Three Hundred And Thirty Indictments

The people of the United States vvill bardly liil to have their attention arrestad by the folUwing statement, uhich we copy from the A ti-xiniiiia (Va.) Gazette : "The giv.nd jury of Washington county, on Thursday, brought in indictirtents again'st the men churged with pajrrying off the slaves whosniled in the schooner Pearl, to the followiig number and effect: - Against Sears, (the Captain,) thirty-six indictmenta lor stealing slaves, the property of thiny-.six owners, and seveiiiy-lour indietineots lor transporting seTaily-fónr slaves, makingone hundred and ten indictmenis. The same number of indicltnents, the game nature,have heen found iigaii.it Drayton (the super-rargo) and Eoglish, (the deck hand.) making in all, these hundred and thirty indictmenfs. David A. Huil, Esq is to enter hia appearance for tinparlies." The penalty for stealing slaves, is 10 years irnprisonment ; so thnt if they be convicted on the thirty-six indictments, lor this, the aggreupta penalty for each wilt be, 3G0 yeárs ! Tha penelty for the oilier offencc is S200 ; so hu conviction under the 74 indictments, for (bis, vvill involve each one in a fine of $14, 800. Should conviction follovv on all of the indiclraentsj the aggregate punishment of all vvül be l,0S0 years' iinprisonmeut, and Si4, 400 fine ! ! We are inclined lo think that members in Congress wil) be compelled by their con.stituonis lo examine into i systern which demands and enforces such enonnous penalties as these We do not think it right or expedient to lay p'.jns in one State for interfering illegally and forcibly witlt liie laws or insiitutions of any other State, however wrong ; and snel), we believe, is the sentiment generally of the free States ; but, sucli laws, sucli legal processes, and such penalties, as we have just noticed, ?re utterly inhuman, and vvill certainly arouse feelings of settled abhorrence throughout the tnasaea of non-slaveholding cit