Washington Correspondence

Washington, D. C, June 14, 1843. Mr. Editor :_I have various odds an ende to put together to-day-some old, som, now. I believe you remen,ber the introduction gave you, otie day, to Capt. Pendegrns?, of th( Navy? He is a son-in-law of that fine ok Milor, Com. Barrnn. Biit he is unlike Jiim. m every resprct as possiMe. I have a rod n hw back. He is from Peimaylvania, hut l.e must nceds ape the marmers of the place, and liire a slnve, in his fomily. So he hired one from onp of the notorious C 3. of Maryland- notorious for their severity to tlieir laves. Sho is a mother of three or four children of this Pennsylvanian. C told him Mnot to let lier want for whippino-. Accordingly, AJr. P. bares, at t were" the bonea of the poor woman. U he not a fine specimen of a Nava) Commander? Womxk whíp r' IN THR Navv Yard at Washikoto.n _ How it would sound in Lonfion, or Rome!- Why,the rch inquisitor would shake his sic'es for latighier, in scorn of thee pretenders to república 11 freedom! Let me advert once more to some slighter details. A few monthango, 1 went up f o the old jail to witness the sale 0 a woman al auctton, for debt. it diti not take place, as the master concluded lo pay his debt, and reclairn he victim.While I was stondmar n the entry of the l,a constable firought in a dark negro nian- hisface bruised and his clothes eoiled- hearing very evident, triarles of the dranken loafer species; though he was sober enough at that time. He was n free boy, and not delected in the violation of any Iaw. Why, then, was he imprisoncd? The jnilor and constable tolked the matter over, in my hearing; nnd their explunations amounied to this: He was commitfed to prison as a runaway slavc. The constable, with a becoming wink and smile, added, "Why, if ho don't turn out to be so, we must let him go, at the timp." Mean while, the fe of the constable, jailor, and District Maribpl, (for mointennnce,) are mcurc,froin the Treasury of the United States! And as the freemnn whose rights are trampled on is a fhendiess stanger, and one whose bad hnbita deprive him of public sympathy, no one is concerned to interfe.-e. This is a sample of the petly legal oppressions tcAvh ch the free colored man is occaeionally exposed in this city. TJie oppression jnder the 10 o'clock Iaw, of the City Corporation, by which all free colored persons who are out later than that hour are Hable to be orrested, put in the watch house tiJl morning, and then fined S5, or les?, at ihe discretion of the Magistrales, [ have often noticed.- That the Corporation hacf no power to pass sucii a Iaw, I need iiot stop to show. In one instance, last fall, a servant of Daniel Wcbster's nns thus dealt wilh; but Webster had no idea of submitting to the petty ordinnnce, and sent his lawver, Mr. Hall, to ' contest its validity, The Mngistrate thought . it best to free the servant, without exacting the fine! üut with the colored man or woman who c lacles so powerful a proteetor,the case is oi her wise; nnd the lawlcss ordinance is someiiines etyoined witli very circucnstance of oppresBÍOIJ. iAn active City Magistrate told me to-day, that its enforcement depended very much on the caprice of the constables! If o:ie of those worlhies did nnt make quile so much as hia pockets required, in the more honorable part of hia duty he would watcli liis chance lo pounce on some helpíess coloree! people wlio were out Inte, perha-s on their return from churcli, oi-a visit to (lieir triends: and either put (hem in the lockup, nnd have them fiucd, or let off by a private puyment to the constabU, ofa pari of theme! That such barefaced highway robbery ís perpetraled, I have no doubt. Il is jmpossible for the colored man to prevent it, or get redress?, as nis color 6 a bar to liis evidencc against the white constable; and the laws of the United States, or city ordinances, that Congress sanctions by not revoking them, will bear the oppressor out in his iniqtiily. Tfiis ordiuance, it is true, was not generaüy enforced, till retvard toas estabbshed; but the vpry caprice ín regard lo its enforcement,made ita uction the more oppressive. Nc constable xvould think of enforcing it againstany of the more wenlthy and well-known people of color. So that those who are commonly tho6ufTerers, are the most helpless of their class. This is the true instinct of lawless pover, to bind the heaviest burdens on those who are least able to bear t. It is the mcanness of slave ■ holding chtvairtj.