The southern press., 1850-11-06
From The kito York Express
runaway NegeOism In Boston.

In order tos keep the pot boiling,' the fugi-
tive slave committee Of vigilance" having sue
ceeded in driving Messrs. Hughes and Knight
(the Southerners) out OF Boston, have issued the
following official pronunciamento," which we
give as part of the history of the times
" APPEAL TO THE CITIZENS OF BosToE AND ITS
NEIGBBoRHooD.--The committee of vigilance, APP
pointed at late meeting of citizens of Boston and
It's neighborhood, holden in FaDeuil Hall, on the
18th instant, TO consider the condition of the fug.
tive slaves and other coored inhabitants Of Bos-
ton, in relation to the fugitiye-save bill have
entered upon the duty assigned them, and now de-
sire to inform the public Of what they have al
ready done, and to ask their aid in carrying out
certain measures agreed upon.
G"They have organized themselves by appoint
ing Timothy Gilbert, president, Francis Jackson,
treasurer, and Charles List, secretary They
have appointed committee Of finance, an execu-
tive committee, legal committee, and a commit
tee of special vigilance and alarm. They have
also added one hundred persons to their number
SO that now the committee consists of one hundred
and fifty persons. e n @
"The committee deem it proper TO state that, in
consequence OF the enactment Of the new fugitive
slave law, great many fugitives who formerly
lived in the border free States, finding themselves
unsafe at home, have fled to Canada and the re-
mote free States for shelter. Many of them haye
sought a refuge in Boston-perhaps having heard
that our fathers took some interest in the freedom
Of mankind, and thinking few sparks of man
hood might burn in our hearts. IL is known to
the committee that since the arrest of the slave,
Hamlet, in New York, about one hundred fugi-
tives have reached Boston. Doubtless others
have come Of whom your committee have no
knowledge. Many of these persons have no pre-
sent means of sub istence for they fled Off in
haste and fear, glad to escape with their lives.
They left behind them the little earnings they had
painfully gathered while living in the free States,
and brought off nothing but their manhood. They
are here as strangers; they belong to race that
is oppressed, hated, despsed, and now hunted
down. They find it difficult to obtain employment,
and so earn their subsistence without the help of
others. They come amongst US as suppliants for
what is the natural and recognized right of every
man that is born-the right to their own bodies.
They come to us trembling and ready to perish.
'@''lhe committee take it for granted that this
state of things will continue the evil now abating
and then increasing again, so long as slavery con-
tinues in the United States for if the present emf
grafton OF fugitives from the border free States
should diminish cease, still the number of fugi-
tiyes from the slave States is largeso that we can
not look forward to any definite time when aid
will not be needed for these victims Of the nation
and objects of Christian charity.
"The committee take it for granted that the
Christian people OF the North Will never consent
that these fugtives shall be returned in any con-
siderable numbers, either under the present or any
future law for we cannot think that the people of
Massachusetts will ever knowingly suffer any fu-
gtiye from slavery, who has earned his liberty by
manly and courageous flight, to be returned TO the
terrible bondage he has escaped from. We are
sure that the mass Of the people at the North can
never sink SO low, become such aliens to their
country, so false to their kind SO forgetul of their
fathers Blood and unfaithpal to their religion,
as to allow the savehunter to clutch his victImin
the midst Of US, and carry him off to u bondage
worse than death itself, -tA ''aA.'A' @FA
'sIn order to reach the present and future wants,
the committee have established an office, and APP
pointed an agent to whom the fugitive slave may
apply, and receive such advice and assistance as
his case may require. The main business of the
agent will be to obtain employment for the fGgi-
tiYes, and, after the arrangement is known to the
public, it will be easy to accomplish this.
...@r ~ TIMOTHY GILBERT, President.
| ..... e.. FRANCIS JACKSON, Treasurer. 81
CHALES LIST, Secretary.