Drayton and Sayres lingered in prison more than four years, and during this long incarceration they were the objects of much sympathy at the North. A petition to Congress in their behalf, signed by leading Abolitionists, including the eloquent Wendell Phillips, was forwarded to Mr. Sumner for presentation to the Senate. On careful consideration, he was satisfied that such a petition, if presented, would excite the dominant power to insist more strongly than ever on the letter of the law, and he took the responsibility of withholding it. Meanwhile he visited the sufferers in prison, and appealed to President Fillmore for their pardon. In this application he was aided by that humane lady, Miss Dix. The President interposed doubts of his right to pardon in such a case, but expressed a desire for light on this point. At his invitation, Mr. Sumner laid before him the following paper, which was referred to the Attorney-General, Mr. Crittenden, who gave an opinion affirming the power of the President,--adding, however, "Whether the power shall be exercised in this instance is another and very different question."[94] This opinion bears date August 4, 1852, which, it will be observed, was some time after the Presidential Conventions of the two great political parties. Shortly afterwards the pardon was granted. There was reason to believe that an attempt would be made to arrest the pardoned persons on warrants from the Governor of Virginia. Anticipating this peril, Mr. Sumner, as soon as the pardon was signed, hurried to the jail in a carriage, and, taking them with him, put them in charge of a friend, who conveyed them that night to Baltimore, a distance of forty miles, where they arrived in season for the early morning trains North, and in a few hours were out of danger. By the laws of Maryland, 1737, chapter 2, section 4, it is provided that any person "who shall steal any negro or other slave, or who shall counsel, hire, aid, abet, or command any person or persons" to do so, "shall suffer death as a felon." The punishment has since been changed to imprisonment, for a term not less than seven nor more than twenty years. [94] Opinions of Attorneys-General, Vol. V. pp. 580-591. Fourteen years later, by the act of 1751, chapter 14, section 10, it was provided, that, "if any free person shall entice and persuade any slave within this province to run away, and who shall actually run away, from the master, owner, or overseer, and be convicted thereof, by confession, or verdict of a jury upon an indictment or information, shall forfeit and pay the full value of such slave to the master or owner of such slave, to be levied by execution on the goods, chattels, lands, or tenements of the offender, and, in case of inability to pay the same, shall suffer one year's imprisonment without bail or mainprise."