The Wyandot Pioneer

North and South—A Slight Contrast.

EDENTON, N. C., Dec. 14, '56.

WM. H. SEWARD, Esq—Sir: The object of this letter is to inform you that a black man, or negro, calling himself Anthony Adams, hailing from Port Jervis, N. Y. has been in jail here since the 20th of June, at an expense of thirty cents a day, and will be sold if his identity cannot be established by some respectable white person. His friends have been informed of his whereabouts, and that he certainly will be sold for his jail fees if some one who knows him does not come on and release him. He appears to be a quiet man.

His offence is that he came to reside in the State. Our laws will not allow Northern free negroes to settle among us.

It is a burning shame that the citizens of Port Jervis should allow a citizen to remain in jail simply because they are too penurious to come on and recognize him, and a damnable shame that the great State of New York, after shrieking for negro freedom—voting for Fremont and free negroes—should abandon one of her citizens. You being at the head of your Republican party—a man of sense and cunning—is the reason why I address you. If you will not help your friend, you must call on your friend Horace Greeley. Had it not been for Col. R. T. Paine, who is in the House of Representatives, the negro would have been sold long since.

Call on Col. Paine for information.

Yours, &c.,

FRED. L. ROBERTS.

To this letter Mr. Seward replied as follows:

Washington, Dec. 17th. '56.

DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 14th instant, informing me "That a black man calling himself Anthony Adams, hailing from Port Jervis, N. Y. has been in jail since the 20th of June last, at an expense of thirty cents per day, and will be sold if his identity cannot be established by some respectable white person—that his friends have been informed of his whereabouts. and that he certainly will be sold for his jail fees if some one who knows him does not come on and release him," has just been received.

The subject is entirely new to me, and I thank you, very sincerely, for the information.

I have at once written to a discreet person at Port Jervis, requesting that an agent, qualified by the necessary personal acquaintance with the person, may go to your place and effect the release.

Meantime, I beg you to do me the favor to obtain a statement of the jail fees and other expenses required for his liberation, and to draw on me, at sight, at this place, for the amount, and I will pay the same on sight of your draft, so that the danger which may result from delay at Port Jervis may be avoided. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Fred. L. Roberts, Esq, Edenton, N. C.

We submit, without comment, the above contrast between the chivalry of slavery and the chivalry of Christian civilization, and ask which has the most to commend it to our age and country?