Torrey, being called, the Clerk pro 
 ceeded to empanel a jury, when some discussion took place 
 on the right of challenge, the counsel for the State contending 
 for the right to strike or challenge from the jurors, and the coun 
 sel for the defence demanding the privilege to challenge twenty, 
 and denying the State s right to challenge at all. The question 
 was discussed at some length, when the court decided that the 
 State had the right to challenge four jurors who might be se 
 lected by the defence, and the defence had the -right of peremp 
 tory of twenty. The regular panel was then called, and ex 
 hausted by peremptory challenge or for cause, before a jury 
 could be obtained ; a number of talesmen were summoned, and 
 a jury at length selected and sworn, as follows : H. D. Boone, 
 Allen Elder, William Young, William Ensor, Thomas McCon- 
 nell, William Johnson, William Faiichild, John Bratt, J. A. Bos- 
 ley, L. E. Pontier, George Brown, Elisha Lee. 
 
 State v. Charles T. Torrey. In opening the case, Mr. Richard 
 son stated that he held in his hand three indictments against the 
 traverser, charging him with having enticed, persuaded and as 
 sisted three slaves, the property of Mr. Wm. lleckrotte, to escape 
 from his possession. The first of these indictments charges the 
 offence with reference to a negro woman named Hannah Goose 
 berry ; a negro girl named Judah Gooseberry ; and a negro boy 
 named Stephen Gooseberry. Each of the indictments contain 
 four counts. The first charging the traverser with having en 
 ticed the party to escape ; the second with having persuaded 
 the party to escape ; the third with having assisted the party to 
 escape; and the fourth embracing the other three, charges him 
 with having- enticed, persuaded, and assisted the party to escape. 
 Each of the indictments were exactly alike, with the exception 
 of the names of the negroes. The woman, Hannah Gooseberry, 
 was about forty years of age ; the girl, Judah, the daughter of 
 Hannah, was about nineteen years of age ; and the boy Stephen, 
 
174 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 was about seventeen years of age. The girl and boy being the 
 son and daughter of Hannah Gooseberry. 
 
 Mr. Richardson opened the case with a plain statement of the 
 facts lie expected to prove, and then proceeded to call the wit 
 nesses. 
 
 Mr. Heckrotte, sworn. Is the owner of three slaves, one wo 
 man named Hannah Gooseberry, about forty years of age, stout, 
 good countenance, with a tooth out in front ; she is not a black 
 woman, but a sort of chestnut color, rather stout and fleshy ; is 
 the owner of a girl named Judah, the daughter of Hannah ; she 
 is a stout, well proportioned girl of a dark color, and something 
 of the build of her mother; and a boy named Stephen, who is 
 about sixteen ; rather stout made ; he was dressed in a dark 
 brown cassinet jacket and pantaloons, striped shirt, and thick 
 shoes; the other had a variety of clothing, some black dresses 
 which I bought for them when their mistress died, and they had 
 some fancy dresses which I cannot now describe ; they were 
 first absented on the 4th of June, between eight and nine o clock, 
 after they took their suppers. I have never seen them since ; 
 of my own knowledge, I know nothing of them since. They 
 were good, excellent servants, honest and without fault ; I have 
 advertised them and have invited them back, but they have not 
 returned. 
 
 I keep a tavern and refectory ; Bologna sausages, crackers 
 and cheese are freely exposed in the house ; they have always 
 been at the command of the servants. Have been dealing with 
 Mr. Henry Henderson ever since he commenced business, I be 
 lieve about twenty years, until he quit business and sold out to 
 Mr. Tyler, which is since the servants went away, I believe ; 
 I then dealt with Mr. Holden, his clerk; I have still in use the 
 crackers of Mr. Henderson. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson. There are, I presume, a 
 number of other places in town where Bologna sausages and 
 crackers of the same kind are used ; the crackers I afterwards 
 bought of Holden were marked with the name of Holden & Co. 
 I think it was since the absenting of the slaves, that Mr. Hender 
 son sold out. 
 
 Charles Hockrotte, sworn. Between 9 and 10 o clock at night, 
 in the latter part of May, about four or five days before the 
 slaves went away, I saw a white man standing at the gate of 
 our yard, talking to Judah Gooseberry; the white n.an looked 
 at me rather suspiciously, and went away, and Judah went in ; 
 when I went in the house, Judah was nt there ; when I went in 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 175 
 
 the yard Judah came out of the shed ; I asked her who it was 
 she had been talking to. When I first saw the man I thought it 
 was my brother-in-law, but upon going nearer to him, I saw it 
 was not ; I think this, pointing to the traverser, is the man ; he 
 is thinner now than he was then, and his whiskers are off; at 
 the magistrate s office I picked him out ; I was told to look 
 round ; there were about twenty or thirty people there. The 
 man went away up street, as I came down to the gate. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Gallagher. I swear positively to the 
 best of my knowledge and belief, this is the man ; did not say 
 at the magistrate s that 1 could not swear positively to him. 
 
 By Mr. Johnson. Have never noticed him in the street ; the 
 gate of the yard is on Camden street ; Judah ran in as soon as 
 she saw me ; she did nt see me till I turned towards the gate, 
 and the man then turned away up the street ; he had on light 
 pantaloons and light coat; I think he had a cap on; I did not 
 speak to him ; when I went into the house, I did not say any 
 thing to my father about it ; I thought the man had other inten 
 tions than to persuade the servants away ; I told my father the 
 night after they went away, that I thought that man had got them 
 away; I had never seen a white man there under those circum 
 stances before ; I have seen black men there ; the moon was 
 not shining; it was a star light night. Before the magistrate, I 
 swore that I positively believed Mr. Torrey to be the man ; I 
 did not swear that he positively was the man. He was dressed 
 then in dark coat and had a hat on ; he was dressed entirely 
 different, of course. From the time I saw the man at the gate 
 talking to Judah, I never saw Mr. Torrey till I saw him at the 
 magistrate s ; between these times I suppose two or three weeks 
 had elapsed. I suppose I saw him about two or three minutes at 
 the gate ; when I went to the magistrate s office, I knew there 
 was a man there charged with getting the slaves away ; 1 told 
 father what his stature and appearance was ; I picked him out 
 by his stature and face, and his dark hair; when I went into the 
 house I saw Judah s mother; I asked her who it was Judah had 
 been talking to ; the gate was on Camden street; I was coming 
 down the street, and he turned up ; I suppose that Judah told 
 him some one was corning, and he then walked up the street; 
 if he had turned down the street I should not have been able to 
 have seen him so well ; I should not have seen his face at all. 
 
 By Mr. Cox. I do not remember to have seen you at the 
 magistrate s office ; I don t recollect to have seen Mr. Torrey, 
 and to have been asked if he was not the man ; I said it was a 
 
176 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 dark night, and said I meant by that, that it was a star light night ; 
 I don t remember to have said there that I could not identify 
 the man. 
 
 Nicholas Woodward, sworn. I let a pair of cream-colored 
 horses, with white manes and white tails, and a Rockaway car 
 nage, to Mr. Torrey, on Tuesday, the 4th June ; he brought 
 them back on the next Sunday, very much fatigued ; there was 
 no driver sent with them ; they were so much fatigued that one 
 of them died soon afterwards. He applied to me once before, 
 and I let him have a carriage and a single horse, for some time ; 
 I did not know any thing of him personally. When he came 
 again I knew him ; I told him that the horse he had before had 
 been driven very hard ; I then gave him a pair of dun ponies 
 and the same carriage. He engaged them for no particular time ; 
 I asked him where he was going, and he would give me no sat 
 isfaction on that point. The horses would be easily recognized, 
 from their peculiar color ; I have one of them now. 
 
 George W. Rigdon, sworn. On the morning of the 7th June 
 last, early, perhaps between 5 and 6 o clock, I was going to Mr. 
 Clark s, my brother-in-law, over the bridge at Den creek, when 
 I saw him standing in the road ; a carriage, open before and be 
 hind, and two dun colored horses standing in the water, and a 
 black boy washing their legs; over in the road I saw a white 
 man washing his hands in a bucket; 1 was over them looking at 
 them full ten minutes, and they did not see me for some time ; 
 the horses were dun color, with white manes and tails ; thought 
 it would be the death of them washing them in the state they 
 were ; that man there ( pointing to traverserj is the man, and a 
 black boy ; went to Mr. Clark s, up the road, and in about a half 
 hour I came back ; saw the horses eating on the side of the 
 creek ; the traverser was still there and the boy ; he was a 
 light complected black boy, a sort of brown or chestnut ; he 
 wore steel mixed pantaloons and roundabout. I thought some 
 thing was wrong, and I took particular notice of them ; looked 
 at the man as he turned round to look at me ; this is the same 
 man ; I was in town the next Tuesday ; took some newspapers 
 home, and the next day my brother was reading one of them ; 
 he said here s an advertisement of some negroes lost, and on 
 looking at it found it described the boy I had seen ; we conclu 
 ded we ought to let the advertiser know of it ; wrote him a let 
 ter ; witness recognized the advertisement (letter produced,) it 
 was written by my brother ; this is the letter ; when I saw them 
 the second time they were only about twenty steps from the 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 177 
 
 place where they were when I first saw them ; 1 am certain this 
 is the man ; when I went to the magistrate s office, I picked him 
 out directly. 
 
 By Mr. Johnson. The reason I did not write the letter, I was 
 fixing to go to the Clay club ; I furnished the facts, and the let 
 ter was read to me afterwards ; the place where I saw them is 
 about thirty miles from Baltimore ; the road is pretty good ; I 
 have stated that I thought I had seen the traverser before, at my 
 uncle s, in 1832, at the time of the cholera ; that person staid at 
 my uncle s, and went about gunning with the negroes ; his gen 
 eral appearance was something the same as the traverser ; I did 
 not get nearer to the man at the creek than the abutment of the 
 bridge ; about ten feet off; I was about ten feet above him, he 
 directly under me ; when I saw him again he was a little farther 
 off, and was eating sausage and crackers ; he had on a blue coat 
 and a cap ; don t remember his other clothes ; I stood looking 
 at him about five or ten minutes that time, and when I went 
 away, left them eating. 
 
 Witness, to meet the request of counsel for a description of 
 the location, sketched a diagram of the spot ; it represented the 
 main road alone as crossing the creek at the point referred to ; 
 the bridge is on the edge of the road, so that persons can go 
 through the ford or over the bridge. 
 
 Robert Rigdon, sworn. Lives in Harfbrd county, on the 
 Peachbottom road ; the other side of Deer creek about a mile 
 and a half; I m a blacksmith ; have a shop about half a mile 
 from my house up the road ; on the 5th of June, in the morn 
 ing, I saw a carriage going up with a couple of dun horses and 
 white tails and manes; a white man was in it with a black wo 
 man ; I was in my shop ; the carriage returned again in the 
 evening late, towards Baltimore ; I saw the carriage again on 
 the 7th June ; it had in it a white man and a black boy ; that is 
 the white man, (the traverser) ; there were two black women 
 in the carriage ; they were going along laughing ; the old wo 
 man had a tooth out in front ; the other appeared about eigh 
 teen or twenty ; the white man and boy sat in front ; I did not 
 see the carriage again ; the traverser is that white man ; I pick 
 ed him out at the magistrate s office. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson. It was a little after sun 
 rise when I saw them on the 5th ; my shop is, 1 take it, about 
 twelve or fifteen miles from Peachbottom ; I did nt pay any at 
 tention to the black woman in the carriage at the time ; she was 
 sitting in the back part of the carriage ; my shop is thirty-two 
 
178 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 or thirty-three miles from Baltimore ; the carriage went down 
 in the evening ; the black woman was not in it then ; my shop 
 is about two and a half miles from the ford at Clark s ; I was in 
 the road when the carriage went up and when it went down on 
 the 5th. The reason I took more notice on the 7th of the party, 
 was because I had heard some flying reports about a white man 
 carrying negroes to Peachbottom, and sending them across ; I 
 heard of it the day before ; my father was in the road with me 
 on the 7th ; he spoke to the white man in the carriage, some 
 thing about carrying off negroes ; I do tell the jury that as the 
 carriage was trotting %, / saw that the old woman had a tooth out ; 
 I noticed the girl s teeth ; did not notice the boy s ; the woman 
 had nothing over her face ; the woman on the 5th had a green 
 veil over her face ; the old woman on the 7th had a veil on her 
 bonnet, but it was thrown aside ; my father and Mr. Raymons 
 and myself were standing together when the carriage came 
 along ; we could see it about thirty yards before it came up to 
 us, and they could of course see us ; they had nothing over their 
 faces ; it would be a good day s journey from Baltimore to my 
 house ; when I saw the white man on the 5th he had a cap on, 
 dark looking clothes ; on the 7th he was dressed the same way ; 
 when I saw him at the magistrate s office he had a hat on and 
 a different kind of coat ; it was a dark one. J think I said at 
 the magistrate s office, that the old woman had a tooth out ; I 
 don t think I was asked about it; Mr. Zell summoned me for 
 the State ; I had seen no advertisement about the negroes ; I 
 think he told rne that it was about some negroes taken away ; 
 rny brother told me he was going to write to Baltimore about 
 some negroes advertised ; I did not hear whose they were ; I did 
 not know that there was such a man as Mr. Heckrotte in the 
 city of Baltimore ; when J got to the magistrate s office I went 
 into another room before 1 was examined ; Mr. Heckrotte and 
 Mr. Rigdon, my uncle, Mr. Zell and some others went into the 
 room with me ; Mr. Heckrotte there said something about his 
 negroes; he said there were two women and a boy ; he said 
 nothing about their ages, or their dress, or about one of the 
 women having a tooth out ; my uncle George said something 
 about them ; I don t recollect whether he said any thing about 
 one of the women having a tooth out or not ; I don t recollect 
 whether or not I said any thing to any body about the woman 
 having a tooth out ; I saw my uncle Ben one day when he stop 
 ped at my shop and asked me something about the negroes; I 
 don t know whether J said any thing to him about a tooth out ; 
 
THE TRIAL OF MK. TORRE T. 179 
 
 he might have have said something about writing a letter, but I 
 was so angry about having to leave my work, that I don t know 
 hardly what passed. 
 
 By Mr. Cox. I was in Baltimore last Monday ; I don t know 
 whether I said, I had come to Baltimore to help to send that 
 d d rascal to the penitentiary, or not ; I don t know that Mr. 
 George Rigdon said so ; I don t know whether I said it or not ; 
 I say many things in fun. 
 
 George Amos, sworn. Lives on the Peachbottorn and Balti 
 more road, about four miles above Deer creek ; somewhere 
 about the first part of last June I saw an open carriage, four- 
 wheeled, I think, with two dun-colored horses and white manes 
 and tails ; a white man, looked a good deal like the traverser, 
 and dark brown boy sitting in front, about sixteen or seventeen 
 years of age ; there were two women sitting behind ; one was 
 a young girl, a jet black ; I saw the white man before, about the 
 26th of May, on the road, going up in a carriage ; he had a 
 black boy and a yellow man with him ; he had a carriage and 
 one horse ; the next time I saw him he was going down with a 
 carriage and two horses ; on the next day 1 saw him going up 
 with the same carriage and horses, and the two women and boy ; 
 I think the traverser is the man ; I can t say positively. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson.- When J saw him going up 
 with the boy and two women, the women were sitting on the 
 back seat ; the one I saw was a young woman, jet black ; 
 they were travelling slowly ; I did not see the other woman s 
 face at all ; for all I know, she was white. I should think it would 
 take two days to go from my house to Baltimore ; it is about 
 thirty-five miles ; it takes me a day to come to Baltimore. It 
 was the second day after I saw him going up with the two horses 
 that I saw him come down the road. 
 
 Benjamin Amos, sworn. On the 5th June I saw a carriage 
 (described as before) this side of Rockridge, coming towards 
 Baltimore ; it was about a mile the other side of Deer creek ; 
 the next time I saw it was on Friday the 8th ; I was with Mr. 
 Samuel Rigdon ; he said, " There comes the carriage again ; let s 
 stop him." I said, " We had better not, for such fellows always 
 go armed." Mr. Rigdon talked to him about a black woman 
 that he had taken up a day or two before ; there was a black boy 
 and two black women in the carriage ; the white man was a 
 small man, dressed in a dark coat, and cap on ; I think this is 
 the man (the traverser). It was the same person coming down 
 on the evening of the 5th that I saw going up on the morning 
 
180 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 of the 7th. He had black whiskers then. The next morning, 
 Saturday, he came down with the same horses and carriage 
 with him; he came down on the other road ; the road forks 
 above my house. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson. On the morning of the 7th 
 I was standing at Robert Rigdon s shop ; Samuel Itigdon was 
 there when the carriage came along ; the black boy was pretty 
 stout across the shoulders ; he had on steel mixed clothes, and 
 I don t know how the women were dressed. They were going 
 along at a walk ; the horses looked pretty hard drove ; they 
 did not stop when Samuel Rigdon spoke to them ; I can t say 
 that this (the traverser) is the man ; he had heavy whiskers then, 
 if he is the man. If this is the man, I have not seen him from 
 that time till to-day. I was not before the magistrate ; was first 
 summoned yesterday. I heard, when I got here, that Torrey 
 was the man charged. 
 
 Samuel Scarf, sworn. Lives about three-fourths of a mile be 
 yond Deer creek ; on Saturday morning, 8th June. I saw a man 
 with an open carriage and two cream-colored horses, come down 
 the road ; the man had on a cap, and whiskers, and dark-colored 
 clothes ; the traverser looks like him ; more like him than any 
 man I ve seen since. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson. I had never seen him be 
 fore that day; nor since, till the other day in court. I did not 
 speak to him ; he was trotting down a hill when I saw him ; I 
 only saw him just as he passed along by ; when I saw him in 
 court it was in the prisoner s box; he came up to the bars; I 
 thought, then, it was the man ; I heard that Torrey was charged. 
 
 Henry Bishop. Keeps a tavern on the Bel Air road, ten miles 
 from Baltimore. A gentleman stopped at my house all night, 
 who came there on Saturday evening, some time in June ; he 
 had a family carriage, open behind and front ; two cream-colored 
 horses, flax rnane and tail ; this is the man (the traverser) ; he 
 staid all night ; he had whiskers then, I think ; I have no doubt 
 this is the man. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson. I did not see the carriage 
 go up the road ; there was no one with him when he came to 
 my house; I do not recollect his clothes; he wore a cap; he 
 had whiskers, I think; not very large. 
 
 Ezekiel Burke, sworn. I went up to Bishop s some time in 
 the first of June, to see my relations, one Sunday ; I was about 
 a quarter of a mile from Bishop s and remarked, " There s a 
 pair of horses I drove last Sunday ; they are Woodward s." 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRE Y. 181 
 
 When I got up there, I saw that one of them was likely to fall 
 down ; this is the man (the traverser) who came out and drove 
 them off. Before he went, I said to him he would never drive 
 them to Baltimore ; if he did, he d kill that horse ; I asked him 
 where he had been, but he gave no satisfaction. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson. I saw him next in Balti 
 more, at Mrs. Kunsrnan s, in Old Town ; I happened in there; 
 when I saw him at Bishop s, he said the lame horse had stum 
 bled against a rock and hurt himself; he drove off, whipping 
 the horses. 
 
 Samuel F. Rigdon, sworn. Lives in Harford county, beyond 
 Deer creek, on the south side of Rockridge ; I saw, on the 5th 
 of June, a carriage, open in front, and two cream-colored horses, 
 coming from Peachbottom towards Baltimore ; there was a white 
 man driving it ; nobody else with him ; on the 7th saw the car 
 riage corning down ; I was at Robert Rigdon s ; I said we ought 
 to apprehend that fellow, but Robert said that most likely he 
 carried arms, and we had better not arrest him ; I said I d give 
 him a little of my tongue, anyhow. When they came opposite 
 me, I halloes to him and says, " You ve got a whole family of 
 them, this time." They laughed and drove on slowly ; as they 
 laughed, the old woman showed a tooth lacking, on the side of 
 Irer mouth ; I noticed it particularly ; the other woman and boy 
 were youngish ; the women had on dark dresses, and the boy 
 a steel-mixed roundabout ; the man was dressed in dark clothes ; 
 he had whiskers and wore a cap ; there sits the gentleman ; 
 he s the same identical man, only he s got his whiskers off, and 
 had a cap on. 
 
 In the same afternoon, I went down to my brother-in-law s; 
 and going through by the ford at the bridge, I found a place 
 where some creatures had been eating ofFof the face of the earth ; 
 I mean horses or something that eats oats; and a little distance 
 off, near the wood, I found some fragments of Bologna sausages 
 and some crackers marked " II. H.," and took them home to a 
 little pet boy ; on looking round me there awhile, I found some 
 bits of ribbon, and took them home to a little daughter I have ; 
 (the pieces of ribbon produced by witness;) on Saturday morn 
 ing I went down to Clark s, to ask leave to cut a tree, to hive 
 some bees, and then I saw the same carriage come down, with 
 the white man in it, empty. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson. I found, near the place 
 where the oats were, some bits of crackers, and one whole one, 
 which I gave to the child ; I have not got half the bits of ribbon ; 
 16 
 
182 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 my little daughter would not accept them, and then I put them 
 in my pocket ; nohody dares go to my pockets without my con 
 sent; I put them in my pocket because I thought they might do 
 for some little use for my rheumatism in wet weather; I ll tell 
 you, Mr. Johnson, why I think so much of them little children ; 
 their mother, my daughter, gave them to me on her death-bed, 
 sir. When the carriage passed me on Friday, I was on the left 
 side of the carriage, the old woman was on the right side, and 
 when she laughed, I saw the tooth was out ; it was out of the 
 upper jaw ; about her eye-tooth ; a little to the left side of the 
 front; the old woman had a bonnet on and a veil over it, not 
 over her face ; they had on a sort of mourning clothes ; the 
 other woman had a black veil ; both appeared to be in mourn 
 ing for some particular friend ; saw no baggage at all ; no man 
 could have a better view of the man than I did ; when he came 
 along on Wednesday evening, we were putting some dust on 
 the bridge and levelling it, and I asked him to stop lest his crea 
 tures should be hurt; and Sammy Maccabee and my son got 
 talking to him about the crops, arid so forth. 
 
 Mr. Johnson. This was on the 5th ? 
 
 Witness. No sir, it was on the upper side of Rockridge. 
 [A burst of laughter.] 
 
 Resumed. We didn t stop him then, because it s rather an 
 awkward business to arrest a man. I thought if I did, I might 
 be sued for a breach of trust, or something. I have seen this 
 same man go up and down the road often, with other horses ; 
 I saw him once last November; he was dressed then in fall 
 clothing ; the color would about pass for blue. 
 
 By Mr. Cox. When I found the ribbon, it was at the time 
 of year when we generally have pleasant weather. I went a 
 near cut through the woods by a foot-path. I had on this coat 
 that day ; I calculated to be out after night, to take a little spell 
 a fishing. 
 
 By a juror. On the 7th, when I saw the horses, they were 
 jaded down. 
 
 By Mr. Johnson. They were not sweating; they were almost, 
 got beyond a sweat ; I mean by that, that they were so jaded 
 that they couldn t travel fast enough to sweat. 
 
 Charles Heckrotte, sworn. About three or four weeks previ 
 ous, rny sister had trimmed Judah s bonnet with some ribbon 
 from her bonnet ; I can swear that these pieces are some of the 
 same ribbon ; there was not quite enough, and another piece 
 almost like it was got to make it out. [Witness produced a piece 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 183 
 
 whsch, when compared, corresponded with a portion of the 
 pieces found.] 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson. I believe Judah had more 
 than one bonnet; it was a straw bonnet, that had been dressed 
 in black before this ribbon was put on. Her mother had a straw 
 bonnet. I took particular notice of the ribbon. [Here a rigid 
 cross-examination of the witness was conducted by Mr. John 
 son, with reference to the ribbon, but without eliciting any im 
 portant fact, except, peihaps, for the argument.] At its conclu 
 sion, the court adjourned until ten o clock to-morrow morning. 
 
 Saiurdny, Nov. 30, 1844. 
 
 Mrs. Morling, sworn. Stated that some time before the ser 
 vants of Mr. Heckrotte went away, she trimmed Judah s bonnet 
 with some ribbon that had been on her child s bonnet; there 
 was not quite enough, and she had to take some from another 
 piece, not exactly like the other ; a portion of which she now 
 produced. It had been taken from her own bonnet ; it was com 
 pared with the pieces found, and corresponded with them, with 
 the exception of some difference in the color of a stripe, which 
 in that produced was green, in the piece of the same pattern 
 found was yellow, the suggestion being that it faded to yellow 
 from exposure. 
 
 The cross-examination of the witness elicited nothing varying 
 from the examination in chief. 
 
 The State cabled Thomas Southmayd, who appeared upon the 
 staii l. Mr. Johnson produced a record of the proceedings of 
 the Criminal Court of New York, in proof that this witness had 
 been convicted therein of horse-stealing, and had served a pe 
 riod of three years in the penitentiary for this offence ; a fact 
 which the witness admitted. Some discussion then took place 
 between Messrs. Johnson and Richardson on the admissibility 
 of the evidence of this witness, which was decided by the court 
 in favor of it. The examination then proceeded, Mr. Johnson 
 first obtaining from Mr. Metcalfe, clerk of the court, two indict 
 ments against Southmayd : one for stealing a horse, and the 
 other for stealing a sleigh in this city, and on which he is now 
 awaiting his trial in jail. 
 
 Thomas Southmayd, sworn. Had a conversation with Mr. 
 Torrey in jail, about the charge against him; he told me about 
 it while lie was trying to escape. He told me he had taken away 
 Mr. Heckrotte*t slaves, and said he had also taken away a good 
 many slaves from Harford county ; he also said he had taken a 
 number of slaves from this State ; he said he had directed them 
 
184 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 to come to a house at the back of Greenmount cemetery, and 
 there he would meet them and take them to Pennsylvania ; he 
 said they had been very faithful servants ; he told me that 
 there was an old negro named Nick, near Greenmount ceme 
 tery, who assisted him ; he said he had had great difficulty in 
 persuading the slaves of Mr. Heckrotte to run away ; he had 
 to persuade the old woman two or three times; he threatened 
 to blow Mr. Heckrotte s brains out if ever he got out; he has 
 also threatened the keepers lives. 
 
 A letter was produced by Mr. Richardson, which witness 
 identified as one he sent to Mr. Heckrotte. The letter was read 
 by Mr. Richardson, as follows: 
 
 Baltimore, Oct. 1(>, 1844. 
 
 Dear Sir : As you requested me to give you a statement in re 
 gard to what Mr. Torrey told me concerning your negroes, I 
 shall begin at the beginning. In speaking about the starting place, 
 he told me that back of Greenmount cemetery burying-ground 
 was the starting place; there is a negro there that is unpleased 
 with him, which is a blacksmith. I have often heard Torrey 
 speak of him about his being a confidential old fellow, that he 
 could trust him with any secret; he also told me that he was 
 seen at Deer creek, a washing his horse ; he also related to me 
 about being arrested somewhere near Peachbottom, where he 
 had a pair of pistols taken from him, and kept; his pocket-book 
 was taken from him also, and given back ; he also told me that 
 he did take three slaves from you ; I recollect his telling, in par 
 ticular, about an old woman, as he said you called her, and two 
 others ; he told me that he had persuaded her two or three times 
 before he could get her away ; he told me that your slaves were 
 taken to Philadelphia and sent from there to New York ; he also 
 told me that he gave directions to Kemp and his party which 
 way to go ; Fie told me that they went on to New York ; he also 
 told rne who his agent was, but 1 cannot recollect exactly what 
 his name was, but think his name was Hall ; he also told me 
 about taking eight or nine from one man, but cannot recollect the 
 man ; he also told me that he took three slaves from one Mr. 
 Patterson ; he told me that he had taken so many away from this 
 State that he could not tell how many he had taken ; he also 
 told me that if he got out he would have more out of this State 
 than ever had been taken. 
 
 Mr. Htckrotle, Baltimore. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Johnson. I came in jail because the 
 constable put me there; I was charged with an offence. 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 185 
 
 Mr. Johnson asked, what offence? 
 
 Mr. Richardson objected to the question. 
 
 Mr. Johnson stated to the court that his object was to show to 
 the jury, if he could, that this man expected to be benefited ac 
 cording to the testimony he gave in this case, by a pardon. 
 
 Mr. Richardson said, if that was the object he should with 
 draw his objection. 
 
 The defence was here shown by the indictments against him. 
 
 Hatch is my true name ; I have gone by the name of Wilson ; 
 I had been confined in the room with Torrey before he attempted 
 to break out, better than a month ; he made this confession to me 
 after he had determined to escape ; before that, he said nothing 
 about it; I think there were eight in the room altogether; their 
 names, as far as I know, were Stewart, Davis, James Murphy, 
 Robert Gamble, Holmes, Torrey ; they did not hear it ; he told it 
 secretly to me ; lie did not put confidence in the others ; I did 
 not know him before I was in jail ; I suppose he knew what I 
 was there for, by the newspapers; I don t know the size of the 
 room exactly ; speaking as I am speaking now, I could be heard 
 all over the room; I did not say anything about it to the other 
 prisoners ; I didn t see proper ; I told it afterwards because cir 
 cumstances alter cases ; the time hadn t come ; it has come now ; 
 I have told it before, to Mr. Heckrotte ; I sent for him when Tor 
 rey was going to escape ; if there had been a chance, I think it 
 likely I should have gone too; he did not tell me till about a 
 week or ten days before the attempt to escape ; I did not send 
 for Mr. Heckrotte till that attempt was frustrated ; I thought I 
 was hi duty bound to tell Mr. Heckrotte then ; Mr. Zell carne 
 with Mr. Heckrotte; Mr. Zell was not in the room when I told 
 Heckrotte; I told Mr. Patterson about it; I was promised no 
 thing in my own case if I told it; I did it voluntarily; after I 
 told Heckrotte, I had some conversations with the other priso 
 ners ; Davis was there and heard what I told Heckrotte ; I can t 
 tell what Torrey s reasons were for telling me ; he said he ex 
 pected to get clear without difficulty ; he said the pistols were to 
 be brought by his landlady ; I had nothing to do with the pistols 
 or powder; I assisted Torrey to get one man out, to help him 
 out afterwards ; 1 gave my note for $20, and Klein and Torrey 
 gave him $30 to get out and to go Holmes security, who was to 
 help Torrey out ; I did not sign the note I sent to Mr. Heckrotte ; 
 I sent it by one of the keepers ; I think Torrey furnished me with 
 the paper; he gave me several sheets; I think he gave me the 
 pen and ink ; Torrey was in another cell ; Davis tied a stick to 
 16* 
 
186 MEMOIR OP TOHRET. 
 
 a string and hove it along to Torrey s window ; he tied up the 
 paper, ink and pen in a handkerchief, and Davis pulled it back ; 
 I don t know how I sent the ink back ; perhaps I gave it to one 
 of the keepers ; it might have been sent back the same way it 
 was brought ; I had it two or three days. 
 
 By Mr. Richardson. I think Mr. Heckrotte came the next day 
 after I wrote a note to him ; I had never heard any one speak of 
 Mr. Torrey s offence but himself; Holmes got out of jail about 
 one or two days after the arrangement was made ; Holmes was 
 to go to Philadelphia and get tools ; he did so ; Mr. Torrey told 
 me so ; the tools were brought in by Mr. Torrey s landlady ; I 
 saw her when she took them out of her bosom wrapped up in 
 a piece of brown paper; Torrey wore whiskers in jail; he 
 shaved them off lately; perhaps three or four weeks ago. 
 
 Mr. Heckrotte recalled. I went to see Southmayd in conse 
 quence of Mr. Zell calling on me and telling me if 1 went to the 
 jail I could learn something about my negroes from a prisoner 
 named Southmayd ; I went there and saw him, and he commu 
 nicated the facts ; I afterwards sent him word to put them in 
 writing ; he told me they had been secreted in a house back of 
 Greenmount; that that was Torrey s general place of deposit; 
 he said that Torrey had got them to Pennsylvania in the neigh 
 borhood of Peachbottom, and then they were sent to Philadel 
 phia and thence to New York, to Church street, I believe he said. 
 I conversed with Southmayd on the back porch of the jail, 
 where one of the wardens brought him to me; I afterwards 
 went out with Mr. Patterson, and I believe he had some conver 
 sation with Southmayd. 
 
 Warden Graham, sworn. When Torrey came to jail he wore 
 whiskers ; he shaved them off I think about five or six weeks 
 ago. 
 
 By Mr. Johnson. They were thin black whiskers, passing un 
 der the chin. 
 
 The State here closed the case on the part of the prosecution, 
 and the defence called up 
 
 Capt. Wise, sworn. lias known Southmayd about seven 
 years; he sailed in a ship with me about two years; from my 
 knowledge of his character, I would not believe him on his oath ; 
 he went by the name of Thomas B. Hatch. 
 
 By Mr. Richardson. I have never heard any one speak par 
 ticularly of his character for veracity; I have heard of his gene 
 ral character. Mr. Richardson urged, upon this statement, that 
 the individual opinion of this witness was not evidence. 
 
THE TRIAL OP MR. TORREY. 187 
 
 Mr. Johnson contended that if it was proved that the general 
 character of the man was so had that the witness would not be 
 lieve him on his oath, the evidence was admissible. If the man s 
 general character was universally bad, no man would suspect 
 him of the peculiar virtue of veracity. 
 
 The court expressed an opinion that the evidence must be 
 confined to the general character for veracity. 
 
 Mir. Johnson prayed the court to allow him to look to the au 
 thority on the subject. He then quoted from Phillip, page 291, 
 the opinion of Justice Buller, that there were two ways of im 
 peaching the credibility of a witness, one of which is by proving 
 that his general reputation is so bad that he would not be be 
 lieved on oath. 
 
 The court stated that it had always required the examination 
 of a counter witness to be confined to veracity, and should do so 
 in this instance. 
 
 Mr. Johnson continued the examination. I have heard per 
 sons say they wouldn t believe him. 
 
 By Mr. Richardson. I don t know that I said I had never 
 heard his character for veracity spoken of. 
 
 Justice Gray, sworn. Is a magistrate ; there are two rooms in 
 my office ; the witnesses came into the front room before the time 
 ruled for trial, and were conducted into the back office ; they 
 were witnesses also in a civil case against Torrey at the suit of 
 Woodward ; the Rigdon s were there ; the examination in the 
 criminal charge was conducted by Messrs. Cox and Gallagher; 
 Mr. Torrey stood near me some time, and afterwards sat down 
 just below me; when young Heckrotte came in, he was asked 
 if he could recognize the person he had seen at his father s gate ; 
 he said it was dark and he didn t know that he could identify him ; 
 he was told to look round the office, and finally pointed to Mr. 
 Torrey and said, " I think that is the man." 
 
 Mr. Cox, sworn. I was counsel with Mr. Gallagher, employed 
 by Mr. Torrey to defend him in a civil suit ; my recollection of 
 the proceedings are the same as those of Mr. Gray, with the 
 exception of the position of Mr. Torrey, who stood by the side 
 of Mr. Gallagher, and was continually conversing with him ; my 
 recollection of young Heckrotte s identification is distinct; he 
 said it was a dark night, and lie could not say positively who was 
 the man ; I was about to cross-examine him, when Mr. Collins, 
 who was engaged by Mr. Woodward in the civil suit, remarked 
 that that was not necessary, inasmuch as the young man had 
 failed to identify him. 
 
1 88 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Robert Gamble, sworn. Was in the room where Torrey was 
 confined ; there were six beside myself; Southma^d took a part 
 in trying to get out ; has had the saw and worked with it. 
 
 By Mr. Richardson. I can t say where the saw came from, 
 it was there when 1 was put there ; I was in the room when 
 they were attempting to get out ; it was in the daytime ; I did 
 not assist ; there were five of them who worked at it. 
 
 Warden Graham recalled. On the morning we discovered 
 the attempt to break out, we removed the prisoners, and whilst 
 1 was ironing Mr. Torrey, he said he was sorry for the others in 
 the room if they were to suffer, as he had been the sole origi 
 nator and instigator of the attempt to escape ; he spoke partic 
 ularly of Southmayd, who he said had had nothing at all to do 
 with it. 
 
 Simeon Hays, sworn. I saw a letter from Rigdon to Mr. 
 Heckrotte, in relation to his negroes ; he showed it to me ; I 
 don t recollect having received any letter in relation to it ; I 
 think I saw one or two that Mr. Heckrotte received. I think it 
 must have been about a month after I saw the letter that Tor 
 rey was arrested ; I am not certain ; within two weeks probably. 
 
 John Zell, sworn. I saw a letter from Mr. Rigdon, brought 
 to the office J3y Mr. Heckrotte; I am certain we never received 
 a letter ourselves on the subject ; I went to the prison to see 
 Southmayd, who sent forme, to tell me something about Mr. 
 Heckrotte s negroes ; I called on Mr. Heckrotte, and we went 
 together; we had Southmayd arid a boy named Davis brought 
 out, the message stating that both had something to communi 
 cate ; I talked to Davis on the porch, and Mr. Heckrotte talked 
 to Southmayd; I could not hear what they said ; I went there 
 once afterwards with Mr. Heckrotte, but said nothing to South 
 mayd ; I have no knowledge of any inducements held out to 
 Southmayd, of my own ; Mr. Heckrotte told me that he had 
 promised to use some influence for him ; I heard Mr. Heckrotte 
 tell Southmayd in my presence, that he would use his exertions 
 to get him a pardon, if he came out candidly ; did not know if 
 he could succeed. 
 
 By Mr. Richardson. I saw Southmayd when he sent for me, 
 alone, and Southmayd began to make some disclosures, and I 
 stopped him ; I told him I did not want to hear any thing about 
 it; if he had any thing to tell, he had better tell Mr. Heckrotte ; 
 I think it was upon the second visit that Mr. Heckrotte told 
 Southmayd that lie would use his exertions in his behalf; I 
 could not hear what Mr. Heckrotte had said before to him. 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRET. 189 
 
 Mr. Ileckrotte, recalled. I don t remember making any di 
 rect promises to Southmayd ; I told him I was a whig, and had 
 no influence with the present Governor; but what I could do for 
 him I would ; this was after the first interview before he made 
 the written communication. 
 
 By Mr. Johnson. My promise to use my influence was not 
 to take effect until after he had given his testimony. 
 
 The defence was closed at this point, and Mr. Richardson 
 arose and addressed the jury ; he went briefly over the leading 
 facts elicited during the examination, and left the case to the 
 counsel for defence, with the remark, that upon such testimony 
 they must either find the traverser guilty, or erase from the 
 statute hook the enactment under which he was indicted. 
 
 Mr. Cox followed, and observed that, until that morning, he 
 had not been aware that it would have been a part of his duty to 
 address the jury ; he proceeded, however, with an animated 
 and eloquent appeal in behalf of his client, and evidently suc 
 ceeded in gaining the attention, and enlisting the interest of the 
 multitude without the jury box, whatever might have been the 
 effect of his remarks within it. He touched briefly on some 
 points of the testimony, and concluded with an expression of 
 his satisfaction that the argument would be continued by the dis 
 tinguished and learned counsel engaged in the cause. 
 
 The court now took a recess for an hour. 
 
 AFTERNOON SESSION. 
 
 On the assembling of the court in the afternoon, Mr. Johnson 
 proceeded with the argument before the jury, and but that the 
 limits of our space in these columns restrained our hand, we 
 should have followed him throughout his powerful, eloquent, 
 noble vindications of his client, the analysis of the evidence in 
 clusive. We, however, confine ourselves to a brief notice of 
 the magnificent exordium with which he held the immense 
 multitude, which crowded to overflow the spacious court room, 
 spell bound, in breathless silence. 
 
 He commenced with an allusion to the institution of slavery, 
 and with a strong, though carefully guarded language, drew the 
 distinction between its moral and legal existence. He referred 
 to it as the dreaded cause of civil strife, its agitation the fre 
 quent cause of servile war. He deprecated with fervent energy, 
 such a consequence as tending to that most fearful result, to 
 blot from the world the choicest freedom that Divine Providence, 
 
190 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 in its infinite goodness, has ever vouchsafed to man. He had 
 his peculiar opinions of the institution of slavery, which it did 
 not hecome him to speak of here as a citizen of Maryland. As 
 a mere subject of political economy, as a matter of dollars 
 and cents, Maryland would be infinitely richer if the whole sys 
 tem of slavery could be brought rightfully to an end. Right 
 fully he said. To be done with the law, and not against the law 
 to be done openly and not secretly ; not in such a way as to 
 light the torch of the incendiary not in such a way as to de 
 stroy property but to preserve it. 
 
 When the traverser, whose opinions on this subject have 
 never been kept secret, applied to me, said Mr. Johnson, to act 
 as his counsel in this case, I made up my mind at once to ren 
 der him all the aid that I could render him, under a fixed and 
 settled purpose, to express no opinion, to declare no sentiment, 
 even in the excitement of the forensic contest that might in any 
 way hazard the peace of our common State. 1 felt a natural, an 
 earnest solicitude that he should have a fair and impartial trial. 
 As far as I know, as the functions of this tribunal could extend, 
 this honorable court, and its officers, he would have it. But in 
 the department which you occupy, I felt there might be dan 
 ger. The very atmosphere was rife with personal prejudices. 
 It was not only that one of the institutions of our State was sup 
 posed to have been assailed and violated by this man, but that 
 the very cause in which he had assailed it, had loomed so large 
 in that portion of our country from which he was supposed to 
 have come, that it had become an integral political subject, by 
 which our country was to be agitated for evil or for good. It 
 had been inculcated into the political world in such a form, and 
 with such vigorous assiduity, as to threaten the dissolution of this 
 our blessed Union. And the fact which had fastened itself upon my 
 own mind, I knew might find access to the minds of others, 
 and thus go with the juror into that box, and without his know 
 ing it, to influence his decision. 
 
 Mr. Torrey was not unknown in the State of Maryland. I 
 knew that it was generally known, that at an assembly of our 
 fellow-citizens called a * Slaveholders Convention, held some 
 time since at Annapolis, he had been present, in what I 
 thought then, and still think the admitted right of a reporter 
 for some northern prints, he had been seized and incarcerated 
 but finally liberated under the wholesome and without which 
 we should all be slaves writ of habeas corpus. He was liber 
 ated and went away, but he left his name behind, and prejudice 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRET. 191 
 
 had fastened upon it as a fit subject for animadversion ; while 
 the public mind was agitated to frenzy by what was thought to 
 be an unjustifiable and unpardonable interference with the pro 
 ceedings. Thus exposed to animadversion, to denunciation and 
 reproach, I could not be blind to what I supposed would be his 
 fate. I felt that there was every probability that he might come 
 before this tribunal under these influences without, rather like 
 a victim bound for the sacrifice, than like a free man to be tried 
 by the laws of his country. And if I may be permitted to say 
 a word of a personal character, I engaged in his cause, prompt 
 ed by the emotions springing from this view of his position, 
 without expectation of any other compensation than a sense of 
 duty affords seeing to his abject poverty I may say hopeless 
 poverty, I could not do less than this. Since then I have had 
 other persuasive influences he has a wife and children. A 
 proper sense of delicacy forbids me to speak as I would, for that 
 wife is now within the sound of my voice ; but this 1 may say 
 in all the mental accomplishments with which woman can 
 be endowed, in all the loveliness of moral character for which 
 her sex in its greatest perfection is noted, she can compare, and 
 compare well, with any other woman within the limits of our 
 country. She has come here to witness the trial of this husband 
 in whom all her affections are centered. She has come to be 
 present at the probable adverse termination of this trial. She 
 has come if such should be the law and the evidence to see 
 him the last time before he is incarcerated within the walls of a 
 prison a fate which will forbid an interview for years. But 
 she has come with all the affections of woman s heart, burning 
 within her bosom, and though adverse his fate, those affections 
 will go with him to his prison be with him for his consolation 
 they will follow and cling to him there through the long and 
 distressing years he may be doomed to pass, and in her prayers 
 will watch over him every hour; and she will inculcate in her 
 children, while their father is toiling out the penalty he has in 
 curred, the fact, that however guilty he may be deemed of vio 
 lating the laws of man, he did it under the strong and imperious 
 conviction, that there was another law controlling him and all 
 our institutions, having its immediate emanation from God re 
 quiring at his hands a duty which he could not refuse to per 
 form. And should Heaven suffer him to live out the years of 
 his incarceration, he will return to his wife, his children, his 
 friends, distinguished and numerous as they are, with no moral 
 
192 
 
 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 stain upon his name, with every moral attribute of his nature 
 untouched, to carry out the purpose of his life and vocation. 
 
 Mr. Torrey, gentlemen, is not an ordinary culprit or to speak 
 what I intended he is no ordinary rnan to be arraigned as a 
 culprit. A graduate with honor in one of the first Universities 
 in the land, his life was devoted peculiarly devoted to the 
 study of Heaven s law, and he became a minister of the gospel 
 at a very youthful age a quite distinguished eminence in that 
 great great in revolutionary reminiscences great in all the 
 historical and patriotic associations of our country the com 
 monwealth of Massachusetts. It was his to labor in the holiest 
 cause to which man can be devoted; not only to inform the ig 
 norant, but to strengthen the hopes of the believer, to assail the 
 thoughtless and indifferent, and to win them from the ways of 
 sin. He stood irreproachable in his calling, and until this ques 
 tion of abolition became one of the leading questions of the 
 North, the breath of suspicion never fell upon the man. Here 
 he is, gentlemen, relying upon his advocates to get him clear if 
 we can, of the charge for which he is indicted ; or if not, to bear 
 willing testimony for him, that whatever the crime may be if 
 committed and crime it may be called, so far as moral wrong 
 may be in the commission of that crime, he stands unspotted 
 now in the eyes of man and of God. 
 
 I have one other remark to make, gentlemen, in this part of 
 my subject. I know, and have reason to know, that there is an 
 anxiety relating to the result of this trial, not confined to our un 
 fortunate client, his relatives or friends, but extending through 
 out our common Union. Not confined to that part of our coun 
 try, which would seek to make the subject of abolition a political 
 element, and to be prosecuted to extremity without regard to 
 consequences, but throughout all sections and divisions of the 
 land; and throughout all I have seen, that if the proceedings in 
 this trial should be published, and I observe that they are about 
 to be published, our brethren will see that another man, no 
 matter how deeply he may be steeped in abolition faith, no mat 
 ter how great may be the excitement against him in the public 
 mind, is, in Maryland, slave State as she is, he will not only have 
 the ablest counsel, but is actually certain that his case will be 
 fairly tried by impartial men. And I say, in the presence of this 
 traverser and the friends by whom he is surrounded, that so far 
 as the law arid the evidence are concerned, this trial has been as 
 fair and impartial as human frailty can make it. 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 193 
 
 But, gentlemen, in order to vouch for this fact to all who may 
 sympathize with this traverser, (and they are not confined to citi 
 zens of Pennsylvania, New York or the Eastern States, but in 
 Ohio, Indiana, and sure to be found from the very nature of our 
 being, wherever human freedom exists unalloyed by human sla 
 very,) it is all-important that no conviction should be had, except 
 upon evidence where there is no doubt of the guilt. You are not 
 to be blind to the condition of the country; you are not to be 
 deaf to the dangers with which we are surrounded and I am 
 sure you have felt that upon this question of domestic slavery, 
 sooner or later, is to be fought that battle which is to determine 
 whether this Union is to exist, or not. It is my wish, my ear 
 nest desire, that it should be fought by moral force ; I wish to 
 keep out of it the physical energies of mankind ; to avoid the 
 shedding by brothers of brothers blood. It is our duty, then, 
 in this State at least, that we may act our part as conservators 
 of the peace of the Union, to let no abolitionist be punished, ex 
 cept upon such evidence as will leave no room for doubt. Once 
 have it understood among our Northern brethren, that to be ac 
 cused in a slave State is to be convicted, to excite prejudices an 
 invariable result of accusation, and the death-warrant of the Union 
 is from that day signed. For notwithstanding all we may say 
 of it, from the time of our first Union the principle had become 
 very universally admitted, that property in man had no existence 
 except in the laws of man, and while they are acting out this 
 principle, the only moral persuasion which can address itself to 
 our Northern brethren, is to show them that we so far respect 
 their views and sentiments with regard to us. as to assure them 
 that they are in no danger of punishment except on such evi 
 dence as can leave no rational doubt in the minds of a jury. 
 Now, gentlemen, let us see if that is the case here. 
 
 I am not here to ask you to erase from the statute book any of 
 its enactments, as the learned prosecutor has said you must do, 
 before you can acquit tins man. If it were necessary I should 
 be here to maintain it. That enactment is relative to an institu 
 tion peculiar to our State ; it is a matter of our domestic concern; 
 it is placed beyond the reach of any exterior power. I am not 
 here, then, to question either its legality or sanctity, if I may so 
 express myself. 
 
 Gentlemen, in the verdict which you will pronounce in rela 
 tion to this man, you will not, I am sure, desire to go beyond 
 the letter and the provisions of this act, under which he is in 
 dicted. It is an act of 1827, ch. 15, and the first section. Novr 
 17 
 
194 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 what does it say? "If any free person shall entice, persuade or 
 assist any slave or servant, knowing him or her to he such, to 
 run away from his or her lawful owner, or shall harbor, etc., 
 then such person shall be indicted in the county court of such 
 county in which the offence shall he committed, or in Baltimore 
 city court" now mark, gentlemen " if such offence shall be 
 committed in Baltimore city." 
 
 Now what becomes of the case ? Now what is the use of all 
 the evidence we have relative to the Harford road ? What if 
 Mr. Torrey is enticing, persuading and assisting these negroes 
 to run away at Peachbottom, at Deer creek, or anywhere else 
 up there ; you may indict him if you like in Harford county, 
 but convict him in Baltimore city court you can t, for an offence 
 committed at Deer creek, under this act, and with this indict 
 ment. 
 
 Mr. Johnson then proceeded to speak of the two witnesses on 
 whose testimony the State must rest to prove the offence within 
 the limits of the city of Baltimore, Charles Heckrotte and Thomas 
 South mayd. Previously, however, he reviewed, at considerable 
 length, the other evidence in the case, illustrating the fact that, 
 although Mr. Heckrotte s negroes disappeared on the evening of 
 the 4th of June, between eight and nine o clock, Torrey is seen, 
 on the morning of the 5th, above Deer creek, driving a one-horse 
 carriage, in which is a negro woman, confessedly not one of 
 Heckrotte s. He asked, where were Heckrotte s negroes then ? 
 Torrey a day s journey from Baltimore, the next morning after 
 they leave their master s protection, travelling with another wo 
 man. If they left the city and met him in Harford county, he 
 certainly is not guilty of having persuaded, enticed or assisted 
 them in the city, and unless you believe this you cannot convict 
 him. Mr. Johnson thoroughly argued this portion of the evidence ; 
 visited Deer creek, took up the crackers and Bologna sausages, 
 the description of the negroes given by Samuel Rigdon, exhibited 
 in connection with the fact that he had seen the full description 
 published in the Sun by Mr. Heckrotte. He followed the wit 
 nesses through their varying description* of Torrey, and quoted 
 from the letter of Robert Rigdon to Mr. Heckrotte, in which he 
 describes the driver of the carriage as a " dark cornplexioned 
 man, high nose, small round whiskers, forbidding appearance, 
 and a Yankee-looking fellow." Mr. Johnson proceeded to the 
 identity of the negroes, contending that it was vague and indefi 
 nite, and not entitled to credit ; one witness only professing to 
 discover a tooth gone, and in that particular to a fault, designat- 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRE Y. 195 
 
 ing it as an eye-tooth, after the mere glance of the party passing 
 him. The whole testimony was elaborately reviewed, fact by fact, 
 and finally that of Charles Heckrotte and Southmayd assailed 
 with a degree of energy and analytical skill that seemed resolved 
 to destroy. The gentle/nan concluded after having spoken two 
 hours and three quarters. 
 
 The court adjourned until Monday morning at ten o clock.* 
 
 Monday, Dec. 2, 1844. 
 
 The hall of the court house was quite thronged this morning 
 previous to the opening of the doors of the court room, so in 
 tense had become the popular desire to hear the closing argu 
 ment of the distinguished gentleman who represents the State 
 in this prosecution. Within two minutes alter the doors were 
 opened, the court room was thronged in ever} 7 part A glance 
 at the multitude was sufficient to satisfy the eye that it was com 
 posed of the most respectable of our fellow citizens. We ob 
 served a number of the clergymen of cur city, many of the 
 merchants and gentlemen of every profession, and the interest 
 which they felt in the case was emphatically expressed in the 
 unbroken silence which was observed throughout the period of 
 nearly two hours, which was occupied by Mr. Richardson in his 
 address to the jury. 
 
 Among other distinguished gentlemen present, we observed 
 upon the bench, somewhat excluded by others in front, the Hon. 
 Mr. Pratt, Governor elect of Maryland. 
 
 As soon as the Chief Judge hail taken his seat, at about ten 
 minutes after ten o clock, Mr. Richardson rose and spoke to the 
 following pur|K>rt : 
 
 Gentlemen of the Jury, the argument which I propose to sub 
 mit to you this morning,will be confined entirely to the case which 
 is presented by the evidence and the law relating thereto. It is no 
 part of my intention to travel out of the line of argument to which 
 these limits restrict me. I shall not pretend to discuss the sub 
 ject of slavery as it exists in the South, or the peculiar views 
 and sentiments of an adverse character entertained by the peo 
 ple of the North. All that I have to do in the performance of 
 my duty here, is to speak of the laws of the State of Maryland 
 
 * One thing is worthy of remark in this report of the trial. Mr. 
 ard son s speech is reported in ///, while nothing scarcely of Mr. John 
 son s is reported save his exordium. Why not follow him as lie txamincd 
 stimony? It will ever he believed by many, that this omission was 
 intended, in order that no impression should he made upon the mind of 
 the community in favor of Mr. Torrey s innocence. ED. 
 
196 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 as we find them it is by those laws that the prisoner is to be 
 tried, and by the same laws you are sworn as his jurors. You 
 will therefore try this case as you would any other upon the 
 law and the facts and therefore it differs from no other. You 
 will look only to the solemn obligation which you have assu 
 med, and the responsibilities associated therewith. It is not for 
 you to consider the relations of private life which may exist with 
 regard to this prisoner; nor are you to investigate those feel 
 ings which may actuate him, as supposed to emanate from God ; 
 or any other principle of action or consideration, that may have 
 been interposed between you arid your duty. You sit there bound 
 by the oaths which you have taken, and the solemnity of the re 
 sponsibilities imposed on you, responsibilities which nothing can 
 sever, and from which nothing can release you. It is required of 
 you that you deal impartially with this traverser, between him and 
 the State of Maryland. Even though civil broil ensue, though ser 
 vile war shall be the consequence, aye, though the disunion of this 
 confederacy be the result of your verdict, you cannot sever your 
 self from the obligations which you have respectively assumed. 
 Coming then to the deliberation of this question, severed and se 
 gregated as you are from the community, in the particular duty to 
 which you have been called ; you will come with me to the calm, 
 unbiassed, and I am sure unprejudiced consideration of the facts 
 of the case. 
 
 The question which engages our attention is then, what are 
 the points which are to be presented in this case, and which are 
 to tend to the conviction of this prisoner? It is necessary for 
 the State to establish first, that the traverser was the individual 
 who drove the carriage which was seen passing up the Harford 
 road on the morning of the 7th June, as referred to by the wit 
 nesses ; and secondly, that the negroes with him in that carriage 
 were the property of Mr. Heckrotte. This proved, the corollary 
 of charges are established that he enticed, persuaded and assist 
 ed them to run away. Now is there a man in that jury box, 
 who having heard all the evidence, doubts that that carriage was 
 driven by the prisoner at the bar ? I do not remember that the 
 learned counsel who last addressed you on Saturday, attempted 
 to controvert the fact. It is certain that on the 4th June he hired 
 the carriage and horses of Mr. Woodward ; that he went up the 
 road with that carriage and horses on the morning of the 5th, 
 and returned the same day. It is equally certain that the individ 
 ual now on trial, drove the carriage. The witnesses tell you pos 
 itively that the prisoner is the person whom they saw so engaged. 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRE Y. 197 
 
 . 
 
 George Rigdon tolls you that he saw him at Deer creek bridge, 
 and looked at him there for ten minutes. 
 
 Mr. Richardson now proceeded successively to the testimony 
 of each of the witnesses, arraying the facts first with reference 
 to the identity of Torrey, and next those having their applica 
 tion tor the identification of the witnesses. As this testimony 
 has already been before the reader, it will be unnecessary to re 
 fer more particularly to it. In concluding that portion directed 
 towards the identity of Torrey, the learned attorney exclaimed, 
 with emphasis, if evidence could be demanded for the convic 
 tion of any man, stronger than this, I am unable to determine 
 what the strength of testimony is. 
 
 The next question is, said Mr. R., whether the negroes were 
 the property of Mr. Heckrotte ? To this point the testimony of 
 Mr. H. was first advanced in proof that he lost them on the 
 evening of the 4th June. There were mother, daughter and 
 son, all stout and well proportioned the first about forty years 
 of age, the second, nineteen, and the last seventeen. On the 
 morning of the 7th, three negroes, corresponding in every par 
 ticular, are seen as had been described by witnesses. Mr. 
 Richardson referred to the dress, appearance, &c., agreeing in 
 every particular. He thought lie could not be taxing the cre 
 dulity of the jury too much to ask them to believe that they 
 were the same. Mr. R. then referred to the finding of the frag 
 ments of sausages, and the entire cracker at Deer creek bridge, 
 the latter marked H. H. He would not pretend to refer to so 
 apparently unimportant a fact as worthy of a moment s consider 
 ation in itself; but, contended Mr. R., facts and circumstances 
 in such a position as those in the present case, do not have their 
 individual weight alone. Their importance increases in geo 
 metrical progression, not fact by fact, but 1 4 16, etc., weav 
 ing, as it were, a ligament about the accused beyond the power 
 of moral strength to destroy. Thus a withe that a mere child 
 might break, when bound together with others, no stronger than 
 itself may become too strong for a giant to sunder. So with a 
 single fact which lias no power in itself, when followed and as 
 sociated and surrounded by others, becomes too strong for hu 
 man credulity to resist. 
 
 Mr. R. then proceeded to speak of the fact of the tooth being 
 out, as observed by Samuel Rigdon and Amos, though not by 
 Robert Rigdon, and contended that in all cases one positive tes 
 timony was worth a dozen negative, but here were two positive 
 to one negative. 
 
 17* 
 
 
198 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 Were this all on which the State had to rest, said Mr. R., were 
 this all to which I have now alluded, I could confidently declare 
 that the State had made out a case which was sufficient in itself. 
 But there is yet behind that which, if I may so express myself, 
 puts a cap upon the pillar of evidence which no man can throw 
 down. Here is the ribbon, gentlemen. Mr. R. then spoke to 
 this branch of the testimony, and especially to the fact that the 
 color had faded. Now, said Mr. R., every man knows that green 
 is made by the admixture of yellow and blue ; and any man 
 who has but a superficial acquaintance with chemistry, knows 
 also that if you extract the blue, the yellow remains. Now I 
 have, to make assurance doubly sure, taken the blue from a por 
 tion of this ribbon gradually less and less from a certain point 
 down to the end, where I have pinned the piece found at Deer 
 creek. (This Mr. R. handed to the jury for their examination.) 
 That ribbon, gentlemen, speaks more conclusively than the oath 
 of any man upon earth. 
 
 Mr. R. now referred to the letter written by Samuel Rigdon 
 to Mr. Heckrotte, at the instance of George, and defended the 
 witnesses from the charge of variation in their statements, as 
 hinted from the other side, and claimed for them though hum 
 ble in life, a character for veracity and integrity second to that 
 of neither judge, counsel, jury, or spectator. 
 
 But, sny the counsel on the other side, it is true, if you please, 
 that Torrey was seen in the carriage, arid they were the negroes 
 of Mr. Heckrotte. The act of Assembly confines you to the city 
 of Baltimore. He was seen in Harford county, and you cannot 
 punish him in Baltimore city court. Gentlemen of the jury, look 
 at the position in which their client is placed by the very point 
 raised by his counsel. Although he is the guilty man, you can 
 not declare that he is so, because he is not before the right tri 
 bunal. So then, under the high obligations of the oath yon have 
 taken, you are to let him go free, in the effort to grope about for 
 the right tribunal. I apprehend that he will have to raise a higher 
 principle of defence than this, before he asks you to trifle with 
 your oaths. He is here, where he ought to be. This is the court 
 in which he is and must be tried. The circumstances are on oath 
 before us, and I ask you to go with me to their investigation. 
 If he is not guilty here, he is not guilty in Harford. Mr. Heck 
 rotte loses three kind, obedient, affectionate servants; affection 
 ate, I say, for at their own desire, on the death of their mistress, 
 they are put into mourning for her. According to the theory of 
 the counsel for the defence, he might have taken them up in the 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRET. 199 
 
 road, without any previous understanding. We are to believe 
 that Torrey is driving down the road to Baltimore, and meets 
 these three negroes accidentally, without previous concert, or 
 knowledge of them, takes them into his carriage, turns about 
 and drives them into Pennsylvania. Now I say, that if they 
 were informed that if they left their master, a carriage would be 
 at a given place to carry them off, though without the limits of 
 direct taxation, and the driver of that carriage knew that they 
 were runaway slaves, he is guilty here. If Mr. Torrey was that 
 man, though they had never seen Mr. Torrey, he is guilty, here, 
 within the meaning of the act of Assembly. 
 
 Mr. R. then referred briefly to the testimony of Charles Heck- 
 rotte, contending that there was some reason why the individual 
 who was conversing with the girl at the gate, walked away 
 when Charles approached. And if so, why should it not be Mr. 
 Torrey as well as any other man, although the counsel argues 
 that had it been him he would have turned the other way. 
 Charles tells you, when he sees Mr. Torrey, that he believes he 
 is the man. Mr. Richardson now came, " last though not least," 
 he observed, to the testimony of South mayd. The counsel says 
 that the State has not made out its case without South mayd, or 
 it would never have introduced his testimony. Such is not the 
 case. The State could safely leave the case here ; but I care not 
 how black may be the character of the witness, there are circum 
 stances which prove his truth, and over which his character can 
 have no influence or control. He is there in the room with Tor 
 rey ; they with some of their fellow-prisoners have made an at- 
 fort to escape, and first it is necessary to aid the escape of one 
 of their number. This is done by means of bail, which this court 
 understands; a man, Klein 1 mean, who will perjure himself for 
 a price, is security for Holmes, and Holmes the fact is uncon- 
 tradicted goes to Philadelphia and obtains instruments for the 
 work of escape, which are introduced into the jail to Torrey, by 
 his landlady. At the time of this joint attempt to escape, South- 
 muyd becomes the confidant of Torrey, and subsequently, when 
 he thinks proper to communicate with Mr. Heckrotte, he states 
 facts which have never been published in any newspaper in the 
 city of Baltimore ; facts that he could have had from no one but 
 Torrey, or by special revelation ; but according to the counsel 
 on the other side, he is not the man to whom a mysterious reve 
 lation is at all likely to be made. Therefore I say, though he is 
 black as Erebus, some good may come out of Nazareth, and the 
 devil himself may speak the truth. Mr. Richardson read South- 
 
200 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 mayd s letter to Mr. Heckrotte ; referred to the statements there 
 in contained, relative to the old negro at the back of the ceme 
 tery, the washing the horse in Deer creek, the arrest of Torrey 
 and the taking away of his pistols, and called upon the defence 
 to show that these things were not so. He contended that they 
 carne from Torrey, and that Sonthmayd could have had them 
 from no other source. He spoke of the persuasion necessary to 
 get the old woman away from her master, corresponding with the 
 account given by Mr. Heckrotte, of the agreeable relations in 
 which they lived, until the peace and harmony of the family was 
 invaded by the evil day in which the prisoner introduced him 
 self. And he would venture to say that they are far less happy 
 at their present abode than they were under the roof of a kind 
 and indulgent master. 
 
 A word more and I have done, said Mr. R. I am not here to 
 speak of the private relations of the prisoner with any other in 
 dividual. It is unhappily too frequently the case that in the ad 
 ministration of wholesome justice, the innocent must suffer with 
 the guilty. Admit that the pangs to be inflicted on another are 
 agonizing, if you will, but if this consideration is to produce any 
 effect upon you adverse to your convictions of justice, the guilty 
 hereafter have nothing to do but to plead that in their punish 
 ment the pangs of anguish are to be inflicted upon the partners 
 of their lives, to escape the penalty of their crimes. You can sym 
 pathize with her, gentlemen, you must ; with all the anxiety of 
 your minds you may feel and dwell upon the intense anguish 
 which your verdict may inflict upon the wife, but you must ren 
 der that verdict in conformity with the obligations of your oath. 
 
 Mr. Johnson has told you that Torrey is no ordinary culprit, 
 that he is a graduate of one of our first universities, and was in 
 early life and for many years a distinguished minister of the gos 
 pel in the glorious old State of Massachusetts. Devoted to the 
 study of God s law. Has he done so ? And has he not learned 
 that that law binds him equally to God and the community in 
 which he lives ? One of the counsel has said that for the viola 
 tion of the law of man he will stand justified before God. Let 
 me tell him that he knows of no law that separates the citizen 
 from the Christian. If I know anything of God s law, it requires 
 every man to perform well all the relations of life. What has the 
 chief apostle of them all instructed us? Wives, obey your hus 
 bands; husbands, love your wives; children, reverence your pa 
 rents ; parents, teach your children ; servants, obey your masters, 
 not rendering them eye-service I speak not the letter, but the 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 201 
 
 spirit of the sentiment but obedience in all things. Here, then, 
 all the relations of life are inculcated and commended. Further 
 says the apostle: Obey your rulers; the powers that be are or 
 dained of God. Thus, then, if you disobey your rulers, you vio 
 late the ordinance of God. Are not the laws of the land, and the 
 magistrates by whom they are administered, to be respected ? 
 Am I to he told that the man who lives in the constant violation 
 of the laws of the land, is doing his duty ! Vain man ! who told 
 you that God s ordinances are higher than the laws of man ? 
 Who made you the judge of your fellows ? In this country, 
 from the Supreme court down to the lowest tribunal, the insti 
 tution in question has had sanction and protection. And can he 
 reconcile it to his conscience to live in open or in secret violation 
 of the acknowledged law ? But peradventure, he may think the 
 law of God is higher than the law of man ; and it was said that 
 he will stand justified before the bar of God. And moreover, 
 peradventure, it is said he thought he was doing God service ! 
 Ah ! did he so ? In the book from which he learned God s law, 
 he will find that bright and glorious intellect which illuminated 
 the mind of Saul of Tarsus, deceived by the same vain imagining. 
 Saul of Tarsus, who was afterwards the chiefest of the apostles, 
 was on his way to Damascus, to persecute the lowly followers 
 of Jesus; but suddenly he saw a light from heaven, a light that 
 illuminated at once his intellect and reason ; he heard the ac 
 companying words, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ?" 
 and looking up he saw in that bright light the lowly Nazarene, 
 exhibiting himself to his enraptured gaze, the Savior of mankind ! 
 The honest Jew saw, by the mysterious illumination of his mind, 
 the error of his ways he, too, thought he was doing God service. 
 That bright and glorious intellect, which afterwards irradiated 
 the whole Christian world, was mistaken in its zeal. Let no vain 
 man think that he is doing God service, when he comes in con 
 flict with man s laws ordained by his own people. 
 
 Gentlemen of the jury, if you can acquit the traverser, in the 
 name of God, do it ! But let me caution you that you allow no 
 excitement, either here or elsewhere, to operate upon your ver 
 dict. 
 
 Mr. Richardson handed the indictment to the jury, when the 
 foreman asked if they were to find the offence committed in the 
 city of Baltimore. Mr. Richardson told them they must, and 
 handed them the act of Assembly. 
 
 They then retired to their room, it being about twelve o clock. 
 The jury returned into court about twenty minutes before two 
 
202 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 o clock, having agreed upon a verdict finding the prisoner guilty, 
 on every indictment. 
 
 Mr. Cox, of counsel for the defence, immediately rose and sub 
 mitted a motion in arrest of judgment and for a new trial. 
 
 Counsel for the State, George R. Richardson, Esq., for the de 
 fence, Reverdy Johnson, Nathaniel Cox arid Francis Gallagher, 
 Esqs. 
 
 The evening after his conviction, Mr. Torrey addressed 
 the following letter to the editor of the Morning Chronicle. 
 
 Baltimore Jail, Dec. 3, 1844. 
 
 "Well, I am convicted; and, of course, liable, on each in 
 dictment, to six years imprisonment in the penitentiary. 
 
 " My counsel gave immediate notice of a motion for arrest 
 of judgment, on the ground of a legal defect in the indict 
 ment. But I do not believe that will be of any service, 
 though I have little doubt that the grounds of the motion are 
 legally correct. It is, that the indictment fails to state that, 
 in the words of the statute, I am a -free person? In States 
 where the quibbles of the old common law practice and spe 
 cial pleading prevail, I have no doubt the objection is a good 
 one. Massachusetts, most wisely and justly, set aside all 
 such proceedings, by that measure of legal reform which Rob 
 ert Rantoul, Jr. carried through the legislature. 
 
 " Even should the motion result in my discharge, it will not 
 change my settled opinion as to the bad and corrupting ten 
 dency of such proceedings. I submit to having the motion 
 made with the greatest reluctance ; albeit, I do not believe 
 the court will yield to it, plain as 1 am told the matter is, 
 where such legal technics have not been abolished by statute. 
 
 " Notice was given of a motion for a new trial. But this 
 my family, and other friends, urge me not to press. 
 
 " I say, without hesitation, that, as a mere criminal pro 
 ceeding, I should have given the same verdict, had I been a 
 juror, on the unimpeached evidence of those reprobate Rig- 
 dons. Still, I know that the entire evidence they gave, so 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 203 
 
 far as it related to the charge, was perjured, as was the whole 
 of the wretched Hatch s testimony and that of young Heck- 
 rotte, so far as it refers to me. Some part of their perjuries 
 could easily be proved as, for example, all that Samuel F. 
 Rigdon said of seeing, me with whole loads of negroes in 
 April, May, and November, 1843, when 10,000 people of New 
 York and New England, know just as well as they know the 
 existence of the sun in heaven, that I was not within two 
 hundred miles of Maryland. 
 
 " The jury did not believe the evidence of young Heck- 
 rotte or Hatch ; but relied on the identity of the horses and 
 carnage, the ribbon matter, and the Rigdons testimony, which, 
 as I before said, is perjured in regard to all that refers to hav 
 ing seen me with three negroes ; or their having seen Heck- 
 rotte s boy at all ; which none of them ever did, or any man 
 resembling him in dress, color, stature, features or age ; or 
 in regard to the tooth of the old woman/ or the dress of 
 either mother or daughter. 
 
 " In all these items I know they swore falsely. As to a 
 considerable portion of the other items, I do not know whether 
 or not the witnesses swore truly, as they are strangers to me. 
 The entire ribbon business, I am deeply persuaded, was a 
 shrewd trick, concocted in this city on the first visit of the 
 Rigdons. 
 
 " My counsel, as convinced of the falsehood of the testi 
 mony of these men as I am, deem it hardly probable that it 
 can be so entirely destroyed as to prevent a second conviction. 
 The credibility of two of the Rigdons, the old man, Sam, 
 and Robert, could be easily destroyed. George has more per 
 sons of reputation, who, from the character he formerly de 
 served, still believe his legal veracity good. So, on the whole, 
 they advise submission to the verdict, in case their motion in 
 arrest of judgment fails. 
 
 " Richardson s plea was able, and, on the whole, very fair 
 and manly. The only exception I would make to this is, 
 
204 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 that he persisted in sustaining the testimony of the reprobate 
 Hatch. I do not think he really put any confidence in it. 
 He only undertook to sustain it on this ground, viz., that some 
 of Hatch s statements must have been derived from me. The 
 particular items he referred to, were nearly the same that 
 were contained in the testimony of the two Rigdons on my 
 arrest, and of which I had often spoken, to forty people, so 
 they were already public matters. The only exceptions to 
 this were three. 1. A certain old Nick, a colored black 
 smith, was referred to. I know not where he got this ; for I 
 never heard of such a man myself, till Sam Davis named him, 
 in confessing to me the scoundrelism Hatch and he, and Heck- 
 rotte, and others, had planned for the purpose of securing my 
 conviction. I set a man to work to find if there was such a 
 person, but he could find no such man ! 
 
 " The next particular related to my alleged meeting negroes 
 in a graveyard back of Greenmount cemetery. I never was 
 there but once, and that in the day time, and alone. When 
 we were planning the attempt to escape, I remembered that 
 solitary place, and fixed on it as the place we would run for 
 first, if we got out. I subsequently spoke of it to many per 
 sons, to two of the board of visitors, and others. Hatch got 
 the idea of locating my pretended confession there from 
 that source. 
 
 " The third item is in regard to his knowing how Heck- 
 rotte was in the habit of calling Hannah Gooseberry his old 
 woman." Heckrotte himself called her so, in conversation 
 with him, before the letter was written /never did. There 
 was no other item of his confession, his knowledge of which 
 could not be accounted for, without any reference to his false 
 * confessions. This poor creature was mad with me because, 
 in an effort to benefit him, I indirectly gave others a clue 
 to his real name, though I then supposed him to be Davis 
 Hatch, his very respectable and excellent brother. It was 
 only so late as Nov. 14, that I learned from Horace Dresser, 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRET. 205 
 
 Esq., his true name and character. His only object in pro 
 posing or agreeing to swear falsely against me, was manifestly 
 to save his own neck, by aiding Avhat he supposed was popu 
 lar feeling against an imprisoned abolitionist. In his testi 
 mony, he unintentionally admitted his own identity with 
 James Wilson, under which name he stands indicted here 
 for stealing a horse and sleigh. His counsel had previously 
 got another theft of a horse and gig settled by arbitration. 
 
 " Why am I thus minute ? It is that none of my friends 
 may ever, from any unexplained items, deem me guilty of the 
 stupid folly of putting myself in the power of this man, by 
 any such * confession as he falsely swore to. 
 
 " He also speaks of Patterson s negroes. Such a man 
 came to the window one day and charged me with aiding 
 some of his slaves to escape. This Hatch knew. Patter 
 son saw Hatch before the trial. But I was not within 450 
 miles of Maryland (being in Western New York), when Pat 
 terson s first slaves left, according to his advertisement in the 
 Sun. Indeed, I think on that very day I was in the house 
 of Henry Bradley, of Penn Yan, Yates county. He had 
 another run off last spring or winter, when I was in Philadel 
 phia. When I came to Baltimore, April 15th, or 17th, his 
 advertisements for her were still in the prints. But I never 
 saw her, or any of the others. 
 
 "Do you want to know how I feel towards these perjured 
 beings and others, to whom I owe my imprisonment ? 1 re 
 ply, I feel kindly, forgivingly. Some of them I deeply com 
 miserate for their awful guilt, before God. I cannot help 
 pitying poor Hatch, very much. I tried, by several hints, to 
 give him warning of what an exposure awaited him; but it 
 only seemed to make him more brazen in crime. Who but 
 must pity such a man ! Could I be freed to-night, by taking 
 upon my soul one tithe of his guilt and future remorse, I 
 would not do it ; no, not for more than all life itself ever had 
 or could have to induce me. And so I feel towards youn 
 
 18 
 
206 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Heckrotte and those Rigdons. The latter, professional slave- 
 catchers by occupation, belong to the most degraded class of 
 southern society. You have no corresponding class in the 
 North only here and there individuals, who might rank with 
 these border blood-hounds, and with what Wirt so justly called 
 the feculum of the creation/ viz., plantation overseers. 
 
 " No, thank God ! freedom has no use, no occupations to 
 call into existence classes of such beings, within her domains. 
 May Maryland soon cease to have such creatures within her 
 borders ! Slavery done away, this would soon become a glo 
 rious State ; though, no doubt, a generation would pass away 
 before the dreadful social immoralities that follow in the train 
 of slavery would disappear. 
 
 " Do you ask, Have you any thing to regret, in what you 
 have done, whether for individual slaves, or the cause of free 
 dom? No, from the bottom of my heart, NO ! According 
 to the light given me, and the degree of physical and mental 
 powers I possessed, I have labored faithfully, and as wisely 
 as I knew how. If others have been wiser, it is because God 
 made them so. If they have done mare, it is because he gave 
 them higher powers and ampler opportunities for action. 
 
 " On another topic I wish to say a few words. This 
 wretched Hatch, among other fictions, coined pretended 
 threats against the lives of Heckrotte and the keepers, etc. 
 Those who have known my life, and opinions, and actions, 
 from infancy, will readily class this with the six 5-barrelled 
 pistols story, which appeared in a Philadelphia paper, I am 
 told, after my attempt to escape. I was thinking of it yester 
 day, as a singular fact, that one with so large an organ of 
 combativeness as I possess, and as enthusiastically as I loved 
 the driest details of military science, from my earliest remem 
 brance till I was twenty years old, (nay, I do still think such 
 books far more amusing than novels !) I say, that in all my 
 life, I never had a quarrel with any one. No one, I believe, 
 ever suspected me of any want of physical or moral courage, 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORREY. 207 
 
 to do any act whatever, dangerous or not. Yet I solemnly 
 declare, that from ray infancy to this hour, I never raised my 
 hand or finger, or used any weapon or instrument whatever, 
 in violence against any human being ! (Unless the correc 
 tion of my children and pupils in school be so deemed ; I am 
 of Solomons creed on these topics !) I never even threat 
 ened violence to any one. In my boyhood, I avoided the rude 
 sports of my playmates. In one instance only in my life, 
 did I ever wrestle with any one. That was with my friend 
 and school-fellow, a good abolitionist, Wm. P. Briggs, of Scit- 
 uate. Has he forgotten the wrestling bout, in the ploughed 
 field, in the young orchard north of his father s house, at 
 Scituate, or how he whipped me ? Happy boys were we 
 then ; little dreaming of the future that might await us ; 
 what opinions of morals, politics, religion, we should cherish ; 
 what labors and toils for ourselves or others we should per 
 form or endure ; what our social relations might be, or our 
 destiny, freedom to him or a prison to me. For years, those 
 bright days of boyhood had almost passed from memory, till 
 my lonely hours in prison revived them. How many of all 
 the dear companions we loved are already in their graves ! 
 How many more we shall never meet again ! * Meet again ? 
 1 am in prison. Years will probably elapse before / shall 
 again see cheerful faces, and hear any of the happy voices of 
 infancy, or the tones of my own dear children. Even they, 
 if I live, will have forgotten their father s features, even if 
 love preserves his memory. How have I wandered away ! 
 I began with referring to my habitual and uniform avoidance 
 of both violence and threats of it, both because I was falsely 
 accused and because a friend told me the reports equally false 
 and idle, at the time of my attempted escape, had wounded 
 some friends whose regard I highly cherish, and I ended 
 with dreams of my early youth! 
 
 "Whether my future business will be silk weaving or 
 jeans, I know not. Of one thing I am sure, these wiseacres 
 
208 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 of Maryland have subjected me, in prospect, to what to me 
 is the severest possible torture, mental inaction. 
 
 " Did you ever think of the real nature of the really im 
 proved system of prison discipline ? Of its forced silence for 
 years ? Of its utter deprivation of any considerable degree 
 of knowledge, or any other source of activity of mind ? Of 
 the stopping of all progress in the knowledge of the world s 
 history, literature, arts, social improvements, and religious 
 events ? How certainly a prisoner, by the violation of near 
 ly every great law of his moral, mental and social nature, is 
 forced down towards mental imbecility ? Do you know how 
 many of the reformed prisoners leaving our better classes of 
 prisons, commit no crime, indeed, because they have no long 
 er energy either for good or evil ? How many, very many, 
 are pardoned merely to diminish the per centum of actual 
 deaths in prison ? 
 
 " Do you know, either from conversing with discharged 
 prisoners or from other sources, the secret horrors of the 
 * cat and shower bath , and solitary cells without food ? And 
 do you know how many years of bodily labor, cheered by no 
 sympathy, no hope, no reward, break down the physical na 
 ture of a man ? 
 
 " Do not suppose I suggest these queries because such is 
 to be my own doom. That I can meet, and live or die, as 
 God pleases. I have been gradually gathering up facts and 
 ideas, for some years, which I had hoped this summer to 
 throw into the form of an Essay on Crime and Punishment, 
 to show that the * Auburn or * Philadelphia systems of prison 
 discipline, in removing some of the more obvious evils of the 
 old system, and adding some good things, had only substitu 
 ted, for the most part, one evil for another ; and that its vio 
 lations of the higher laws of man s nature were even more 
 disastrous, because less obvious to the unreflecting. Just as 
 the miasma that caused the cholera is more to be dreaded 
 than the fetor of a stagnant pond. Obvious evils may be 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRET. 
 
 readily corrected. To reform men, labor must be the inci 
 dental duty ; moral, social, and mental cultivation and in 
 struction, the great business of the prison. Now it is just the 
 reverse. Our excellent friend, Louis Dwight, deems it the 
 great defect of the l Auburn system, that no provision is 
 made for reformed and discharged convicts. For a time I 
 was much taken with his views. There would be a further 
 removal of a few more glaring evils, by such measures as he 
 suggests. But reflection, many facts, carefully weighed, and, 
 since, reviewed, in almost six months of life inside of a pris 
 on, have slowly produced a conviction not to be easily shak 
 en, that the system itself contains, after all, the seeds of the 
 destruction of every thing good and noble in man s nature. 
 Man is there subjected to, virtually, despotic power ; cut off 
 from all possible ways of acting out one right, good, or pure 
 social feeling or moral or spiritual impulse ; his intellect fet 
 tered far more than his body ; and both mind and body made 
 the mere laboring machines to grind out profit to the State ; 
 to toil unpaid, without adding by labor to one s own, or the 
 happiness of one human being ; without sympathy or words 
 of cheer, but simply as a penalty. No, the penalty is not the 
 labor, but the other circumstances under which it is per 
 formed. 
 
 " Think over these topics look into them ; not for my 
 sake, but for humanity s and God s. Restraint and reform 
 are the mottoes of the Auburn system. Pity, not penalty, is 
 deemed its chief element. It supposes, in theory, that ven 
 geance the penalty for sin belongs to God. Its practice 
 is only a refinement of the tortures of the inquisition. 
 
 " Do you forget the Sabbath and its rest, and religious in 
 stitutions ? No, I forget not the almost mockery of them all, 
 in our prisons. It is a transient gleam of right and light, 
 shining over a dark and evil system. Nor do I forget that this, 
 with the other parts of the system, produces that quiescence 
 of passion, and submissive imbecility and dreariness, that the 
 18* 
 
210 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 chaplains sometimes, and the prisoners oftener mistake for 
 reform and concession. That some of the reforms are sound, 
 I deny not. That some physical and mental constitutions are 
 not impaired seriously by the system, I know. So too, I know 
 -that Donald McDonald died one day, at Lynn, aged 121 
 years, 100 of which he had been a common drunkard. And 
 I know, too, that most of our wise and good men, are so per 
 suaded of the almost perfection of the Auburn system, that 
 they will hardly be patient at suggestions like mine, at first. 
 I have been surprised to see how facile good men were in 
 closing their eyes to such atrocities as leaked out in connec 
 tion with the removal of Elam Lynds from Auburn, and af 
 terwards from Sing Sing. And how blind they have been 
 to all the demonstrated results of the system which the * Me 
 chanics Associations have spread before the world, in their 
 efforts to relieve their trades not from a mere business 
 competition with ex-prisoners, but the debasement of prison 
 morals ! I know a bad spirit, an unmerciful spirit, has often 
 appeared in their papers. Their plans of reform, as developed 
 in the new Clinton Co. prison, involve no change in the system, 
 but only the transfer of its evils to other classes of men, carry 
 out their views, and sinner and felon will be synonymous 
 in twenty years. But enough of this. Some years hence, if 
 I live, and am not so broken down as I have seen strong men, 
 by two years of reformed discipline, in both body and mind, 
 as to prevent my doing it, I may be able to record the results 
 of a personal experience of a system, the evil nature of which 
 I am deeply convinced of. 
 
 " To my many, many friends, who, by letters of sympa 
 thy, contributions of money, personal visits, and messages of 
 kindness, have made my long imprisonment in this old jail 
 less grievous, nay, often the source of the highest gratification, 
 I can only express my heartfelt gratitude for their kindness 
 and affection. May God do so to them, in the hour of their 
 need ! And may that Savior who has not forgotten me in my 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRE Y. 211 
 
 prison, be the source of light, peace and loving activity to them, 
 in their freedom. I hope (though I expect to pass from most 
 minds as a nine days talk ) that some of those with whom I 
 have often taken sweet counsel, will continue to remember 
 their brother in bonds, when they visit the mercy seat. I 
 cannot write, individually, again to my numerous correspond 
 ents, or to any, save my relatives, or on such business as my 
 little remnant of freedom shall make needful. Sometimes I 
 am anxious about my own dear wife and children. But I 
 leave them in God s hands, confident that he will be better 
 than father and husband to them. To-night my wife parted 
 from me not to meet again, perhaps I say, probably, 
 while we live. God bless her \ Had crime parted us, she 
 would, no doubt, have wept bitter tears. Help her, true 
 yoke-fellows, in those literary exertions on which she must 
 probably rely, for the future support of herself and our little 
 ones. 
 
 " I want still to say one word of cheer to my fellow-laborers. 
 The intense and universal excitement in this city connected 
 with my trial, will, I trust, do some good. Anti-slavery, for 
 once, has been made the topic of eager debate in every bar 
 room and eating-house, and its most radical principles have 
 not wanted defenders, in all circles ; not to mention the more 
 influential classes, in which similar excitement and divided 
 feelings have been manifested. So that, notvdthstanding my 
 case lias been dealt with as one of mere ordinary criminal ju 
 risprudence, the issues involved have not been forgotten, and 
 I believe God will not suffer them to be so, till in 1850, the 
 LAW OF LIBERTY shall be proclaimed from the capitol of Ma 
 ryland. If God has ten faithful men in all this State, that 
 year will see Maryland free, her slave-prisons demolished, 
 her slave-jails empty, her overseers and blood-hound Rig- 
 dons and their likes, if not penitent, yet starved into better 
 business ; her slave-traders banished, the blight on her pros 
 perity, the bane of her morals, removed, and equal laws ex- 
 
212 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 tended over all her citizens. Mark it well ! 1850 is the set 
 time ! I write in the same old jail where, in the heart of that 
 noble man, whom, with all his faults, we love and honor still, 
 Wm. L. Garrison, God commenced the present abolition 
 movement. The final battle-ground may yet be round this 
 same old jail ! From this jail, I entreat the different classes 
 of abolitionists to lay aside all wrath, clamor, and evil speak 
 ing of each other ; to love as brethren, if their differing judg 
 ments will not always allow them to labor together. Let each 
 in his own way, work for the slave, without finding fault with 
 each other s plans, or suspecting each other s spirit or faith 
 fulness. As to the old and * new organizations, the Liberty 
 party and the non-voting party, I solemnly declare my con 
 viction that one heart, one spirit, one object, one purpose ani 
 mates, not only the ; leaders , but the entire mass of both par 
 ties, with no more individual exceptions than we find where- 
 ever human infirmity is connected with, and striving for, any 
 good and noble end. We all differ on a thousand other topics, 
 and, when we come together to act for the slave, we cannot 
 leave our coats at home ! We cannot cast off our own indi 
 viduality of character, opinion, and habit. But we can be 
 * forbearing, kind, gentle, easy to be entreated. That God 
 has overruled our past strifes for the furtherance of the cause, 
 does not justify the many, many exhibitions of a bad spirit 
 that accompanied those strifes, as much in one as in the oth 
 er * organization ; and which made division and evil other 
 wise it is none ; it merely multiplies laborers and forms of ac 
 tivity. * Suffer the word of exhortation, brethren, to peace, 
 cordiality, co-operation, where it can be, and an imitation of 
 Abraham and Lot, where union of action is not possible. 
 The day of jubilee will come the sooner. O, if I had never 
 known aught of the effects of slavery on the morals, happi 
 ness and welfare of man, but what my eyes have seen and 
 my ears heard in this jail, I would vow to it, and make my 
 children vow undying, active enmity, without an hour s rest, 
 
THE TRIAL OF MR. TORRE Y. 213 
 
 till not a slave cursed the land with his tears, or blasted its 
 fields with his blood. Tis the slave s blood and sweat that 
 cover the South with ( old fields, barrens , and decayed and 
 log houses, where comfort is never known, where ignorance 
 reigns, where misery dwells ; where even religion consists in 
 dreams, ecstasies, shoutings, and idle meeting-going, rather 
 than in doing the will of God from the heart. 
 
 " One thing I beg my brethren to do. Wait not for politi 
 cal ascendency in the North, or for the reform or overturn of 
 all our pro-slavery ecclesiastical bodies, before resuming the 
 most direct, and active, and universal efforts to diffuse our 
 views and principles, by means of the press and otherwise, in 
 the SLAVE STATES. Now, the public mind, all over the 
 South, is prepared to receive the truth with infinitely more 
 calmness and intelligence than it was in 1832-8, when such a 
 flood of publications was issued. Let that flood of books, 
 pamphlets, tracts and essays flow forth again. Get 5000 prom 
 inent names in every State it can be easily done and visit 
 them monthly with the truth. Every thing anti-slavery is 
 now eagerly read in the South. The desire to read is far 
 ahead of the supply of proper reading on the subject. Con 
 sider what I say. Where are the idle stereotype plates of 
 liberty ? 
 
 " I did intend to reply to the voices of sympathy that came 
 to my cell from across the water, from the land whence my 
 puritan soldier-ancestor, * Lieutenant James Torrey, fled, 
 in 1629, to find religious freedom, in the wild woods of 
 what is now my native Scituate. Now, the once tyrant 
 mother-land teaches the daughter lessons in the science of 
 personal freedom and equal laws, to guard the poor in the 
 quiet possession of it. But I cannot even reply to that docu 
 ment which bears, written in tremulous characters, the prae 
 clarum et veneraUle nomen of THOMAS CLARKSON, and the 
 kind note from JOHN SCOBLE, which accompanied it. But 
 your paper will tell that honored brother, and the venerable 
 
214 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 father of the anti-slavery cause, that I shall leave it with my 
 children to teach them that a felon s prison, for the slave s 
 sake, does not deprive their father of the respect of those 
 whose approval is honor. 
 
 Farewell ! CHARLES T. TORREY, 
 
 31 years old, Nov. 21, 1844. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 
 
 The sentence upon Mr. Torrey was suspended for nearly 
 one month. During a fortnight of this time, he wrote that 
 wonderful little book, called " Home," or " The Pilgrim s 
 Faith revived." It was a wonder to many that he could write 
 such a book at all. It will be a matter of astonishment to all 
 who read a book of two hundred and fifty-five pages, that it 
 should have been written by a prisoner in twelve days. He 
 was finally, sentenced to six years hard labor in the State 
 Penitentiary, and removed there to suffer and finally to die, 
 upon the 30th day of December, 1844. Cut off from the 
 world cut off from his family for helping others out of bon 
 dage into the world of freedom for uniting a happy family, 
 cut off from his own. 
 
 " Nor wife nor children ever more shall see !" 
 
 He was treated in all respects as humanely as the rules of 
 the prison would allow ; and was permitted to write to his 
 family and friends. 
 
 The following letters will show how he fared and how he 
 felt: 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 215 
 
 Baltimore Penitentiary, Jan. 19, 1845. 
 " My dear wife, Your very welcome letter, without date, 
 was received last week. It has given me many hours of hap 
 piness. Our blessings are the more valuable when we are 
 deprived of them. So your affection and that of my dear lit 
 tle children, never seemed so precious to me as now, when, 
 perhaps, for years, I may not see you or hear your voices 
 again. But, whether it be so or not, Mizpah, Gen. 31: 49. 
 I suppose my feelings and condition as a prisoner will most 
 interest you. The last Monday in 1844, I was conducted 
 over here, by Hoey and Mc Kinley. The first was as brutal 
 as ever, and took occasion to insult me that morning. Dr. 
 Snodgrass was kind enough to come with me, after sitting 
 an hour with me in my cell, and cheering me by various con 
 siderations. The change of place was like a reprieve to a 
 dying man ! The officers here are gentlemen, not brutes and 
 tyrants, in comparison with the jailors. I was received and 
 have been treated with kindness and sympathy, and my con 
 dition made as pleasant as the Penitentiary system will allow. 
 Of that, everything I have yet seen and heard confirms the 
 views I expressed in my letter to the Chronicle, in December 
 last. Its tendency is only to harden and brutalize all who are 
 the subjects of it, and to fit them to spend their entire after 
 life in the commission of crime. Some of the items you 
 wished for, you will have received ere this, in a letter for 
 warded by Mr. Mason, with the daguerreotype, and my defence. 
 I will just say, all restrictions on the printing of the latter are 
 hereby removed. Let it make a part of the book you are 
 editing, if it is deemed best. Say so to Alden. As to letters, 
 the general rule is, that a prisoner is allowed to write to his 
 friends once in three months. If business requires, he can 
 write more frequently. So you see I can write to you only. 
 You must say to my other friends, that, glad as I should be to 
 do so, I cannot reply to their letters. The new officers, to be 
 
216 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 appointed next month, however, may establish different rules, 
 more or less severe. There is no restriction on the number 
 of letters to me. But as to topics, they must contain no news 
 of the day, (as it is one object of the system to make the priso 
 ners as ignorant as possible, and as unfit for life s duties, when 
 they leave the prison). They must contain no remarks on 
 slavery, or my imprisonment, unless, perdie! some of my 
 friends take a fancy to exhort me to repent of hating shivery 
 so much ! I came near losing a precious letter from Bro. 
 Leavitt, and even yours, because you do not address me as a 
 criminal, but sympathize with me as a man, lawlessly de 
 prived of his freedom ! I suppose on your letters less prac 
 tical restriction will be laid as to topics. But you had better 
 avoid allusions to slavery. You must not forget that you are 
 writing to one of the slaves of the State of Maryland! You 
 had better apprize my friends of the nature of these restric 
 tions, by a note in the Emancipator. Tell them to pay their 
 postage always, or I shall not get their letters. Let them be di 
 rected * Care of Asa Child, Esq., Baltimore, Md.," and they 
 will reach me, after being read by the warden, if in his judg 
 ment they contain nothing improper for a convict to read. The 
 warden is absolute monarch within these walls, subject to the 
 advice of the Board of Inspectors. There is no practical re 
 sponsibility to law. But of all these matters, God helping me, 
 I shall one day write, when I am free, if that happy day shall 
 ever come. When a prisoner is introduced here, his name, 
 age, height, marks, cause of commitment, etc., are registered 
 in a book. He is divested of his clothing, washed in a tub, 
 and clad in prison garb. This consists of a skull-cap of cot 
 ton cloth, of different colors ; a shirt of coarse cotton cloth, 
 with a wide collar of the same ; coarse flannels, if ordered by 
 the physician, which is generally granted when desired ; a 
 short jacket, pants and vest of kersey, about suitable for horse- 
 blankets in winter ; striped cotton in summer. The vest and 
 jacket are lined with white cotton. They are comfortable, 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 217 
 
 though made in a slovenly manner. Their color is grey or 
 dirt color. They are washed once a year. The under gar 
 ments are changed every Sabbath day. The prisoners can 
 wash their hands and faces in their work rooms ; but no other 
 provision is made for cleanliness. 1 have managed to keep 
 clean, so far. The convicts suffer much from this cause. Their 
 cells are eight feet by four, brick on every side, sufficiently 
 cool. They are arranged on the walls of a large building, in 
 five stories, reached by galleries ; heated by furnaces in the 
 centre of the basement story. The temperature is about forty- 
 five or fifty degrees in my cell; just so as to keep my eyes, 
 nose and lungs irritated, in cold days. The winter, here, has 
 been very mild, so far. No snow has remained on the ground 
 thirty hours ; and the ice has seldom remained all day. In 
 another month a southern winter is nearly over. The bed 
 consists of a sack, truckle, with a sufficient number of coarse 
 cotton and woollen coverlets or blankets. There is no furni 
 ture in the cell, save a water-can and bucket. The food is 
 like that in the Charlestown prison, nearly, though not so well 
 prepared. My fare is water, good, (thank God for cold water), 
 a Taunton herring or two, and a plenty of excellent wheat 
 bread ; this is the breakfast. Bread and water form my sup 
 per. Those who wish it, as most do, have tea or coffee. The 
 dinner consists of a bowl of soup, some meat or bacon, with 
 either potatoes or turnips ; salt enough ; pepper three times 
 a week, and molasses on Sunday ; all coarse, but good, or 
 meant to be. You know that I care very little for the luxu 
 ries of life, though I enjoy them as much as any one ; so that 
 these matters all concern me very little. At first I was em 
 ployed in weaving ; but the labor being very obviously too 
 severe for my health and strength, I am now set at warping. 
 When a little boy, I used to see aunt Fanny do all these 
 things, and loved to help (or hinder) her ! I did not expect 
 either would ever be my business for years ! But the labor I 
 care not for. I am neither afraid nor ashamed of working, 
 19 
 
218 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 so far as God gives me strength. I am rather better in health 
 than I was when you left, and a good deal stronger. The 
 Sunday is the only holiday for the prisoner. We have wor 
 ship, i. e. preaching, once. No music is allowed ; a great de 
 privation to me. I have found time to read the Bible daily, 
 and to read that charming book, Silvio Pellico s, My Prisons/ 
 Get the book and read it, if you would know all a prisoner s 
 changeful feelings, when he has no remorse in his bosom. It 
 is one of the most charming books I ever read. In regard to the 
 prospect of my release, I can say very little, only that the matter 
 is said to be going on as well as could be expected. But my 
 friends all exhort me to patience. So I conclude that the result 
 may not be so speedy as we were led to hope. Thank God for 
 the liberal spirit of our dear friends in Providence. It deeply 
 affected my heart. God and his friends will watch over you 
 and our little ones, and provide for you. Trust in him with 
 all the heart, and do good, and verily ye shall be fed. 
 
 " I think only one of your recent letters has miscarried. The 
 others came after my own were sent. I presume you have not 
 yet seen the manuscript of my HOME/ as you do not refer 
 to it. I presume I should be allowed to correct the proof- 
 sheets, if it is needful, when it is printed. Hasten on with the 
 other book, and God give you prosperity in both these and 
 your own literary efforts. In regard to my own feelings, I can 
 not write much. From dark to day-light, say twelve or thir 
 teen hours, we are in the cells, without any lights. I lie hours 
 thinking of and praying for you, our children, and our friends. 
 I shall try to adopt some plan of topics of thought, to relieve 
 the dreary monotony of this slave s life. If I could have 
 lights and writing materials, and books enough, I should be 
 quite a happy prisoner. Perhaps God will provide them all 
 ere long, if I am to be continued here. Meantime, I am gene 
 rally happy, though with all those racing, changeful feelings, 
 which Pellico so naturally describes. My mind is generally 
 stayed on God. The Bible, which I have begun to study in 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 219 
 
 course, with all the references, never seemed so rich and so 
 sweet, in my life, as it does now. I have now got to the 
 thirty-fifth chapter of Genesis. Let us read it together. We 
 meet together, morning and evening, at the mercy-seat. So 
 we are not quite separated. My cell window, four inches wide, 
 gives me a glimpse of Howard s grove, and now and then of 
 a glorious sunset. That is my time for devotional reading of 
 the New Testament, and prayer, and walking my poor tomb- 
 like cell. Then, the window by which I work commands a 
 fine view of the valley towards the water-works, with several 
 houses and a piece of road. So I can have a glimpse, now 
 and then, of God s beautiful things, and of free man s handi 
 works. And I try to find all the pleasant things I can around 
 me, and to learn something daily. If I can have strength 
 of mind to cherish these habits, I shall not fall into the semi- 
 insane stupidity which is written on the faces of a majority of 
 the poor men around me. I find myself daily exclaiming, 
 * Oh that I could preach Christ to these poor sinners. The 
 kind Methodist men who come to preach here, know nothing 
 of the heart of a prisoner. And their well-meant efforts are 
 very little adapted to do good. There is no resident chaplain, 
 a great defect, which I hope will not always exist. Tell my dear 
 children not to weep for father, but to pray for him, that God 
 would give him health and a heart always filled with his Holy 
 Spirit and love. And you, my dear wife, know well where 
 the Fountain of life and peace flows forth from the dying love 
 of our Lord. Or rather from his LIVING affection ; Because 
 I LIVE, ye shall LIVE also, applies to our life here, as well as 
 to the glory that shall follow. Let us keep our life hid with 
 Christ, in God ; so that when he who is our life shall appear 
 (be manifested in his glory), we also may both be with him 
 and be like him. I find a crowd of thoughts pressing upon 
 me, which I long to write, but I cannot. And arn I not to 
 write to you again till April ! God grant me patience ! that 
 2eems the hardest thing of all ! But there is no prison that 
 
220 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 has power to bind our thoughts or our hearts. Let us thank 
 God for that, and take courage. This letter is not for publi 
 cation, as you will judge. You will write a note yourself, 
 stating the facts my friends need to know about letters to me 
 and minor matters. The present gentlemanly officers, I sup 
 pose, will soon be removed. May their whig successors be as 
 kind ; but I doubt it. But God lives. So let us hope on, 
 hope ever; assured that, in the end, we shall be more than 
 conquerors, through him that loved us, aye, loves us now, 
 with an everlasting love. God bless you, and our children, 
 and fill you with His peace and joy. Write me often. It will 
 be a consolation to me, next to the Bible, to read your letters 
 and hear of your welfare. Love to all friends. I am your af 
 fectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 " Baltimore Penitentiary, March 2, 1845. 
 "My Dear Wife, All my letters, as you will have occasion 
 to notice, bear date on the holy Sabbath. The poor State of 
 Maryland can t afford us time to write, in the six of our 
 days she claims ; so she seizes a part of GOD S TIME for the 
 purpose, and we must write then, or not at all. However, I 
 trust it is no sin, though, to a certain extent, it is finding 
 our own pleasure on His holy day. And for several Sab 
 baths past, I have written letters for the ignorant class of 
 prisoners, after dinner. I can, then, without violating rules, 
 while their feelings are softened by the recollections of home 
 and friends, say a word, at least, of Christ and salvation. 
 Some appear very much hardened. Some are exceedingly 
 embittered against the truth, and against society and its most 
 wholesome laws. I think old and habitual thieves seein to 
 be more filled with evil, than any others. Their perverted 
 consciences lead them to feel that it will be right to have 
 their revenge upon society for their years of thankless toil 
 and seclusion. Alas ! there is very little in the prison, or its 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 221 
 
 influences, to lead them to better things. The preaching 
 once on the Sabbath, and, chiefly, by good, but illiterate lay 
 men, is poorly adapted to benefit such men. To-day, we had 
 a Scotchman, who had travelled in Russia, visited Palestine, 
 Idumea, Egypt, etc., and who gave us a regular exhibit of 
 * Scotch theology a phrase your father well understands. 
 However, there was Christ in it, and set forth with affection 
 ate plainness. And where that is done, I can forgive almost 
 anything else. There are some few pious souls even in this 
 dark prison. It is idle to talk of reforming hardened men, 
 here. Those who are benefited by imprisonment, are men 
 who come here, little corrupted, for a first fault, caused by 
 intemperance, or hasty passion ; at least, the exceptions are 
 rare. If we meet again, I shall give you some queer sam 
 ples of prison Christians ! One died some time ago. He 
 worked in our room. I was not aware of his death and dis 
 section, till weeks after. There are no funeral solemnities. 
 A man dies, and the doctor takes his body ; and, after a time, 
 perhaps weeks, his death is whispered around the prison. 
 Well, if God has his hidden ones here, He does not forget 
 them ; and ANGELS do not disregard their death, or entrance 
 into the spirit world, whither we are all hastening. Our new 
 warden, Mr. William Johnson, just appointed to his office, 
 handed me your last letter, a day or two since, and I could 
 not forbear writing, at once, though I am not exactly ready 
 to say all I wish, not having seen Dr. Breckenridge, who 
 called a fortnight ago, but did not get admission, having Mr 
 M. in his company, or for some other reason. Your letter 
 refers to another ; in which you say you spoke of dear Ma 
 ry s illness. That letter I have not received. I presume it 
 was written on the reception of mine. Please address the 
 person to whose care it was enclosed, and see what became of 
 it. It has not been received. I have had two letters from 
 you, that in January, and the one last week; direct them 
 hereafter, Asa Child, Esq., for C. T. T, simply, and I 
 19* 
 
222 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 think there will be no more losses. They are losses, greater 
 than you can well know. I was thinking to-day of my 
 reasures, counting my little store of letters one of the choic 
 est. I often read them over. I had a most affectionate and 
 brotherly letter a few weeks since, from Gerrit Smith, full of 
 consolation and instruction, as his letters always are. Singu 
 lar enough, he earnestly pressed on me, the perusal of Silvio 
 Pellico s My Prisons, which, you will remember, was the 
 first book I read, after I came here. It is a most admirable 
 volume. There is a wonderful charm in its entire honesty of 
 confession of one s feelings and failings. Why should he be 
 so ashamed of frank confession ? I know I have taken almost 
 as much satisfaction in the candid confession of an error I 
 regretted, as in the doing of right actions Nothing else 
 brings a sinner near to God. And, though our fellow sinners 
 sometimes sneer at it, that does not detract from our conse 
 quent peace of mind. I miss that absent letter very much; 
 for I presume it contained something about your book, and 
 my Home also, of which your two letters, which I have 
 received, give me no information as well as about your 
 plans, doings and prospects all of which are not among the 
 articles of the Index Expurgatoria of the prison. Perhaps 
 I value my Ms. of Home more highly than the booksel 
 lers will be likely to do, though I am confident it is, by far, 
 the best thing I ever wrote for the press ; and you know I 
 have written some things that other people, good judges, 
 pronounced good. But the vanity of authorship is poor 
 comfort, inside of prison walls. You will, if you have not, 
 goon receive an important letter from our friend, A. C. One 
 of his proposals, respecting my liberation, viz., a purchase of 
 it, by a compromise with certain persons, he will doubtless in 
 form you, does not meet my approbation, though it would 
 certainly succeed at a very early day. I am not poor enough 
 yet, though a penniless prisoner, to sell my cherished princi 
 ples for liberty. The other proposal, which invokes certain 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 223 
 
 movements on your part, and that of my prominent WHIG 
 friends, both in New England and New York, and perhaps, 
 Ohio, I approve of, and hope it will be used effectually, when 
 the proper time arrives. But do not suppose I am in haste 
 about it. Much as I value freedom, and the many, many 
 and rich blessings God has so wisely connected with it, I 
 shall be very patient; and wish my friends to act at the best 
 time, and in the wisest way. I am not without hopes that the 
 new directors, two of whom at least, are Christians, will al 
 low the introduction of more decided religious influences into 
 the prison. If we could have a Sabbath School, and a judi 
 cious, faithful chaplain, such as they have in Charlestown, 
 under the care of brother Curtis, it would be a great blessing 
 to many. The most hardened men in prison, have their 
 hours of sorrow, when the faithful chaplain, constantly pres 
 ent, could gain access to their softened spirits. It is one of 
 my trials of spirit, that when I see men so softened, and ready 
 to receive, if ever, the seed of the gospel, I cannot speak a 
 word to them. I can pray, and for a long time my heart has 
 not been so much drawn out in prayer for any blessing, as it 
 has for the outpouring of God s spirit on these poor men. 
 
 " My health remains good, compared with what it was in the 
 jail ; though for two or three weeks I have been struggling 
 with acute pains, and febrile symptoms. But God helping 
 me, I do not mean to be sick. It is no place to be sick, in 
 prison, as I am well satisfied by Utter experience ; though 
 even there, God gave me peace in my spirit, when reason 
 was nearly dethroned, and I had little hope of life, and less 
 desire for it. The neuralgia gives me rather more pain than 
 when you was here. But * I am well, in prison dialect, so 
 do not concern yourself about it my peace flows as a river, 
 most of the time, and I am able to be cheerful, which is per 
 haps the hardest thing for a prisoner, cut off from all the or 
 dinary motives to human action. Like the servant, one must 
 work for Christ, to perform thankless labor well and con- 
 
224 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 stantly. I suppose I maybe called a good warper now, an 
 attainment in science I little dreamed of a year ago ! As a 
 matter of convenience, I have adopted your hour for evening 
 devotion ; so we can more literally meet together, when we 
 plead for the mercies we need, at the day s close. I try to 
 think of you, and dear Charles and Mary, as kneeling with 
 me, and pray to our Father as the God of the family cove 
 nant. I find little time to read, as yet. The long hours of 
 the evening we pass in darkness. This is the source of more 
 sin, of more suffering and evil than almost all things else in 
 prison. But I find time to read His Word daily. I am 
 studying the Old Testament, in course, by the help of the 
 references of the small Polyglot. I have reached Exodus 
 xxvi. The New Testament I began, for devotional reading, 
 and have reached Luke xviii, I know you will be interested 
 in these trifles, so will our dear children. 
 
 " When you write G. Smith, tell him how much I thank 
 him for his letter, and especially for his reproofs. I 
 love him very much as a faithful Christian. I wish I could 
 reply to his letter, but I cannot. I am very happy to hear of 
 our dear little ones. May God preserve their health, and fill 
 them with his love, and lead them early to seek his face. 
 Their conversion to Christ now, in childhood, has been much 
 on my heart, for weeks past. Tell me more of your literary 
 avocations. Enable me to look into your little house, and 
 see what you are about from day to day. I wish I could 
 help you in your pursuits ; but of this there is very little 
 prospect. Mark it : I am not at all sanguine of the success 
 of any plan for my liberation, not involving disgraceful denial 
 of principles, which cannot be submitted to. I have reason to 
 think that the same clan of evil men, who so nearly destroy 
 ed my good name among the Christian people of the city, 
 are still busy at their work. You know the proverb * to 
 justify one lie requires twenty ! And I know that the feel 
 ing, in certain quarters, is exceedingly bitter against me. I 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 225 
 
 think the publication of my review of the trial, will do much 
 to set candid and decent men here, right on various points. 
 But I may still be doomed to live and die here. That I shall 
 live here, six years, or three, is too much to hope. The seeds 
 of disease sown in my feeble frame, in that horrible jail, are 
 not very likely to be rooted out here, where seventy-three per 
 cent, of the convicts died, the very last year one in eight. 
 The causes of ill health in this prison are, chiefly, such as 
 may easily be removed ; but it is hardly probable they will 
 be, till public feeling is cleansed of the feeling the words 
 
 * good enough for prisoners express. I do not dwell on these 
 matters do not care for them. Whether you or I go to 
 Heaven Jirst, will be of no great moment ; and whether we 
 go from prison or a palace will make no difference in our joy 
 in the world of light, where Christ is, and where we shall 
 
 * be satisfied with his likeness." I have read a volume of 
 Wm. Jay s sermons, most of Meikle s * Solitude Sweetened, 
 and some other choice books, since January 1st. Even a few 
 minutes a day will enable us to read much. And when I feel 
 my mind half starved for profitable reading, I resort to the 
 Book of books. How rich it is ! The new officers of the 
 prison, except some Inspectors and the Warden, are not yet 
 appointed. I can only hope they will be Christians, as well 
 as vigilant officers ; men who will never forget the man 
 and the brother in the prisoner, and often, the very guilty 
 man. I want very much an Italian Bible. None can be 
 had in Baltimore. Can you get me one from the Am. B. 
 S. in New York, and have it sent to Mr. Child, by Express 
 or private hand ? It will cost about $1,25; my friend, C. 
 Stockton Halstead, merchant in New York city, if you write 
 him, will gladly send me one. G. Smith renews the assur 
 ances that my many friends will not suffer you and our chil 
 dren to want. In these days of war and public agitation, in 
 dividual interests are easily forgotten. But God will provide, 
 if we cheerfully put our trust in Him ; < all things are ours, 
 
226 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 because they are His, and He controls them at His pleasure 
 for our good. Remember, Mr. L. is no longer at W., so di 
 rect your letters to this city hereafter, post paid, as before. 
 
 " Winter is broken here, and we are beginning to have 
 green grass, while snow and ice are all around you. Soon I 
 shall see sweet fields of living green from my window, 
 daily. May they ever remind us of the fields beyond the ken 
 of sense, where we shall soon walk in white, if we are 
 found worthy. I have still very much to say, but darkness 
 has come and long weeks must pass before I again am al 
 lowed to give you a word of cheer. But if we are near to 
 God, we shall be near to each other. God bless you, and 
 our dear children, and our many kind friends who have not 
 forgotten us in the day of our need. 
 " I am your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY. 
 
 "Baltimore Penitentiary, March 9, 1845. 
 
 "My Dear Wife, Your missing letter was handed me by 
 our kind Warden, on Monday or Tuesday last. I had been 
 repining about it, for a prisoner repines about matters that a 
 freeman will be very submissive under ; but when I read it, 
 I sat down to weep tears, both of gratitude to God, and of 
 self-reproach at my murmuring. God bless you and our dear 
 children for all your love, and your prayers. He answers 
 them, by giving me peace and joy in Christ Jesus. The past 
 week there was an administration of the sacraments of bap 
 tism, the supper, and the rite of confirmation, by the Episco 
 pal Bishop. Several prisoners received these ordinances. It 
 is to be hoped that the hearts of many were truly filled with 
 the grace of God. But inside of prison walls, it is perhaps 
 harder to * discern between the righteous and the wicked, 
 than it is in freedom. 
 
 " Our old friend, Jarnes N. Buffum, formerly of Lynn, 
 called to see me this week, but too early in the morning to 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 227 
 
 be admitted. He left a kind note. Any of ray friends who 
 may chance to be in Baltimore, can get a permit from one of 
 the directors to see me. God be with you ! I have a whole 
 heart full to write, of the goodness of the Lord to me. This 
 week has been a constant spiritual feast to my spirit. I joy 
 in the God of my salvation. May His Holy Spirit so fill 
 your heart and mind ! and may our dear little ones learn to 
 praise Him ! Tell them that our Saviour comes every day 
 to visit their father, in his prison, and fill his heart with 
 peace. And He will make them children of His love, if 
 they ask Him with all their heart. I meant to refer our dear 
 friend, G. S., to some sweet thoughts in Burder s Sermons 
 for the Aged, on losing one s sight. He writes me that it is 
 fast failing him. By the way, I wish you to regard it as a 
 general rule, not to publish my letters, while I remain here. 
 Anything my friends wish to know, from time to time, 
 you can publish. But any other course will restrict the free 
 dom of our intercourse, arid besides, is not necessary for any 
 important end. If this is regarded, the Warden will lay no 
 other, unnecessary, restriction upon it. I believe he is very 
 kindly disposed towards me, though I have had very little in 
 tercourse with him. My best love to all my friends, in and 
 out of our family circle tell them to pray for prisoners. 
 Christ did not despise them. He came to open the prison 
 doors, by imparting salvation to them. Those whom men 
 despise, Jesus pities and weeps over. I think the Holy Spir 
 it is manifestly at work in this prison, on some hearts. What 
 is he not able to do ? I need not say how near my heart 
 you and our children are, at all times, especially in my 
 prayers before our Father. 
 
 I am yours with affection, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORRET." 
 
 " Baltimore Penitentiary, April 29, 1845. 
 My dear wife, You will naturally think that I have taken 
 
228 MEMOIR OP TORRET. 
 
 a long time to consider whether I should make the pledge 
 required of me, in your letter of April 1. But Mr. Child did 
 not deliver it till day before yesterday, having detained it to 
 consult certain gentlemen here, on the topics to which you re 
 fer. I commence my reply in such a state of bodily weakness 
 and pain as to make it pretty certain I shall not be able to 
 finish it to-day. I am suffering from a severe attack of my old 
 foe, the neuralgia. The disease and the remedies, such as 
 bleeding, blisters, etc., have, in two or three weeks, made me 
 much more feeble than I was when you first came to Balti 
 more, last fall. And, though Dr. Gibson, the new physician 
 of the penitentiary is reputed, and J think justly, somewhat 
 eminent in his profession, I do not consider the prospect of re 
 covering my health at all cheering. However, do not be 
 alarmed or disheartened. The same kind and glorious Sa 
 vior, who has filled me with all joy and peace in believing, 
 since my imprisonment here, to a degree without precedent 
 in my life, will do all things well. If He has any use for me, 
 both my bodily and mental powers will be restored and pre 
 served. If not, let us say, It is the Lord : let him do what 
 seemeth good in His sight. I need not say, that whatever 
 consists with the discipline of the prison will be done for my 
 comfort and restoration, little as prison life is adapted to meet 
 the wants of a neuralgic patient. If it shall please God to call 
 me home from this place, I shall not complain. And some 
 times I do long to be free from the body, and to be present 
 with the Lord. This week, I am not able to read ; and my 
 mind begins to act upon itself, as it did before ; so that I long 
 to stop thinking. Still I am not unhappy, on the whole ; 
 and when my mind can fix itself on Christ, 1 find my heart is 
 there. You will see that I am not in the best condition to 
 consider anew, and decide on the various questions connected 
 with my possible release. So far as my return to the South, 
 with reference to aiding slaves to escape, I have no hesitation 
 in saying, that I have no purpose, plan, wish or intention to 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 229 
 
 do so, in case of my release from that imprisonment to which 
 perjury consigned me. It would be highly unjust to you, to 
 my children, to my friends who have dealt so generously with 
 me and mine, for me to expose myself, in any way, a second 
 time, to such results, and you to such sufferings. If it pleases 
 God to open my prison doors, it is due to your tried affection 
 that I should give you all the assurance you can derive from 
 what you know of my naturally inflexible character, that no 
 such hazards to you and our children shall be incurred. Had 
 you asked such a pledge, when here, without the remotest 
 reference to my freedom, it should have been freely given, 
 though I am perfectly aware that in making it I destroy a 
 large portion of my public influence. And, I must frankly add, 
 I do not believe it will be of any avail. It may satisfy the 
 scruples of certain gentlemen in Massachusetts, whose influ 
 ence is desirable. But men like Linus Child and Gov. Lincoln, 
 who know my character well, must be perfectly aware, that I 
 would do anything consistent with straight forward honesty, 
 to save you from the trials incident to my condition. But the 
 demand for concessions here, is much more serious. My for 
 mer influence I am ready to resign. My future life, if freed, 
 will be one of toil and, to me, of much suffering, more so than 
 you, my dear wife, will ever know. I do not know that my 
 imprisonment has lost me any friends, for whom I cared ; it 
 has gained me many, in all lands. But if you recall one of our 
 last conversations, you will know to what class of sufferings I 
 refer. But God will give me strength for what may be be 
 fore me, if life is continued. But the demand for a sacrifice 
 of my integrity, is renewed here, in the most offensive form, 
 though with an abundance of kind words, and very evident 
 kind feelings towards me. It is the same demand made in the 
 jail, as a condition of release, the rejection of which I ap 
 prized you, at the time. How can I assent to doctrines to 
 which my heart, my conscience, and my matured judgment, 
 based on careful examination, when no possible motive of self- 
 
 20 
 
230 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 interest could bias me, led me to reject, as opposed to the Bi 
 ble and to right reason? I may be very erroneous in my 
 views, for I am a public man. But this is no place, nor am I 
 in a condition to review my settled views respecting the rela 
 tions of Christianity to those civil laws which are contrary 
 to natural justice and the law of God ? What is required of 
 me here, goes, in fact, the whole length of admitting the 
 riyhtfulness of the views of the religious bodies, calling them 
 selves churches/ which have so far departed from the sim 
 plicity of the gospel as to tolerate slavery in their bosom. 
 To be sure, it is not presented in exactly that form ; it is 
 clothed in terms not offensive ; but what are mere words ? 
 Shall I, for the sake of escaping a prison for the short remnant 
 of my life, do an act so basely selfish as to sign what I believe 
 Christ abhors ? When in jail, some Christian men, of pretty 
 high standing, endeavored to persuade me that I might sign a 
 document so equivocal that it might bear two constructions, 
 a Southern and a Northern one, like a politician s letter be 
 fore an election. Our worthy friend Child will not urge such 
 duplicity, nor do I suppose he thinks me capable of it. I 
 would not write all this, my dear wife, but I feel it is neces 
 sary to prepare you for a very probable disappointment of all 
 his very wise plans for rny release ; very wise, provided I 
 was not troubled with a conscience, an understanding, and a 
 heart of my own, but could become a nose of wax to be 
 moulded by circumstances, selfish interests, and other men s 
 opinions. You may be sure that I will refuse nothing which 
 I can possibly assent to, with honesty ; but my present opin 
 ion is, that more than this is demanded of me. It is better to 
 die in prison, with the peace of God in our hearts, than to live 
 in freedom, with a polluted conscience. I find Mr. C. still 
 goes on with the plan of compromising with H. and B. T., in 
 spite of my abhorrence of it. It is a severe trial to me not to 
 forbid it, altogether. Cooperate in it, I will not. I trust your 
 hands will be kept pure, and your father s also. Released in 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 231 
 
 such a way, I must feel a slave so long as such a pecuniary obli 
 gation rests on me. But for your sake, I had rather die here 
 than suffer it. I told Mr. C, that all I could promise was not to 
 forbid those who could do such a thing, with a good conscience. 
 But it burdens my spirit. That I feel deeply grateful for all 
 the kindness of our friends, my daily prayers bear witness. 
 I hope they will be guided so as to do nothing for my re 
 lease which God cannot approve ; and that they will pray 
 that / may be kept from sacrificing a good conscience to ob 
 tain freedom from temporal sufferings. 
 
 "April 30. You will see by the ink, where weakness com 
 pelled me to stop yesterday. To-day I feel somewhat better, 
 though the disease is not affected. I take pretty strong doses 
 of tincture of digitalis, a remedy which is always gradual in 
 its effects. But I expect no more from it than I received in 
 1835, viz. nothing. However, the Lord will order all things 
 well. I have a great deal to write, far more than my paper 
 will hold. Thank you very much for the Bible, (which Mr. 
 C. has not sent over yet). I will try to make no more calls 
 on you, at present. Ever since I read Sismondi s Literature 
 of the South of Europe, I have had a strong desire to be fa 
 miliar with the Italian. Now I can hardly enjoy Italian po 
 etry. But two perusals of the Bible will give me an entire 
 command of the language. This was Elihu Burritt s plan. If 
 I am here, living and well, I mean to acquire at least one new 
 language a year, taking German next. Dr. Snodgrass made 
 me a very kind call some days since, and offered to supply 
 me with books, regularly. I trust < Home will do good. I 
 have no doubt it will be very widely read, on both sides of 
 the big pond, as well as in dear Scituate. How many hours, 
 in rny prison, have I spent in recalling the incidents, scenes, 
 and friends of my childhood ! Many incidents of my child 
 hood, connected with aunt Fanny, grandmother, cousin Debo 
 rah, my school-mates, the old houses and families of S. ; 
 things forgotten for twenty-five years, have affected me very 
 
232 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 much. Pray send the pamphlets you speak of about Scituate 
 affairs. There will be no trouble about them. Send directly 
 to the care of the warden, Mr. Wm. Johnson, post-paid, of 
 course. I am very glad you read the manuscript of Home* 
 to grandmother, and (I suppose) to the rest of the family cir 
 cle. I should be glad to write to them and to aunt Fanny. 
 But you must assure her and them all that I remember them 
 often, and with affection, grateful for all their love and their 
 prayers for me. Nothing has made me feel so humble 
 as the fact that so many, not our relations only, or the 
 many poor who bless me, but all over our land prayed 
 for me. What am I ? How do I deserve their love ? But 
 God will bless them according to all that is in their hearts 
 towards me. Our dear friends, John P. Jewett and his wife, 
 with their little child which I baptized, and a troop of her 
 Baltimore relatives, made me a very kind visit, some time 
 since. He afterwards sent me some very acceptable books ; 
 Howitt s Rural and Domestic Life in Germany, is one. 
 John promised to see you and write me. He is somewhat 
 feeble still. But you have probably seen them, so I am writ 
 ing old news. I have read another book, with great satisfac 
 tion. You must read it : Henrich Stilling s Autobiography. 
 Translations of some choice gems of his poetry you have read. 
 But this gives the single hearted Christian, ever full of trust 
 in God and active usefulness. You can buy it for twenty- 
 five cents. It has all the charm of the Pilgrim s Progress to 
 a Christian mind. My old friend, Benjamin O. Bacon, called 
 two weeks ago, and brought me an affectionate letter from 
 that good man, Henry Grew, together with kind remem 
 brances from all my Philadelphia friends. Some others have 
 called on me, but none whom you ever saw, or know much 
 about. So I will not speak of them in detail. I am one of 
 seventeen in a large room, about forty feet square, in the old 
 prison. Two or three poor men are evidently very near to 
 death, though very little conscious of it, or, I fear, prepared 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 233 
 
 to meet its issues. The death of a sinner is fearful always. 
 But for such an one to die in prison, deprived of human sym 
 pathy, is even more shocking. Others are the subjects of va 
 rious kinds and degrees of illness. But all feeling that if they 
 were free they might soon recover. How natural ! No doubt, 
 in many cases, it might be so. But we are reluctant to learn 
 the lesson of our mortality. Mr. Child and Mr. Gallagher 
 will write you respecting their interviews with me, with vari 
 ous matters of interest. You might have spared the trouble 
 of your letter to G., as Mr. Cox perused and corrected my 
 manuscript before it was sent; and, indeed, before the final 
 copy of it was made, in which all points he deemed even doubt 
 ful were omitted. The signatures of any number of promi 
 nent men can be obtained by our Boston friends, by a simple 
 circular to such men as Jas. G. Carter, Win. Reed, Wm. Jack 
 son, etc. Nor have I any doubt that they can have the 
 names of all the members of both houses of the legislature by 
 similar means. Mr. C. is rather disposed to mystify me in 
 regard to the source of the means of compromising with H. 
 and B. T. I care not to know it at present. But TAKE CARE 
 to whom you make me a bondman, if I must come under a 
 bondage so hateful. If I may live to return to every human 
 being all the obligations I have received, I shall be ready to 
 die. Nor do I think it pride that leads me to such feelings, 
 though it may be. I would owe no man anything but to love 
 one another, if possible. My foes here, finding their old 
 slanders losing their power, have recently sent out a new edi 
 tion ; to meet which it may become necessary to send to Can 
 ada. But if these were met, they would coin new ones. 
 The devil, in this State, is come down in great wrath, 
 knowing that his time is short. And some of the good people 
 are much frightened at his raging, and are very sorry that his 
 wrath was provoked. You understand me. The last two months 
 have witnessed many improvements, completed or in pro 
 gress, in the treatment and condition of the prisoners. And 
 
 20* 
 
234 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 the effect on most of them is very happy. Some of them won 
 der, and say, it is too good to last. Others ascribe it to the 
 politics of the officers. But others have sense enough to see it 
 is the result of Christian principle. You will be glad to know 
 that Mr. Winne, the jail gate keeper, who was so kind to you 
 and to me, is one of the new officers. He is a man of prayer. 
 Several others of the subordinate officers seem to be decided 
 Christians. T think several prisoners have been awakened, 
 and, I hope, led to the Savior, since January. But prison piety 
 is a feeble, sickly plant at best ; and much of it feigned. Even 
 when it is real, it presents strange contrasts. You cannot con 
 ceive of minds so low-lived, ignorant and debased, that even 
 sincere penitence does not show them the evil of vulgar ribald 
 ry ! and even of things worse than that ! Had my avoca 
 tions and journeyings not brought me in contact with the 
 same low life, the better shades of which Dickens loves to de 
 pict, I could riot believe such things existed in our land. A 
 few of the prisoners belong to a higher class, and only a few. 
 I thank my dear little Charles and Mary for their kind mes 
 sages to father. May our heavenly Father bless them with 
 his Holy Spirit, that they may love Him, and love to do good 
 to all men. May He graciously keep them from all evil, 
 from sin and suffering. I want to hear that they are both 
 very good children, and that they try, every day, to please God. 
 Sin will kindle a fire which cannot be put out, like the fire in 
 Mrs. H. s barn, if Charles does not get the love of sin out of 
 his heart. But our Savior will help him, if he prays to him. 
 I hope they both try to make mother happy, by obedience, and 
 kindness to her and to every one. You do not refer to pecu 
 niary matters at all. 1 can only hope that, in accordance 
 with the assurances others have made me, God has provided 
 amply for your present need. Still trust Him, and do good, 
 and verily thou shalt be fed. God chooses his own way to 
 provide for us ; but his promises will not fail to secure to us 
 all that is really for our welfare. Why should we wish for 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PENITENTIARY. 235 
 
 more ? Give my respects to Mrs. H. I am sorry for her 
 loss ; if she was poor, I should pity her. As it is, it is only a 
 gentle warning to use her ample means more singly for God. 
 We all need such hints. I have been much humbled by re 
 viewing my life, and discovering, not merely so much sin, but 
 so many selfish and low motives connected even with the acts 
 and plans for the good of others which I thought most in ac 
 cordance with God s will. Ah ! those who praise us, see 
 very little of our hearts, as they appear in God s holy eyes ! 
 4 Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Mr. Cain, one of the 
 pious officers, some time ago loaned ine a very searching vol 
 ume, written by Solomon Stoddard : The Safety of appear 
 ing in the Righteousness of Christ at the Day of Judgment. 
 Like the other writings of that great man, it is tinctured with 
 his errors and those of his time. But it is very instructive ; 
 and the closing portions are fitted to test one s hopes for eter 
 nity, as much as Edwards on the Affections, if not more so. 
 In one of uncle Wm. T. T. s letters, you will find the same 
 feelings expressed by him, and also by one of the best men in 
 western New York, that uncle T. showed. May God bless 
 and accept it from them. 
 
 " Whenever Home is printed, I wish you would send me 
 two or three copies of it. And I have half a mind to say 
 that I will not be glad to see any friend who does not bring 
 some book with him ! But I am not quite so badly off as that. 
 Some of the prisoners have a supply of books, though nearly 
 half are unable to read. There are about 265 here, male 
 and female. 
 
 "I am glad to learn Charles is industrious. It is the 
 road to honor ; but idleness brings shame. Now a hint. 
 Your letters improve in adaptation to my wants, in variety of 
 items such as I wish and need to know. But the writing grows 
 nearly as illegible as mine ! and puzzles our kind warden to 
 decipher it. My writing, of course, is beyond reforming ! 
 
236 MEMOIR OP TORRE Y. 
 
 I don t know that I can write you again before July, unless 
 some business item requires it, or my health declines still 
 more. Write as often as it is convenient. My best love to 
 all friends. I cannot name them in detail. If you have a fa 
 vorable opportunity, 1 wish you would send me my little 
 Greek New Testament with the small lexicon. It has been 
 my pocket companion many a weary mile, in years past, and 
 I often want it, now, to refer to. Farewell ! May our cove 
 nant keeping God and Savior give you richly to enjoy all the 
 blessings of his grace and love. When you pray for me, do 
 not forget my poor fellow prisoners also. I am yours, with 
 affection, CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 " May 1, 1845. I must add a few of my rhymes, though 
 I began them in a measure so difficult, that my sick head 
 could not beat harmony into them. 
 
 " Sweet spring flowers ! sweet spring flowers 
 
 On the distant hills I see. 
 
 And the valley of Belvidere 
 Is clothed with a carpet of green. 
 No bounding walls of granite, I ween, 
 
 That shut up my body, here, . 
 Can bid the winds stop wafting to me 
 The sweets of their perfumed bowers. 
 
 I may not walk beneath the shade 
 
 Of yonder greenwood trees ; 
 
 I may not twine for Mary s hair 
 A garland of beauty and love, 
 And bind it her brows above ; 
 
 That all the viewless spirits of air 
 Shall love to linger, like honey bees, 
 Round the garland I made. 
 
 Yet I love their colors, so gay, 
 
 And rich perfumes they bring; 
 
 I love the sounds of joy 
 That rise from that brilliant parterre. 
 My spirit oft wandereth there, 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 237 
 
 And, freed from each care and alloy, 
 With thee rejoices to sing 
 A hymn to the sweet bonny May. 
 
 Sweet May ! the emblem of love ! 
 
 Her many opening flowers, 
 
 Her songs from every tree, 
 Her gentle breath and sunny smile, 
 The prisoner of half his woes beguile : 
 
 She maketh his spirit free ! 
 He counts no more the weary hours, 
 He walks in the garden above ! 
 
 " I can think of no close to my poor rhymes but that sweet 
 verse commencing, 
 
 " There everlasting spring abides, 
 And ever opening flowers, etc., 
 
 which little Mary can repeat to her mother. So again, farewell ! 
 
 C. T. T. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LETTERS TO MR. TORREY WHILE IN PRISON. 
 
 We have now accompanied Mr. Torrey through nearly 
 one whole year of imprisonment and suffering. How he 
 bears himself, the reader has seen. It will be interesting to 
 know what streams of sympathy and consolation were trick 
 ling in through the walls of his prison, to comfort and cheer 
 the lonely sufferer. 
 
 From the day it was known that he had been arraigned at 
 Baltimore, a wide and deep interest was felt in his behalf. 
 This feeling manifested itself in furnishing nearly a thousand 
 dollars to be expended in his defence and for his deliverance. 
 
 The following letters are published entirely upon the re 
 sponsibility of the editor. Justice to some of the parties, in 
 
238 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 his opinion, would be satisfied with nothing less ; and he feels 
 confident they will be read with interest. 
 
 " Washington City, Jan. 1, 1845. 
 
 " Dear Torrey, I wish you a happy new year ! Strange 
 salutation, you say, for a poor prisoner, clad in sackcloth, fed 
 on the coarsest food, cut off from society, and even from litera 
 ry delights, and bending his feeble frame to hard labor in a 
 penitentiary. But why, my dear Charles, should you not 
 have a happy new year ? Let those be unhappy who have 
 committed crime. Let those be unhappy who have no hope 
 in our atoning, and interceding, arid present Savior. Let 
 those be unhappy, who know that God is not their God. 
 What are the coarse garments call them riches, and say to 
 yourself, that you are dressed in the height of fashion, and 
 they will give you sweeter satisfaction than all the gorgeous 
 apparel I have to-day seen at the White House. And the 
 prison fare, with peace of conscience, will relish sweeter far, 
 than the richest dainties, seasoned with remorse. And further 
 more, you are not so reduced, after all, as He, who had not 
 where to lay his head, so I say again a happy new year to 
 you. And may each returning new year s day, which brings 
 nearer and nearer the overthrow of slavery, not only in Ma 
 ryland, but throughout our country, make the remembrance 
 sweeter and sweeter to your soul, that you have done what 
 you could, to bring it about. I am not trifling with you, or 
 making a mock at calamity, therefore, when I do sincerely 
 bid you a happy new year ! And I sat down to pen this let 
 ter, thinking it might perhaps not be unseasonable or unac 
 ceptable, and I pray you to accept it as a token of my broth 
 erly kindness, and a pledge that I shall leave nothing untried, 
 which is within my power, to hasten the period when the 
 prison doors shall open again to let you out into the world, to 
 participate in the destinies of the age, and to enjoy the sweets 
 of friends and home. 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 239 
 
 " I have received yours of Saturday, and will lose no time 
 in attending to the matter, to the best of my ability. I have 
 received an encouraging letter from Mr. Child rather so. 
 But do not be impatient. Do just what is right, and wait 
 like a man for the result. Make everything as pleasant as 
 you can in the prison, both for yourself and all others. It 
 is the way to find favor with God and man. Good night. 
 Your affectionate brother, 
 
 JOSHUA LEAVITT. 
 
 "Baltimore, Jan. 19, 1845. 
 
 " My Dear Leavitt, I thank you heartily for your new 
 year s salutation ! I had like to have been deprived of the 
 privilege of reading it, on account of your allusions to sla 
 very ! And now I can write you only on business matters ; 
 on no other topics can I write to any but my wife ; and to 
 her only once in three months. However, I can receive let 
 ters of affection, provided they give me no information as to 
 what is passing in the living world without. 
 
 " I am civilly (most uncivilly I think it) dead to the world, 
 while in these tombs. But I am happy, thanks to our mer 
 ciful Savior, on the whole. I pray you assure our brethren 
 of my hearty gratitude for your kindness. If God protracts 
 my life, and gives me rational freedom, I hope to prove it by 
 substantial service." 
 
 " You exhort me to be patient in regard to the measures 
 for my deliverance. I will, God helping me. I have not 
 yet seen Mr. C., though I am promised an interview next 
 week, when I hope to know something definite in regard to it. 
 
 "My health is improved on the whole. The officers are 
 all very kind ; as much so as their system allows, probably. 
 
 " God bless you, and my friends who are free to good. 
 Aye, there s the hardship of a prison to me ; a useless life. 
 Farewell ! I am afraid I am now trespassing too far on the 
 
240 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 limits of a business letter. I am yours, very truly and grate 
 fully, CHARLES T. TORRET." 
 
 " Peterboro , Feb. 7, 1845. 
 " REV. CHARLES T. TORRET 
 
 " My Dear Brother, I am at my house to-day, instead of my 
 office. Together with my family, I am observing this day as 
 a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, with reference to the 
 state and prospects of our country. Others are observing the 
 day in a similar manner. 
 
 " You are much in my thoughts, and I was made very 
 happy the other evening, by seeing in the newspapers, that 
 you were allowed to receive letters from your friends, provi 
 ded such letters were silent on this, that, and the other topic. 
 I regret the restrictions, but even with them, it is a pleasure 
 to write to you and guarded and constrained as must be 
 my letter, it will doubtless afford you some pleasure to 
 read it. 
 
 " I and mine are, through Divine mercy, in good health. 
 My eye sight, which has been seriously affected for several 
 years, has of late failed quite fast. It would not be strange 
 if I should become blind in a few years. Possibly, the shut 
 ting up of my outward sight is God s way for opening my in 
 ward eye the eye of the soul, as Baxter (if I recollect) 
 calls the eye of faith. 
 
 Sweet to lie passive in His hands, 
 And know no will but His. 
 
 That sweetness may you and I know. 
 
 " Your own family are I believe in good health. I have 
 sent your dear wife the letters you wrote me from the Balti 
 more Jail. You need have no concern that your wife and 
 children will not be well provided for. Multitudes of friends 
 are already ministering to them. God will take care of them. 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 241 
 
 " And now, is it well with thee ? I learn that you are 
 in a State Prison, and shut up from seeing wife, children, 
 friends from preaching the gospel from your other benev 
 olent labors from your literary pursuits ; nevertheless, I 
 suppose it may be well with thee hence I ask, is it well 
 with thee ? 
 
 " If, my dear brother, you are fully and sweetly resigned 
 to all the Lord s will, then it is * well with you, and all these 
 things that you are called to suffer are light afflictions. So 
 you have preached so you have called on others to feel 
 and so, I trust, you now feel yourself. God is emphatically 
 testing you. He is trying whether you will learn, in your 
 own person, the reduction to practice of your own preaching > 
 God s grace is sufficient to make your cell, your toil, and all 
 your privations, dear and precious to you. This you be 
 lieved, before your confinement and this, I hope, you are 
 now experiencing the truth of. 
 
 " I am happy to see by the newspapers, that you have been 
 favored in the kind of labor assigned to you. I suppose your 
 food is palatable and healthful, though coarse. I presume that 
 you have a copy of the Bible and I am not entirely without 
 hope that you are permitted to read other good books. You are 
 not badly off however in respect to reading, if you are allow 
 ed to read but one book, so long as that book is the best of 
 books. When I think of the rigid necessity you are under 
 to read and study the Bible, and make all its letter, as well as 
 its spirit and meaning, your own, I almost envy you that ne 
 cessity, and the confinement which occasions it. I hope that 
 your keepers are kind-hearted that they love you, and that 
 you love them. If they are not Christians, God grant that your 
 words and ways may be such as to win them to Christ. Give 
 them my love, if you are allowed to do so, and tell them that 
 my fervent prayer to God is, that He would return into their 
 own bosoms a hundred fold for all the kindness which they 
 may show to my dear and afflicted brother Torrey. Tell 
 2t 
 
242 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 them that I very much desire that they should read, and if 
 consistent with their duty, let you read the book entitled * Sil 
 vio Pellico. The book gives a most interesting account of 
 Silvio s confinement in prison. It costs but two shillings 
 and the reading of the exercises of this Christian poet will 
 render any Christian a better Christian. Greatly do my 
 dear wife and I desire that you may be allowed to read this 
 book. 
 
 " I hope you never indulge the thought that you would es 
 cape from the prison, if you could. I have not yet ceased 
 to be sorry that you attempted to break jail. For the profit 
 of your soul, I wish you to study and practise contentment in 
 your hard lot. For the honor of the gospel, which you pro 
 fess, and for the benefit of the dear cause and interests with 
 which your name is so honorably identified, I trust it is to ap 
 pear that Charles T. Torrey is eminently patient under all 
 the burdens God lays upon him. Remember, my dear brother, 
 that along with your vigorous mind and liberal education, 
 you have the fault of a naturally proud spirit. Grace had 
 done much to conquer it before you entered your prison but 
 grace is to complete this work in your prison. What a merci 
 ful confinement, if you shall come out of it as subdued and 
 childlike as the gospel requires you to be, as subdued and 
 childlike as implicit faith in the Saviour will render you ! 
 
 " Be of good cheer, my dear brother ! Keep a brave heart ! 
 If you have to remain in prison six years, it will do you no 
 harm, if you love God. But you will not be there so long. 
 The justice and mercy of Maryland will not let you remain 
 there half that length of time. My wife joins me in love 
 to you. Your friend and brother, 
 
 GERRIT SMITH." 
 
 " P. S. I write this letter in the Library the room in 
 which you wrote so many hours, a year ago last July. 
 
 "If they, whose duty it is to read this letter before you can 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 243 
 
 read it, see any thing wrong in it, let them inform me what it 
 is, in a letter, (postage unpaid,) and I will avoid the error in 
 my future letters to you." 
 
 " January 15, 1845. 
 
 " My Dear Husband, I have not written to you before, 
 because I have not received that letter from you, which you 
 promised to send me, which you said would inform me to 
 whom I might entrust my letters, and also many other circum 
 stances about your imprisonment in the Penitentiary, which 
 you said you could ascertain before you went there. I have 
 received several letters from you, and as none of them con 
 tained these particulars, I conclude you forgot that you prom 
 ised to write them to me. In consequence of this failure I 
 should not have ventured to write to you now, without first 
 addressing Mr. Johnson upon the subject, had not Mr. Leavitt 
 very kindly written to me, and informed me that I can for the 
 present send them to him, and he will see that they are sent to 
 you. 
 
 " I hear that you have gone to the Penitentiary ! And 
 though I feel it still more even, than I thought I should, still, 
 I would entreat you to be of good cheer. Your imprisonment 
 may be the means of great good, and God grant that it may 
 not be long ! 
 
 " Our dear children often weep when they speak of their 
 dear father, and anxiously inquire, * how long will it be before 
 father will come home? And when I present the mo 
 tive of their father s approbation, as an incentive to good 
 conduct, I find it one of the most powerful means to induce 
 them to do well. 
 
 " How I wish I could look in upon you and see how you 
 are situated. But I fear it would only make me and you 
 feel worse. I have not yet received all your papers, but 
 hope to do so soon. If nothing happens to prevent, I shall 
 commence to-morrow looking over your papers preparato- 
 
244 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 ry to editing that book, and be assured I will do the best 
 I can. 
 
 " I wish to repeat it, be as cheerful as you can, in this try 
 ing time, and in patience possess your soul. This is the 
 Lord s doing, we both believe, though man be not guiltless in 
 placing you here, and let us both be apt scholars in learning 
 the lesson which God in this providence would teach. In the 
 light of eternity, I think we shall wonder that we did not see 
 here, what a rich boon our afflictions are, inasmuch as we 
 practically learn by them, that all things below are vanity, 
 and that God is the only true fountain and source of bliss. 
 With the presence of this heavenly guest, your prison may 
 become a palace. I tremble, when I think of the striking 
 providences in which God has dealt with us ! And He means 
 something by them ! Let us in some measure understand the 
 counsels of the Almighty in this respect, as far, I mean, as is 
 proper, and improve by them as He intended we should ; 
 for, tremendous are the responsibilities of those who have had 
 great opportunities for learning their duty, and the vanity of 
 the world! whether these opportunities be merciful or af 
 flictive. Alexis s health is better than when I wrote you last, 
 and the doctor has given him some hopes of recovery. When 
 the doctor said this, Alexis looked disappointed. He had 
 made up his mind to die, and the world looked to him as a 
 bubble, and he desired not to remain in it any longer. Now, 
 he seems pleased somewhat with a prospect of life, but says, 
 he has nothing to say, but leaves the matter entirely with God. 
 
 " By the way, in several of your letters you speak of not 
 hearing from me ; and I strongly suspect that my letter has not 
 reached you. Well, let those who would intercept my let 
 ters to you, have it, if they will. I wrote nothing, as I can 
 recollect, that would be objectionable to any one. But do not 
 think I shall neglect you. I will write as often as I can be 
 allowed to, and shall never cease to speak of you to the chil 
 dren, or remember you in my supplications at the throne of 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 245 
 
 grace ; we can meet there, notwithstanding the distance there 
 is between us, and the. thickness of the prison wall. 
 
 " Remember that your health depends upon your spirits, 
 and unless you can keep them up, you will not be so likely 
 to endure your captivity. Let then, the determination not to 
 be sacrificed upon the altar of Slavery, keep up your spirits 
 till the joyful day shall come, when the term for which you 
 are imprisoned shall be at an end. In God, you can do all 
 things ; then trust in Him to sustain you till the end. Write 
 to me, if the Warden will permit you to do so, and as often 
 as possible. But let me entreat you again in patience to 
 possess your soul. 
 
 Your affectionate wife, 
 
 MARY I. TORREY. 
 
 " West Medway, Feb., 1845. 
 
 " My Dear Husband, I received your very welcome let 
 ter about a fortnight since, and I thought when it came, that it 
 would have been answered before this ; but I have been so 
 busy, book-making, and attending to our dear children, that I 
 have delayed it day after day, until the present time. I will 
 try and observe the restrictions that you mentioned in your 
 letter, but it will be hard work to write to you without telling 
 you any news. Indeed, I do not think it is intended to ex 
 clude any information respecting your family and friends 
 which I may communicate. 
 
 " Brother Alexis, we hope, will live, but his physicians 
 say it is still a very doubtful case, though there may be hope. 
 Father s health is improving, and the rest of the family are 
 in usual health. Perhaps you are in a hurry to hear about 
 the children. I thought I would speak of them and of my 
 self last, because of the most importance in your estimation. 
 Charles is in fine health, and generally in good spirits, save 
 when he is talking about his father, and how long it will be 
 before you will return. Then, his patience almost forsakes 
 21* 
 
246 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 liim ; but he says he will try to be a good boy and obey his 
 mother, because it will please father. He improves quite 
 rapidly in his studies, and exhibits quite a fondness for read 
 ing. Mary is not as well as usual to-night, but you need not 
 be alarmed, for I think it will prove to be nothing but a se 
 vere cold. She seems to be rather feverish, but I have ap 
 plied remedies that I think will be successful in relieving it. 
 I wish sometimes that you could look into our room, and see 
 Charles and Mary with your miniature. They take it and talk 
 to it, carry it about, and really seem sometimes as though 
 they thought you had returned. It is a great comfort, I as 
 sure you, to have it, and especially as it is such a good one. 
 
 " My own health is quite good, considering my feeble con 
 stitution. If I had not been sitting up too late, for several 
 nights past, I should feel quite well. But I am not accus 
 tomed to such things, and it affects me very much, so much 
 so that I can hardly write a decent letter. I forgot to men 
 tion, that it is now time all honest folks were in bed/ but I 
 have determined, if I can keep my eyes open, that another 
 day shall not pass, before I have written to you. ! there 
 is one thing I will mention here, lest I forget it : uncle 
 Samuel A. Turner wrote me that he was going to Baltimore 
 in a few weeks, and he will call and see you, if he can be ad 
 mitted. In the same letter, he mentions that your grandfa 
 ther and aunt Fanny were in usual health. 
 
 " I have been thinking since I mentioned Mary s illness, 
 that it might make you unhappy, thinking I had not written 
 to you as bad as it was ; but be assured I have. If we are 
 truly submissive to God, we shall not indulge our fears to any 
 great extent, because, we know that all things shall work 
 together for good to them that love God. I hope you will 
 be enabled to bear your imprisonment with patience, and I 
 pray God you may do good while you are in prison. Try 
 to remember, when you are severely tried, and I presume 
 that will of necessity be quite often, whose ambassador you 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 247 
 
 are ! God has, in his providence, called you to represent 
 Him, in prison ! try to do it faithfully! 
 Your affectionate wife, 
 
 MARY I. TORREY. 
 
 " West Medivay, April 1, 1845. 
 
 " My dear husband, I should have answered your two 
 letters before this, but I have been waiting, to know what to 
 write you about your manuscript of Home, which I carried to 
 the printer some time since. But not hearing from him as 
 I expected to do, I have concluded to write, and wait till an 
 other opportunity to inform you of its fate and progress. 
 
 " I have procured you an Italian Bible, from the Bible So 
 ciety. It cost $2,37.Jf ; rather more expensive than I sup 
 posed it would have been ; but it is a good one. 
 
 " I received a letter, a short time since, from Mr. Asa Child, 
 giving me some encouragement to hope that ere long, by pa 
 tient effort, the governor might be induced to liberate you. 
 He said that he wished the cooperation of jour friends. Fa 
 ther has consulted some of the senate, particularly Linus Child, 
 the brother of Mr. Asa Child. He has taken time to think 
 of it, and has written to father, that if you will say to me, or 
 father, that if you get out you will never go into those States 
 FOR THAT PURPOSE AGAIN, he thinks the most influential 
 members of the senate will petition for your pardon. Mr. Child 
 says, that unless you will give us that assurance, the senators 
 will not do anything about it. If you will do that, they will 
 all, he thinks, petition the governor to pardon you. And 
 the governor of Massachusetts, he also thinks, will use all his 
 influence with the governors of Maryland and Virginia. He 
 says it is never customary for one governor to petition to an 
 other, but he thinks Gov. Briggs will do as much as that in 
 another way. 
 
 " Now if you will say that you will not go into those States 
 
248 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 again, for the purposes for which you are now imprisoned, 
 then you must write immediately and say so. Now I think 
 you can say that, but I have ever felt doubtful about making 
 those concessions, which would imply any duplicity on your 
 part. When you come out, I want to feel that it is an honor 
 able acquittal ; and as dearly as you love liberty, I do not be 
 lieve you love it better than you do integrity. But what the 
 senators wish you to say, is not inconsistent with integrity. 
 I have been to Scituate, to read your manuscript of Home to 
 your grandmother. She likes it very much, though she thinks, 
 in one or two places, you were mistaken about the facts, and 
 those I have corrected. 
 
 " Charles says, tell pa that he braids four yards of straw 
 every day, and almost every day gets it done quick ; that he 
 loves you very much ; that he went to afire the other night, 
 and helped put it out by throwing on sand ; that he is a pret 
 ty good boy, but not very. Mary sends her love to pa, and 
 says, tell him I wish the men would not keep you any longer, 
 but let you come home quick ; that she should be happy to 
 come and see you, if she dared. Your aunt Fanny wants you 
 to write a few lines to her, in my letter. Grandmother sends 
 a great deal of love, and prays for you continually. Uncle 
 Theodore says, tell Charles, if there was anything I could do 
 for him, I would do it with pleasure. I am pretty sure he 
 said he would be willing to suffer for you a part of the time, 
 if it could do you any good. 
 
 "We had something quite remarkable for us, a fre, the 
 other night. Mrs. Hastings had been absent about a fortnight, 
 when her barn was discovered, one night, to be on fire. You 
 know a fire there would render father s buildings in danger, 
 if the wind was the right way ; but fortunately the wind was 
 north-east, and thus not only father s buildings, but Mrs. Has 
 tings house and wood-shed were saved. Father says the 
 senators, this year, are very influential men, and that the gov- 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 249 
 
 ernor will certify to their standing. When I write you again, 
 I hope to be able to tell you more news. 
 
 Your affectionate wife, 
 
 MARY I. TORREY." 
 
 " West Medway, May 2, 1845. 
 
 "My dear husband, I wrote you several weeks since, 
 asking you to answer it immediately, and tell me if you would 
 be willing to say to me, that you would not go into the States 
 of Maryland and Virginia for the purpose of enticing or as 
 sisting slaves away from their masters, if you were liberated. 
 You have not answered the question, and I do not know 
 whether you have not received the letter, or whether you 
 have not been permitted to write. 
 
 " Mr. Webster will bring this letter to you, and perhaps 
 they will allow you to answer it through him, if you cannot 
 write. I have quite a headache to-day ; otherwise, my health 
 is good, and so is that of the children. They pray every day 
 for father, and you may rest assured that you are not forgot 
 ten by their mother. Your books are not published yet. The 
 delay of Home is occasioned by the unwillingness of the print 
 ers to assume the responsibility. I believe many who have 
 examined it, think it very interesting and well written. The 
 Letters are not quite finished yet, but I am expecting every 
 day to complete them. I am aware that this is sad news to 
 a prisoner, but you must not be discouraged, but * hope on, 
 hope ever. You know I always write very slowly ; and 
 now, when so many cares and duties devolve upon me, it 
 seems as though I was necessarily slower than ever. 
 
 " School does not keep now ; and it is almost impossible 
 for me to write, when the children are in the room with me. 
 I am trying to teach them to be useful ; but never did I feel 
 my inefficiency as I do now. I throw my cares and my bur 
 den upon God, and it is a relief. O ! that He would enable 
 us all, both parents and children, to live in such a manner as 
 
250 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 will please him. If we could but keep eternity in view, and live 
 in reference to our preparation for it, then we should begin 
 to be rational. I feel that my Christian course is so irregu 
 lar and inconsistent, that I am not fit to bring up our dear 
 children ; and I sometimes, yes often, fear that God will think 
 it necessary to remove me from them, if he has designs of 
 mercy toward them. 
 
 " I know you do not forget them ; but let us pray more 
 earnestly, not only for their conversion and sanctifi cation, 
 but for our own. Perhaps when we are more holy, God will 
 again restore us to each other. He can incline the hearts of 
 those who keep you imprisoned to release you ; and he can 
 and will do all his pleasure. I have not seen your grand 
 mother since I wrote you before. Aunt Amanda has been 
 very dangerously sick, but is now recovering. If you have 
 never received my last letter, of course you have not re 
 ceived your Italian Bible, which I sent at the same time and 
 in the same way. If you have not received them, I hope 
 you will inform me, in some way or other. Your cousin, 
 Horace James, often inquires after you, as also almost every 
 one else does. You may be assured you are not forgotten. 
 I have several items of news, which I should like to commu 
 nicate, but they are such as are not proper to mention here, 
 where everything is read by others. It is quite a trial to sit 
 down and write to one whom you have not seen so long, and 
 be obliged to omit almost all you want to say. However, we 
 ought to be thankful, that we have this means of communi 
 cation. But we did not understand our privileges when* we 
 could write letters and seal them. 
 
 " It is getting quite late to-night, and I must close this let 
 ter ; but if I could say all I wished, I should not much mind 
 the lateness of the hour. Good night. 
 
 Your affectionate wife, 
 
 MARY I. TORREY." 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 251 
 
 " West Medway, June, 1845. 
 
 " My dearest husband, Your welcome letter, dated April 
 29th, was duly received. Since then, I presume you have re 
 ceived one from me by Mr. Webster. 
 
 " I have intended to answer your last every day since I re 
 ceived it ; but my cares never seemed to press heavier than 
 they have lately ; and I have postponed it, in the vain hope 
 that the succeeding day would afford me more leisure. When 
 I allude to cares, you need not afflict yourself because you 
 think I have too much to do. It is not that I have so much to do, 
 but because I have so little faculty to accomplish what I un 
 dertake. 
 
 " But I could write to you often, notwithstanding all these 
 obstacles, could I but sit down and write as I wish. But this 
 constrained correspondence is one of the greatest of my trials. 
 I suppose my letters are a comfort to you, as poor and mea 
 gre as they are, because you are glad of any token of re 
 membrance. It is this thought only that gives me pleasure 
 when I write. But it is no relief to me. I cannot speak of 
 my joys and sorrows ; for my letter must pass through other 
 hands than yours. I do not wish to complain, but I do feel 
 tried. We did not know how to appreciate our privileges 
 when you were in the jail, for then we might be allowed to 
 hold communion by letters, if we could not see each other 
 face to face. 
 
 " Perhaps it is wrong to write, in this melancholy strain, 
 to one who cannot relieve me ; and I will try to make the re 
 mainder of my letter more cheerful. One thing I am sure 
 will make you laugh. It is this ; I have tried to write so bad 
 that no one but you could spell it out ; and it seems, from a 
 remark you made in your last, that I almost succeeded. Your 
 answer to the question proposed by Linus Child, is to me per 
 fectly satisfactory. It seems to me, that if you had gone any 
 farther, you would have sacrificed your integrity. If you had 
 not said as much as you did, that you would have erred upon 
 
252 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 the other side. Whether Mr. Child and the other senators 
 are satisfied with your answer, I have not yet learned. 
 
 " It is well sometimes to remember the fable of the old man 
 who tried to please every body ; and then if we do what in 
 our judgment is right, we shall feel willing to waive the opin 
 ions of men, and trust our cause in the hands of the Lord, 
 who is able to do more for us than his feeble creatures, and 
 even make their wrath praise him. You mentioned you had 
 not received your Italian Bible. I hope Mr. Child will not 
 withhold it any longer. You must need it by this time. 
 
 " I attended the Anniversaries in Boston saw many old 
 friends, every one of whom inquired after you with much 
 interest. Mr. Phelps has removed to New York, as editor of 
 the American and Foreign Reporter. He was in Boston, 
 however, at the Anniversaries, and assisted me in revising 
 my book. Of that last mentioned article I do not like to say 
 much. I have labored under many disadvantages in writing 
 it, owing to the difficulty of writing while my children were 
 in the room, and necessarily requiring a good deal of attention. 
 
 " Mr. Phelps thinks it barely possible that he may visit 
 you this fall. He spoke of you affectionately, and takes a 
 lively interest in your case. Brother Alexis wished me to 
 leave a space in this letter for him to write to you. But I 
 think I must occupy it nearly all myself this time. Isabella 
 wished me to be sure and give her love ; and all of father s 
 family wish me to assure you of their sympathy and remem 
 brance. 
 
 " Father has just returned from Mr. Homer s funeral. He 
 died on Saturday, of a paralytic shock. His funeral was at 
 tended in Park Street church, and Mr, Aiken, Mr. Rogers, 
 and one other minister,whose name I have forgotten, officiated. 
 
 " Mr. Webster, I understand, has returned, but I have not 
 seen him. I have expected he would come and see me, and 
 give me many particulars respecting his interview with you. 
 Some one mentioned the other day, with how much truth I 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 253 
 
 cannot tell, that lie had not returned to Hopkinton, but sim 
 ply to Boston ; and finding his wife was not as well, he has 
 taken her another journey. This I very much doubt, but it 
 may be true. 
 
 " It is very late at night. All in the house have been 
 quietly sleeping for some time, and I must bid you good night. 
 I fully believe that we shall not long thus be separated. 
 Trust in God, and he can dispose those who imprison you 
 to release you. Our dear little children ! I had almost for 
 gotten to add their messages of love. But they send much 
 love, and wish father to know that they mean to be good, 
 and that they pray for you every day. Charles is trying to 
 learn to write his father a letter. Again, good night. 
 Your affectionate wife, 
 
 MARY I. TORREY/ 
 
 " West Medway, July, 1845. 
 
 " My Dear Husband, Do not reproach me for not writing 
 to you before. I know that it looks unkind to leave you so 
 long without hearing from me ; but when you hear my rea 
 sons, perhaps you will not think it was so in fact. 
 
 " Ever since I wrote you last, I have been quite unwell, 
 not sick enough to dignify it with that name ; but so weak, 
 that much of the time I felt unable to sit up, or if I did, to do 
 anything but sleep, unless it was absolutely necessary. In 
 this time, I have performed considerable labor, but it has 
 been the performance of duties from which I could not shrink. 
 But this alone, did not prevent my writing. My head has 
 felt so strangely that it pained me to think. Making no calcu 
 lations for being sick, I had previously accepted proposals 
 from the publishers of the Youth s Cabinet , to become one 
 of the regular contributors to that paper. I engaged to send 
 them a communication at a given time, and I felt rny honor 
 was depending upon the fulfilment of the engagement prompt 
 ly. But my head was in such a state, that you could have no 
 22 
 
254 MEMOIR OF TORRKY. 
 
 letter, and they could have no article. At length, by perse 
 verance, writing a little while, and lying down a great while, 
 I have succeeded in sending them the communication, though 
 it was not in season for publication in the No. I intended. 
 The publisher was very kind, though I disappointed him, and 
 wrote me he liked the article, and forwarded the money in 
 the letter. This was quite unexpected. I did not expect to 
 receive my pay till the end of the year. Now, my dear hus 
 band, is not this a long apology ? I have thought of you 
 often, though you have had no evidence of it for such a long 
 time. It is a comforting thought, that man can do nothing to 
 us which is not seen and known by our heavenly Father ; 
 therefore let us hope on, hope ever. God will avenge those 
 who suffer wrongfully, in his own time. Gov. Lincoln will 
 sign a petition for your release, accompanied by other mem 
 bers of the Senate, and several Judges. 
 
 " Last week I received a proposal to write for the Literary 
 Emporium, published in New York city. I do not think I 
 shall be able to furnish anything for a work of that charac 
 ter. It is not denominational, but rather too literary for 
 one whose head is in such a state as mine has been lately, 
 not to say anything of my incompetency when I am well. 
 " Charles and Mary do not forget their father. Charles, I 
 think, improves some ; but it is a great responsibility to bring 
 him up as he should be, and I sometimes shrink from the 
 task, as entirely incompetent. But I endeavor to rely upon 
 the promises, that wisdom shall be given to those who seek it. 
 I find the children are anxious to talk as other children do at 
 school, using by- words ; they do not use wicked words, but 
 large words, thinking it makes them great. I have studied 
 some time how I should prevent them from wishing to do so. 
 I have at length adopted this expedient. I am teaching them 
 o speak in French. It seems thus far to be a good substi- 
 ute. But Charles is absent-minded. He will drop his knife 
 t nd fork while eating, and apparently forget there is any food 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 255 
 
 before him till he is reminded of it. He loves to think, but 
 what shall I do with him to make him think at proper times? 
 
 " Your cousin, Horace James, with his wife and several la 
 dies, who were visiting them, came over and spent the after 
 noon last week. Mr. Dowse, of Sherburne, Mr, Smalley, of 
 Worcester, your cousin Horace, and Mr. Phelps wish to be 
 particularly remembered to you. Mr. Phelps is very kind to 
 me, and so in fact is every body. Your manuscript of Home* 
 is not yet published. I shall try to press the publication of 
 i Home, but I very much doubt whether it is wise to issue 
 the Letters, if we attempt to get you pardoned. Therefore I 
 shall watch the movements of Providence. If it would be 
 the means of prolonging your imprisonment, I would not 
 have them published; the Committee think it will not be 
 best. I shall abide by their judgment, unless Providence 
 poits another way. Meanwhile, remember, when you are 
 entreated to be recreant to your honest convictions for the 
 sake of release of which, after all, you are not certain the 
 charge in Revelation : Be thou faithful unto death, and I 
 will give thee a crown of life ! Yes, if you do right, you 
 will not need to wait till death, to receive your reward. I 
 believe it is at hand. 
 
 " Please say to Mr. Child, that I received his kind letter 
 some time since, but have not been able to answer it ; and 
 tell him also, that I cannot obtain any information respecting 
 Heckrotte s slaves. I do not believe they have ever been 
 in Massachusetts. 
 
 Your affectionate wife, 
 
 MARY I. TORREY." 
 
 " West Medway, Sept. 13, 1845. 
 
 "My dearest husband, I have been looking in vain 
 these many months for a letter from you, but none has been 
 received. I wish you would write me one letter and tell me 
 why you do not write. Do you receive all my letters ? 
 
256 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 " In your former letters, you wrote that you could be per 
 mitted to write to me once in three months ; but it is now 
 nearly four months since I have received a line from you. 
 I hope you have not forgotten your wife and children. If I 
 may not plead for a letter for myself, let me at least ask one 
 for my children. 
 
 " Charles and Mary both have severe colds, but neither of 
 them are sick. Father has just returned from New York, 
 where he has been to attend the meeting of the American 
 Board. He started with the intention of going to Baltimore 
 before he returned, for the express purpose of seeing you, 
 and trying to see what could be done to effect your liberation. 
 The first night he was there, he was taken violently sick with 
 what he supposes was the cholera. As soon as he dared at 
 tempt it, he set out for home. He looks quite worn out. It 
 seems Providence was not quite ready for him to comey for 
 the same day that he started for home, he received a line 
 stating that deacon Wiley was failing very fast, and request 
 ing him to hurry home. I should not be surprised if you 
 should see him before winter yet. But one thing is certain, 
 he will stay at home until he gets better and stronger. But 
 do not despair ; brother Phelps will be there in the course of 
 two or three weeks, and you know he is an efficient man. If 
 anything can be done, he can do it. He has been very kind 
 to me in procuring employment for my pen. You see it will 
 hardly write now ; but the fault is not so much with my pen 
 as with my ink. I am afraid I shall not be able to finish this 
 letter; it is late, Saturday night, and I cannot get any more 
 till Monday. Upon looking at my writing, I find that it does 
 not look much worse than common, so I am afraid you will 
 not appreciate my trials in regard to it. I cannot tell you 
 any good news. My mind looks upon the dark side of hu 
 man life. All our good folks seem to be dying off in Med- 
 way, and scarcely any rising up to fill their places. I do not 
 mean that there are not inhabitants enough, but we have so 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 257 
 
 few conversions, in proportion to the deaths among the mem 
 bers of the church. 
 
 " To-morrow is the Sabbath. Let us spend it together, 
 %>ugh we are so far apart. It is a pleasant thought, when I 
 am praying, that I have one who is probably uttering similar 
 petitions at the same time. 0, how great a privilege it is to 
 be allowed to pray. Let us use this weapon against our ene 
 mies faithfully. They cannot prevent us, no ! Nor can they 
 prevent the blessing with which God may crown our faith. 
 Remember, Apollyon was vanquished, when Christian be 
 thought himself of his weapon All-Prayer. Try this wea 
 pon, my dear husband. I will try it, though our enemies 
 laugh, and say, Aha, so would we have it ; they may yet 
 see our strength is in God, and we shall prevail ; as the in 
 habitants of Jericho derided the rams horns and pitchers, 
 but to their shame found them filled with the wrath of God 
 which was poured upon their heads, and trumpets to proclaim 
 their defeat, so may our enemies find our God is a great God, 
 and can work deliverance where man cannot, and where the 
 beholders, our enemies, would cry, there is no help. I am 
 looking forward to the day, and believe it will come, but how 
 it will be accomplished I know not, when you will be restored 
 to your family. So do not despair. I know it will be so. 
 Hope thou in God. 
 
 Your affectionate wife, 
 
 MARY I. TORREY." 
 
 " Sept. 1845. 
 
 ** Dear Torrey, I scarcely know whether I have an ex 
 istence in your memory or not ; but well do I know that I 
 have not forgotten you. I have not forgotten the hours 
 when my comrades and myself used to listen for hours to 
 your entertaining conversation ; or the times when you corn- 
 batted, before the people, what you believed to be falsehood, 
 and maintained what you believed to be the truth. 
 22* 
 
258 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 " Though not united with you, in many things, you al 
 ways excited a special interest in my mind for you personally ; 
 and since your imprisonment, I have thought long and often 
 about you : would that my thinking had been of some service 
 to you. 
 
 " I have been under the impression, from some newspaper 
 item, that none but your relatives were allowed to correspond 
 with you, and that only at stated intervals ; and was sur 
 prised when, a few days since, my friend Dillwyn Jones called 
 and informed me that he had visited you, and that you were 
 privileged to receive letters from any one if they were of the 
 right stamp ; and also that you would be glad to receive books. 
 
 " It even delighted me to know that these privileges were 
 not withheld by those who have you in their power ; and I 
 trust that they may preserve you from despondency and grief. 
 Indeed I know that although stone walls surround you, ex 
 cluding from your gaze the green beauty of earth, and from 
 your cheek the balm of heaven s free air, yet the eternal 
 spirit of the chainless mind within you, is more untrammelled 
 than is that of many a one who suffers no immurement. I 
 never ponder on your situation, but I think of Byron s Priso 
 ner at Chillon ; and the horror and helplessness of his con 
 dition, makes even your lot, in comparison, a happy one. 
 * In the lowest deep, there is a deep still more profound; 
 and I think there is no more effectual way of solacing ourselves 
 than to advert to those who are able to bear privations more 
 cruel than our own. 
 
 " As I am not permitted to write to you on those subjects 
 which would probably interest you most, I trust you will ex 
 cuse the want of spirit in my letter. How it cramps a free 
 spirit to be circumscribed and restricted in its desire to roam 
 whithersoever it will, and to gather and fling to a kindred be 
 ing such flowers and pebbles as it listeth. 
 
 " My young friend, Caroline French, having determined to 
 visit Baltimore and to call upon you, notifies me of her wil- 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 259 
 
 lingness to be the bearer of anything which I may desire to 
 send you ; and by her kindness I am enabled to forward a 
 few books, not knowing whether they are suitable or not. 
 
 " If it suits your convenience and hers, I should be glad to 
 receive a letter from you when she returns ; but if not, write 
 immediately by mail. Tell me what character of books you 
 would like to have ; give me your reflections, your hopes, 
 your griefs, and all the particulars of your treatment and situa 
 tion. 
 
 " If anything but my young friend s face were needed to 
 recommend her, I would give you most heart-felt testimo 
 nials in her favor. If genuine goodness and perfect loveli 
 ness are desirable, then you will be pleased with her. May 
 her visit be like that of a stray sunbeam from paradise. Her 
 uncle, John Atkinson, accompanies her. 
 
 " Accept my warmest desires for your peace, comfort, and 
 welfare ; and believe me your unchanging friend, 
 
 E. H. COGGINS. 
 
 " Write without delay." 
 
 " Philadelphia, 8mo. 24, 1845. 
 
 " My friend Torrey, Until to-day, I have hardly thought 
 of a resolve I made when visiting thee a few weeks ago. In 
 deed, I don t know but my promise was given to write soon ; 
 and now the impelling motive is given by hearing an inquiry 
 made on behalf of thy aged friend Esther Moore, whether 
 she would be allowed to correspond with thee. 
 
 " The reply sent her was, that she might write what she 
 was willing should be examined by the inspectors of the peni 
 tentiary. From her taking the trouble to send from her home 
 (at present in Salem, N. J.) to Philadelphia for information, 
 1 take it that she will not be long in sending thee a line. 
 
 " To some of thy friends I mentioned the scarcity of books 
 at your house. Have any sent a supply ? Ere this I should 
 have done it, but I have been absent from home considerably, 
 
260 MEMOIR OP TORREY. 
 
 and when at home, business has required ray strict attention. 
 If I send any, and there be such among them as will not pass 
 as books proper to be read, (for I can scarce tell what would 
 be admitted,) such directions will accompany them as will 
 prevent their being lost. 
 
 " Yesterday and the day previous, the rain came down as if 
 for a second deluge. Our city has not, for months, passed 
 through such a cleansing baptism. 
 
 " The streams have been low, and the season more bereft 
 of rain than usual; yet wheat and other crops are excellent, 
 making a most generous return for the husbandman s labor. 
 
 " Fruits, particularly melons, cantelopes, peaches, etc., 
 such as our Jersey neighbors are famous for raising, come to us 
 in abundance, and at a price within reach of all. 
 
 " With such a variety and excellence of the fruits of the 
 earth, no self-denial is required in the practice of Graham s 
 theory, a plan I ve been trying for a few months past. It 
 works admirably ; can perform as much labor as the canni 
 bals ; sjeep sweet o nights ; and in every respect feel as well 
 as when patronising the flesh pots. 
 
 " The day is far spent, and as I have another letter to write, 
 must close soon. Much that I would like to write, may be 
 precluded by the regulations of the house ; and lest I might 
 say something inconsistent with the rules, and thus condemn 
 the whole letter, my cautiousness has been so exercised, 
 that the letter must seem irksome. At some day, not very 
 distant, I may again write. One of my friends in Baltimore 
 expressed a desire to see thee, and he may be the bearer of 
 some books and a letter from me ; Jacob Fassel is his name, 
 one of the Dr. s nephews ; perhaps he has called on thee 
 ere this. Farewell. 
 
 From thy sympathizing brother, 
 
 G. DILLWYN JONES. 
 
 " I think I was informed your rules do not permit thy writ 
 ing to friends promiscuously ; but if thee can communicate with 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORREY IN PRISON. 261 
 
 those who are in the world, should be glad to receive a letter 
 at any time thy inclination might dictate. 
 
 "If thee writes, address it to 62 So. 4th St., Phila." 
 
 " Philadelphia, Oct. 14, 1845. 
 
 " My dear brother, My heart is grieved to hear of your 
 indisposition and depression of spirits. O that I may now be 
 directed by the divine Spirit to write something for your con 
 solation. May God himself comfort your stricken heart. 
 Now, beloved, you are called hy your heavenly Father to 
 endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I know 
 of no exhortation more appropriate to your present lamented 
 case, than the blessed one, Looking unto Jesus. O con 
 sider the contradiction of sinners which he endured against 
 himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind. Was 
 there any sorrow like unto his sorrow, which his agonized soul 
 suffered so willingly for us ? He was wounded for our trans 
 gressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement 
 of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. 
 O what agony he endured in the garden, when, in that most 
 affecting hour of temptation, he sweat, as it were, great drops 
 of blood. O did the holy Son of God take this bitter cup 
 which his Father gave him, and shall we, sinful creatures, 
 refuse the chastisements our Father s wisdom and love ap 
 point as means necessary to make us meet to partake of the 
 inheritance of the saints in light ? 
 
 " But we are to look unto Jesus, not only as an exemplar of 
 patient suffering, of unparalleled affliction, but as our sympa 
 thizing high-priest, who is touched with a feeling of our in 
 firmities. Whoever may forget you in your grievous incarce 
 ration, he does not. He sits by you as a refiner. He will 
 regulate the degree, the circumstances of every trial which his 
 children endure, that his own design of infinite love towards 
 them may be consummated. He gives us the sweet privilege 
 of coming to him by faith, of reposing on his own bosom of 
 
262 MEMOIR OF TORREr. 
 
 love, and casting all our care and sorrow there. O my brother, 
 avail yourself of this high and blessed privilege, and say, 
 though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. O hear his voice 
 of consoling love : My peace I give unto you ; not as the 
 world giveth, give I unto you : let not your heart be troubled, 
 neither let it be afraid. Read the mighty achievements of 
 the faithful, recorded in Heb. xi. chap., who had trials of cruel 
 mockings and scourgings ; yea, moreover, of bonds and im 
 prisonments ; they \vere stoned, they were sawn asunder, 
 were tempted, were slain with the sword ; they wandered 
 about in sheep skins and goat skins ; being destitute, afflicted, 
 tormented. Think it not strange, beloved, as though some 
 strange thing had happened unto you. It is through much 
 tribulation that the chosen of the Lord must enter the king 
 dom. If the present peculiar affliction tends to humble you 
 before God ; to wean your heart from every other object, and 
 fix it upon Him who alone is worthy of our supreme affection ; 
 if it leads you to strict and impartial examination of your heart 
 and state of mind in respect to your relation to God and your 
 hope for eternity ; if it is, by divine grace, the means of as 
 similating you to Jesus Christ ; it shall work out for you a 
 far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; and you will 
 praise God that you have been shut out from the world, in 
 the prison of Maryland. 
 
 " * Looking unto Jesus, implies looking for his personal 
 coming and reign, and a blessed participation in his kingdom. 
 Unto them that look for him, will he appear the second time, 
 etc. O how soon shall your present scene of darkness pass 
 away ! A little while and he that will come shall come, and 
 will not tarry. The Lord my God shall come, and all the 
 saints with him. Believe, brother, and now in patience pos 
 sess your soul, honoring God, and he will honor you. You 
 may pass from the prison to the palace of the New Jerusalem, 
 which cometh down from God out of heaven unto earth, when 
 the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and the Lord God 
 
LETTERS TO MR. TORRET IN PRISON. 263 
 
 shall dwell among us, * the Lamb shall lead us to fountains of 
 living water, and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes/ 
 * When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also 
 appear with him in glory. 
 
 " And now, my dear suffering brother, lift up the eye of 
 faith and anticipate this glory. * Behold he cometh, etc. I 
 commend you to God and the word of his grace. O that the 
 precious promise of eternal love may sustain and comfort your 
 stricken heart. O that the eye of faith may penetrate the 
 dark clouds which now darken your horizon. Remember, the 
 bright throne beyond, changes not. It will be one part of 
 heaven s blessedness to trace the wisdom and love of our Fa 
 ther, in the dark way through which he has led us. What 
 thou knowest not now, thou shall know hereafter. Look, 
 then, unto Jesus, casting all your care and sorrow upon him, 
 for he careth for you. 
 
 Your affectionate brother and sympathizing friend, 
 
 HENRY GREW." 
 
 11 Harwich, Dec. 19, 1845. 
 
 " Dear Friend Torrey, A correspondent of the Boston 
 Traveller, whose communication was copied into the Libera 
 tor, describing thy condition, suggested a desire to write to 
 thee. My dearly beloved friend Torrey, there is a secret in 
 Christianity that will save thee from all trouble, let thy con 
 dition be what it may. When I saw thee on the Cape, with 
 Luther Lee and Cummings, and at Boston, at the conventions, 
 I had no doubt that you was destitute of the religion of the 
 New Covenant : which is this I will put my laws in their 
 minds, and write them in their hearts; I will be to them a 
 God, and they shall be to me a people/ Now, dear brother, 
 what can you ask for more than this ? Is not God all-suf 
 ficient ? Again If you abide in me, and my words abide 
 in you, ye shall ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done un 
 to you/ Is not this legacy enough ? Again Now we know 
 
264 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 that all things work together for good, to them that love God, 
 to them that are the called according to his purpose. Once 
 more Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, 
 or life, or death, or things to come, or things present, all are 
 yours, and ye are Christ s, and Christ is God s. Now I so 
 berly ask, do not these declarations and promises bequeath 
 to us all that we can justly desire ? Is there anything left 
 out ? Now the great secret is this ; the condition on our part 
 is this : we must render to God the things that are God s ; 
 and if we do, I ask if there is anything left? Our trouble 
 is, we call God s things ours. God justly and righteous 
 ly claims all to be His ; and he justly claims a right to 
 govern his own. If we really give anything to God, our 
 anxiety about that thing will be gone ; the devil himself, 
 cannot trouble us about that thing ; let it be thy wife, thy 
 children. When this is done, you behold a God, all-sufficient 
 for them, able and willing to do infinitely more than poor man 
 can possibly do. And if you could only present thy body a 
 living sacrifice to God, you would have no more trouble about 
 thy body. To be short, when there is an entire consecration 
 of all to God, then we have an undoubted right to all the 
 promises of God ; then we are the sons of God, the called 
 according to his purpose, the elect of God, the beloved of 
 God, the chosen of God, heirs of God and joint-heirs with 
 Christ Jesus : and can we rationally conclude that he will 
 withhold any good thing from such a character ? Now the 
 way to come into this state, is to cease to look at the things 
 that are seen, or desire them but look at the things that are 
 not seen ; die, be crucified to all sensible objects, then thy 
 happiness will be hid with Christ in God ; then thou canst 
 rejoice evermore ; pray without ceasing, and in every thing 
 give thanks. May this be thy happy lot so prays 
 Thy affectionate brother, 
 
 ELKANAH NICKERSON." 
 
LAST LETTERS TO AND FROM MR. TORREY. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LAST LETTERS TO AND FROM MR. TORREY. 
 
 WE have but few more letters to present the reader from 
 the pen of Mr. Torrey ; these were evidently written with a 
 feeble and trembling hand. In the summer of 1845, his health 
 began very decidedly to be affected by his imprisonment. This 
 induced his friends to make a vigorous effort to obtain his par 
 don and release from prison. His waning health, the gene 
 rous exertions of Messrs. Phelps and Cleaveland, in his be 
 half, the cheering light that shone around him in his last hours, 
 are all distinctly exhibited in the following letters, and the 
 account of the efforts for his release by Rev. Mr. Phelps. 
 
 The first letter is without date, and it is not known pre 
 cisely when it was written. 
 
 " My dearest wife, It is now nearly or quite midnight, 
 and my poor rheumatic body aches so severely that I cannot 
 write, either in prose or rhyme, such a note as I fancied I 
 could write, to give with the only lock of hair I ever gave you., 
 ,that I remember. It looks so like taking a memorial of a de 
 parted friend, or of one we never expect to see again. The 
 mother of all the faithful was adorned with bracelets, though 
 the Scripture does not say whether or not a love-lock of her 
 husband s hair was entwined among the gold-work. Doubtless 
 a lover, of Isaac s good taste, would not have neglected such 
 a point, especially as he had to do his courting by proxy ! 
 Well, my dear Mary, to-day may open the way for our union 
 again ; or it may separate us for many, many years. If the 
 latter, I trust we shall not need memorials, so frail as a lock 
 of hair, to recall each to the other. Yet the hair is the most 
 enduring portion of our bodily system. Long after the flesh 
 and bones become small, impalpable dust, the hair, the glorj 
 23 
 
266 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 of the head, retains its color and strength. Nay, it even grows, 
 while the rest of the body is decaying; thus seeming to pos 
 sess an almost independent vitality of its own. So may it be 
 with our affection, when flesh shall fail us, and our bodies 
 decay, and every memorial of them perish. So may it be 
 with us when * heart, too, shall fail us, and all our earthly re 
 lations cease. May God, then, be the strength of our heart, 
 and our portion forever. If, in another world, those undying 
 elements of our spiritual nature are controlled, as I doubt not 
 they are, by the same principles that regulate all holy inter 
 course here, while we may have no locks of hair, for a brace 
 let, we shall not want many a sweet remembrance, in every 
 word and deed of kindness, every mutual prayer, every act of 
 service to our Lord, in which we engaged together; and, 
 above all, in the children He has given us to train up for 
 Him. Whether He frees me, or not, to help you, may He 
 bless you richly ; and may you be a bracelet on His hands, 
 in the day He shall appear to be glorified in his saints. 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 " Baltimore Penitentiary, Sept. 28, 1845. 
 " My Dearest Wife, Do not for a moment think* that I 
 have either wilfully or willingly neglected you. Your four 
 kind letters, dated in June, July, August and Sept. 13th, all 
 came safe, though not always very promptly, to hand. 
 My last letter to you, dated May 1st, was written at intervals 
 of pain and weakness, in the hospital, on a sick bed. From 
 that day to this, I have not been, for two days at a time, free 
 from excruciating pain in the head, with occasional severe 
 pains in the heart, accompanied by general weakness in the 
 system. You will not think it very strange therefore, that I 
 have not been able to write a connected letter for many weeks 
 past, at least, for five or six. Other causes, before that, de 
 layed my doing so. My mental energy, and sanity, have 
 
LAST LETTERS TO AND FROM MR. TORREY. 267 
 
 been much affected by such long continued pain in the brain ; 
 so that very often, for three months past, I have been obliged 
 to struggle to repress the impulse to utter insane ravings, and 
 even wicked follies which my whole soul abhors. Most of 
 the time I have very little control over my thoughts. If a 
 painful idea takes possession of the mind, it is as if a rough 
 iron was drawn over the brain, for whole hours, and even 
 days at a time. These forms of mental suffering depend 
 wholly on the degree of bodily pain I endure. When my 
 brain is easy enough to let me think at all, I am cheerful, 
 happy, find delight in drawing near to God, and in all holy 
 things. Nay, then pleasantry is agreeable to me. At other 
 times, no jest would make me smile. When I received two 
 of your letters, with several from kind friends in Philadel 
 phia, I read them with entire want of feeling, merely from 
 pain. Afterwards, taking advantage of an interval of less 
 suffering, I re-read them with much delight, and wept over 
 and thanked our Savior for every expression and mark of 
 love they contained. So in reading books, anything that 
 asks for much thinking, generally confuses my mind, and cau 
 ses intense pain. For several weeks I could pray but little, 
 and read the Bible less, on that account. Do you ask, why 
 such suffering ? The answer is, the little labor required of 
 me, acting on a shattered system, is the chief cause. Through 
 the kindness of God to us, I have not, as you know, had very 
 many of the usual sources of a prisoner s suffering. To know 
 that you and our children were protected and cared for by 
 friends, able and pledged to provide for every want you would 
 make known to them ; to know that no dishonor attached to 
 my name, in the minds of the great and good, in this and 
 other countries, but that I was honored the more in conse 
 quence of the wrath of our foes ; and to have peace with God, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely, these were things to 
 fill our hearts with humble gratitude to God, in all our trials. 
 Like all prisoners, 1 suffer many deprivations, and have un- 
 
268 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 happy hours on account of them. I should be more or less 
 than human, if it were otherwise. But aside from the ef 
 fects of bodily pain and weakness, I can truly say, my pris 
 on hours have been happy. But from these I cannot escape ; 
 they are rapidly hastening me into the gulf of insanity. Of 
 this, I have a horror I cannot describe. Death has no terror ; 
 he is Christ s blessed Messenger of peace and love ; how 
 eagerly I should welcome him to-day ! 0, come, Lord Je 
 sus, come quickly. It is l far better to depart and be with 
 Him. Last Sabbath I tried to write, but my efforts produced 
 bad English and nonsense. To-day, a state of nervous ex 
 citement only short of absolute insanity, enables me to write 
 easier, so far, though, for the week past, my mind has been 
 generally more crazed and unsettled than before. I know at 
 times, I exhibit a pitiable degree of weakness and imbecility 
 to those around me. And when I feel better, it troubles me 
 to think that the cause of Christ will be dishonored in the 
 eyes of the unreflecting and stupid about me. But my only 
 comfort is, that God leads us by the hand in the midst of all 
 our foes ; and though they rage and blaspheme on account of 
 weaknesses, the Lord will order all things well. Sometimes, 
 my feelings, I fear, when weighed down with pain, are not 
 submissive to God ; it is hard to see If is hand in the suffer 
 ings we endure at the hands of wicked men. It is only 
 reflection, in health, that can make us feel that the wicked 
 are only * the rod of His indignation, and the staff in His 
 hand. I am deeply afflicted to be obliged to give you so sad 
 an account of my mental and physical state ; especially so, 
 because you write that you have been, and still are, far from 
 well. But I must tell you the truth, as far as I am allowed 
 to do so ; and perhaps, to the few private friends who will see 
 this letter, it will be some additional stimulus to action in my 
 behalf. If dear brother Phelps comes on, next week, I can 
 tell him more freely than I can write, what it is to be sick 
 and in prison. I never understood the force of that awful 
 
LAST LETTERS TO AND PROM MR. TORREY. 269 
 
 climax of our Saviour s sentence in the day of judgment, 
 till I was myself in prison. Now, I see, that no combination 
 of possible evils could bring greater sufferings on human be 
 ings ; though no doubt, prisons, in our Savior s time, were 
 \vorse than they are now., 
 
 " I will try to add various things by way of remark on 
 your letters. I thank you again, for every one of them. 
 They have been balm to me, in some very dark hours. I 
 was very happy to hear of your literary engagements. As 
 to the * Emporium, I never have seen it. It has been estab 
 lished since I was imprisoned. But I see, on the cover of a 
 book, it is classed with the * New World and others, for 
 which our best writers are paid contributors. Do be persua 
 ded, by the voice of your literary friends, as well as by mine, 
 to know your own strength. You know it was no fool, but 
 a competent judge, that declared you to be second to no fe 
 male writer of our country, in prose ; and, if you would fling 
 your fears to the winds, your poetic powers would soon cause 
 as high and as just praise. Dori t try so hard, and your attain 
 ment of the highest celebrity and usefulness will be very 
 easy. It has been one of the dearest hopes of my life, that 
 I might place you in a situation to devote your time freely 
 to literary pursuits. It was a cherished hope connected with 
 my removal to this city. Little did I think my prison would be 
 your only aid in your career ! But God orders all things well. 
 Go on, and God bless you, and guide your pen and mind by 
 his Holy Spirit. Attempt all the forms of easy graceful writing, 
 such as are common in our literary papers. You will soon learn 
 what you can most certainly and rapidly succeed in. 
 
 " Our dear children are daily in my heart, and on my lips, 
 before God, the Father of the fatherless, and the Judge of 
 the oppressed. Tell them, that when father is too weak to 
 utter the whole of the Lord s Prayer, (as it lias often been 
 the case,) he never forgets to pray for them, Lord, bless 
 them, and make them holy. Don t reprove or ridicule 
 23* 
 
270 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Charles for absent mindedness. It is no fault, though an 
 evil, that reasoning minds are apt to fall into. Teaching 
 him to be polite in attentions to those around him, talking 
 with him, and above all, encouraging habits of observation, 
 are thorough remedies. Get Mundie s Guide to the Ob 
 servation of External Nature, the Natural History of In 
 fects, and White s History of Shelbourne, all cheap books, 
 and they will furnish you and the children a fund of amuse 
 ment and instruction, this winter ; and when spring enables 
 you to go into the fields again, will add very much to your 
 stores of easily gained knowledge ; especially if you can 
 gain self-possession enough to examine all sorts of bugs, 
 toads, spiders, etc. : God s most beautiful and harmless crea 
 tures, viewed through a magnifying glass that costs fifty 
 cents. Childhood is the time to teach and enjoy all the 
 branches of Natural History. Let Grammar go, to be learn 
 ed by reading and talking, and studied at maturer years. So 
 with similar studies, common in our schools. 
 
 " As to Home, I believe I had special divine help in writ 
 ing it. But I have given it wholly up to Him. If God 
 chooses to make it a blessing to others, and a benefit to you, 
 I shall praise his holy name. As to the compilation of my let 
 ters, I am only astonished at the long delay to follow the com 
 mon sense advice of D. and L. and A., not to mention the 
 literary gentleman of this city, who first suggested and urged 
 their publication, as a means of personal benefit to me, here, 
 and as a heavy blow at the corrupt Police system in this and 
 other cities. However, I cannot direct, nor is my judgment 
 now worth a straw, on any point where I had not made up 
 my mind in health and vigor. As to its hindering my release, 
 it is all folly. The cash and the petitions together will secure 
 that, if I was born and bred a demon I am very grateful 
 for all the kind remembrances from your family and my dear 
 friends that your several letters contain. Assure them, indi 
 vidually, of my love and grateful regard, especially your fa- 
 
LAST LETTERS TO AND FROM MR. TORREY. 271 
 
 ther. I am much afraid that his toils and expenditures will 
 prove in vain, for lack of the cash. However, if brother P. 
 has determined to raise it, it will be done in time. Much as 
 I feel averse to that part of Mr. C. s plans, I found, when he 
 stated the probable failure of it, that my hopes had rested on 
 it more than I was conscious of. If these, or any other means, 
 release me before winter, I may save reason and life. If not, 
 I am utterly hopeless of doing either. And I write now, feel 
 ing that, unless in freedom, this is, in all likelihood, the last 
 time I shall ever write to you. I am far more broken down, 
 in mind and body, than those around me are aware of. For 
 myself, I care little for it. When, this morning (Tuesday, 
 30th), I learned the death of a fellow-prisoner, who, a week 
 ago, was well, I could not help praying God for leave to fol 
 low him soon. Yet I wish to be quiet as a little child, in His 
 hands, and bide His time, whether for freedom on earth, or 
 to join those who are free among the dead. It has always 
 been my conviction that I should never see you again, and 
 that I should die here. It has never caused me regret, any 
 farther than it might be a source of suffering to you and a 
 few persons to whom I would fain owe nothing but love 
 and good will. I know, whatever becomes of me, the Lord 
 will provide for you and for our children, far better than I 
 could, were the world s resources at my word. Our children 
 were solemnly devoted to that Savior who gave them. They 
 are HIS OWN. Much as I love them, I have never felt, 
 especially in regard to Charles, that he was MINE. He is 
 solemnly devoted to Christ, if our Lord will accept the offer 
 ing. You speak of the joy and the power of prayer. I have had 
 numerous occasions, since my imprisonment, to thank God 
 for almost visible answers to my cry. Much as my foes have 
 exulted, and hated, and threatened, they have been re 
 strained from many things by which they intended to injure 
 me ; and several times in such a way that nothing but the di 
 rect agency of God, in the hearts and minds of men, could 
 
272 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 account for. And, in not a few cases, the violent dealing 
 of the wicked has already been visited on their heads. 
 You may have heard that poor Hatch has gone to Sing Sing 
 for ten years. The discovery and punishment of his crimes, 
 was the direct result of the indignation his perjuries against 
 me excited in the bosom of a man of poor repute, who was an 
 utter stranger to me ! Slill, our God is a GREAT God. His 
 ways are in the deep. The wicked are not generally pun 
 ished, here, nor the pious freed from suffering. Shall we re 
 ceive good at His hands, and not evil? I have no fear 
 for the cause of Christ in West Medvvay nor anywhere else. 
 God may want deacon W. in a higher sphere of duty and joy. 
 So of others. But he will find servants enough to do all His 
 will. How often have I seen the bitterest of His foes melted 
 by the simplest means ! I shall not forget, soon, the effect of the 
 first and (as a composition perhaps) the poorest sermon I ever 
 wrote. The Memoir of Miss Lawrence, by Rev. M. Moore, ex 
 hibits it, mparton\y. So our weakness is made strong ; and 
 our strength, weakness. My best regard and sympathy for Dr. 
 B. and his family. Tell him to try the power of mercy and love 
 upon the guilty man who has injured him. Punishment har 
 dens the heart. If I did not constantly struggle and pray against 
 the daily influences of the reformed system, on the mind and 
 heart, two years of imprisonment would make me a villain, as it 
 does most of those whose intellects are not stupified by it. God 
 bless and keep and comfort you and our dear little ones, and 
 all who are dear to us. I should be glad to write to my dear 
 and now aged grandmother, and aunt Fanny ; the mothers 
 who watched over my infancy and youth ; but I cannot. You 
 must show them my letters to you. So of my other near 
 friends. Since I wrote, Wm. Jackson, Mr. Lincoln of llal- 
 lowell, G. W. F. Mellen of Boston, and several other friends, 
 some of whom you do not personally know, have called to see 
 me ; brother Barlow, among others. And I have letters from 
 G. W. Jonson, the Earles, and others, which I should an- 
 
LAST LETTERS TO AND FROM MR. TORREY. 273 
 
 swer eagerly, if I was not in prison. I have not ceased to love 
 them, and all who have shown both kindness to us, and char 
 acters worthy of our love. But I cannot reply to them. I 
 should be very glad if you would send me a copy, each, of 
 Ornament, Saxton s Memoir, Harriet Fisher, and the In 
 fidel Son, together with my Greek Testament, and as many 
 other books as my friends in Boston or elsewhere will favor 
 me with ; especially such as are new, or less than two years 
 old, and therefore new to me. Many friends, I know, will be 
 very happy to add a few books to your little package. My 
 Philadelphia friends propose to send me a package from that 
 city. So that the little time and sense I have to read will, 
 between both, be fully cared for. I feel (when I can think 
 at all) as if I was growing ignorant by reading so little. 
 However, I have read God s word the more, and, I hope, 
 made some progress in spiritual knowledge, in spite of pain 
 and weariness and a prison. I know you will pray much for 
 me. I try, at YOUR hour for evening worship, oftentimes, to 
 think that we and our little ones are kneeling together at one 
 family altar, as we were wont, and calling on OUR Father ; 
 and it is very sweet to me. I feel deeply grateful to brother 
 Phelps, and to all who have shown kindness to you, either 
 for my sake or your own, in this day of our trial. If I am 
 never able to express my gratitude to them, individually, God 
 sees and will abundantly reward them for it. There are still 
 many topics, on which I would gladly add something ; but I 
 am in too much pain. Do not fear, so much, the gaze of the 
 people. It is not the impudent stare of rude curiosity you 
 meet with here ; but looks coming from hearts of cordial sym 
 pathy and respect. Living near to God, and followed by 
 many prayers, I trust you will yet be happier than you ever 
 was in my society. I am deeply grateful to God for the 
 prayers of our Salem and other friends. If I am ever re 
 stored to health, freedom, and usefulness, it will be because 
 many of God s people have prayed for me, especially among 
 
274 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 the poor, whom He has made me the means of benefiting. 
 Nothing ever so affected my feelings, as the knowledge of their 
 prayers, though I have not undervalued the love of the edu 
 cated, the refined and wealthy of our friends and associates. 
 Write freely on all personal topics. Whatever feelings exist 
 towards me, nothing of that nature will be abused. If Hive, 
 and am able, I shall write again, God willing, at the regular 
 time. But if I do not write, do not ascribe it to a want of 
 will, but to some providence which is not in my power to con 
 trol. With much love to our children and to all our families 
 and friends, I am yours, with affection, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 "Baltimore Penitentiary, Dec. 30, 1845. 
 "My dear wife, Your very welcome letter, dated Nov. 
 24th, was handed to me Dec. 14th. I have delayed replying, 
 in hope that I might give as cheerful an answer. But lest the 
 long delay should make you anxious, I obtained leave to send 
 a note, to-day, just to wish you a happy new year, and let 
 you know how matters stand. The preliminary arrange 
 ments for my release have all been made as successfully as 
 could be desired ; and I have not been obliged to make any 
 compromise of principle, though urged to sign what looked 
 very strongly like one. Mr. Child has been absent at Rich 
 mond and Annapolis, to bring the matter to a final issue. He 
 has not yet returned, though 1 am daily expecting it. There 
 is no very great reason to doubt a favorable result, though 
 there has been considerable opposition, and some not very 
 honorable to those who made it, as, at a future time, you will 
 learn. Still, so long as the matter remains undecided, I can 
 not help feeling some anxiety. We may be disappointed. 
 But God will provide for us better than we can ask. The 
 package of books, including * Home and your letter, (except 
 the Tract Soc. Rep. and the other pamphlet,) have not been 
 received by me, though they are in the city, beyond doubt. 
 
LAST LETTERS TO AND FROM MR. TORRET. 275 
 
 I first learned the publication of Home Dec. 12, from father 
 Spofford, with whom I had a very pleasant interview. But 
 patience ! these petty vexations, please God, will have an 
 end. My health is not, on the whole, improving. Now and 
 then, for a few days, I gain a little ; arid then, in half the time, 
 lose all I gained. I have been obliged to keep my bed, most 
 of the time, for the past month. Should I be released, I think 
 a resort to a warm climate will give me the only fair chance 
 of restoration to health. However, God will order it all right. 
 Death has fewer terrors for me than life. I am almost uni 
 formly cheerful, and enabled to rejoice in the Lord, who is 
 become my salvation. If released, I shall be compelled to 
 travel slowly ; at least, to rest a couple of days each, in Phila 
 delphia, New York, and New Haven, or Albany. But I 
 have business, chiefly legal, in each place, with which, if not 
 freed, I should be obliged to trouble you at an early day. So 
 the delay will not be useless. Now that there seems to be a 
 rational prospect of release, I begin to long to see you and 
 dear little Charles and Mary. It would be so sweet to sing 
 and pray together once more, at our fireside ! By the way, I 
 have sung some of my dear Clarke s sweet songs in queer 
 places ! I remember singing, 
 
 What mean ye, that ye bruise and bind 
 My people, saith the Lord, etc., 
 
 under the shade of an oak forest, draped with the misletoe, 
 far down in the dark land. Has he inserted my song, written 
 at Niagara, as he promised? But I am making a letter in 
 stead of a note. I cannot sing now, my voice is so much gone. 
 I could not do as I did two years ago last September, make 
 eight thousand people hear without an effort, or sensibly rais 
 ing my voice. No matter. If God has any use for my voice, 
 he will restore it again. My best love to our dear children, 
 and to all relatives and friends. I will write you as soon as 
 the result of the petitions is made known to me. And I hope. 
 
276 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 with God s favor, to be able to write freely all that is in my 
 heart to say to my dear and much tried wife. God bless you ! 
 In bondage or in freedom, your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 " Maryland Penitentiary, Feb. 2, 1846. 
 " My dear wife, By the kindness of the warden, I am al 
 lowed to ask Mr. Child to act as my amanuensis, being una 
 ble to write myself. Since my September letter, the bilious 
 fever, of which I then spoke, with intervals of disease, have 
 reduced me to a state of great weakness, without the aid of the 
 nervous pain in my head. For a few weeks, these diseases 
 have acted together, as if they were one disease ; the result is, 
 I am not able to sit up, or get up alone, from my bed. I think 
 that my case, in this respect, is beyond the reach of medical 
 skill. I am now in the same condition as in 1826, when my 
 life was rescued, with such difficulty, by Dr. Townsend, by 
 salivation, only with the disadvantage of having less strength 
 to endure medical treatment. My cough, for four months, 
 has expectorated from the lungs, daily, considerably ; and for 
 the last ten days, has greatly increased. My opinion is, that 
 there is no immediate danger from that cause, though I think 
 it will result in ultimate death. I speak to you plainly in re 
 gard to these matters, my dear wife, because I wish you to 
 feel that even if God should, by any means, open my prison 
 doors, it is hardly probable that it will be for the purpose of 
 giving to us the enjoyment of each other s society for more 
 than a few weeks. Do you ask, Are you happy ? The agi 
 tations respecting my release have caused some disturbance 
 of my peace for some six weeks past, but I feel submissive to 
 our Father s will, whatever it may be. With a sense of the 
 evil of sin deeper than I ever felt before, God has given me 
 more of the spirit of adoption, and I think more humility, 
 certainly more peace. As for my imprisonment, neither you 
 nor I can withhold the most grateful acknowledgments of 
 
LAST LETTERS TO AND FROM MR. TORRET. 277 
 
 His rich bounty for the year past. I was thinking them over 
 the other night, while all were sleeping about me, and it 
 seemed to me that liberty, added to so many tokens of the di 
 vine care and love, as we had received, would be too much 
 to dare to hope for; a cup running over with blessings. So 
 let us rejoice and be glad in Him, whatever may be before us. 
 Those books sent me, mentioned in your letter of the 23d or 
 24th of September, were not received. Please write to Mu. 
 Child any information you may have respecting them. Did 
 we ever know one half so much of the kindness of our 
 friends towards us as during the last year? Even in prison, 
 I have had many proofs of it. I have received twenty-nine 
 letters, including yours ; have had about thirty friends come 
 to see me, bringing messages of love from perhaps two hun 
 dred and fifty persons, in many different States ; not to speak 
 of acts of kindness from individuals, that, among the pris 
 oners has been remarkable. Hard as the lot of a prisoner 
 is, I do not believe, if one is disposed to count up the sum of 
 God s mercies, he will fail to see the great balance in favor 
 of happiness. I do not believe it is ever otherwise, out of 
 the world of despair ; and taking into view the vast dispro 
 portion of punishment in accordance with differences of char 
 acter, I doubt if it is so with vast numbers even there. A 
 * few stripes will be laid on those who have not known the 
 Lord s will. Hope thou in God, for we shall yet praise him 
 in songs of everlasting joy though we may not unite in his 
 praises in this world ; as indeed I do not think we ever shall ! 
 My best regards to the various members of your father s fam 
 ily, and to my own dear family circle, and to all others, whose 
 love I do not forget, though I cannot name them all, or write 
 to any. May God s blessing rest upon you and our litvlt* 
 ones. I am your affectionate husband, 
 
 CHARLES T. TORREY." 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Torrey, The above letter was written in the 
 24 
 
278 MEMOIR OF TORREY* 
 
 Penitentiary, upon a book, without the convenience of a table, 
 which will explain in part the writing. It is, verbatim, the 
 letter of your husband, taken down as dictated by him. He 
 is confined to his bed, and is severely sick, but I hope not so 
 dangerously as he supposes, though the physician says his 
 lungs are some affected. His mind is calm and composed at 
 the present time, though he has suffered some in that respect. 
 I am not without fears respecting him, but hope for the best. 
 The warden and officers are very kind to him, and do, evi 
 dently, all they can for him. Mrs. Child sympathizes with 
 you, and begs me to present to you her kind remembrances. 
 To-morrow some new efforts are to be made in his behalf. 
 I am, sincerely, yours, A. CHILD." 
 
 Feb. 2, 1846. 
 
 This is all we can give from the active hand and the 
 fruitful mind of the immortal Torrey ! A few more to him, 
 and some from his friends in Baltimore, we are sure will be 
 quite acceptable. 
 
 " West Medway, March, 1846. 
 
 "My Dearest Husband, I have just finished writing 
 another petition to the governor in your behalf, and father 
 is sitting by me, doing the same. So you see, if we are dis 
 couraged, we mean to keep trying to help you. I have been 
 sick about a week, and if the circumstances of the case had 
 teen otherwise than what they are, I should not have 
 thought I was able to write anything. But trying is 
 every thing. I have tried, and have accomplished it, 
 but I am now very tired, and should go to bed, if I did 
 not feel desirous to write a few words to you. Father 
 returned day before yesterday, with his feelings deeply injur 
 ed at the conduct of the governor and of Heckrotte. He 
 said he knew but of one thing more that he could do for you, 
 and that was to write another petition to the governor, which 
 
LAST LETTERS TO AND FROM MR. TORREY. 279 
 
 he is now doing. We are all deeply afflicted at your trying 
 state. When I am in such pain nights that I cannot sleep, I 
 think of and pray for you. Do not think I never do it at any 
 other time. Let one thought comfort and animate you. It 
 is this: hundreds and thousands remember you in their 
 prayers at their fireside and their meetings. That is a com 
 fort which every one does not possess. In your afflictions 
 they are afflicted. It is sweet to think we are remembered, 
 but sweeter still, to know that multitudes are daily pleading 
 for us, with that God, who has said, the effectual fervent 
 prayer of the righteous man avaiieth much. Mother says 
 she means to write to you a letter of consolation, but I am 
 
 almost afraid she will put so much in it, that it will 
 
 hardly be allowed. She undoubtedly would try to avoid it, 
 but she has so much of it in her heart, that it would be out 
 of the abundance of that, she would write. Alexis too, says 
 he intends to write you. Charles and Mary express a 
 great desire to see their father, and I cannot but hope they 
 will yet see you. 
 
 " Last week a paper was sent to me with a piece of your 
 poetry which you wrote in 1843, commencing 
 
 1 My country, my country the land of my pride ! 
 
 I cannot go any farther in my quotation, for the sentiment 
 contained in it would be obnoxious. You undoubtedly re 
 collect it. At any rate, it is full of poetry as well as good 
 sense, and will do you credit. Your Home is well receiv 
 ed every where. Ministers circulate it among their people, 
 because they feel that it exerts an excellent influence. 
 
 " Isabella sends much love to you she says I must tell 
 you she feels much for you, and wishes she could minister 
 to you. 
 
 " You will hear again from some of us soon. If I had 
 not been too sick, I should have written to you before. May 
 
280 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 the Lord be with you, comfort, sustain, and bless you. 
 Though your prospect looks dark, you may yet see a 
 brighter day. Hope thou in God. I can write no more 
 at present. 
 
 Your affectionate wife, 
 
 MARY I. TORREY." 
 
 " West Medway, April 1, 1846. 
 
 " My Dear Son, Though she that bore you, and called 
 you by that endearing appellation is now slumbering in the 
 grave, yet there is one who now lives, and who sustains the 
 relation of mother to your wife, and through her to you : it 
 is she, who now addresses you, and comes to your couch to 
 sympathize with you, and share your sorrows. 
 
 " When I think of your lonely and desolate condition, my 
 heart yearns over you, and longs to impart some comfort 
 and consolation. But debarred as we are from ministering to 
 your wants, I think with pleasure of Him to whom no bolts 
 or bars are a hindrance to his watchful eye, and who can be 
 stow those purer joys which delight the soul. These, in all 
 your trials you may share, if you but lift your heart to Him 
 in humble and fervent supplication. 
 
 " Never have I enjoyed more true pleasure than when 
 commending you to our covenant God, and committing to 
 Him your mortal and immortal interest. I feel that God 
 
 will bring much good to from your sufferings. If you 
 
 have truly made your peace with God, death must be to you 
 the gate of glory. To be freed from sin, and partake of the 
 joys of the ransomed in Heaven is a thought that may afford 
 pleasure to the greatest sufferer. My fervent prayer is that 
 you may be enabled to glorify your heavenly father in this 
 hour of trial, and in the end come forth like gold seven times 
 purified. Your nurse, (though I know not who he is,) shares 
 in my supplications for his spiritual welfare ; may he come 
 forth a decided and devoted Christian. 
 
LAST LETTERS TO AND FROM MR. TORREY. 281 
 
 " Mrs. Bennett, of Woburn, whom I believe you knew, died 
 a few weeks since, a most triumphant death. I wish I could 
 convey to you some of those precious tokens she gave of a 
 Savior s presence as she entered the dark valley. There is 
 now a pleasing work of divine grace begun at Woburn, and 
 many other places in our land are sharing the same blessings ; 
 particularly Amherst and New Haven Colleges. I had a let 
 ter from Jacob last week, speaking of the revival at Amherst, 
 and begging an interest in our pray ere for him. 
 
 " To-morrow, is with us, a day of fasting and prayer. I 
 hope many a knee will be bowed before God, and many a 
 heart truly humbled, will seek the pardon of an offended 
 God, and find acceptance with him. 
 
 " Mr. Ide has been quite unwell since his return from Bal 
 timore. He is gone this evening to meet a Bible class. The 
 seed he is now sowing, I trust will yet spring up, < and bear, 
 some sixty, some an hundred fold. 
 
 " May our hearts unite in offering the memorable prayer 
 of our Savior on the cross, for those who refuse to grant you 
 the boon of a pardon * Father, forgive them they know not 
 what they do. We all remember you with feelings of ten- 
 derest sympathy, and none more so than 
 Your affectionate mother, 
 
 MARY E. IDE." 
 
 " P. S. Your wife was in here to-day your father thinks 
 she looks quite feeble. She does not know I am writing 
 you, or she would send her love. The children are well, and 
 speak of father in terms that show he is not forgotten ; they, 
 with their mother, remember you daily in their prayers. I 
 have written in haste, as you will perceive by the frequent 
 omissions I have made. I hope some one will make us soon 
 acquainted with the state of your health. If you can dictate 
 to me an answer to this letter, do, and let me know how you 
 are, etc." 
 
 24* 
 
282 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 "My Dear Son, I have not written to you, as I intend 
 ed when I first returned, on account of my feeble health and 
 numerous cares which have pressed upon me. But you 
 have heard from Mary, and my wife now sends you a line. 
 When I parted with Mr. Phelps in New York, he told me he 
 would write you soon, and let you know what he could re 
 specting his doings in your behalf. I wish very much to 
 near what the decision of the governor is in your case. 
 The time is at hand when he intimated to me he should act 
 upon the case. Mary and I have renewed our petitions ; but 
 what will be the effect I cannot tell. May the Lord prepare 
 you for whatever may be his will respecting you. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 J. IDE." 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EFFORTS FOR THE RELEASE OF MR. TORREY. HIS SICK 
 NESS AND DEATH. 
 
 The following account is from the pen of Rev. A. A. Phelps. 
 
 " Mr. Torrey was in due time removed from the jail to the 
 penitentiary. There, we have reason to believe, he was 
 treated by the officers with all the leniency that the rules of 
 the prison would allow. Still, he was, in the eye of the law, 
 a criminal, and was of course treated as such. Mr. Torrey s 
 trial and conviction had not been without its effect on a por 
 tion of the better class of citizens in Baltimore. On many 
 accounts, they wished his liberation. As the result, early in 
 timations were given, from influential sources, that his libera 
 tion might be effected on very easy conditions. Some of these 
 were made while Mr. Torrey was yet in the jail. In a let 
 ter, dated Dec. 21, 1844, Mr. Torrey speaks of the subject 
 as follows : 
 
EFFORTS FOR HIS RELEASE. 283 
 
 It has been both a source of joy and humility to know 
 how much, not only those whom I know and loved, but the 
 poor slaves and colored people, and others whom I never saw, 
 have prayed for me. I believe God has already heard them, 
 in the peace I have enjoyed in my own heart ; though, as a 
 chastisement for my sins, he may not open my prison doors. 
 But, sinner though I am, and not worthy of their prayers, or 
 His favor, I feel that His cause is subjected to persecution in 
 iny person. And, though I may pass, in a measure, from 
 their minds, He will vindicate that cause in the end. 
 
 As to my release, the difficulty is to put nerve enough in 
 to a Southern governor to bear up against the slaveholding 
 aristocracy, or the violent portion of them. Beyond doubt, 
 the mass of the best men in Baltimore would be glad to have 
 me released to-day. I suppose you have been apprized by 
 brother Alden, of the proposal made me by men of high stand 
 ing, to secure my release, on condition of some seeming con 
 cession to the slaveocracy. I hope to have Leavitt and Chap 
 lin here on Monday night, to advise me respecting it. I can 
 not afford to concede any truth or principle, to get out of 
 prison. I am not rich enough ! 
 
 "In consequence of such intimations, the Torrey Commit 
 tee, at Boston, requested the gentleman, who was afterwards 
 employed by Prof. Cleveland and ourself, to see whether any 
 thing, and what, could be done to effect a liberation. Owing 
 to the prejudices of the great body of the people in Baltimore 
 and Maryland against abolitionists generally, and Mr. Tor 
 rey in particular, he found the case encumbered with great 
 difficulties ; but still believed that, by patient and persevering 
 effort, the object might ultimately be effected. Meanwhile, 
 the funds of the Committee, at Boston, were exhausted; and, 
 as the immediate prospect did not seem to warrant a fresh ap 
 peal for this particular object, it was concluded by the Com 
 mittee to do nothing farther at present. We, also, meanwhile, 
 
284 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 had removed to New York. Here, on the 22d of August, 
 1845, when we supposed all effort on Mr. Torrey s behalf had 
 been for some time at an end, we learned, indirectly, from a 
 Baltimore gentleman, that a small sum of money would ef 
 fect his release. We wrote, at once, to Mr. Child, the coun 
 sel already referred to, to know what could or could not be 
 done. He replied fully ; and, among other things, said, 
 
 * Yours of the 22d is received, and I am not sure but there 
 is a special providence in it, for it was brought to my office 
 at the moment I took up my pen to write you. I spent two 
 or three hours yesterday with Mr. Torrey ; and he spoke of 
 you in such terms, that I determined to write you. The 
 whole case of Mr. Torrey is this : after his conviction, I was 
 consulted by Messrs. Leavitt and Chaplin, who came from 
 Washington to see me ; and I agreed to render such profes 
 sional aid as was in my power, feeling also personal sympathy 
 and kindness for him and his family. * * I have had free 
 intercourse, and now have, with Mr. T., as his counsel, and 
 have endeavored to prepare the way for an application for 
 his pardon. * * There are reasons, which convince me, that 
 unless the party injured, (I speak of course in the dialect of a 
 slave State, where slaves are by law property,) is satisfied, 
 no application for pardon will be ever entertained. It is my 
 impression, that if that can be done, there is a chance to suc 
 ceed. I have no authority, however, to say he will be par 
 doned, but I believe there is a fair prospect. Mr. Torrey 
 complains bitterly of pains in his brain and in his heart ; and 
 I was yesterday impressed with the conviction that he is wear 
 ing out. He is about, and works when he pleases, and as he 
 pleases, but does but little. * * I communicated to him the 
 decision of his friends in Boston, that they could not aid him 
 at present, and urged him to try to keep up good spirits, as 
 suring him that I should not give up his case. He has, how 
 ever, now, evidently no hope of release. And I have always 
 
EFFORTS FOR HIS RELEASE. 285 
 
 felt, that whenever hope left him, he would break down. If 
 you think the means can be procured, the present is perhaps 
 a favorable time. 
 
 "With this, the efforts of Prof. Cleveland and ourself 
 began. Having satisfied ourselves, by correspondence and by 
 a personal visit to Baltimore, that there was every reason to 
 expect early and complete success, the appeal was made, per 
 sonally and by circular, for funds. The answer was prompt 
 and generous amply sufficient, in money and pledges, to 
 meet all the pecuniary demands of the case. Not unfrequently 
 the donations were of such a character, and accompanied with 
 such expressions of sympathy for Mr. Torrey as brought 
 tears to our eyes as we opened and read the letters convey 
 ing them. In one instance a worthy friend, learning of the 
 effort, set off, of his own motion, through his county, and sent 
 us as the result of his labors, one hundred dollars. In an 
 other case, we wrote to a single individual, asking five dol 
 lars, and he sent us ten. In numbers of instances, more was 
 given than was solicited. In several, liberal contributions 
 were made by persons who thoroughly condemned Mr. Tor- 
 rey s conduct. In one of these, the donor, after condemning 
 Mr. Torrey s proceedings in the strongest terms, concluded 
 by saying that still he did not think it would be doing just as 
 he would be done by, to do nothing for his release, and he 
 therefore enclosed twenty dollars. 
 
 " With the fund secured, no labor was spared, by us or the 
 counsel at Baltimore, to secure a favorable result. We made 
 three journeys to Baltimore, and conducted a very extended 
 correspondence in reference to it. We have now over twenty 
 letters on the subject from the counsel alone, each of which 
 required an answer, and some of them a long one. The coun 
 sel corresponded extensively also with other persons ; and, in 
 fact, devoted most of his time, for more than three months, to 
 the case. The result is known. It disappointed him and us 
 entirely. True, as the Baltimore Patriot stated soon after 
 
286 MEMOIR OP TORRET. 
 
 the letter of Prof. Cleveland and ourselves to the governor 
 appeared, the governor had never authorized any one to say, 
 in so many words, that he would pardon Mr. Torrey on any 
 terms. But some of his intimate personal and political friends 
 had intimated their belief that he would, and stated the terms 
 on which they believed he would do it, and this after con 
 versation with him in respect to it. The same belief was 
 the result of an informal and direct interview with the gov 
 ernor by our own counsel. The truth, however, in the end, 
 became clear. The governor and his slaveholding masters 
 never meant to release Mr. Torrey, until he was virtually a 
 dead man. When they intimated that in order to his pardon 
 this obstacle must be removed, and then that, and then a third, 
 and so on, it was only to gain time, and not to release their 
 victim until he was at the grave s mouth, if at all. For three 
 months or more, the governor had the subject virtually be 
 fore him ; for three long weeks he had it before him in form. 
 He knew, all this time, that Mr. Torrey was hastening to the 
 grave that he could not live long where he was. Yet, when 
 urged, by the venerable Dr. Ide, to a decision, he, the gov 
 ernor of a sovereign State, must needs consult a slaveholding 
 grand jury of his own county to know whether he might ex 
 ercise the executive prerogative of pardon ! Did ever slave 
 cringe more submissively to his master ? Was ever vengeance 
 more implacable to its victim ? Mr. Torrey at once saw the 
 issue, and, with Christian confidence, resigned himself to it. 
 Friends, as they saw him, bade him a last adieu." 
 
 Visit of Dr. Ide to the Governor of Maryland. 
 
 " I visited the governor to intercede for his immediate de 
 cision in Mr. Torrey s case. But after all I could say, he 
 coolly deferred_the whole subject to April, till after the grand 
 jury of Prince George s county should meet and give their 
 opinion in relation to it. 
 
EFFORTS FOR HIS RELEASE. 287 
 
 " When I returned and communicated the result of my mis 
 sion to Mr. Torrey, it was intensely interesting as well as 
 deeply affecting, to witness the working of his mind. Watch 
 ing with an anxious look every word that was said, at the close 
 of the narrative he instantly replied, That is to decide against 
 me ; I expected it would be so. Here he paused a moment, 
 and said again, Well, I may as well die here as anywhere. 
 If it is the will of God, I am willing to. And for some time 
 he laid hold of considerations in the government of God, which 
 seemed to buoy up his spirits. But at length he burst into 
 tears and said, This (meaning the decision of the governor) 
 will distress me some time when I am alone. Here the cir 
 cumstances of his wife and children, the thought of seeing 
 them no more, quite overcame him for a time. Our parting 
 was an affecting one ; Heft him, expecting to see him no more." 
 
 " Baltimore, April 9, 1846. 
 
 " Rev. and dear Sir, Your good letter was read by me 
 yesterday, just after I had returned from a visit to Mr. Tor 
 rey. I found him weaker than he was last week, and less 
 able to converse without interruption from coughing and want 
 of breath, but in a most enviable state of mind ; as he seems 
 to have cast all his cares on God, and to have received a ful 
 filment of the precious Scripture promise, As thy days, so 
 shall thy strength be. I do not know that he is failing very 
 fast, but I should not be surprised to hear that he had gone to 
 his rest in heaven, any day. Rev. R. B. Hubbard, of Worces 
 ter, and Dr. Bellows, of Charlestown, accompanied me to the 
 prison yesterday, both of whom he recognized as his friends. 
 The warden has very kindly allowed me to visit him as often 
 as I could ; and I usually pray with him, at his request. I 
 read a long and beautiful letter to Mr. Torrey a few days ago, 
 from brother Phelps, giving him an account of his recent pro 
 ceedings. 
 
 " You inquire concerning the state of feeling towards him in 
 
288 MEMOIR OP TORREY. 
 
 Maryland, and the prospect of his pardon by the governor. In 
 reply I may say that I think most of the people in the State 
 would be willing that he should be released, if they knew 
 just the state of his health ; and many in this city feel very 
 strongly on the subject ; but I do not believe that the execu 
 tive will deem it expedient ever to grant his pardon. I have 
 always thought the same. I see no hope, therefore, for him, 
 and we must all commit his body and soul to the mercy and 
 love of Him who had not where to lay his head, and who died 
 to redeem us from the eternal captivity of sin. 
 
 "I was sorry to hear that Mrs. Torrey is yet unwell. 
 May she find her Savior precious at this time of her sore 
 trial, and may her spirit be refined to the purity of angels, by 
 this seven times heated furnace of affliction. 
 
 " Mr. Rowe and family wish to be particularly and indi 
 vidually remembered to you and your daughter. They often 
 speak of you, and pray for you, and we all feel towards you 
 as towards a father and sister. 
 
 " I design to visit Mr. Torrey again before long, and will 
 write you the result. Perhaps some of his friends will come 
 to Baltimore soon, as I think he cannot live many weeks. 
 
 I am, dear sir, very respectfully and very affectionately, 
 Yours, PORTER H. SNOW." 
 
 "Baltimore, April 22, 1846. 
 
 " Rev. and dear Sir, As I have just returned from the 
 prison, I know you would like to receive a line from me re 
 specting Mr. Torrey. He is very low indeed. I met Dr. 
 Gibson this morning, just before I saw Mr. Torrey, and he 
 informed me that he could not live more than two weeks, and 
 he might not survive one week longer. He is very weak, per 
 spires profusely at night, and is sinking rapidly to his grave. 
 I conversed with him for about half an hour, and he ex 
 pressed resignation to his fate. He was less clear and ex 
 plicit concerning his feelings than when I have seen him be- 
 
EFFORTS FOR HIS RELEASE. 
 
 289 
 
 fore ; owing, I think, to his low state, and perhaps somewhat 
 to the medicine he takes. I told him that he could not live 
 many days, and that I hoped all would be well with him 
 when his spirit took its flight. He replied that he trusted irt 
 Christ, and could leave all with him. He wished me to say to 
 you, in answer to an inquiry in a letter, either from yourself 
 or Mrs. Torrey, that he wrote the tale referred to, at Wash 
 ington, in 1842. 
 
 " I have great confidence in Mr. T., and cannot but believe 
 that he will soon be with his Savior and God in heaven. 
 Mr. Kline, one of the officers in the prison, conversed with me 
 about him this morning ; and I was happy to hear him ex 
 press a good opinion of Mr. T., as he has often seen him and 
 talked with him. Mr. Kline believes that he has always 
 acted conscientiously, and that he now manifests Christian re^- 
 signation in view of death. 
 
 "You will not be surprised, dear sir, to hear of Mr. Tor* 
 rey s death any day. Have you any directions to give re 
 specting his funeral and burial? I will do anything you di 
 rect, in the event of his death. May we hope to see you or 
 any of your family in Baltimore soon ? 
 
 Yours, very respectfully, and in the bonds of Christ, 
 
 PORTER H. SNOW." 
 
 "Baltimore, May 4, 184G. 
 
 " Mr. Torrey is rapidly failing. It is not probable he will 
 last a week longer. His mind is clear, his faith strong, hi* 
 hope an anchor that binds him in unwavering confidence to 
 his Savior. He is a happy man. Oh that his murderers could 
 but feel one moiety of that love to man that has brought 
 him there, or of that love to God which makes him happy 
 there, in spite of all their deridings and traducings. But this 
 is not the object of this letter. ***** 
 Yours, truly, 
 
 W. C. BRADLEY. * 
 25 
 
290 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 " Baltimore, May 8, 1846. 
 
 "Dear friend Ide, I have been to visit Mr. Torrey this 
 morning, and find him just alive. He had a hemorrhage last 
 night, and it was thought that he would not live till morning ; 
 but he is yet spared to us. I found him rather delirious and 
 very feeble. His pulse only flutters. He knew me, and said 
 a few precious words of faith and resignation. Dear man ! 
 It is hard for him to die in prison. * Sick and in prison, and 
 ye visited me, said he. How kind was Jesus to combine these 
 two circumstances, and make them a climax in his specifica 
 tions he may have thought of me. These are our dear 
 brother Torrey s words. It was a trial for me to sit by his 
 cot and notice his pain, his eyes once so bright and sparkling 
 now lustreless, his face pale and ghastly, his whole appear 
 ance like that of a man just about to die. He may survive 
 R day or two ; but as he expectorated some half a gill of blood 
 last night, and looks so death-like now, 1 think he will have 
 embraced his Savior in heaven, before this line reaches you. 
 I do not think he can live more than a day or two longer. I 
 cannot write you a long letter now, as I wish I could. I have 
 visited him often since you left, and shall go to the prison to 
 day again. All things have been arranged as you directed. 
 Mr. Rowe will write you, the hour he hears of his death. 
 Dr. Gibson is not in town ; but Dr. Wm. F. Peabody, the gen 
 tleman you met at our house, will attend to your requests con 
 cerning the preparation of the body to be carried to Boston. 
 Let us look to God for support under our trials, arid may we 
 be prepared for our own dissolution. Perhaps you will send 
 this line at once to your father, as I cannot write him to-day. 
 Tender my love to the afflicted friends at Medvvay, and as 
 sure them of my deep love to the sick, imprisoned disciple 
 of Jesus, who is so dear to them. 
 
 Yours, in the bonds of Christian affection, 
 
 PORTER H. SNOW." 
 
THE PRISON SCENE. 291 
 
 [Letter from Rev. Mr. Smalley, of Worcester.] 
 THE PRISON SCENE. 
 
 " At the request of the officers and other members of my 
 church, I recently visited Baltimore to see the Rev. Charles 
 T. Torrey. I left Worcester May the 4th, and arrived at 
 Baltimore on the morning of the next day. As early as 
 practicable on the following morning, I started for the prison. 
 On being introduced to the Warden of the prison, I stated to 
 him my object, and asked him if he would grant me permis 
 sion to visit the prisoner. He very cheerfully assented to 
 my request, and in a few moments I was in the hospital of 
 the prison. Mr. T. was prostrate upon his bed, and so much 
 emaciated that, for an instant, I could hardly believe that it 
 was the Mr. T. that I formerly knew. With a smile of re 
 cognition, he extended his "thin and feverish hand to me, and 
 expressed his grateful emotions that he had not been forgot 
 ten by his friends at the North in his trials and affliction*. 
 He seemed to be in a very desirable frame of mind ; and 
 spoke of the present and the future with entire resignation 
 of spirit. At his request I administered the Sacrament of 
 the Lord s Supper to him. It was indeed a solemn and im 
 pressive scene. He appeared to be lost in devout and grate 
 ful contemplation of the Redeemer, and though unable to say 
 much, he obviously felt that the promises of that precious 
 Savior were full of hope and consolation. The emotions of 
 that hour cannot be easily forgotten. 
 
 " He is obviously in the last stages of consumption. It has 
 been a cause of wonder to some, that his friends do not make 
 efforts to obtain his pardon and remove him to the North, 
 that he may die in the bosom of his family. It is enough 
 perhaps to say respecting this, that he has not strength to en 
 dure one half of the fatigue of a removal. I do not believe, 
 that with the utmost care, he would survive a removal even 
 
292 MEMOIR OP TORREY. 
 
 as far as Philadelphia. Could he be removed from the pris 
 on to the kind attentions of some private family near, he 
 might be rendered more comfortable. Where he is, he has 
 perhaps all the comforts that could reasonably be expected. 
 The wardens and officers seem to be very well disposed to 
 wards him ; and they were very ready to aid me in minister 
 ing to his consolation. But to be sick in prison, with the 
 prisoner s dress suspended over one s head, with no other at 
 tendance than can be afforded in the hospital of a prison, 
 with no wife, or mother, or sister, to smooth the pillow, or 
 throw an air of neatness around the room, with none but 
 strangers to call upon for aid : O the picture need not be 
 filled out in order to show us that it is horrible beyond de 
 scription." 
 
 The first notice of Mr. Torrey s death was by the follow 
 ing letter addressed to Mr. N. E. Ide, of Boston : 
 
 "Baltimore, May 9, 1846. 
 
 "Our Torrey the slaves Torrey the world s Torrey is 
 no more. The God of the oppressed has called him to his 
 reward. His pardon has long been signed and sealed by the 
 King of kings ; and this afternoon at three o clock, a mes 
 senger from the Court of Heaven came down and opened the 
 prison doors, and set him free ! And he is now the wonder 
 and joy of the heavenly host. Methinks to-night there are 
 new songs in heaven. * Inasmuch as ye have done it to one 
 of the least of these, ye have done it to me. Enter thou 
 into the joy of thy Lord. " 
 
 THE DEATH SCENE. 
 [From the Baltimore Saturday Visitor.] 
 
 " Charles T. Torrey is at last gone, freed from prison with 
 out the aid of the governor, leaving the funds offered to the 
 owners of the slaves for whom he suffered the heavy penalty 
 
THE DEATH SCENE. 293 
 
 of the law, for his release, in the hands of those who will no 
 doubt properly appropriate it to the wants of his bereaved 
 wife and children, which is well. He died at three o clock, 
 P. M., on the 9th instant, with that calmness and resignation 
 which became him, and yet hardly to be anticipated in a death 
 watched over only by the prison officials, rather than by the 
 friends of his home and heart, whose soothing voices and care 
 ful ministrations are no trifles in the estimation of the departing; 
 Mr. Torrey s disease, as our readers are aware, was pulmon 
 ary consumption, to which he was predisposed, both of his 
 parents having died of it, we believe but which was no 
 doubt developed by the influences of prison life, and would 
 probably have withheld its fatal grasp many a year if not 
 entirely. His dying symptoms were pretty much those of 
 all consumptive patients. A slight hemorrhage from the 
 lungs was the only marked indication of the solemn crisis. 
 This took place a day or two before his death, and brought 
 away so little blood, that it would have been by no means 
 important, if arising from a less urgent cause than the utter 
 rottenness of the pulmonary vessels from which it came. 
 
 11 Mr. Torrey s body was put under the control of those 
 who kindly consented to act for his friends, and after being 
 prepared for its journey by arsenous injections into the ar 
 teries, was placed in a neat cherry coffin, which was lined 
 with zinc, and in which a pane of glass was arranged in or 
 der to avoid the necessity of opening it to the view of the 
 crowd of anxious relatives and friends, who, no doubt, awaited 
 its arrival at the place of destination." 
 
 To the above we subjoin the following, from a private note 
 of one of the friends in Baltimore, to whom the care of Mr. 
 Torrey s remains were committed. The writer says : 
 
 " During the performance of the melancholy duties of pre 
 paring the body of the departed Torrey, I embraced the OD- 
 25* 
 
294 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 portunity to enter into conversation with several of the offi 
 cers relative to his last, hours. The deputy warden was with 
 him to the last, and seemed quite attached to him. He said 
 that Torrey was perfectly conscious to the last breath, 
 though unable to speak. He sat four hours by his bed-side, 
 wetting his lips with an acid water, and ministering as far as 
 possible to his comfort ; for which he repeatedly expressed 
 his gratitude in signs and looks that much affected him. His 
 exit was perfectly calm and peaceful. He died without a 
 groan or struggle ; and with every indication of a happy state 
 of mind. He had no doubt as to his piety ; nor had any offi 
 cer in the institution." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 FUNERAL. EXTRACTS FROM THE SERMON PREACHED ON 
 
 THAT OCCASION. 
 
 The body of Mr. Torrey had been asked by his friends, of 
 the -prison physician for burial. This request was assented 
 to. Immediately, as soon as the news of his death reached 
 Boston, a few of his friends were called together, to make ar 
 rangements for his burial. Directions were sent to Balti 
 more to have the body partially embalmed, and it arrived in 
 a state of almost perfect preservation. The funeral was ap 
 pointed at the Park-street Church, but for some reason, the 
 full board of directors in that church, withdrew the consent, 
 that had been given by the chairman, and the place was 
 changed to the Tremont Temple. On Monday, the 19th 
 of May, at three o clock, P. M., this spacious room was filled 
 to its utmost capacity. The colored people thronged in great 
 numbers to pay the last tribute of respect to one who had suf 
 fered so much for their kinsmen according to the flesh. The 
 following account of the funeral is taken from the Christian 
 Reflector : 
 
THE FUNERAL. 295 
 
 THE FUNERAL. 
 
 " We were present on Monday afternoon, at the funeral of 
 the Rev. Charles T. Torrey. The body had been subjected 
 to a temporary embalming, and so hermetically sealed, as not 
 to be in the least offensive. While we looked through the 
 glass upon his pale, but not greatly changed countenance, we 
 thought of the days when we saw it sparkling with life, and 
 beaming with benevolence as he plead for the rights of hu 
 manity, and for the poor and down-trodden slave. And 
 while we envied not the abettors of slavery and oppression 
 who had wrung from their victim the last drop of anguish 
 which persevering hate and cruelty could extort, with mingled 
 but no ordinary pleasure, we followed his released spirit up 
 to its joyful welcome among the benevolent, to those scenes 
 of bliss and joy where tyrants never come. 
 
 . The Scriptures were read on the occasion by the Rev. 
 Jotham Horton, of the Methodist connection. The first 
 prayer was offered by Rev. N. Colver, and the closing 
 prayer by Rev. J. C. Webster. The sermon* which was 
 thrilling and eloquent, was delivered by Rev. J. C. Lovejoy, 
 brother to the martyr of liberty in the West. His discourse 
 was founded upon Psalm cv. 48 : Whose feet they hurt with 
 fetters ; he was laid in irons. He vindicated the character 
 and the deeds of the deceased, gave many interesting sketch 
 es of his life, detailed at considerable length the circumstan 
 ces which led to his arrest, the events of his trial, the exerci 
 ses of his mind while enduring his cruel and unjust imprison 
 ment, gave extracts from some of his letters to his wife and 
 friends (written before and after his conviction,) and descri 
 bed the state of his mind and his firm trust in his Savior in 
 the hour of death. Many parts of the discourse produced a 
 deep impression upon the vast auditory especially where 
 the speaker quoted the words of the deceased, when, in Ian- 
 
296 MEMOIR OP TORRE t. 
 
 guage worthy of the hest martyrs of the church, he declared 
 his unalterable determination to die in prison, rather than ad 
 mit that in the act for which he was condemned, he had vio 
 lated any precept of the Christian religion. 
 
 " There were more than three thousand persons present on 
 the occasion. The spacious temple was full to overflow 
 ing, and multitudes could not gain admittance. The entire 
 platform was occupied by ministers of different denomina 
 tions, and many more seated below for whom there was not 
 room on the platform. Among the auditory, and towards 
 whom all hearts turned with the liveliest sympathy, were 
 seen the widow and children of the lion-hearted Torrey. 
 His father-in-law, the venerable Rev. Dr. Ide, of Bled way, 
 was also present. A tender arid subdued grief and a deep so 
 lemnity pervaded the vast assembly. Well might they weep. 
 Tears were not inappropriate as they regarded the murdered 
 victim of a system of atrocious and unsurpassed iniquity 
 which involves the sin of the nation. Many felt the appro 
 priateness of the apostolic injunction, to weep with those 
 that weep, as they looked upon the stricken, smitten ones, 
 and thought of the cause of that desolation. O, it was that 
 the heart of that husband of that father, was too full of the 
 gushings of humanity. O, it was that that commended him. 
 to the deep admiration and love of his wife and friends, and 
 saints and angels, and Christ, which had made him the early 
 victim of the tyrant s hate. 
 
 " Well, it is over ! * Torrey sleeps in his grave ! But, 
 * though dead, he yet speaketh, and his martyr death shall 
 yet tell upon the liberty of sighing bondmen for whom he 
 died. The silent tears which fell around the bier of the Rev. 
 Charles T. Torrey, bore witness to the more than Hannibal 
 vow of eternal hatred to slavery. Many, we doubt not, in 
 the very spirit of Christ, pledged themselves anew to re 
 member those that are in bonds as bound with them. A col 
 lection was taken at the close to erect a monument over his 
 
THE FUNERAL. 297 
 
 grave. Its office will merely be to mark the place where his 
 body lies he will need no such monument to perpetuate the 
 memory of his name ; its shrine will be in every benevolent 
 heart, and while humanity flows, it will be held in sweet re 
 membrance. It shall be remembered that one there was who 
 would sooner die himself than betray a friend to the slave in 
 to the hand of the tyrants that one there was who would 
 sympathize with the enslaved, the down-trodden and the de 
 spised of men, even unto death, and that one was the Rev. 
 Charles Turner Torrey. 
 
 " The following appropriate hymn was prepared by Rev. 
 Mr. Colver, and sung on the occasion. 
 
 Go to the grave, in all thy glorious prime, 
 
 In full activity of zeal and power; 
 A Christian cannot die before his time ; 
 
 The Lord s appointment is the servant s hour. 
 
 Go to the grave : at noon from labors cease ; 
 
 Rest on thy sheaves ; thy harvest task is done ; 
 Come from the heat of hattle, and in peace ; 
 Soldier, go home ; with thee the fight is won. 
 
 1 Go to the grave from prison walls released ; 
 
 Where tyrants bound thee for thy work of love ! 
 Thy sufferings ended, for the poor oppressed, 
 Go up and rest thee, with thy Lord above. 
 
 Go to the grave : no : take thy seat on high, 
 Near Mercy s throne, where tyrants never come ; 
 
 Let thy pure spirit bask in love and joy, 
 And dwell forever with thy Lord at home. 
 
 " A number of the friends of the deceased followed his re 
 mains to Mount Auburn cemetery. 
 
 "In the evening, a large meeting, in further commemora 
 tion of the many virtues and rare deeds of Mr. Torrey, was 
 held at Faneuil Hall. Gen. Samuel Fessenden, of Maine, 
 presided, assisted by Ellis Gray Loring and Francis Jackson, 
 Esqs. of Boston, as vice presidents, and Messrs J. G. Whit- 
 
298 MEMOIR OP TORREY. 
 
 tier, Geo. Minot, and Richard Hildreth, as secretaries. Rev. 
 Mr. Hatch, of the Methodist church, opened the meeting with 
 prayer; after which an interesting and eulogistic letter was 
 read, from Hon. Stephen C. Phillips, of Salem, by Rev. Joshua 
 Leavitt. Addresses were made by Gen. Fessenden, Henry 
 B. Stanton, Dr. Walter Channing, and Rev. Mr. Lovejoy. 
 A beautiful poem, from the pen of James Russell Lowell, was 
 read to the meeting by Dr. Channing. 
 
 " Thus has the body of our departed brother been consigned 
 to its last resting place. We trust his spirit is now where the 
 slave is free from his master, and the wicked cease from troub 
 ling. Thus has another victim to the American Moloch 
 been buried with suitable honors by his sympathizing friends. 
 When the mists of prejudice and error are dissipated by the sun 
 of truth when slavery is numbered among the things that 
 were, then will posterity do justice to the heroic deeds, the 
 active humanity, the courageous virtue of the Christian mar 
 tyr, CHARLES TURNER TORREY." 
 
 Conclusion, by J. G. Whittier. 
 
 "We conclude this affecting detail, with the following 
 touching remarks of J. G. Whittier, in the Essex Transcript: 
 
 Some seven years ago, we saw Charles T. Torrey for the 
 first time. His wife was leaning on his arm young, loving 
 and beautiful ; the heart that saw them blessed them. Since 
 that time, we have known him as a most energetic and zeal 
 ous advocate of the anti-slavery cause. He had fine talents, 
 improved by learning arid observation ; a clear, intensely ac 
 tive intellect, and a heart full of sympathy and genial humani 
 ty. It was with strange and bitter feelings that we bent over 
 his coffin and looked upon his still face. The pity which we 
 had felt for him in his long sufferings, gave place to indignation 
 against his murderers. Hateful beyond the power of expression 
 seemed the tyranny which had murdered him with the slow- 
 torture of the dungeon. May God forgive us, if for the mo- 
 
THE FUNERAL. 299 
 
 ment we felt like grasping His dread prerogative of vengeance. 
 As we passed out of the Hall, a friend grasped our hand hard, 
 his eye flashing through its tears, with a stern reflection of our 
 own emotions, while he whispered through his pressed lips : 
 * It is enough to turn every anti-slavery heart into steel. Our 
 blood boiled; we longed to see the wicked apologists of sla 
 very the blasphemous defenders of it in church and State 
 led up to the coffin of our murdered brother, and there made 
 to feel that their hands had aided in riveting the chain upon 
 those still limbs, and in shutting out from those cold lips the 
 free breath of heaven. 
 
 " A long procession followed his remains to their resting 
 place at Mount Auburn. A monument to his memory will 
 be raised in that cemetery, in the midst of the green beauty 
 of the scenery which he loved in life and side by side with 
 the honored dead of Massachusetts. Thither let the friends 
 of humanity go to gather fresh strength from the memory of 
 the martyr. There let the slaveholder stand, and as he reads 
 the record of the enduring marble, commune with his own 
 heart, and feel that sorrow which worketh repentance. 
 
 " The young, the beautiful, the brave ! he is safe now 
 from the malice of his enemies. Nothing can harm him more. 
 His work for the poor and helpless was well and nobly done. 
 In the wild woods of Canada, around many a happy fireside 
 and holy family altar, his name is on the lips of God s poor. 
 He put his soul in their soul s stead ; he gave his life for those 
 who had no claim on his love save that of human brotherhood. 
 How poor, how pitiful and paltry seem our own labors ! How 
 small and mean our trials and sacrifices t May the spirit of the 
 dead be with us, and infuse into our hearts something of his 
 own deep sympathy, his hatred of injustice, his strong faith 
 and heroic endurance. May that spirit be gladdened in its 
 present sphere, by the increased zeal and faithfulness of the 
 friends he has left behind." 
 
300 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Extracts from the Sermon preached at the Funeral of 
 Mr. Torrey. 
 
 Lamentations 3: 53. "They haA T e cut off my life in the dungeon." 
 Psalm 105 : 8. " Whose feet they hurt with fetters ; he was laid in iron." 
 
 " Words are powerless to-day. They entirely fail to ut 
 ter the deep emotions which swell every bosom. A deed has 
 been done which covers Maryland with indelible disgrace ; 
 a deed which ought to shroud Massachusetts in mourning and 
 the whole land in gloom. Torrey is no more ! The cruel 
 murder of a righteous man, for acts of mercy, has been con 
 summated by the slow torture of confinement in the prison of 
 one of the sovereign States of Christian America. 
 
 " Slavery enjoys another triumph. Every true-hearted 
 friend of human liberty throughout the world will weep ; and 
 with united voice exclaim, Wo, wo to the hand that shed this 
 costly blood. I have said the lamented, early-wept Torrey 
 is no more. His mortal remains lie indeed beneath you ; but 
 he has just begun to live. I say this, not only in reference 
 to that happy immortality to which his soaring spirit has been 
 made thrice welcome ; but I say it in reference to what he 
 will be and do on the earth. When a single event in the life 
 of an individual stands prominent and alone, as th-c one thing 
 by which he is chiefly known ; when thousands know him by 
 this one act, there arises at once an interest and anxiety to 
 know if all parts of the character shall correspond to what is 
 known ; if the admiration excited, will be sustained by an in 
 timate acquaintance with the whole character. 
 
 " There is grandeur in a solitary mountain ; but the sus 
 tained feeling of sublimity can only rest upon the rolling 
 ridges that stretch away far as the eye can reach. We ad 
 mire a single noble act ; but who does not rejoice to see it 
 surrounded by groups of noble principles and lofty achieve 
 ments ? 
 
EXTRACTS FROM THE FUNERAL SERMON. 301 
 
 " With what anxiety, then, do we approach to uncover the 
 face of the illustrious dead ; to read the history which we long 
 to know, and yet which we almost dread to trace. It was 
 with something of this feeling, I frankly confess, I began to 
 open the papers of our lamented friend. Thank God, though 
 his life has been taken, his character and reputation are safe* 
 Truth will now gush forth from pure fountains, and wash 
 away the spots that the malicious and the thoughtless have; 
 attempted to fasten upon his character. 
 
 We tell thy doom without a sigh, 
 For thou art freedom s now, and fame s ; 
 One of the few immortal names 
 That were not born to die. 
 
 " Those who choose may echo, the slaves stolen by Tor 
 rey/ but they will never produce the conviction, on the 
 minds of this or any future age, that Mr. Torrey was a thief. 
 You may shut his body out of your sanctuary,* but you can 
 not exclude his spirit from the upper sanctuary. The impar 
 tial verdict of this and future ages will be, Mr. Torrey wa& 
 cruelly murdered for a righteous act, to glut the vengeance of 
 slaveholders and uphold the darling institution of slavery. 
 
 " The sentence of the court of Maryland has already been 
 repealed in that higher and impartial court, where human ac 
 tions are rightly weighed. Every spot upon his reputation, 
 here, for acts of mercy to the oppressed, has become a bright 
 and shining star in his diadem of glory there. Nor will the 
 honor you do him, rest upon the momentary excitement of 
 the present occasion. While genius, energy and courage,, 
 robed in the milder virtues of piety and benevolence, shall be 
 admired, the name of Torrey will be honored. 
 
 " I never blamed him for the attempt to escape from jail, 
 but only that there was not sufficient care to make it success- 
 
 * Park Street church was refused after it had once been granted for 
 the funeral ! 
 
 26 
 
302 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 ful. Let those who censure Mr. Torrey, put themselves in 
 his condition. Conscious of no crime ; the recording angel 
 had already written over against the acts of mercy of which 
 he was accused : he shall be recompensed at the resurrection 
 of the just. His enemies were many, and they were strong. 
 He must be tried by a wicked law, before a slaveholding court 
 and jury, with parties arrayed against him ready to prove 
 anything necessary for his conviction ; was it wrong for him 
 to escape as a bird from the hand of the fowler ? Let those 
 who think so, condemn our ancestors, who often escaped from 
 captivity among the Indian tribes ; for I do not hesitate to say 
 that the ancient Delawares, that trod the shores of the Chesa 
 peake, were angels of mercy compared to the present genera 
 tion of slaveholders in Maryland. Let them keep a part of 
 their indignation for the captives who have escaped from Al- 
 gerine bondage, and for Paul the apostle, who was let down, 
 in a basket, through a window, that he might escape. 
 
 "But Mr. Torrey was imprisoned according to law ; and 
 respect for the laws of the land should have kept him from 
 the unlawful mode of escape. He may have erred ; but he 
 had a most illustrious example, in the case of his apostolic type 
 the bold, the ardent, and, if you insist upon it, the rash Si 
 mon Peter was once in prison by command of the king ; and 
 an angel was sent, all the way from heaven, to slip the bolts, 
 open the doors, and let him out. When the crier calls the court 
 for the trial of Peter and the angel, the friends of Mr. Tor 
 rey will be there to answer for him. 
 
 " But most bitterly did he atone for this attempt to break 
 jail. For twelve days his feet were hurt with fetters ; he 
 was laid in iron, irons that weighed twenty-five pounds. 
 His situation at this time beggars all description. Surrounded 
 by persecutors, bitter and cruel, betrayed by one of the inmates 
 of the prison, sick, heavily ironed, there was but one angel of 
 mercy, save myriads of the unseen, around him. That minister 
 of kindness was John Stewart, an Irishman. l But for him, 
 
EXTRACTS FROM THE FUNERAL SERMON. 303 
 
 says Mr. Torrey, * 1 should not have survived those twelve days 
 of the reign of terror and cruelty. It may well be supposed that 
 such facts as I have narrated, known and published abroad, 
 excited no small interest in his behalf. Yet from the point of 
 view we now look at it, we marvel at the cold hearted indif 
 ference and want of interest in his fate. To the honor of a 
 few; I believe it is no injustice to say that it was mostly con 
 fined to those technically called abolitionists, money was freely 
 contributed, able counsel was employed to do all that might be 
 done, to rescue him from the unjust sufferings to which he was 
 exposed. From the day of his arrest to that of his death, a 
 few friends did all they could for his relief. An effort to bail 
 him out of the loathsome jail in Baltimore, during the long 
 and sultry days of summer, was not successful. The weary 
 months wore round, that brought him before the court of Ma 
 ryland for trial. False witnesses were not wanting before the 
 jury. They swore in many instances, perhaps, to what was 
 true, but they did not know it to be true. The court, with 
 their prejudices against Mr. Torrey, were perhaps as impar 
 tial as you could expect. The prosecuting officer was rather 
 magnanimous than overbearing. But there was the consent of 
 these judges to the execution of a wicked law the aid of this 
 State s attorney in the conviction and punishment of an inno 
 cent man. Rather than partake in such a crime, they should 
 have vacated their seats and offices forever. 
 
 " But what shall I say of his own counsel, the Hon. Re- 
 verdy Johnson ? I thank him for his generosity, but I do 
 not thank him for his fatal admission in the very exordium of 
 his argument. At the close of a touching allusion to his wife, 
 then present in court, he said, she has come to witness the 
 probable adverse termination of this trial. He repeated this 
 admission by an allusion to his imprisonment, and the long 
 years of lonely separation that must follow. This, in my 
 opinion, was a wrong and fatal admission. It was, in fact, 
 giving the whole case over into the hands of the prosecutors. 
 
304 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Mr. Torrey must have felt it as cutting the last straw of hope 
 left him. 
 
 " Such a feeble effort for the delivery of an innocent man, 
 contrasts sadly with the almost superhuman efforts of eminent 
 counsel, often, to deliver men whose hands are red with blood. 
 The jury were out only twenty minutes, and brought in a 
 verdict of guilty. * * 
 
 " Thus lived, and thus died in the thirty-third year of his 
 age, the young, ardent, and self-devoted Torrey. Is not the 
 simple story of his life, the most triumphant vindication of his 
 character ? 
 
 "But he was rash had faults, and great ones, say his 
 enemies ; admitted ; what then ? Can you put your finger on 
 one bold and fearless man, more governed by his own un 
 doubted convictions than by popular feeling, who has not 
 faults, and great faults too ? And yet there will be carrion 
 heaths, as Carlyle would call them ignorant or hard-hearted 
 men, who will have no other balm for these wounded hearts, 
 than the sneering cry, * Died Torrey as the fool dieth. I 
 tell you nay, his life was not thrown away. Estimate the 
 priceless value of personal, social and religious liberty to some 
 hundreds of slaves, emancipated by his instrumentality to 
 them and their posterity, and is it not worth one life ? I say 
 it here, I say it everywhere, from the side of every martyr s 
 grave-stone, in the old world and the new; I whisper it 
 in the ear of the master, I proclaim it aloud in the ear of the 
 slave, the proper price of one man s liberty, is one man s 
 life. No man ought ever to consent to be a slave. No 
 man ought to consent to be the father of a slave; and 
 no woman should ever press a slave child to the sacred foun 
 tain of life. God gave her an immortal spirit, to be nurtured 
 as from her own life ; and will she receive a chattel, a thing, 
 from the hands of a master ? And if any of the race of Adam 
 have fallen so low, that they prize life more than liberty, they 
 need redemption ; nothing but vicarious suffering, even to 
 
EXTRACTS FROM THE FUNERAL SERMON. 305 
 
 death nothing but the groans and grave-stones of martyrs, 
 will awaken such to gird on the armor of their manhood and 
 show themselves men. 
 
 " Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid 
 down his life for us ; and we ought to lay down our lives for 
 the brethren Where, and when, if not for our brethren 
 among the slaves of the South ; yea, for the entire mass of 
 the slaves ; and the lower their degradation, the louder is the 
 call for redemption. And from the prison-tomb, where Torrey 
 died, an earthquake-voice will go forth, which will shake all 
 the wide domain of slavery ; and many of the saints that are 
 in the grave of liberty, will come forth and be free. His 
 death will be the beginning of the Hegira of the slave. 
 
 "Already I see them, in scores and by hundreds, crossing 
 the long line of border, and treading with new and wonder 
 ing emotions, a soil partially free the transition strata be 
 tween bondage and freedom. Elastic youth and grey-haired 
 age wake at the first plaintive call of the fugitive horses of 
 all colors, and vehicles of all descriptions, are harnessed to 
 facilitate their march ; when the stars fail, lamps and torches 
 supply their places, and the wondering traveller upon the 
 lake exclaims, as he sees them rushing to its shores, * who 
 are these that fly as clouds and as doves to their windows ? 
 all along these hidden ways cast up for the ransomed to re 
 turn ways, which the vulture eye of Slavery cannot find ! 
 The watchword is, Torrey and Liberty ! 
 
 " The life and death of Mr. Torrey will convince thou 
 sands, simply by drawing attention to the subject and securing 
 its discussion of the righteousness and expediency of direct 
 efforts to assist the slaves, individually, to their freedom. So 
 far from having gone beyond the limits of a strict morality* 
 in what he did to assist the slave in his escape, he has left a 
 wide margin to be trodden by those made bolder by his ex 
 ample. The truth has yet to be preached to the slaves, at 
 the peril of life, if need be, that they do a great wrong every 
 26* 
 
306 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 day they consent to labor without wages that every slave, 
 properly enlightened, who yields for a moment to have his 
 family ties sundered, is a sinner before God that the father 
 and husband who will not protect, resisting even to blood, the 
 innocence of his own family, is worthy to be neither a father 
 nor a husband. In short, the duty of the slave to himself 
 and his family, to the nation and posterity, is to be fully pro 
 claimed and over all the plantations of the south, the slaves 
 should come out from their woods, stand in the highway of 
 the King of kings and Lord of lords, and call no man mas 
 ter upon the earth. There is but one Sovereign of the hu 
 man will, and He is in Heaven. The Bible abounds with ap 
 propriate texts for such preaching, which is according to 
 sound doctrine, and the glorious gospel of the blessed God. 
 Fear not them that kill the body, but after that have no more 
 that they can do ! In our sickly sentimentalism about hu 
 man life, at the present day, we seem to think that there is 
 but one life and that of the body the higher, better, im 
 mortal life of the soul, is put out, like lamps, in the death 
 caverns beneath the earth. If it were necessary for every 
 slave father in the south to come forward and offer himself a 
 sacrifice for the redemption of his children and posterity, 
 I know of no higher duty, of no more acceptable sacrifice. 
 Shall a man consent to have the bright image of his God 
 erased from his soul his volition destroyed the children of 
 his own body, the wife of his bosom, brutalized before his 
 eyes, rather than die ? Nay, must he himself consent to the 
 violation of every command in the decalogue, for the sake of 
 life ? I hope and trust the life and death of Mr. Torrey will 
 awaken the nation to a reconsideration of these truths truths 
 once written in the blood of our fathers, and on the grave 
 stones of the early emigrants to Plymouth rock. Mr. Tor 
 rey has showed us again, that there is something worth dying 
 for, besides the possibility of gaining wealth in deadly climes, 
 or the vain glare of military glory. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM THE FUNERAL SERMON. 307 
 
 " Yet I would not be too sanguine in estimating the proba 
 ble influence of his example and death. I remember that 
 South Carolina treads on the necks of your free citizens, im 
 prisons them against the express provision of the Constitu 
 tion of the United States, and spurns your ambassador from 
 her borders with contempt. Slavery robs a weak and peace 
 able nation of territory, and then provokes and makes a war, 
 without the action of Congress, to wash out her own crime 
 in the blood of the innocent. Slavery tramples upon the first 
 principle of Protestantism, and denies the word of God to the 
 common people ; hurls from her borders, or grinds to powder, 
 the materials of five or six printing presses ; murders their 
 peaceful owners ; comes into the free states, and captures free 
 white citizens, and drags them to a foreign tribunal for trial 
 denies the hospitality of the most barbarous nations on 
 earth, and demands that the victims of providence the wan 
 derers of the Amistad shall be given over to bondage or 
 death ; and yet the nation is not aroused ; even Massachu 
 setts is not prepared to say she will seek the destruction of 
 slavery. 
 
 " "Well, slavery has filled the cup of outrage and insult for 
 you, to overflowing. She has taken the priest from the altar 
 the father and the husband, and after months of slow tor 
 ture the most excruciating a mind like his could feel, his 
 lips sealed during the day a dark and cheerless cell at night 
 during the lonely long evening, not an inch of candle to 
 shine upon the page of God s loved word ! After months of 
 such torture as this, slavery has murdered the young, vigor 
 ous, social, talented, and pious Torrey ! Now, either shed no 
 tear on that early grave, or write there the vow of Hannibal 
 eternal war against slavery ! That decision which shall 
 arrest the tide of oppression, or decide the question whether 
 the free States shall be dragged down into that abyss to 
 which slavery seems determined to plunge us, must be made 
 in Massachusetts. The question is soon to be decided, wheth- 
 
308 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 er this shall be a land of slavery or a land of freedom! and 
 that question rests in no small degree upon the action of this 
 State. In the language of another : * As far as the interests 
 of freedom are concerned, the most important of sublu 
 nary interests, you stand in no small degree the federal rep 
 resentatives of the human race. If Liberty, after being 
 extinguished in the old world, is suffered to expire here, 
 whence is it ever to emerge in that thick night that will in 
 vest it? It remains then for you to decide, whether that 
 freedom, at whose voice the kingdoms of Europe awake as 
 from the sleep of ages, to run a career of virtuous emulation 
 in every thing great and good ; the freedom which dispelled 
 the mists of superstition, and invited the nations to behold 
 their God ; whose magic touch kindled the rays of genius, 
 the enthusiasm of poetry, and the flame of eloquence ; the free 
 dom which has poured into our lap, opulence and arts, and 
 embelished life with innumerable institutions and improve 
 ments, till it became a theatre of wonders ; it is for you to 
 decide, whether this freedom shall survive, or be covered with 
 a funeral pall and wrapt in eternal gloom !" 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SKETCHES OF MR. TORREY. RESOLUTIONS OF PUBLIC 
 
 BODIES. VOICE OF THE PRESS. POETRY. 
 
 Remarks of II B. Stanton, Esq., at Fanueil Hall, the evening 
 after the Burial of Mr. Torrey. 
 
 " Mr. President, We have met to praise Torrey, not to 
 bury him. 
 
 " That manly and elastic form that glowing eye those 
 eloquent lips that lion heart all that was mortal of our 
 
COMMEMORATION MEETING. 
 
 martyred brother, has been borne to the grave, by those who 
 dwell with melancholy pleasure upon the rare virtues and 
 noble achievements which have made his life useful, and his 
 death calm and glorious. 
 
 " And who, it may be asked, was Charles T. Torrey, that 
 we should praise him ? Why should this assembly of Chris 
 tian citizens meet in this hallowed hall, to honor one who was 
 convicted as a felon, and died in the penitentiary ? 
 
 " Let it be answered, that though he was convicted of hav 
 ing violated the laws of a republican State, he was not found 
 guilty of violating any of the statutes of the Law-giver of 
 the universe. Though he died in a penitentiary, he was not 
 a felon before God. Though the court which convicted him, 
 would not recommend him to mercy, nor the chief magis 
 trate of the State grant him an executive pardon, yet ere 
 this, we cannot doubt, that before the tribunal of Heaven, and 
 in the presence of serried ranks of angels and the spirits of 
 just men made perfect, the Sovereign of worlds has greeted 
 him with Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into 
 the joy of thy Lord. 
 
 " Then, in honoring him, we honor ourselves. In applau 
 ding his deeds, we but render a tribute to the worth of a rare 
 ornament of our common humanity. 
 
 " But, am I right ? Was the deed for which he was con 
 demned and which cost him his life, approved of Heaven ? 
 
 " So long as it remains true, that the Savior came to 
 preach deliverance to the captive and the opening of the pris 
 on to the bound ; to break every yoke and let the oppressed 
 go free ; so long will it be true, that Torrey was sacrificed and 
 murdered for following in the footsteps of the Divine 
 Exemplar. 
 
 " But the voice of eulogy is attempted to be clamored 
 down, by the cry that he had violated the laws of a sovereign 
 State, and was therefore properly convicted and punished as 
 a felon. 
 
310 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 " This cold and cruel cavil deserves a more elaborate an 
 swer than the present occasion will allow. A rapid glance 
 will disclose the weakness of its foundation. 
 
 "Mr. Torrey was tried and condemned under certain 
 statutes of Maryland, for assisting slaves to escape out of 
 that State and beyond the reach of the laws which en 
 slaved them. The act was done, (if at all,) without vio 
 lence, and in contravention of no other statute of that 
 State. Now, sir, the laws under which he was condemned, 
 have no binding force, because slavery has no constitutional 
 existnece in Maryland. The bill of rights, and constitution, 
 both of Maryland and Massachusetts, recognize and declare 
 the equality of man, and the inalienability of his right to 
 liberty. Slavery existed in this commonwealth at the time of 
 the adoption of our constitution. Soon after the ratification 
 of that instrument, a slave sued for his freedom in our Su 
 preme Judicial Court, On solemn deliberation, the judges 
 decreed that the clause in our organic law to which I have al 
 luded, abolished slavery ; and from that hour slavery ceased 
 to exist in Massachusetts. This is sound law, not only here, 
 but in all places where the equality of mankind and the in 
 herent rights of human nature, are affirmed in any instru 
 ment, or recognized in any usage, having the force of law. It 
 is a part of the Common law the birth-right charter of ev 
 ery member of the Anglo-Saxon family. It is law in Mary 
 land, binding upon its law-givers, its courts, and its people ; 
 and by force of its provisions, slavery, with all its concomi 
 tants and adjuncts, has no real existence there. Then, in the 
 act for which he was condemned, Torrey broke no law which 
 had not itself previously been shivered to atoms by the weight 
 of superior authority. 
 
 " But I assume higher ground. It is impossible to give 
 any binding force to statutes which make one man the prop 
 erty of another. They are null and void from their own in 
 herent injustice. No legislature has a right to enact them, 
 
COMMEMORATION MEETING. 311 
 
 no court the right to enforce them. Every step taken in their 
 inception is illegal ; every attempt to execute their precepts 
 or inflict their penalties, are outrages on justice, and binding 
 upon no man. To this point I cite the opinion of one of the 
 most eminent lawyers and civilians of modern times, Henry 
 Brougham. In 1830, on the floor of the House of Commons, 
 and just previous to his taking the Great Seal, while discuss 
 ing the rights of the slaveholder and the binding force of 
 slave laws, he uttered the following sentiments, worthy, from 
 their stern justice, lofty humanity and glowing style, to be the 
 epitaph on the tomb of this illustrious friend of human liberty. 
 
 Tell me not of rights, talk not of the property of the 
 planter in his slaves. I deny the right I acknowledge not 
 the property. The principles, the feelings of our common na 
 ture, rise in rebellion against it. Be the appeal made to the 
 understanding or to the heart, the sentence is the same that 
 rejects it. In vain you tell me of laws that sanction such a 
 claim ! There is a law above all the enactments of human 
 codes, the same throughout the world the same in all times 
 such as it was before the daring genius of Columbus pierced 
 the night of ages, and opened to one world the sources of 
 power, wealth and knowledge ; to another, all unutterable 
 woes ; such as it is at this day it is the law written by the 
 finger of God on the heart of man, and by that law, unchange 
 able and eternal, while men despise fraud, and loathe rapine, 
 and abhor blood, they will reject with indignation the wild 
 and guilty phantasy, that man can hold property in man P 
 
 "But I quote infinitely higher authority than this. It 
 was enacted by the divine Legislator, eighteen hundred years 
 ago, that whatever we would that men should do unto us, 
 that ought we to do unto them. And by this law, binding on 
 all men through all time, Torrey stands acquitted and ap 
 plauded, to-night, before the bar of the Infinite Judge. 
 
 " A deed of dreadful note has been done. A minister of the 
 gospel has died under circumstances which have seized and 
 
312 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 tenaciously hold the public attention. Large and influential 
 classes of men are in doubt by what name this death should 
 be known ; whether it be a personal calamity, a righteous 
 retribution, or a legalized murder ; whether the victim should 
 be pitied, abhorred, or reverenced. The reputation of the de 
 ceased, no less than that of those who took his life the repu 
 tation of the sovereign State which sacrificed him, and of the 
 nation which looked silently on, demand that these doubts be 
 resolved. This deed was not done in a corner ; nor can the 
 parties concerned, escape either the scrutiny or the verdict 
 of mankind. 
 
 " What, then, was the act for which Torrey suffered and 
 died ? Stated in the simplest form, and stripped of all ex 
 trinsic ornament, it was this : He aided oppressed men 
 peaceably to cast away their chains he gave liberty to men 
 unjustly held in bondage. 
 
 " What act, I ask, is more universally applauded than this ? 
 Human nature, from the dawn of creation till the present hour, 
 has acclaimed it. In all ages, and among all nations, the deeds 
 of the liberator have given inspiration to the poet and fervor 
 to the orator, and his memory has been held in peculiar reve 
 rence. The refined pagans of Greece and Rome exalted him 
 among their gods ; the superstitious nations of the middle ages 
 made him their titular saint- while Christian States, in mod 
 ern times, have showered wreaths upon him when living, 
 and built monuments to his memory when dead. This unani 
 mous verdict of mankind is recorded on every page of the 
 world s history. It is this which covers with unfading lustre 
 such names as Washington, Wallace, La Fayette, Kosciusco, 
 Bolivar, Howard, and Wilberforce. And if the voice of his 
 tory utters but one truth, it is this that all who have become 
 martyrs to principle in great struggles for the rights of man, 
 have been held in undying remembrance by a grateful pos 
 terity. 
 
 " To this, and this alone, are such men as Russell, Hamp- 
 
SKETCHES OF MR. TORREY. 313 
 
 den, and Sydney indebted for their immortal fame. It is this 
 which makes the bare mention of such names give a heartier 
 throb through the veins of freedom ; and now, as of yore, on 
 every stricken field where the oppressed rise against the op 
 pressor, they are the watchwords of the struggling bondmen^ 
 the very synonymes of liberty. 
 
 "I need to beg pardon for uttering truths so trite words 
 so often the mere catch-phrases of the canting demagogue in 
 his partisan harangue, the very froth of our fourth of July 
 orations. But they are truths not the less because they are 
 the common staple of the political hypocrite and the vapid de- 
 claimer. And, being truths, they vindicate the deeds and the 
 character of Torrey. He has done something for liberty, and 
 his name deserves a place in the calendar of its martyrs. Now 
 that he is laid quietly and securely in his grave, we may safely 
 publish those acts to the world which, while he lived, could 
 be safely known only to the few. In a letter addressed to me 
 while he was in prison awaiting his trial, he said, If 1 am 
 a guilty man, lam a very guilty one; for I have aided nearly 
 FOUR HUNDRED slaves to escape to freedom, the greater part 
 of whom would probably, but for my exertions, have died in 
 slavery." (Prolonged and intense applause.) 
 
 SKETCH OF MR, TORREY. 
 
 The following sketch of the character of Mr. Torrey is 
 from the pen of a clergyman, of great ability, and was origi 
 nally published in the True American, of Courtland County, 
 New York : 
 
 " Mr. Editor, < Torrey is dead ! I am not telling either 
 you, or your readers any news. The sad intelligence has al 
 ready reverberated from cell to cell in a southern penitentiary, 
 and been wafted upon the wings of the wind to the palace 
 and the cottage of both the north and the south. But this 
 27 
 
314 MEMOIR OF TORHET. 
 
 annunciation should now be a motto for the reflection of ev 
 ery American citizen. 
 
 " I knew him well. He pursued his theological course 
 within seven miles of my former residence ; and I frequent 
 ly saw him in the study, and at the table of his wife s father. 
 His then youthful character was without a blemish. Though 
 his judgment was far from being matured ; yet, at that early 
 day, he possessed a mind of superior order. Active, vigor 
 ous, energetic, his soul could no more be quiet or indolent, 
 than matter can be the efficient cause of its own motion or 
 momentum. He sought and acquired knowledge with facility. 
 His gathering up of facts seems to be as natural, and almost 
 as much a matter of course, as the taking of his daily food; 
 and what he collected, he retained in his mental store-house, 
 there treasured and systematised for subsequent use. This 
 will account for those exquisitely beautiful and accurately 
 graphic narratives, which he sent forth to the public from the 
 cells of his prison, and which must have been compiled chief 
 ly, if not entirely, from his own recollection. 
 
 " Mr. Torrey s theological system was thorough and ac 
 curate ; for he not only possessed a mind to investigate, but 
 was furnished with one of the most adequate instructors in. 
 the New England ministry. In his preparatory studies, he 
 became fixed in the fundamental principles of the gospel, by 
 which he was guided in the path of active benevolence. 
 Hence, when he entered the ministry, he not only believed 
 but preached the doctrine of disinterested love ; and the re 
 sult of his eventful life has proved that he practised as well 
 as, preached. On this great subject, his actions spoke louder 
 than his words ; and now he is dead, he continues to speak. 
 
 " Such a mind as Torrey s, unrestrained by divine grace, 
 and unrenewed by the Holy Spirit, must have been wayward, 
 fit for treason, stratagems and spoils. But, being brought 
 under the controling influence of the gospel, and having the 
 love of Christ shed abroad in his heart ; he was eminently 
 
SKETCHES OF MR. TORREY. 315 
 
 fitted for energetic and persevering action in the cause of be 
 nevolence and humanity. Hence, at almost the commence 
 ment of the anti-slavery enterprise in Massachusetts, he was 
 found among its most active and efficient advocates. His 
 zeal and activity in this holy cause, never diminished, but 
 continued to increase with his growing knowledge and obser 
 vation of human wo. He has proved, in the face of the 
 world, that he loved the slave as a brother. For the benefit 
 of the slave, he devoted his time, his energies, and sacrificed 
 both his popularity and fairest worldly prospects. For the 
 benefit of the slave, he relinquished the sweetest and most en 
 dearing enjoyments of the domestic circle. For the benefit 
 of the slave he wore out the springs of his physical constitu 
 tion. For the benefit of the slave, he laid even his life itself 
 upon the altar ! 
 
 " Such a man, and much more than I have described, was 
 Rev. Charles Turner Torrey. But, < Torrey is dead? For 
 whom did he die ? He died for the slave ! Of what dis 
 ease did he die ? He died of a disease induced by the iron 
 elog, the murky dungeon, and a subsequent incarceration 
 among felons of a penitentiary. Where did he die ? Within 
 the precincts of pirates, man-stealers, and those who are con 
 stantly imbruting God s image. 
 
 " TORREY is murdered, for aiding a fugitive from slavery ; 
 and BAKER is pardoned for piracy, man-stealing, kidnapping, 
 or reducing a fellow man to the most cruel and helpless thral 
 dom. These infamous and contradictory deeds will forever 
 prove an indelible and damning blot upon Maryland s his 
 tory and her executive s biography. 
 
 " It is scarcely needful to add, that Mr. Torrey had been 
 guilty of no crime. This is known to the citizens of Maryland 
 and Gov. Pratt. They knew that the victim of their cruelty 
 and vengeance acted only in obedience to the law of God, 
 and our Savior s golden rule. They know, that had their 
 
316 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 own children been enslaved by a foreign power, and Mr. Tor- 
 rey had rendered to them precisely the same assistance that 
 he did to fugitives from their own bloody grasp, they would 
 have been the first to heap encomiums upon his name and 
 character, and to load him and his family with munificent 
 rewards. 
 
 " Our beloved brother who has thus fallen, a martyr to the 
 cause of philanthropy, had ten thousand things to tie him to 
 the circle of his home. I was acquainted with Mrs. Torrey 
 in her earliest childhood. Born, reared and educated, as she 
 was, the daughter and in the family of a clergyman, whose 
 standing, for intelligence, piety and respectability, will not 
 suffer in comparison with any other in New England ; pos 
 sessing a sprightly, active and amiable disposition ; and in 
 heriting much of the acumen of her grandfather Emmons ;* 
 she could hardly help being worthy of the Christian and phi 
 lanthropist. His children, too, must not only need a father s 
 care, but must have bound him to his family with the strong 
 cord of a father s love. These things must all be taken into 
 the account, in order to estimate, in any degree, the amount 
 of Torrey s sacrifice and self-denial ; as also duly to sympa 
 thize with his heart-stricken widow and her fatherless ones. 
 She is, indeed, set free from her late awful suspense, and has 
 the consolation of an unwavering confidence that her husband 
 has entered the saints everlasting rest ; but, the scars of 
 these cruel wounds, which slavery has inflicted, she must car 
 ry, till she is called to follow liim into the world of spirits. 
 But while her heart swells with grief at her husband s incar 
 ceration and death, and with holy indignation at his murder 
 ers ; it is hoped, that she will console herself with implicit 
 confidence in God, who is rendering his martyrdom the heavi 
 est blow to American despotism that it has yet received. 
 
 T. M. V. 
 
 * Rev. Dr. Emmons, of Franklin, Massachusetts. 
 
SKETCHES OF MR. TORREY. 
 
 317 
 
 JFrom the Green Mountain Freeman.] 
 SKETCH OF CHARLES T. TORREY. 
 
 BY A LADY. 
 
 * There is a melancholy and touching interest connected 
 with the life, and more especially with the death of this good 
 man, which must cause every heart to feel. During his whole 
 course he manifested by his deeds that his heart was full of 
 sympathy and generous humanity. 
 
 " I see him in the days of his boyhood, winning by his 
 amiable and modest manners, by his patient, meek and gen 
 tle temper, the love of all who knew him ; I see him in his 
 youth, devoting himself with every power of his noble intel 
 lect to the cause of the Savior and of humanity. It was at this 
 period that he imbibed those sentiments of Freedom, Equality 
 and Liberty, which gave coloring to his whole future life. 
 
 " During his college course he was studious, high minded 
 and generous in every act and feeling ; a noble example to 
 all with whom he associated. He had superior talents and a 
 noble intellect. His was a mind of no common order. The 
 studies requiring in others intense intellectual labor, were 
 mere pastimes to him. 
 
 " He enters upon the sacred ministry, devoting every en 
 ergy to the service of his Master ; like him, to weep with 
 those who weep, to comfort the oppressed, to preach deliver 
 ance to the captive. 
 
 " Again I see him he is prison now. Why is he in that 
 dark, damp dungeon, far away from his home, his heart-broken 
 wife and children ? It is to appease the rage of fiends in hu 
 man shape, who were maddened into fury, because this good 
 man had dared to follow the dictates of conscience, of hu 
 manity, and of the holy Bible. It is because he has dared to 
 obey God rather than man, that he is there. The petitions of 
 his friends, the prayers of his afflicted wife, to release him, 
 27* 
 
318 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 were alike unavailing ; and still the tyrants held him with a 
 grasp of iron, until, worn down by toil, privation and suffer 
 ing, death released the noble sufferer. Go to that prison : he 
 is dying now. The hand of death is upon him. In that trying 
 hour, he is away from all he holds most dear from his sym 
 pathizing friends, from his beloved family ; strangers minister 
 to his wants and smooth down his dying pillow. But his 
 mind is calm and peaceful. He speaks of the love, the kind 
 ness, the compassion of Jesus towards him. He fears no 
 evil as he passes through the dark valley of the shadow of 
 death, because the Sun of righteousness lightens up its 
 gloom with his glorious presence. His hope is fixed upon 
 the rock of ages. He fears not to pass over the swelling 
 Jordan, because he is upheld by the everlasting arm of 
 God. Death has no terror for him. Look at him again ; 
 he sleeps ; a smile is upon his lips ; in his countenance there 
 is unearthly beauty. His face is calm like the face of an 
 angel ; but the breath of the sleeper is not there ; God him 
 self has loosed the bands of the prisoner, and his free spirit 
 rests in the bosom of his Savior. Oh ! who can doubt that 
 the moment he was pronounced dead upon earth, he was wel 
 comed by angels as born, born to an inheritance incorruptible, 
 nndefiled, which passeth not away ?" 
 Royalton, June 8, 1846. 
 
 The following are only specimens of the feeling of a por 
 tion of the community, upon the death of Torrey, as mani 
 fested by the Resolutions which have been passed at nume 
 rous public meetings. 
 
 VOICE FROM ACROSS THE WATERS. 
 
 Resolutions of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. 
 
 "At a general meeting of the committee of the Brit, and For. 
 
 Anti-Slavery Society, held at No. 27 New Broad St., London. 
 
RESOLUTIONS OF PUBLIC BODIES. 319 
 
 on the 19th of June, 1846, Eev. John H. Hinton in the chair, 
 it was unanimously resolved, that this committee have learned 
 with profound regret the decease of the Rev. C. T. Torrey, in 
 the penitentiary at Baltimore, Maryland, to which he had been 
 sentenced for a period of six years, by the criminal court of tha t 
 State, for having aided certain fugitive slaves in their escape 
 from bondage. That they deeply sympathize with his afflicted 
 widow and orphan children, in their irreparable loss, by which 
 they have been made, in common with himself, the victims of 
 the inhuman and infamous slave system of the United States ; 
 and would earnestly recommend them to the protection of the 
 Most High, and to the Christian liberality and care of aboli 
 tionists, both in this and other countries. That the commit 
 tee would assure their oppressed fellow creatures, the slave 
 population of the United States, of their increasing interest in 
 their condition, of the commiseration they feel for them in 
 their sufferings, and of their determination to use every le 
 gitimate means for breaking their fetters, and for restoring 
 them to the possession of that freedom to which they are en 
 titled by right of nature, and as the gift of God. That they 
 regard the law of slavery as atrocious in principle, a daring 
 usurpation of divine prerogatives, and the greatest wrong that 
 can be inflicted on mankind ; and as a law which ought, there 
 fore, to be earnestly, constantly, and zealously resisted, by 
 every friend of justice, humanity and freedom. That the 
 committee consider the laws incidental to the state of le-al- 
 ized slavery, which render it criminal for free men to counsel 
 and aid slaves in the recovery of their freedom, and in other 
 ways to instruct and befriend them, as utterly disgraceful to 
 a people professing their love to republican institutions, and 
 their reverence for the righteous principles and benign spirit 
 of Christianity. That they nevertheless rejoice, that in the 
 United States the conviction is spreading and deepening, that 
 slavery is not less a sin against God than an outrage upon 
 man, and ought therefore to be immediately abolished ; and 
 
320 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 they would encourage and urge all those who are laboring in 
 this department of Christian duty, to the most strenuous ex 
 ertions, until their great and noble object shall be fully ac 
 complished. Finally, That the committee would earnestly, 
 yet respectfully, recommend to every section of the professedly 
 Christian church, in the United States, to separate itself from 
 all participation in, or sanction of the system of slavery, by a 
 solemn and decisive act, and thus free itself from the charge 
 of upholding an institution which is entirely at variance with 
 natural justice and the law of Christian love. 
 
 Signed, THOMAS CL ARKS ON, President. 
 JOHN SCOBLE, Secretary. 
 
 Resolutions of the Franckean Lutheran Synod. 
 
 " The ninth annual session of this body was held at Fords- 
 boro, Montgomery Co., N. Y., the 4th of June. It is well 
 known that this body has no ecclesiastical connection or fel 
 lowship with slaveholders, and in its proceedings and the la 
 bors of its members, for years past, has been active and out 
 spoken in behalf of the Anti Slavery enterprise. In the ses 
 sion lately held, they renew the voice of hostility to the hate 
 ful/ rotten, and l guilty system, and promise renewed ex 
 ertions for its overthrow. They further Resolve, That a 
 special committee be appointed, to correspond with other sy- 
 nodical bodies who have taken action on the subject of Ameri 
 can slavery, in order to induce them to appoint a committee 
 to draft a protest, jointly, against slavery, and secure the sig 
 natures of as many of the clergy of the Lutheran denomina 
 tion as possible. 
 
 " That is a good move. They likewise speak out as men 
 and Christians should speak, on the martyrdom of Rev. C. T. 
 Torrey : 
 
 Resolved, That the imprisonment of our devoted fellow- 
 laborer and Christian brother, Charles T. Torrey, for merci- 
 
RESOLUTIONS OF PUBLIC BODIES. 321 
 
 fully and humanely interfering in relieving the oppressed, 
 and helping the trembling fugitive slave to escape from the 
 hands of his relentless oppressor, was an act dictated only by 
 hearts dead alike both to the common principles of humanity 
 and the fear and love of God, and destitute of respect to the 
 divine authority ; an act richly meriting the vengeance of God 
 and the hatred and contempt of every wise and good and just 
 man. 
 
 1 Resolved, That governor Pratt, of the State of Mary 
 land, in refusing to exercise the pardoning power in the case 
 of the lamented Torrey, while having a full knowledge of 
 the fact that a pulmonary consumption, hurried on by confine 
 ment in a damp, cold cell, had brought him to the very bor 
 ders of the grave ; thus preventing the kind attention which 
 only a loved and loving wife, and kindred friends, could be 
 stow in the solemnities of the dying hour, has given to the 
 civilized and uncivilized world, another striking proof of the 
 accursed influence of the slave system, in blighting every la 
 tent principle of humanity, in hushing the voice of conscience, 
 and in hardening the heart against the appeals uttered by the 
 dying groans of suffering innocence, the earnest requests of 
 heart-stricken relatives and friends, and the just demands of 
 the philanthropist and Christian ; and above all, against the 
 high claims of God. 
 
 Resolved, That the 9th of May, 1846, is a day which 
 will be ever fresh in the memory of all the friends of freedom, 
 as the mournful, yet to him blissful day, on which Charles 
 T. Torrey, another martyr to liberty, was called to close his 
 severe suffering, and with his brother martyr, Elijah P. 
 Lovejoy, to participate in the glorious reward of all God s 
 dear and faithful children. 
 
 1 Resolved, That as an ecclesiastical body, and as individu 
 als, we deeply sympathize with the surviving family and 
 friends of the lamented Torrey, in their afflictions ; and that, 
 to give expression to such a significant sympathy, we will, by 
 
322 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 the grace of God, pursue the hell-born and God-abhorred sys 
 tem of American slavery, to its final and lasting overthrow. 
 
 " The synod likewise utters a Christian protest against the 
 matchlessly guilty war now being waged for the iniquitous 
 purpose of extending slavery. 
 
 i Whereas, War is wrong, and has its origin in the infernal 
 world, and is carried on by the basest and most selfish passions 
 of men ; and 
 
 1 Whereas, The war now existing between the United States 
 and Mexico is wrong, selfish and wicked in the extreme, 
 without mitigation, commenced and carried on for the sole 
 protection, perpetuation and enlargement of the system of 
 American slavery : 
 
 Resolved, That we view the present war as wicked, not only 
 intrinsically so in itself, but greatly augmented in criminality 
 in consequence of the circumstances, and being in stern con 
 flict with the genius of liberty. 
 
 Resolved, That it is the province of the pulpit to speak out 
 on this subject, and reprobate all its bloody and cruel move 
 ments, and that our brethren are bound to bring light and 
 truth before the people on this subject. " 
 
 Resolutions of the Colored People of Oberlin. 
 
 " The colored citizens of Oberlin, in accordance with previ 
 ous notice, assembled in mass meeting on Thursday evening, 
 May 28th, to express their deep sense of the worth of the la 
 mented Torrey, and improve the occasion in a manner sug 
 gested by his martyrdom. 
 
 " The meeting having been called to order, Sabram B. Cox 
 was called to the chair, and Lawrence W. Minor appointed 
 secretary. After prayer, William H. Day, from the com 
 mittee to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the 
 meeting, reported the following, which, having been warmly 
 advocated, were unanimously adopted : 
 
RESOLUTIONS OF PUBLIC BODIES. 323 
 
 1 Whereas, We, as disfranchised Americans, are identified 
 not only with thousands who with us are disfranchised, but 
 with three millions of our brethren in bonds : and whereas, 
 their interest becomes our interest, and their elevation ours ; 
 and whereas, in the rise or fall of our coadjutors we feel a 
 deep and lasting interest ; and whereas, Rev. Charles T. 
 Torrey, in obeying the dictates which he believed reason 
 and reason s God had given him, has, by the ruthlessness of 
 southern freebooters, been seized as a captive, on a charge of 
 having assisted some slaves to escape to a land of liberty : 
 and, having by a Maryland process, called law, been con 
 demned to remain for six years within the dingy walls of a 
 prison ; and whereas, within those walls and away from home, 
 he has died, a martyr to our cause therefore, 
 
 * Resolved, That by his active and untiring efforts, and sub 
 sequent self-sacrifice upon the altar, Rev. Charles T. Torrey 
 has shown his true devotion to the cause of down-trodden 
 humanity, proved himself worthy of the Pilgrim s " home," 
 and of a resting place among the graves of Pilgrim sires. 
 
 * Resolved, That while we feel the inadequacy of language 
 to express the sentiments that burn in our souls, in their be 
 half, we offer to the afflicted wife and children of the lament 
 ed Torrey, our tenderest sympathy, our deepest feeling, and 
 our most respectful regard, and commend them to the sure 
 protection of the God of the oppressed, and to his care, who 
 is a " father to the fatherless and the widow s God," 
 
 * Resolved, That while we have sympathized in the suffer 
 ings of a Work, a Burr, and a Thompson, incarcerated with 
 in the walls of a Missouri prison, and others in a similar situ 
 ation ; and in the noble stand and noble fall of a Lovejoy up 
 on the plains of Alton ; with the branded hand of a Walker 
 in the ever-glades of Florida ; and in the glorious martyr- 
 death of a Torrey by Maryland law and in a Maryland pris 
 on ; and while in it we see the legitimate working out, of an- 
 
324 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 cient aristocracy and utter disregard of the rights of humani 
 ty, we rejoice to see the crisis of our cause approaching, and 
 the dawning of a brighter day which will surely follow. 
 
 1 Resolved, That governor Pratt of Maryland, in spurning 
 the petition of Mrs. Torrey, that her husband might breathe 
 his last among his native hills, when it was evident to all 
 that his life would be ended in a few days and perhaps hours : 
 while the same governor, under less urgent circumstances, 
 could set at liberty a counterfeiter at the request of his wife 
 whom he had before deserted, has shown himself guilty of a 
 base servility to the demon of slavery, and worthy of the 
 just reprobation of every American, whether bond or free. 
 
 Resolved, That however discouraging the circumstances 
 of our case may become, how manysoever of us, or others, 
 may fall, we will not despair, but trusting in God, press for 
 ward, in the full assurance, that if " hereditary bondmen 
 would be free, themselves must strike the blow." 
 
 1 Resolved, That the spirit which actuated Mr. Torrey and 
 his coadjutors, for the good of our cause, in disregarding ille 
 gal enactments and positive lawlessness, in defence of the 
 right and opposition to the wrong, shall not be unimitated ; 
 but we, each to each, pledge ourselves anew, to stand firmly 
 in the conflict until death. 
 
 " After discussion of the above, it was voted that a copy 
 of the above resolutions be forwarded to Mrs. Torrey, and 
 also, to Gov. Pratt, of Maryland. 
 
 " Voted, That the following papers be requested to pub 
 lish the above : The Oberlin Evangelist, Cleveland Ameri 
 can, Pittsburgh Mystery, Cincinnati Herald, Colored Citizen, 
 Anti- Slavery Bugle, Western Citizen, Signal of Liberty, 
 The Liberator, New York Evangelist, and all other papers 
 friendly to the cause. After which the meeting adjourned. 
 
 SABRAM B. Cox, Chairman. 
 
 LAWRENCE W. MINOR, Secretary. 
 
RESOLUTIONS OF PUBLIC BODIES. 325 
 
 [From the Western Citizen.] 
 
 Resolutions on the Martyrdom of Mr. Torrey. 
 " At a public meeting of the citizens of Galesburgh, Knox 
 county, held on the 1st of June, 1846, the following reso 
 lutions were adopted, and ordered to be published in the 
 Citizen : 
 
 1 Whereas, The Rev. Charles T. Torrey, late of Massachu 
 setts, has died in the penitentiary of Maryland, where he had; 
 been confined more than twelve months for aiding fugitives- 
 who desired to escape from slavery ; and whereas, the gov 
 ernor of Maryland, who pardoned out a counterfeiter, refused, 
 to release Torrey at the petition of his afflicted wife, though 
 her petition was endorsed by many of the first citizens of Mas 
 sachusetts, Therefore, 
 
 1st. Resolved, That while as a community we deeply sym 
 pathize with the bereaved family, we rejoice that death, less 
 inexorable than slavery, has released our brother from his- 
 cruel oppressors. 
 
 2d. That when, in the providence of God, Christians fall 
 in with fugitives escaping from slavery, all the precepts of 
 Christ which make it a duty to relieve the sufferings and to 
 succor the distressed, bind them to aid such fugitives in their 
 flight, with such things as they need. 
 
 3d. That, in the imprisonment and death of Torrey, by 
 the slave power, we behold a plain, practical, and shocking 
 denial of the very first-born of American principles, to wit : 
 " that man has inalienable rights ;" for it is for aiding men 
 accused of no crime, to secure such rights which had been 
 wrested from them, that he has suffered imprisonment and 
 death. 
 
 4th. That the American church is loudly called on by the 
 deiith of its ministers stricken down by the slave power, to 
 humble itself for the sin of neglecting the poor and oppressed 
 28 
 
326 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 in this land ; and that all citizens, of whatever condition or 
 calling, ought to arise and rescue from the grasp of the slave- 
 holding faction, that doctrine of natural liberty and inalienable 
 rights, by virtue of which they hold their civil immunities, 
 their religious principles, their families, and the very titles 
 to their houses and lands. 
 
 H. H. KELLOGG, Chairman. 
 N. WEST, Secretary. 
 
 Resolutions of the Citizens of Assonet Village, Mass. 
 
 "Last Sabbath evening, (17th May, 46) the friends of free 
 dom in Assonet village (Freetown) were called together by 
 the tolling of the bell, to notice this mournful transaction in 
 an appropriate manner. The Convention was large and re 
 spectable, and was organized by the choice of Alden Hatha 
 way, Jr., president ; Joseph Staples and Benedict Andros, 
 vice presidents ; and Curtis C. Nichols, secretary. Rev. Mr. 
 Chamberlin led in prayer ; after which the secretary stated 
 the object of the meeting, and gave a short account of Mr. 
 Torrey s arduous labors in the cause of human freedom, his 
 privations and sufferings, and his imprisonment and death ; 
 and then presented the following preamble and resolutions, 
 which were ably and eloquently sustained by Rev. Messrs. 
 Maxwell, Burbank, and Chamberlin, and unanimously 
 adopted : 
 
 Whereas, the sad intelligence of the death of Charles Tur 
 ner Torrey, of Massachusetts, a minister of Christ, who, for 
 an act of mercy, was immured in the penitentiary of Mary 
 land, has at last reached us ; and with the deepest feeling of 
 indignation toward those of our fellow men, in our own coun 
 try, who have for a long series of years assumed the preroga 
 tives of the Almighty over their equal brethren crushed, 
 blasted, destroyed humanity, and rioted upon the blood of the 
 defenceless ; who have scourged, incarcerated, and cruelly 
 
RESOLUTIONS OF PUBLIC BODIES. 327 
 
 murdered the friends of freedom ; and have, at last, with 
 fiendish barbarity, struck down in the prime of life, one of the 
 most gifted, self-denying, and devoted sons of the Pilgrims ; 
 and in his death have aimed a blow at every man and woman 
 who feels as he felt and would act as he acted ; at the spirit 
 of liberty in our land, and at the best interests of our common 
 country and the principles of the Christian religion; there 
 fore, 
 
 Resolved, That the gradual and almost irresistible encroach 
 ments of the slave power in this nation, should awaken the 
 friends of liberty to the danger which threatens them, and 
 summon them forth to the great conflict between liberty and 
 slavery, for the protection of their own rights and the rights 
 of enslaved millions, and to a more determined warfare against 
 the supporters of the system of slavery, whether in church or 
 State, 
 
 Resolved, That the great principles of the anti-slavery re 
 form are drawn from the Avord of God the acting out of which 
 is binding upon all who profess to be the followers of Christ ; 
 that the Rev. Charles T. Torrey, for the crime of living in 
 accordance with them, became a martyr. The so-called church 
 of Christ and its ministry, then, as well as the editors of cer 
 tain religious journals, who have always disregarded the claims 
 of the oppressed, and, in keeping with their general character, 
 have looked upon the sufferings of the martyred Torrey with 
 indifference ; or, worse than all, endeavored to injure his repu 
 tation, and turn the sympathies of the people against him and 
 against the cause of human liberty, give no evidence of hav- 
 *ing passed from death unto life, and are unworthy the Chris 
 tian name. 
 
 * Resolved, That the great body of the American people are 
 involved in the awful guilt of dehumanizing immortal beings, 
 that slavery exists by their action or m-action that it is 
 not Southern Slavery, but AMERICAN SLAVERY, sustained, 
 sanctioned and perpetuated, thus far, by Northern as well as 
 
328 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Southern influence ; and that all who have understandingly 
 exerted their moral or political power, for the support of a 
 slaveholding administration of government, have by this act 
 become slaveholders themselves ; and, if not repented of, are 
 chargeable with the abominations of the system. " 
 
 " At a meeting of members of the religious denominations 
 of Salem (Ohio) and its vicinity, held at the Methodist Epis 
 copal House, May 28th, Rev. J. COON, president, the follow 
 ing resolutions were adopted with but one dissenting voice : 
 
 * Whereas, Slavery has laid its ruthless hand on C. T. TOR 
 REY, and crushed his physical constitution in its iron grasp, 
 because he dared " do unto others as he would have others do 
 unto him ;" therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That in the murder of this our lamented brother, 
 we recognize the system of slavery an antagonist of Jehovah, 
 and in league with the emissaries of Satan. 
 
 * Resolved, That those who take sides with this murder, or 
 with the institution which caused it, whether perceptible to 
 themselves or not, are acting in opposition to God; and 
 whether professors or non-professors, opposing that church, 
 against which it is said "the gates of hell shall never prevail." 
 
 Resolved, That while we weep with the bereaved wife and 
 fatherless children, for one they shall never, never behold in 
 time ; while we mingle our tears and heartfelt groans with 
 the three million slaves, who imploringly turn their eyes to 
 wards heaven and exclaim, "Upon whom shall his mantle fall? 
 Upon whom shall the spirit of Torrey rest ?" and while our 
 shriek is heard in unison with that of freedom, we have the 
 hope that his spirit, snatched from the attempted grasp of man, 
 has gone to the embrace of Christ. 
 
 L. T. PARK, Secretary. " 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 329 
 
 VOICE OF THE PRESS. 
 
 [From the New Jersey Freeman.] 
 
 Charles T. Torrey. The readers of the Freeman are 
 no doubt already apprised of the fact, that Charles T. Torrey 
 is dead. He may be regarded in the fullest sense of the 
 term a martyr to liberty. He had been incarcerated in pris 
 on nearly two years, and all that time under circumstances 
 truly aggravating. His friends were almost entirely denied 
 access to him, even during sickness, and cut off from com 
 municating with him and comforting him, except on very 
 few occasions, and then, under the eye of the keenest slave- 
 holding scrutiny. He had been guarded with a vigilance 
 that the security of no guilty criminal required. The author 
 ities of Maryland have acted as if the very existence of sla 
 very demanded the sacrifice of Mr. Torrey. A guilty pirate 
 in the same prison could receive the governor s pardon, but 
 Torrey must die for an act of humanity, notwithstanding the 
 thrilling appeals that were made in his behalf. He had of 
 fended against slavery, and this is the highest offence known 
 at the South. 
 
 " But they have done their worst to poor Torrey ; they 
 have done all they can do ; he is out of their reach, but they 
 are not out of his ; they are done with him, but he is not 
 done with them ; his funeral knell will ring through the ears 
 of the slaveholders until they will be heartily sick of resort 
 ing to such means for preserving an institution that has no 
 parallel in the history of the world. 
 
 " Mr. Torrey has gone to rest in peace beyond the reach 
 of his persecutors ; but there will be no rest or peace for 
 them ; though the victim of their rage and malice is dead, 
 yet he speaks, and will continue to speak, in thunder tones, 
 into the ears of slaveholders, until they loose their grasp up 
 on their brother s throat. His martyr spirit will haunt them 
 28* 
 
330 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 by night and by day, in their waking and sleeping hours. It 
 will rouse up the indignant feelings of northern freemen and 
 baptize them with new zeal and vigor, increase their ener 
 gies, settle the determination to annihilate slaveholding, to 
 give it no resting place on earth, and nerve them for the 
 battle. 
 
 " And now, we would say to all abolitionists, think of 
 Torrey ! When you begin to feel weary in the cause of the 
 slave, think of Torrey ! When you think you have done 
 your part of the labor, think of Torrey ! When you think 
 you have labored long enough, given money enough, sacrifi 
 ced enough, endured privations enough, think of Torrey ! 
 When you feel discouraged, depressed, weighed down, think 
 of Torrey ! When you think of him, you will think of the 
 source of his persecutions, you will think of the slave, of 
 your country s deep degradation, and you will not think of 
 sitting down in idleness. 
 
 " The sympathies of every true man will be deeply drawn 
 out in favor of outraged humanity, whenever the trials of this 
 faithful friend of the slave are brought to view. We envy 
 riot the littleness of those heartless spirits, who stand ready 
 to cast odium on Mr. Torrey, and (counteract the influence of 
 the deep sympathies of the people for him upon the institu 
 tions of our country,) by saying that he only suffered the pen 
 alties of a broken law. Had he broken no law, say they, he 
 need not to have suffered, and therefore it was his own fault. 
 We have no respect for such men, be they who they may ; 
 we are willing they should enjoy, to the fullest extent, all the 
 satisfaction which a view of their own contemptible littleness 
 can afford them. We have always thought that a man de 
 served honor for a noble act, in proportion to the difficulties 
 and perils endured in the work, and if Mr. Torrey did an act 
 of humanity in the face of unjust laws, so much the more we 
 are bound to honor him for it. We place him along with the 
 great and good men of every age who have labored success- 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 331 
 
 fully for reform in opposition to wicked laws. If there had 
 been no laws prohibiting aid to fugitives from slavery, any 
 body could help these poor sufferers; it would be an easy 
 matter ; but as it is, it required one who was willing to toil, 
 make sacrifices, look perils in the face, bleed and die if ne 
 cessary. It required a Torrey. None but a Torrey can go 
 into Maryland and practically advocate the doctrines of the 
 Declaration of Independence ; and we are bound to give his 
 name a conspicuous place among the martyred philanthro 
 pists that adorn the pages of the world s history. Posterity 
 will place it there r whether we agree to it or not. 
 
 u Mr. Torrey s funeral was held in Boston, and a ser 
 mon was preached on the occasion by a brother of the mar 
 tyred Lovejoy. The body was interred at Mount Auburn Cem 
 etery, where a suitable monument will be erected to his mem 
 ory. His death, under all the trying circumstances of the case, 
 as we might expect, is producing a powerful sensation, which 
 pervades the whole community, from Maine to Wisconsin. 
 
 " Ministers are preaching funeral discourses through the 
 whole north on the occasion ; and we trust the murderers of 
 Charles T. Torrey will yet find, that though dead, he will 
 yet speak in their ears, to their dismay. 
 
 " We do not believe that the moral sense, even of the 
 south, can sleep over the abominations daily committed there. 
 We never hated slavery so much as we now do." 
 
 [From the Spirit of Liberty.] 
 
 " The memory of the just is blessed ; the righteous shall 
 be in everlasting remembrance." 
 
 " The late Liberty Convention resolved that a public 
 meeting should be held in this city, in commemoration of 
 the death of this martyred minister of Christ. The resolu- 
 
332 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 tion invites all the friends of freedom to unite with the mem 
 bers of the convention, on the occasion. Would it not be 
 equally meet and appropriate to invite all the friends of 
 Christ to join in the commemoration ? Devout men carried 
 Stephen to his burial and made great lamentations over him. 
 There is a fitness still, in carrying a good man to his burial. 
 And if they cannot be present when a distinguished man falls in 
 the service of his Master, to take part in the last sad act for the 
 dead, the occasion need not be suffered to pass without some 
 memorial to the departed, and some means of fixing the les 
 son, which it teaches, firmly in our hearts. We go, then, for 
 commemorating the fall of Torrey. He was a devout man, 
 as his life has shown, even as the poet has described it, 
 
 Devotion, when lukewarm, is undevout, 
 But when it glows, its heat is struck to heaven. 
 
 And although the inconsiderate may never have had a 
 thought in relation to his character, the Scriptural exhibi 
 tions of the characters and fortunes of the true disciples of 
 Jesus, leave no one, who will dwell but a moment upon the 
 subject, to doubt of Torrey. Ye shall be hated of all men 
 for my name s sake. If they have persecuted me, they 
 will also persecute you. These are the words of the Lord 
 and Master. They yet convey the fullest significance. Who, 
 at this day, shall we take for his disciples ? The men, 
 whom the world honors and caresses even as God s high 
 priests ; or the man who, for preaching the truth, (imprudent 
 ly, only, it is said,) and relieving the helpless poor, is cast in 
 to prison, and slain with a lingering death ? For myself, I 
 have no doubt of what will be the judgment of the future 
 both of future generations and the future world. No genera 
 tion, in their own judgment, kill the prophets. The fathers 
 always kill them, and they, in their pious fervor build their 
 ~tn"&h sepulchres. Mankind never inflict martyrdom without 
 first dressing the victim in a garb of one worthy of death. 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 333 
 
 For what was Charles T. Torrey convicted and martyred ? 
 For delivering the slave from his master. For releasing cap 
 tives from the blackest prison-house. Let Torrey, then, go 
 down to all coming generations in the very garb in which he 
 suffered, with the words of the indictment, as frontlets, be 
 tween his eyes. 
 
 " At the proposed meeting, I wish to see every man, who 
 feels as a disciple of Christ. Not only the friends of freedom, 
 but the friends of Christian devotedness. If Torrey was a 
 follower of the Divine Master, and followed him even to a 
 martyr s death, every other follower of Christ, has a peculiar 
 interest in him. They are members with him of the same 
 body, and the more real and true they make the sympathy 
 with him now, the more readily will their spirits approach the 
 exalted and honored position of his spirit in the glorified body 
 in heaven." 
 
 [From the Pittsburgh Spirit of Liberty.] 
 
 " Poor Charles T. Torrey has at last been freed, by the 
 hand of death, from the penitentiary of Maryland. He died 
 on the 8th inst., in the hospital of the penitentiary, from pul 
 monary consumption. The avarice of Heckrotte has been 
 disappointed, and he and his contemptible fellow-thieves have 
 added the slow murder of an upright, noble Christian, to the 
 long catalogue of crimes which shall be arrayed against them 
 in that hour when he and they shall stand before the Judge 
 of all the earth. Who would exchange his hope for that of his 
 heartless persecutors ? For the craven-hearted governor of 
 Maryland, will not the world s contempt be too light a punish 
 ment ? The power to set poor Torrey free, so that at least 
 he might die arnid his family, was in the hands of the gov 
 ernor. He could have pardoned, whether Heckrotte s infernal 
 
334 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 greed of gold was satiated or not ; but he chose to leave the 
 noble captive to die in the prison, rather than risk his popu 
 larity by doing right. His reward shall come. To the great 
 State of Maryland, how deep is the disgrace ! To the slave- 
 holding villains who have brought it upon her, how bitter will 
 be the retribution ! What have they gained by this crime ? 
 Infamy ! They have sown the wind to reap the whirlwind ; 
 and the knell of Charles T. Torrey is the knell of Maryland 
 oppression. The God of truth cannot look with allowance 
 on such a deed as this persecution unto death of a Christian 
 minister, for letting * the oppressed go free ; and if he visit 
 not the perpetrators with sore judgments, they must repent 
 speedily. 
 
 " But the noble and brave-hearted Torrey shall dwell no 
 more among men. His children have no father, his wife no 
 husband. He died that glorious poor man that the creditor 
 of humanity always is ; and it becomes the duty of every 
 abolitionist to inquire into the circumstances of his family, to 
 condole with and to aid them, if possible. Let it be known 
 that we reverence the good man s memory that his co-labo 
 rers embalm it in their hearts." 
 
 [From the Western Christian.] 
 
 " Torrey s funeral services were conducted in the Tremont 
 Temple, Boston, where Rev. N. Colver preaches. The Con- 
 gregationalist society, of which some of the relatives were 
 members, refused the use of their house on the occasion. 
 Such is the influence of slavery over churches in commercial 
 cities. A brother of the martyred Lovejoy was very appro 
 priately selected to deliver the sermon, which will soon be 
 published. All seem to unite in admiring the spirit of the 
 fallen man ; but most deem his conduct in aiding fugitives to 
 escape, as unjustifiable, inasmuch as the barbarous laws of 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 335 
 
 Maryland endangered his ability to discharge the paramount 
 obligations he was under to his wife and children. This, 
 however, does not in the least moderate the tone of the free 
 press towards the barbarous governor of Maryland, or the ac 
 cursed system of oppression that thirsted for, and obtained 
 the blood of this noble victim. As of Lovejoy, so of Torrey, 
 it may be said, from every drop of his blood shall spring up 
 full-grown abolitionists. One of the surest evidences that 
 slavery is destined to a speedy overthrow, is the madness 
 which its friends betray in their efforts to secure its per 
 petuity: Quos Deus vult perdere, dementat. The slave 
 power of this nation must fall, of its own over-action. Its 
 attacks upon the freedom of speech and the press ; its fla 
 grant violations of the right of petition and the constitution of 
 the United States ; its brutal assaults upon members of Con 
 gress from the free States ; its mob-violence all over the land ; 
 and finally its murder of two ministers of the gospel, and im 
 prisonment of others, though intended to check the rising 
 spirit of abolition, have increased it a thousand-fold, and raised 
 the waves of popular indignation so high, that no earthly 
 power can stay their progress till the accursed thing is swept 
 from the land. Torrey, like Samson, has accomplished more 
 in his death, than during his life." 
 
 [From the Green Mountain Freeman.] 
 
 " That Torrey died in prison, is probably no more the 
 fault of the governor of Maryland, than it was of Mr. T. him 
 self, or his friends for it seems he might have been released : 
 but the law, making his conduct a crime, is a proper subject 
 for animadversion. It is part of the system of slavery, and by 
 no means recommends that system to freemen. Watchman. 
 
 How might Torrey and his friends have secured his 
 release ? Only by acknowledging that he had done wrong, 
 
336 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 and promising to do so no more. It is not true, as the Watch 
 man asserts, (as we understand the matter,) that a pardon 
 might have been secured by acknowledging that the laws of 
 Maryland had been violated, and paying for the slaves. 
 Nothing short of an expression of regret and contrition for 
 the deed of mercy a base prostration before the dark idol of 
 slavery, which might be heralded to the world as another lau 
 rel in its wreath of triumph would satisfy the inhuman ty 
 rants, and secure the victim s release. Could Torrey comply 
 with these terms ? Let his own reply suffice a sentiment 
 worthy to be inscribed in golden letters upon the banner of 
 every man who enlists in the great strife of human progress 
 and reform : i It is better to die in prison with the peace of God 
 in our hearts, than live in freedom with a polluted conscience / 
 We acknowledge, and with shame, that many among us who 
 make high professions of piety and humanity, would have 
 considered a pardon cheaply purchased on the conditions pre 
 scribed ; but Torrey thought otherwise. Time will reveal 
 which course is right. Pity the Watchman adviser had not 
 lived in early times, when, by his counsel he might have 
 saved a Daniel from the lion s den, the three worthies from 
 the fiery furnace, and even a Savior from the cross ! 
 
 " But the * law, making his conduct a crime, is a proper 
 subject of animadversion. Oh, yes ! the law the law /you 
 may rail and rant, preach and pray, against that as much as 
 you please ; but the dear whiff law-makers and law-executors 
 of Maryland, arc simon-pure patriots, philanthropists and 
 Christians the world over, and worthy of being elevated to the 
 highest posts of honor in church and State ! 
 
 " It (the law) is a part of the system of slavery, and by 
 no means recommends that system to freemen. Indeed! 
 Here is the deliberate, recorded judgment of the editor of the 
 Vermont Watchman, the organ of the true liberty party in 
 Vermont, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty- 
 six, and of American Independence the seventieth, that that 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 337 
 
 law which murders men in cold dungeons for obeying the com 
 mands of God, by no means recommends the system of which 
 it is a part, to the adoption of freemen ! And whenever the 
 freemen of Vermont consider the question of establishing 
 slavery in their midst, let them not forget this consideration ! 
 " Shame on the man the northerner the Vermonter 
 the Christian that can thus notice the fall of a martyr to- 
 liberty !" 
 
 [From the Charter Oak.] 
 
 " Torrey is dead. With mingled feelings of sorrow and re 
 gret, we chronicle the following, which we find in the Tri 
 bune of the llth inst., from a correspondent in Baltimore to 
 a friend in New York city : 
 
 Our beloved Torrey departed this life at three o clock, 
 this afternoon. Mr. S. was absent from the city, and I have 
 therefore learned none of the particulars of his death. He 
 visited him twice yesterday, and found him peaceful and hap 
 py. There is now no more that his enemies can do. Happy 
 deliverance ! 
 
 " Another correspondent, writing to the same the day be 
 fore, says : 
 
 I have just come from the bed-side of our friend Torrey : 
 he is almost gone. He had a hemorrhage last night, and 
 threw up half a gill of blood. He is very weak now, but 
 knew me, and spoke of his death, in view, with faith and re 
 signation. He spoke also of the kindness of Jesus, in making 
 " sick and in prison" the climax of his specifications when he 
 noticed the position in which his disciples might administer to 
 his wants. " He may have thought of me," said he. 
 
 " Thus a good man and a true has fallen. Let history re 
 cord the fact, that a minister of the gospel, and a son of the 
 Pilgrims, has been immolated to the Moloch of slavery in the 
 middle of the nineteenth century, in the land of boasted liberty 
 29 
 
338 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 and freedom ! A land that bore on its soil a Washington, and 
 whose bosom contains the graves of the patriots of the Revo 
 lution, who poured out their treasures and their life-blood to 
 break the rod of oppression and to secure the priceless boon 
 of liberty, with the countless blessings that flow in its train, 
 to their descendants, and the world. Yet one and another of 
 their descendants are sacrificed to oppression ; and the voice 
 of their blood which pleads for liberty, in tones that startle 
 the nations from their despotic slumbers, and shakes the 
 power of tyranny throughout the civilized world, is unheeded 
 by the nation, and goes up silently to heaven and enters into 
 the ears of Eternal Justice. Shall I not visit for these things, 
 and shah 1 not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this, 
 saith the Lord of Hosts ? " 
 
 [From the Morning Star.] 
 
 " Martyrdom of Charles T. Torrey. The doctrine of the 
 providential government of God is among the most glorious 
 doctrines of the Bible. It is this that cheers the Christian, 
 when amid the sorer trials of his present existence, he is 
 pressed to exclaim with Jacob, l All these things are against 
 me. For he knows that under its operations, all things shall 
 be made to work together for the good of them that love 
 God. Let the friends of the slave, and the slave himself, 
 the children of Torrey and Torrey s lonesome widow, accept 
 the consolation which this doctrine is designed to afford 
 them. 
 
 " To be sure, the martyrdom of Torrey is an event which 
 must ever be deplored by every true Christian and philan 
 thropist. None but the ignorant and depraved will say of 
 him, as the same classes said of the martyred Lovejoy, * he 
 died as the fool dieth. It may, indeed, in the eyes of 
 the world, be as foolish as it is unpopular to die in the act 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 339 
 
 of doing unto others as we would have others do unto 
 us. But not so in the eyes of Christianity. And to every 
 one who thus dies, and dies for thus doing, the angels doubt 
 less say, Hail ! thou art highly favored. And ere the dead 
 body of Torrey had reached Boston, and been denied admis 
 sion to the Park-street House [!!!!] the freed spirit of Tor 
 rey had arrived at heaven, and met an angel s welcome. 
 
 4 Hail, brother ! hail thou son of happiness ! 
 Thou son beloved of God ! Welcome to heaven ! 
 To bliss that never fades 5 Thy day is past 
 Of trial and of fear to fall. Well done. 
 Good and faithful servant, enter now 
 Into the joy eternal of thy Lord. 
 Come with us, and behold far higher sight 
 Than ere thy heart desired, or hope conceived. 
 See, yonder is the glorious hill of God, 
 Bove angels 1 gaze in brightness rising high, 
 Come, join our wing, and we will guide thy flight 
 To mysteries of everlasting bliss ! 
 The tree and fount of Life, the eternal throne, 
 The presence chamber of the King of kings. 
 
 " As Torrey s life wrought salvation for four hundred 
 slaves! ! so his death has wrought for himself a speedy as 
 cension to the glory of heaven. And as to his mortal re 
 mains, though spurned away from the popular sanctuary of a 
 nominal church, they fill an honored grave, and the tears of 
 the four hundred will keep it moist and green. Posterity too, 
 will honor Torrey. Even the Park-street church will, a few 
 years hence, be pressed to ask his forgiveness at the door of 
 his sepulchre. His death will, we doubt not, work together 
 for good to the popular Christianity -of Boston. It has devel 
 oped more evidently, a feature which it was suspected of con 
 taining, put his aspersers upon reflection, and set the city 
 to thinking. It will hasten on th anti-slavery reform in the 
 half-converted, semi-penitent Bay State. The sermon of the 
 
340 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Lovejoy we have not seen ; but, preached as it was 
 by the brother of one martyr, over the dead body of another, 
 and from what we have heard said of it, we doubt not it will 
 move the heart of community more than many sermons, even 
 though equally talented, preached by Lovejoy and Torrey 
 both, under ordinary circumstances. To the millions of pin 
 ing slaves, then, Torrey s death will prove a blessing. His 
 dungeon was better for them than his study. His death-groan 
 was heard through the nation ; and his spirit now flits in the 
 track of every slave-holder and pro-slavery minion, from 
 Maine to Texas. Great are thy honors, Torrey ! Little did 
 thine enemies think, when they thrust thee into prison, that 
 they were springing a mine for their own destruction. Little 
 did they think, that Haman was himself to swing upon the 
 gallows he erected for Mordecai, the Jew. But thus doth it 
 often happen. In the pit which the wicked < dig are their own 
 feet taken. And who but can devoutly and heartily thank 
 God for that providential government which makes the wick 
 ed thus praise him. 
 
 " But it is not always that we can perceive the operations 
 by which all things are made to work together for the good of 
 the children of God. These are sometimes partially, and 
 sometimes wholly veiled from our view. What I do, thou 
 knowest not now. And thus it is, we apprehend, with the 
 widow and children of Torrey. But let them rest in God. 
 It is a blessing to them to know that a husband and a father 
 is forever happy. God, who tempereth the wind to the shorn 
 lamb, will not disregard the condition of the widow and or 
 phan and especially the widow and the orphans of one of 
 his martyred children. Even their present sorrow shall if 
 they love God turn to their greatest joy. Weeping may en 
 dure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. In another 
 article, we may notice for what Torrey died. -M. J. 3." 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 341 
 
 [From the Same-] 
 
 Martyrdom of Charles T. Torrey. Die, heretic ! said 
 the papal soldier, as he plunged his bayonet to the heart of 
 the Swiss Reformer. Die ! wretch, said Southern Law, as 
 it saw Torrey expiring in the prison to which it had doomed 
 him. And doubtless Zuinglius and Torrey will stand up to 
 gether in the judgment as brother-martyrs. 
 
 " Hold ! cries the godless legalist : Torrey died a culprit 
 at the hand of civil justice. To this we reply, that, if so, 
 then so also did Zuinglius. The latter was as guilty in the 
 sight of Papal law, as the former was in the sight of Mary 
 land law. So that Zuinglius and Torrey still stand together. 
 Let Protestant divines say where they must stand. What 
 Popery says of the former, Slavery says of the latter. But 
 what Protestantism says of the former, doubtless God says 
 of both, They shall be mine in the day when I make up 
 my jewels/ 
 
 " Now we hope all our readers will be consistent, and ap 
 ply the same principles in judging Torrcy, that they do in 
 judging martyrs generally. Milton makes his devils awfully 
 consistent. Slavery can be consistent with itself, and con 
 sistency is a jewel, though it hang in a demon s nostril. We 
 admire it even there. Let us suppose a case. 
 
 " Old Massachusetts makes a law that Deacon , of 
 
 the Park-street Church, Boston, shall be a slave, and as such, 
 sold to the highest bidder. It is easy to suppose this case, 
 nor ought the supposition to be regarded as very extravagant, 
 inasmuch as it is a thing so often realized in sister States. 
 But the Deacon, will not < down at their bidding, and, slip 
 ping through their hands, consults his Pastor. Now, he is 
 abolitionist enough to say, My advice, Deacon, is to flee to a 
 free State, immediately. Here, take this money, and my 
 horse, and haste away : for there is no longer any safety for 
 you here. The Deacon does so. Soon, however, it is whis- 
 29* 
 
342 MEMOIR OP TORREY. 
 
 pered that the Pastor helped the Deacon off; suspicion fast 
 ens on him, and he is in Charlestown prison. Finally, he is 
 tried, condemned, and sentenced to a long imprisonment, 
 but being of delicate habits, he soon sinks under his confine 
 ment, and dies a companion of villains. Even they are mov 
 ed by his dying groans as they sound along the frowning 
 prison aisles. The news flies along the streets of Boston, 
 4 Aiken is dead! The authorities graciously permit his wife 
 and children to bury the body, which they were forbidden to 
 see while the soul was in it. His friends wish a funeral ser 
 vice. They apply for the Park-street house ; but it is refus 
 ed them ; they however obtain Tremont Temple ; the fune 
 ral is solemnized, and Mr. Aiken s despised remains are at 
 length lodged at Mount Auburn. 
 
 " We have said that consistency is a jewel. And beyond 
 all controversy, it demands that those who speak of Torrey 
 as dying justly, should say the same of the Pastor of the 
 Park-street church in the case supposed. As in the real case, 
 so also in the supposed one, the doors of Park-street church 
 must be closed against the funeral. Now, admitting that all 
 others think that this is all right, it is natural to inquire what 
 the Deacon thinks. He doubtless would think of his mar 
 tyred Pastor just what the l four hundred think of Torrey. 
 
 " There is one law of universal obligation, and Almighty 
 sanction. It is this : Be ye merciful. Now, whatever laws 
 Torrey disobeyed, he did not disobey this. He rather kept 
 it. To be sure there was another law which said, Be ye un- 
 merciful. Torrey could not keep both. Circumstanced as 
 he was, one of them he must violate. Now of these two laws, 
 the one is God s, the other man s, the one is of Christ, the 
 other of the Devil. Which shall be obeyed ? Jesus has said, 
 His servants ye are to whom ye yield yourselves servants 
 to obey. He who serves Satan is Satan s. He who serves 
 God is God s. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Who 
 can blame Torrey for preferring God to mammon ; Christ, 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 
 
 343 
 
 to Belial ? Reader, can you ? Then go and write condem 
 nation upon the tombs of all the Prophets, the graves of all 
 the martyrs, and especially upon the cross of the Redeemer 
 of mankind. 
 
 " So much, Torrey, in vindication of thy character against 
 the aspersions of thine enemies. Accept the unworthy ef 
 fort, not for thine own sake, but for the sake of the cause to 
 which thy life was sacrificed. M. J. s." 
 
 [Baltimore Correspondence.] 
 
 " Baltimore, June 20, 1846. 
 
 " Mr. Editor, The death of Torrey, with all the attend 
 ing circumstances, has produced in my mind a strong sensa 
 tion. It is to me one of the most important events I have 
 ever known. It will yet prove to be an important one in the 
 history of humanity and benevolence. In the closing up of 
 the great drama of human existence, Torrey, the saint and 
 martyr, will be seen an angel of mercy standing on the high 
 way of life, the great turnpike to eternity, like a living guide- 
 board, pointing the slave to freedom and the sinner to heaven. 
 * Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. 
 Now, without either professing to be an acute logician or pro 
 found metaphysician, we venture to grapple with the whole 
 subject, and solve the whole problem in short order, in rela 
 tion to Torrey s guilt or innocence. And we will prove his 
 innocence of guilt or sin prove him to have fulfilled the com 
 mand of God in a preeminent degree, and to be worthy of all 
 honor. Now Torrey was no common man ; either he was a 
 great sinner or a great philanthropist, because his acts were 
 - not every-day, commonplace matters. They were bold, daring, 
 heroic, original. What did Torrey do ? He fed the hungry, 
 clothed the naked, administered to the sick, disconsolate, des 
 titute, afflicted and broken-hearted. < He set the prisoner free. 
 
344 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 But the Book of God says, i And whosoever shall give to drink 
 unto one of these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the 
 name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise 
 lose his reward. We find that the rich blessings of Heaven 
 are promised to those who do the very acts which Torrey did. 
 Of course, it is as plain as a sunbeam from eternity, illuminat 
 ing the soul, that he was a disciple of Christ, an eminent 
 Christian hero. But how comes it to pass, if Torrey was a 
 good man, that gentlemen so called, men of wealth and influ 
 ence professing Christians even, should sneer, reproach, 
 vilify and persecute him unto the death ? Did not wicked men 
 deride, insult, and crucify the Savior of the world ? And 
 did not He himself say, the disciple is not above his master, 
 nor the servant above his lord ? And he that taketh not his cross 
 and followeth after me is not worthy of me ? But we learn 
 something of the character of our friend and brother by an 
 tithesis by contrasting the character of his enemies with his. 
 A most terrible and graphic description of these human mon 
 sters is found in the following heart-touching, soul-stirring 
 words, written as with a pen of fire : For I was an hungered, 
 and ye gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no 
 drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in ; naked, and 
 ye clothed me not ; sick and in prison, and ye visited me not. 
 Oh that forlorn, heart-rending word, strange? ! How it sinks 
 into the very depths of the soul, as we apply it to the case of 
 the poor fugitive, as tired, hungry, thirsty, faint and famish 
 ing a crust of bread would appease the pangs of starvation, 
 but he dare not ask for it. If he should call at the big house/ 
 on his way, would the rich man * take him in, as one of 
 Christ s ( little ones, and minister to his comfort? No. 
 Bloodhounds, pistols and gunpowder, savage dogs and more 
 savage men, would rob him of himself again, and hurl him 
 back to hopeless bondage. Torrey belonged to the opposite 
 class, of whom it shall be said : * for I was an hungered, and 
 ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 345 
 
 was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; 
 sick, and ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye came unto 
 me. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
 my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Oh what a climax of 
 glory is contained in these words of Jesus Christ, that an act 
 of mercy done to a fellow-being in distress, is recognized and 
 rewarded as done to himself! What a sublime thought, 
 what a blessed consolation, and mighty stimulant to obey God 
 rather than men ! If the law of man is in direct opposition to 
 the law of God, what shall we do ? We must obey God, though 
 ten thousand jails, penitentiaries and guillotines stand in the 
 way, guarded by millions of prison officials, wine-bibbing 
 lawyers, judges and governors, pro-slavery doctors of divinity, 
 and gambling statesmen. And though all hell is moved to aid 
 the terrific combat, and legions of evil spirits surround the 
 path of the good man, yet he shall walk through the whole 
 unharmed, and God will be his shield all through the conflict, 
 and give him peace and conquest eternal peace and blissful 
 triumph. If men would implicitly believe the words of Jesus 
 Christ as they believe a simple mathematical truth, and act 
 up to it fully, as did Torrey throwing the whole energies of 
 soul and body into the mighty effort one anti-slavery man 
 would put a thousand foes to flight, and two chase ten thousand ! 
 But the truth is, nine-tenths of us are sneaking cowards, afraid 
 of our own shadows. We might storm the infernal castle of 
 slavery in the next twelve months, and make the blood-stained 
 soul of the guilty slaveholder * quake with most terrific fear/ 
 Let us all say with the Psalmist, I will not fear what man 
 can do unto me. What is the utmost that wicked men can 
 do ? They can persecute, imprison, whip and kill us. This 
 is all cruel and hard to endure ; but not so hard as the fires 
 of hell which must consume the vitals of the relentless op 
 pressor, and all ungodly men, in the great and terrible day of 
 eternal justice and retribution. What is a State prison or 
 penitentiary to an innocent man coolly and philosophically 
 
346 MEMOIR OP TORRET. 
 
 considered ? Nothing but a good-sized genteel building, where 
 a man has plain, wholesome fare, in compensation for mode 
 rate hard labor. Not so very bad, after all. I had infinitely 
 rather go to the prison to-morrow, and suffer all Torrey suf 
 fered, than to live in luxury, power and splendor, and go to 
 hell at last, 
 
 Let us then be up and doing, 
 "With a heart for any fate. 
 
 " Torrey, in his life-time, set hundreds free. They and 
 their children s children, through all coming time, shall rise up 
 and call him blessed. His death will infuse new life into thou 
 sands, and plunge the dagger into the devil-heart of American 
 slavery, and hasten its infernal death-pang. May God in 
 mercy multiply the Torreyites a thousand-fold per annum, 
 and speed the operations of the Patent Rail-road to freedom ! 
 Amen. 
 
 A CITIZEN OF MARYLAND. 
 
 [From a Newspaper.] 
 
 " Rev. Charles T. Torrey. Granting that it was a crime 
 worthy of punishment that consigned this friend of liberty and 
 humanity to the gloomy walls of his prison abode, all our 
 sympathies must be awakened for the criminal, when, with 
 the demands of justice, are mingled the stern exactions of 
 revenge. 
 
 " It is not our purpose to denounce individuals who uphold 
 slavery, but the system itself. By their fruits shall ye know 
 them, said He who spake as never man spake ; and as we 
 chronicle this manifestation of the vindictive spirit which de 
 nied to Torrey the poor boon of spending the few remaining 
 days of his existence beyond the precincts of the prison house, 
 even when ample restitution is offered for the value of slaves 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 347 
 
 who escaped from bondage through his agency, we cannot re 
 frain from holding it up to the gaze of the world as a sample 
 of the bitter fruit from that accursed tree, whose dark and 
 gloomy shadows cast a blight and mildew upon all that is fair 
 and beautiful both in the natural and moral world. 
 
 " One would think that in this case enough had been done 
 already to vindicate every claim of justice ; that the iron 
 rigor of the law would relent a little in view of all the afflict 
 ing circumstances connected with this appeal for mercy ; but 
 no, the inexorable decree of the slave power is deaf to every 
 appeal of humanity or affection ; and demands, like the unre 
 lenting Shylock, the pound of flesh cut from the heart of its 
 victim. 
 
 The character of mercy, which the poet tells us, is not strained, 
 But droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven, 
 
 cannot soften the heart, feelings or affections, of men who 
 have imbibed the seeds of tyranny in youth ; who from their 
 earliest childhood have been taught to regard their fellow 
 creatures as brutes of the field, and the tears and cries of suf 
 fering humanity, in the same light as the cries of a crocodile 
 or the bleating of a lamb. No wonder that men who have 
 received an education that destroys the finer feelings of the 
 heart, blunting all its perceptions of duty, humanity and mercy, 
 should be proof against a righteous demand or generous im 
 pression, even when that demand is made or impression 
 sought, through the influence of woman s undying affection, 
 pleading with all the eloquence of wo, for the release of a dy 
 ing husband ; asking only that ere those eyes be closed in 
 death forever, they may again behold the beautiful green 
 earth, and look upon the glad face of nature unfettered and 
 unconfined, and that the fevered brow may once more be 
 bathed by the balmy breath of spring, fresh from the hill tops 
 and the fields. 
 
 " Kings and emperors have felt how blessed a thing for- 
 
348 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 giveness is. The autocrat of semi-barbarous Russia has been 
 often known to heed the persuasive eloquence of woman s 
 tears and sorrows. The pleading looks and tones of Poca- 
 hontas, could soften the rude, stern nature of her warrior sire, 
 and avert the impending death blow. But the reputed Chris 
 tian governor of a reputed Christian State cannot, or dare 
 not put forth his hand in the exercise of that prerogative 
 with which he is vested, to open the prison doors of the dy 
 ing disciple of the meek and lowly one, whose injunctions he 
 sought to obey, and for whose cause he suffers. 
 
 " The decrees of the Slave power are harder and sterner 
 than aught else. And while this manifestation of that inex 
 orable will which the tears of the widow and the fatherless 
 cannot soften, is before our eyes, we would commend to the 
 sober reflections of every thinking mind the whole subject of 
 slavery. What, but that narrow-minded selfishness which 
 forms the basis of that system of wrong and oppression, 
 which holds three millions of men in bondage, and robs them 
 of every right ; and in the face of reason and revelation, 
 maintains that it is no sin, could render the human heart as 
 hard as the granite of our hills ; impregnable to every feeling 
 of kindness, and every emotion of tenderness and mercy? 
 gloating over the pangs of mortal suffering that it inflicts, 
 even in the dying hour, and refusing to affection s plea, the 
 privilege of the last embrace beyond the walls of a prison. 
 Friends of humanity ! will you not heed this latest exhibition 
 of inhuman tyranny, on the part of the slaveocracy of this 
 Union ? Will you still countenance by your silence, if not 
 by your words and acts, that system, which is the deadliest 
 foe to humanity, and which inflicts the penalties of its dis 
 pleasure with all the unrelenting barbarity of savage life ? 
 While you have the power through moral means, by the sim 
 ple utterance of your thoughts and opinions, to do away with 
 this great national abomination, will you not use it ? 
 
 " Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 349 
 
 down and cast into the fire/ The day of retribution must 
 come ! We at the north, as well as those at the south, are com 
 pelled daily to eat of this bitter fruit, and through us let the 
 scripture be fulfilled. There is moral power enough in this 
 country, if it can only have the right direction, to overthrow 
 the whole system of human slavery. Let us jealously guard 
 every invasion of our rights as men ; let us not hold our 
 peace, when a great and grievous wrong is to be done. Let 
 every new demonstration of wickedness or assumption of pow 
 er, but serve to incite us to persevere in the cause of human 
 ity, and ere long the right shall triumph, and the rod of the 
 oppressor be broken, and the slave go free. T. D." 
 
 [From the Albany Journal.] 
 
 " Funeral of Rev. Mr. Torrey. The body of Rev. Charles 
 T. Torrey, who recently died in the Maryland Penitentiary,, 
 was conveyed to Boston, where the funeral took place on Mon 
 day last. The Atlas says t The exercises were conducted at 
 the Tremont Temple, and in a solemn and impressive man 
 ner. Two original hymns were sung, a portion of the Scrip 
 tures was read, and a sermon delivered by the Rev. J. C. 
 Lovejoy. The body of the deceased, after the solemnities 
 had been concluded, were removed to Mount Auburn. The 
 fate of Mr. T. was a hard one. He was a man of enlarged 
 benevolence, and a true Christian. His sympathy for the op 
 pressed slaves might have led him to adopt an improper 
 course of action in his endeavors to ameliorate their condition.. 
 But he was far more sinned against than sinning. For ad 
 vising the victim of avarice and cruelty, how he might be-, 
 freed from oppression, Mr. Torrey has been made the victim 
 of laws which disgrace the statute book of a civilized people. 
 But for him who wrongs the free black of the north, and sells 
 
 30 
 
350 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 him into hopeless slavery for non-payment of jail fees, these 
 same laws prescribe no punishment !" 
 
 [From the (Hartford) Religious Herald.] 
 
 " A Comparison. About seventy years ago, the people of 
 the United States, then colonies of Great Britain, conceiving 
 themselves to be oppressed and maltreated by the mother coun 
 try, determined to throw off the yoke of bondage, and assert 
 their just claim to the exercise of those inalienable rights 
 of which she sought to deprive them. In carrying out their 
 purpose, they found it necessary to struggle long and wearily 
 against the whole power of their unnatural parent, and at 
 times, it seemed as if success, in their endeavor after freedom, 
 was utterly hopeless. The tidings of this conflict for liberty 
 went across the ocean, and reached the ears of a young 
 French Marquis, named Gilbert Mottier Lafayette. His 
 generous soul at once overflowed with sympathy for the op 
 pressed, and leaving home, friends and country behind him, 
 he hastened to the aid of our struggling fathers, stood by 
 their side on the field of battle, and shed his blood in their 
 cause as freely as if it had been his own. This was noble 
 conduct, and he had his reward. When after the lapse of 
 many years he came again among us, the whole nation wax 
 ed almost delirious in its gratitude. A universal three 
 times three rang in his ears wherever he went ; at his de 
 parture, countless blessings followed his path across the sea, 
 and when but a few years later, the sad intelligence of his 
 death was brought, the whole land clothed itself in mourning, 
 and the bells in all steeples tolled forth the sorrow of all 
 hearts. 
 
 " Look on that picture, and now on this. 
 " In the southern States of this Union, there is a body of 
 men called slaves. In number they equal the whole popula 
 tion of this country at the time of the Declaration of Inde- 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 351 
 
 pendence. Some of these slaves have taken up the idea 
 that they are oppressed and wrongfully treated that they 
 are kept back from the exercise of certain inalienable rights, 
 such as liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; and with this 
 impression strongly fixed in their minds, they are watching 
 for every favorable opportunity to assert their rights ; not as 
 our fathers did, by coming into open conflict with their op 
 pressors, but by simply removing away from their reach, and 
 taking refuge in a land where the law allows them the own 
 ership of themselves. A young clergyman of Massachusetts, 
 Charles T. Torrey, by name, had his attention directed a 
 short time ago, to these abused and suffering slaves. He 
 knew of their efforts after freedom. His noble heart burned 
 within him at their wrongs, and gave him no rest, until leav 
 ing his native State, his wife, his friends, and every thing 
 else behind, he devoted himself to the good work of aiding 
 fugitives from slavery to secure the blessings of freedom. 
 But he was unfortunate. He fell into the hands of the mer 
 ciless demon of Slavery, and the pound of flesh, which the 
 law allowed, and the court awarded, was cut from his bosom 
 * nearest his heart ; yea, even to the twentieth part of one 
 poor scruple. Had he been guilty of any other crime than 
 this ; instead of helping slaves to their freedom, had he de- 
 descended on the coast of Africa, and converted hundreds of 
 freemen into slaves, there can scarcely be a doubt but that he 
 would, in the peculiar circumstances of his case, have been 
 pardoned out of prison, and suffered to die, at least, in the 
 bosom of his family. But, no ; the guilt of being a friend to 
 the friendless, and a helper to the helpless, was charged and 
 proved upon him, and not even the shadow of approaching 
 death upon his hollow cheeks, could win from his tormentors 
 one word, or look, of pity. He died ; he was murdered by a 
 law which came up from the lowest depths of hell ; that was 
 his reward ! 
 
 " Question I. Did our revolutionary fathers suffer an op- 
 
352 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 pression more severe than that which three millions of slaves 
 are now enduring at the South ? 
 
 " Question II. If it was right for our ancestors to cast off 
 the authority of Great Britain, and achieve their independ 
 ence by force, can it be wrong for southern slaves to escape, 
 in a quiet and peaceful way, from the bondage of their op 
 pressors ? 
 
 " Question III. If it was noble in Lafayette to leave his 
 country and his friends, and mingle in a conflict with which 
 he had no personal concern, merely because his generous na 
 ture prompted him to succor the distressed ; was it otherwise 
 for Torrey to do the same, in behalf of men who were infi 
 nitely more wronged and outraged than those whom the gal 
 lant Frenchman came to help ? 
 
 " Question IV. If Torrey violated the laws of Maryland, 
 did not Lafayette to a yet greater extent, violate the laws of 
 Great Britain, and were the former more worthy of respect 
 and obedience, and less oppressive and cruel than the latter ? 
 
 " And yet there are papers religious papers very reli 
 gious papers papers of the most orthodox stamp papers 
 that smell the slightest taint of a doctrinal heresy afar off, 
 and make as much ado about it as if the very heavens were 
 falling ; which can record the death of Torrey, without one 
 word to indicate that they do not regard it as having happened 
 in the very properest way imaginable. We have a large 
 circulation at the south, and it is not prudent to say anything 
 which will offend the prejudices of our slaveholding patrons, 
 and stop the influx of their money to our pockets. Never 
 theless, gentlemen, it seems to us that Christians ought to 
 have hearts, as well as pockets. For ourselves, no prudential 
 considerations whatever, shall restrain us from uttering our 
 abhorrence of the Maryland slaveholders, and of the laws 
 which they have framed and executed with such deadly vin- 
 dictiveness. We will never cease to bear our testimony 
 against that monstrous system of oppression which over- 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 
 
 353 
 
 shadows half our land, while we have breath for words, or 
 while our hand can hold a pen." 
 
 [From the Liberty Standard.] 
 
 " The Great Murder. The atrocious murder of poor Tor 
 rey, by slaveholders, is producing a deep interest among the 
 people, and that is right. Large numbers of ministers are 
 preaching appropriate discourses with reference to it, and it 
 is hoped others will follow their example. He is the THIRD 
 MARTYR to slavery, and ALL FROM THE PULPIT. Is it not 
 time for the pulpit to speak ? Torrey was a noble man 
 with a great heart, talented and self-sacrificing, and he died a 
 Christian hero. But he was imprudent. So is the man 
 who dashes into the sea to save your child, and rises not ! 
 So was Luther so was Jerome of Prague, who was burnt 
 to ashes so was Lovejoy so were other martyrs. Away 
 with such quibbling casuistry ! A poor robbed fugitive from 
 southern knavery with the heart of a true husband, was 
 begging in New York for money to buy his wife. Torrey s 
 great, indignant heart bounded in his bosom Where is she? 
 said he. I will have her here in five days ! It was done! 
 Was it not NOBLE SUBLIME ? Ask your heart, if you have 
 one. Ought he to die for that ? Then swear by Torrey s 
 death, to avenge his blood on slavery. Away with your hesi 
 tation it s too late. Now put on the armor which God has 
 allowed Torrey to put off. 
 
 " His funeral in Boston was a great meeting the great 
 Tremont Temple was crowded to overflowing with a deeply 
 affected audience, and Mr. Lovejoy s discourse is spoken of 
 in high terms. A contribution was taken to defray the ex 
 penses of the funeral, and to erect a plain monument over his 
 grave at Mount Auburn. The money raised to procure Mr. 
 T. s release, is to be invested for his children. Twenty dol 
 lars of it were raised in this town, and we are sure the con- 
 30* 
 
354 MEMOIR OF TORREY. 
 
 tributors will feel a rich reward. A great meeting was held 
 in Faneuil Hall on the evening of Monday, of which we shall 
 ihave an account and also of the funeral next week." 
 
 [From the Ohio Standard.] 
 
 " Another Victim. Charles T. Torrey is dead a martyr 
 to the holiest principles of religion and liberty a victim to 
 the vengeance of the bloodiest tyranny that ever escaped from 
 hell to defy Heaven and prey upon man. His pure spirit is 
 at last free from the malice of his enemies, and at rest in the 
 bosom of his God. If the soul of American liberty had not 
 long since departed if there remained yet any of that fire 
 that glowed in the bosoms of our Hancock, and Adams, and 
 Henry, the American people would clothe themselves in sack 
 cloth and ashes, and go down upon their knees in mourning. 
 Cannot some one be found whose repentance and intercession, 
 as did that of Jonah in respect to Nineveh, will avail to avert 
 the righteous calamities that otherwise threaten this nation ? 
 What will posterity think of it ? In the light of the nineteenth 
 century, in the most free republic of the earth, a Christian 
 minister incarcerated in a dungeon with felons, on a charge 
 of assisting his enslaved brother to his freedom ! A free citi 
 zen of a democracy a prisoner for life, for believing that all 
 men are born free and equal, and endowed Jby their Creator 
 with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness." 
 
 "A Christian minister, in a Christian land, doomed to 
 an infamous and life-long captivity for obeying God rather 
 than men, doing unto others as he would that others should 
 do unto him. Great God ! can the wickedness of such hy 
 pocrisy ever be atoned for, or forgiven ? Freemen of Ohio ! 
 you will be partakers of its punishment and disgrace, as you 
 are in its sin ! Arouse yourselves and strive, if by any means 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 355 
 
 you may avert from yourselves, your country, and the age, 
 the judgments of a God too righteous to look with favor upon 
 such iniquity and the infamy, which impartial history must 
 award you." 
 
 [From Cassius M. Clay s True American.] 
 Rev. C. T. Torrey. The captive is at length free. Tor- 
 rey breathed his last in the prison of Baltimore, on Saturday 
 the 9th. 
 
 " His was a hard lot. Pure in life and benevolent in ah 1 
 his feelings, he did no wrong to any human being, and sought 
 ever to administer to the wants of the needy, and soothe the 
 sufferings of the sad. 
 
 " His friends believed him entirely innocent of the charge 
 of which he was convicted. He was a devoted friend of lib 
 erty. He sympathized with master and man. But neither 
 his devotion nor his sympathy could have led him, those who 
 knew aver, into any deed of violence, or to the commission 
 of any act of injustice. Yet, with this character substantiated 
 at the hour of his trial, he was found guilty, and died in 
 prison ! 
 
 " There were those, unconnected with his home, class 
 mates and friends, who offered money to the slaveholder who 
 accused him, if he would consent to his release. But this boon 
 was denied them. There were those besides at his home, his 
 aged parents, his wife, and his little ones, who prayed the 
 governor of Maryland, as kindred only knew how to pray, 
 for his pardon. This was denied. And then came the sharper 
 trial of all. Disease seized upon the prisoner in the chilly air 
 and murky gloominess of his prison cell. Fever was upon his 
 brow, and he knew, as his friends saw, that life was ebbing 
 fast. Unmoved, he bowed to death s stern decree. But one 
 prayer to man he made, and that was, that he might die in 
 the bosom of his family ; and this prayer was unheeded, 
 
356 MEMOIR OP TORRE Y. 
 
 and away from friends, and home, and name, he passed away, 
 a captive on earth, to freedom in heaven. 
 
 " One of the worst features in slavery is the iron vindic- 
 tiveness with which it pursues those who interfere with it. 
 It has no ear then for mercy. It knows no gentleness. Aveng 
 ing, avaricious, cruel, it turns away from every appeal, and 
 shuts its heart to every sympathy. It sees only supposed guilt, 
 and gluts itself in wreaking vengeance upon its victim. Poor 
 Torrey ! Death did for thee, what the slaveholder denied ; 
 he gave thee freedom. And yet at the footstool of thy God, 
 if friends do not misrepresent thee, thy prayer will be heard, 
 in intercession for those who have wronged thee." 
 
 [From the Boston Daily Mail.] 
 
 " Rev. G. T. Torrey. We have already chronicled the death 
 of Rev. Charles T. Torrey in the Maryland penitentiary, 
 where he had been imprisoned for aiding the escape of negro 
 slaves. There are circumstances which, perhaps, render it 
 proper that we should give a more particular notice of him. 
 He was employed to write the Washington correspondence of 
 this paper in the winter of 1842 ; and his letters were much 
 sought after, and more generally copied than the ordinary 
 correspondence of the newspapers. There was a raciness, a 
 piquancy, and an independence in the spirit of his remarks, 
 which rendered them quite popular ; but owing to the pecu 
 liar views of the writer on the slavery question, we were 
 obliged to exercise a surveillance over them, and to expunge 
 much matter which was indicative of the man. Our under 
 standing with him was, that he should confine himself to con 
 gressional proceeding, and matters of general interest at 
 Washington ; but his heart was so full of his loved subject, 
 the abolition of slavery, that it would < shine out in spite of 
 him. But he never complained when we applied the pruning 
 
VOICE OF THE PRESS. 
 
 357 
 
 knife to his letters ; because he knew, and repeatedly ac 
 knowledged that, as we employed and paid him for a particu 
 lar line of correspondence, we had a perfect right to keep him 
 to his bargain. After his return from Washington, he was 
 employed to conduct an abolitionist paper at Albany, called 
 the < Patriot ; but with all his talents, he lacked the judg 
 ment and discretion, and abandoned it. 
 
 " In all our knowledge of mankind, we have never known 
 one possessing a more generous heart or a more independent 
 spirit than Charles T. Torrey. He was open, free, and above 
 all disguise or fraud. He loved the truth, and he spoke what 
 he believed to be the truth, at all times, in all places, and un 
 der all circumstances. His hallucination on the subject of 
 slavery, did not rob him of the amiability of temper and de 
 portment which rendered him so well beloved among his large 
 circle of personal friends. He detested fraud and hypocrisy 
 wherever they exhibit themselves ; and he loved the beautiful 
 and bright things of earth, and wondered why all mankind 
 would not be good, virtuous, contented and happy. He was 
 the author of several moral tales, one of which we published, 
 all showing the ardent temperament and high moral principle 
 of the man. Even on the subject nearest his heart, he was 
 not vindictive towards the slaveholders. He believed that, by 
 persuading the slaves to abandon their masters, he was con 
 tributing to the temporal and eternal benefit of both. 
 
 " We saw him a few months previous to his arrest, and he 
 talked as freely of his plans of running the < underground 
 railroad, as he termed it, as though it was attended by no 
 danger, and coupled with no violation of the law. We ear 
 nestly but kindly remonstrated with him. We pointed out the 
 dangers and difficulties of the experiment. We admonished 
 him that he was violating what every citizen was bound to 
 protect. We appealed in behalf of the wife he loved and the 
 friends who loved him. But it was all in vain. He was fear 
 less of consequences, and apparently ready and willing to be- 
 
358 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 come a martyr to the cause. It was with a heavy heart that 
 we parted with him on that occasion ; for we well feared what 
 must be the consequence of his daring and reckless career. 
 And when, a short time afterwards, we heard of his arrest, it 
 occasioned a good deal more of sorrow than surprise. His 
 subsequent history is before the public. He has gone to his 
 last account with that Being who judges the heart; and who, 
 we doubt not, will mete out to him the reward of a pure and 
 virtuous life." 
 
 [From the Emancipator.] 
 CHARLES TURNER TORREY. 
 
 " The Governor of Maryland has refused to pardon poor Torrey, and 
 he must soon die." 
 
 BY REV. M. TRAFTON. 
 
 Aye, let him die; his work will then 
 Be finished, and his task fulfilled ; 
 His life belongs to God, and when 
 HE wills shall that strong heart be stilled : 
 Dream not the tearless tyrant can 
 Take the sealed life of such a man. 
 
 Aye, let him die ! the broken heart 
 Of that young wife bleeds not in vain : 
 From that warm fount a stream shall start 
 To wash out slavery s crimson stain. 
 Beyond the craven coward s look, 
 God hath a purpose in his book. 
 
 Aye, let him die ! those infants prayer, 
 Spurned by the tyrant, cannot die ! 
 Heaven heard the lisping infants there, 
 Their plea is registered on high. 
 Those whispers into storms shall swell, 
 And thunder SLAVERY S final knell. 
 
 Aye, let him die ! thus must it be ! 
 Why do ye look for mercy there ? 
 Why did ye ask ? why bow the knee ? 
 
POETRY. 359 
 
 Ye should have known they d spurn your prayer. 
 
 Ask the hyena to forbear, 
 
 His helpless, bleeding victim spare. 
 
 Aye, let him die ! Yet O, for him 
 Twere better could he die at home ! 
 And as his fading eye grows dim, 
 To feel, Thank God, I m not alone: 
 But O, for others let it be 
 He yet shall set his thousands free ! 
 
 Aye, he must die ! A holocaust 
 Is wanted now for freedom s altar : 
 "When, by the stirring tempest tossed, 
 Who ever saw HIM pale or falter ? 
 Now in the crisis shall he fly ? 
 No never he would choose to die. 
 
 Aye, he will die ! the martyr s way 
 Lies bright and beautiful before him : 
 And He who was the martyr s stay, 
 His aegis now is throwing o er him. 
 0, his will be a deathless fame ; 
 Men yet will start to hear that name. 
 
 He falls, but dies not ! from that cell 
 Damp, poisonous, loathsome, yet shall ring 
 A startling cry o er hill and dell, 
 Which e en the dead to life shall bring : 
 To freedom s shrine, with panting breath, 
 They haste to swear BY TORREY S DEATH ! 
 
 [From the Barre Gazette.] 
 CHARLES TURNER TORREY. 
 TORREY, thy dismal dungeon walls are riven, 
 And angel-wings have borne thee safe to heaven. 
 Unfettered now the unfranchised spirit flies 
 To fadeless fields and ever-shining skies. 
 I think I see the sainted, martyred host 
 Who gave their lives to gain the immortal coast, 
 From Heaven s high battlements bend gently down, 
 And shout him welcome to a glittering crown. 
 
360 MEMOIR OP TORRE Y. 
 
 The joyous plaudit of well done , is given, 
 And enter to thy rest resounds through heaven. 
 No more shall cells and bars, and bolts, control 
 The noble energies, which swayed his soul, 
 His philanthropic mind no more is pained 
 With the sad sight of fellow-beings chained. 
 Land of the free ! are these thy noble deeds ? 
 And have your sons no tear when virtue bleeds "? 
 Look on the martyred Torrey ! see him fade 
 As days move on, in cells for felons made ! 
 And as the lustre languished in his eye, 
 Nor faithful friend, nor tender consort by 
 That bed of death. Alone the sufferer trod 
 The gloomy path, which leads our souls to God. 
 His only crime to loose the captive s chain, 
 And help the slave his native rights to gain. 
 Land of the free ! no more pollute thy soil, 
 With suffering slavery s never-ceasing toil. 
 The sweat-drop, like the blood of Abel, cries 
 For quick redress from the avenging skies. 
 
 At the close of a discourse delivered by the editor of the 
 Contributor, at Clockville, N. Y., Lord s day, July 19th, on 
 the character, treatment, death and burial of Charles T. 
 Torrey, the following expressive hymn, written for the occa 
 sion by Roswell Randall, of that place, was sung by the choir. 
 The effect upon the large assembly of people was such as can 
 never be effaced. We esteem it worthy of being sung in ev 
 ery family, and on public occasions, by the best singers in 
 
 the land. 
 
 TORRE Y S GRAVE. 
 
 Sons of the North wake from your sleep ! 
 
 Your cherished country save : 
 Is that the boon your fathers won 
 
 That cold New England grave ? 
 Church of the North awake, arise ! 
 
 The fiends of darkness rave : 
 Lo ! there your brightest jewel rusts 
 
 In Auburn s new-made grave. 
 
POETRY. 361 
 
 Rouse, men of truth ! did not your sires 
 
 Th invading Lion brave ? 
 Let not your country s call be vain 
 
 That call from Torrey s grave. 
 
 Ye, who abhor that iron rale, 
 Which bloody Papists crave 
 
 Go learn a worse than Papal sway, 
 In that dear Martyr s grave. 
 
 Ho ! ye who say, We ve nought to do 
 
 Shall we now act the Slave ? 
 Go read the price the North has paid, 
 
 Upon that Martyr s grave. 
 
 Great God ! send forth thy light and truth, 
 With thine own power to save, 
 
 Until the South shall meet to bless 
 That lonely Martyr s grave. 
 
 ADDED FOR THE CONVENTION AT UTICA- 
 
 Baptists, whose richest vessel floats 
 On Christian Freedom s wav, 
 
 Your WILLIAMS spread that glorious flag 
 That droops o er Torrey s grave. 
 
 Wake, then, and snatch that drooping flag, 
 And spread it o er the slave 
 
 Go, link your interests with his own 
 For thus speaks Torrey s grave. 
 
 [From the Emancipator.] 
 
 TORREY. 
 JUDGES xix. 30. THE HERALD CORPSE. 
 
 <! When Gibeah s heartless libertines 
 Outraged their Levite guest, 
 Thus adding to their fearful sins 
 What darkened all the rest, 
 All Israel from their slumbers woke, 
 Through vale and hill loud voices broke ; 
 Incensed and shamed, a steel-flanked flood 
 Sought dire revenge in streams of blood. 
 31 
 
362 MEMOIR OF TORRE Y. 
 
 Why start ye, sons of Asher ? Why 
 Is terror seen in every eye, 
 As Raman s street, and Rehob s gate 
 Tell the dismembered victim s fate ? 
 Manasseh, AVhy that deep lament, 
 O er Hor s wild cliffs so swiftly sent. 
 Till, echoing down fast Merom s waves, 
 It swells again from Gilead s caves ? 
 Through Reuben. Simeon, Ephraim, Dan, 
 The torn-limb-bearing herald ran ; 
 Wailings were heard in Naphthali, 
 Through Zebulon the tidings fly ; 
 A troop from Gad cross Jazer s stream, 
 In Issachar the lances gleam. 
 Thy lion, Judah, tears the ground, 
 And roars his rage to tribes around. 
 From Gibeah flesh and bones were sent, 
 Crying Revenge 1 where er it went ; 
 A corpse the Pilgrim soil now roams ! 
 It cries Forgive where er it comes 
 But while my murderers are forgiven, 
 For slaves, for masters, look to Heaven. 
 Ye sons of freedom ! Come to view 
 This herald coffin-dad 
 Released, at last, he comes to you ; 
 Hush ! listen to the dead ! 
 He tells of souls whose short career 
 On earth is filled with pain and fear ; 
 While on their limbs the fetters clink. 
 Yet of release they must not think ; 
 And he Avho dares their rescue seek, 
 In prison must atonement make. 
 He tells us of a torturing rack, 
 Designed, not bone, but hearts to break 
 And whose firm grasp not only binds 
 One victim but all living friends. 
 A victim he, yet not alone 
 Wife, children, must with him atone. 
 For doing deeds of love for those 
 Whom pity never could refuse. 
 She hoping, but to be deceived, 
 That his hard fate would be reprieved : 
 
POETRY. 363 
 
 They trusting that a father s smile 
 Would } T et their tedious hours beguile ; 
 At distance from his dying hed 
 Through torturing hopes and fears are led. 
 He anguished that his babes and wife 
 Are absent, pines away his life. 
 
 See see it comes ; that corpse is near ! 
 
 Haste, freemen ! stand beneath the bier. 
 Let patriots bear a patriot s dust, 
 Remembering I AM is just. 
 
 His herald-corpse from slavery comes ; 
 
 It cries Set free, where er it roams, 
 
 It shows us that if men delay, 
 
 God rules HE WILL PROVIDE A WAY. 
 Freemen, to the bar of God 
 That c delivered one has fled 
 God his story there will hear : 
 Free the slave or justice fear." 
 
 T. D. P. S. 
 
 [From the Christian Citizen.] 
 He is stretched on a pallet of straw ; 
 No friend wipes the cold drops away, 
 That, in anguish, are wrung from the sufferer s brow. 
 While his spirit is struggling so fearfully now, 
 To throw off its burden of clay. 
 
 He is stretched on that pallet alone ; 
 
 Saving death, there is no one within ; 
 And the damp gloomy walls of the prisoner s cell 
 Look down on the dying, as seeming to tell, 
 
 Of a life of pollution and sin. 
 
 Alone, and a criminal ? No. 
 
 In the midst of this desolate scene, 
 A light breaks the darkness, in glory divine ; 
 In its rays, how the features of death brightly shine ! 
 
 Like the sun, mighty storm-clouds between. 
 
 It is He, the Redeemer of men ; 
 Anointed with power from on high 
 
364 MEMOIR OF TORRET. 
 
 He opens the prison to him that was bound, 
 While the chariots and horsemen of God wait around. 
 The freed captive to bear to the sky. 
 
 Why dragged the tried martyr the chain 
 Of a felon, through scorn, to the grave ? 
 O,"hear it, and clothed be the heavens in black, 
 While THE LAND OF THE TYRANT the answer gives back, 
 He remembered the perishing slave. 
 
 My countrymen, weep not for him ; 
 
 He has passed to the home of the just ; 
 But gird you with sackcloth, and mourn for the land : 
 0, weep, lest beneath the AVENGER S strong hand. 
 
 All your hopes sink in shame to the dust." 
 
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any 
 University of California Library 
 or to the 
 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 
 (415)642-6753 
 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books 
 
 to NRLF 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days 
 
 prior to due date 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 21991 
 
 1 
 
3754 
 
 U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 BQ03Q1B777 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY