into an upper
room, and handcuffed. In this state he was detained till a commissioner
arrived. The name of this executor of your law is worthy of remembrance.
EDWARD D. INGRAHAM ought to be as much endeared to slave-catchers, as
Judge Jeffries was to James the Second.

By some means, the arrest became known, and counsel appeared for the
prisoner. Your commissioner was informed that the prisoner had only been
seized an hour and a half before, and had not heard the charge against
him; that his counsel had had no time to learn the plaintiff's case, nor
to prepare for the defence; that there were persons residing at a
distance, some in New Jersey and some in Wilmington, who would be
important witnesses in his behalf. On these grounds, a motion was made
for a continuance. And what, Sir, do you suppose was the reply made by
the slave-catching judge to this motion? "THE HEARING IS TO BE A SUMMARY
ONE: LET IT PROCEED." No doubt you fully participate in Mr. Webster's
indignation against Austrian barbarity; but see no barbarity in this
accursed proceeding against a _colored_ American. The hearing did
proceed, and James S. Price, on behalf of the plaintiff, swore that the
prisoner was Emery Rice, the man claimed, but knew nothing further about
his being a slave, except that he had seen him riding the claimant's
horse. Had _heard it said_ the prisoner was a slave. This was the amount
of the testimony on behalf of the claimant. Any honest jury, nay, any
honest judge, would instantly have decided in favor of the prisoner.
Not so MR. EDWARD D. INGRAHAM. The counsel for the defendant asked again
for a postponement, and founded the motion on the _oath_ of the
defendant, that he could procure six persons, naming them, to testify to
his freedom. A delay of ONE HOUR was asked for. This was refused, and
the judge(!) sent for a certificate to sign. During the delay thus
occasioned, one of the six persons named by the defendant appeared, and
swore that he had known the prisoner all his life. That he was not Emery
Rice, but Adam Gibson; that he was a freeman, having been manumitted by
the will of his late master. Mr. Brown produced a copy of the will of
the late master, and it so far confirmed the testimony of the witness.
Another person in the crowd now came forward, and swore that he also
knew the prisoner, and that he was a free person, and that he was Adam
Gibson. But all was in vain. The commissioner signed the certificate,
and, with an