The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-05-14

one who should undertake to arrest him, Mr.
PHILLIPS encourages him to believe that a jury
could not be found TO convict him, or that the
Governor would be afraid to sign the warrant ::
81 really believe if jury of Boston merchants
should steel themselves 10 averdict Of guilty, that
"a governor sitting in the seat of Samuel Adams or
| Henry Vane would never dare TO sign the warrant
| until he had secured "a passage on board Cunard
steamer. think, therefore, that it is possible an
| appeal to the criminal Jurisdiction Of the State
| might save man. Perhaps il might be just, that
final blow which would stun this drunken nation
into sobriety, and make il heed at last, the claims
| Of the slave!
"Mark me! do not adpiss any one TO take the
life Of his felloto to brave the vengeance of the Ia,o,
and run the someichat, after all unequal risk Of the
hard technical heart IF Massacissetts jsry. Such
an act must be, after all, ones own impulse. To
burst away from all civil relations. to throw one
self back on this great primal right Of selfpro-
| lection. at all hazards. must be the growth Of
ones own thought and purpose. lean only tell
the sufferer the possibilities that lie before him
ten ism trhat tcOu!d do in his casefeH hi,n tcha
| could do myself icoud continuance another in
dong, and aid him TO the frtent Of my potosr.
| l do not believe that if we should live to the
longest period Providence ever allots to the life
Of a human being, we shall ever see the total alb
clifton OF slavery, unless il comes in some critical
conluncture Of national affairs, when the slave,
| taking advantage of crisis in the fate Of his
| masters, shall dictate his own terms How did
/ French slavery 60 down? How did the French
| slave-trade 60 down? When Napoleon came
back from Elba, when his fate hung trembling
| in the balance, and he wished to gather around
him the sympathies of the liberals Of Europe, he
no sooner set foot in the Tuileries than he signed
the edict abolshing the slave trade, against which
| the aboltionists of England and France had pro-
tested for twenty years in vain. And the trade
| went down, because Napoleon felt that he must
do something to gild the darkcning hour of
his second attempt to clutch the sceptre Of
France. How did the slaye system go DOWN
| When. in lS4s, the provisional government found
itself in the Hotel de Vile, obliged to do some
thing to draw to itself the sympathy and liberal
| feeling OF the French nation. they signed an
edict-t was the first from the nascent republic
| abolishing the death penalty and slavery. The
storm which rocked the vessel of State almost to
laundering snapped forever the chain of the
French slave. Look, too. at the history of the
| Mexican and South American emanc patton; YOU
Will hnd that il was in every instance, think,
the child of convulsion
1.-The hour will comc--God hasten it!-when the
American people shall SO stand the deck OF their
Union, '6uiIt 8 m eclipse, and rugged ,cfh cusss
dark. If IIius to see that hour, shall say to ssrv
'laue, Strike notD for freedom [Long continued
and deafenng cheers.l The balance hangs trem-
bling; 1t is uncertain which scale shall kick the
beam Strain every nerve, wrestle with every
power God and nature have put into your hands,
Tor your place among tho races of this western
world; and that hour will free the slave The
Abolitionists who shall stand in such an hour as
that, and keep silence, will be recreant to the
of three mi IF fall =,
bonds. believe that, probably is the only tvay IN
,c'ich ice shall erer, any Of US, the do,cnaH of
american slavry.'
81 confess am not non-resistant. The rea
son why advise the slave to be guided by a poll
cy oil peace lie because he has chance. II he
had one-if he had as good chance those who
went up to Lexington seventy seven years ago,
should call him the bascst recreant that ever de-
serted wife and child if he did not vindicate his
liberty by bis own right hand [Cheefsl And
am not by any means certain that northern
men would not be startled-would not be whole.
somely startled-by or tro such easss az a
scoundrd Busted shot his perjwed affidavit
IL MoRros or CUsTIs SHOULD SHOT ON A
coamIssIoSER's BENCH By the hand of him The,
sought TO saerifes. hare no doubt thai a ,couid
haUe wholesome effect. Great aypiause.I Is there
man here who would either himself go 10 Geor.
gia, or let any one near and dear to him go there,
II he could have arms in his hands, tuiulout send
ing so'ntbody before him 10 lighter and cooler place
than a Georgia plantation?
''i do not shrink from going before the farmers
tie mechanics, and the workingmen- the think.
ing men of Massachusetts and urging upon
them the consideration that the State, by solemn
act has proclaimed to every ono that her soil il
not holy enough TO protect the fugitive and that
60 far as she lie concerned tho only thing left the
only possibility, the only chance remaining for the
'JugiHre, lies IN has courage and good right
arm. The city of John Hancock has proved that
her soil is not holy enough protect the fugitive;
,Faneuil Hall. where 'stiIl the eloquent air
breathes, burns.' with Otis and Adams, is not
holy enough to shelter the fugitive; Bunker Hill,
red with the blood OF the noblest man that ever
fell in the cause Of civil liberty, is not too sacred
Tor fettered feet; the churches, planted, have
been told to-day i'm tears in prayers and in blood,
have no altar horns for the fugitive the courts,
even that which fret naturalizcd Lord Mans6eld's
decision. drawings nice distinction between slaves
brought and SLAVES escaping Judges loving hu.
Inanty go well. even in the humblcst sutton that
like their noble predecessors in the great case of
DE We're, they caught hold Of twig or a Irvine.
thread to'uphold it, that too, has shut it's doors
on the fugitive; yes, against that very child MKp,
settled this proud rule. would say all this TO the
men about me, and add-thcre is one CLEAN of
hope Is Just possible that the floor Of the States
prison may haze magic charm in IT, That may
SAGE the fugitive, II he can once enfias himself 10 a
place there WHEN, THEN, THs OCCASION SHALL
DEMAND, LET US thy II! Great cheering Il IL
sad thought that the possibility Of gibbet, the
chance OF imprisonment for life, lie tho only chance
that can make II safe for fugitive to remain in
Massachusetts.
:. You 'ciu ,dy Ihis 10 bloody doctrine onUehica
doeti ns; II ic'H prejudice people against the cause
knoT n,eN Heaven pardon those Tho make il
necessary! Heaven pardon the Judges the rner.
ohanis, and the clergy, who make it necessary
Tor hunted men TO turn, when they are at bay
and ly 1T TIE necks Of their pursoets, IL is not
: our fault. shrink from no question, however
desperate that has in IL the kernel Of the possi-
bility Of safety for a human being hunted by
twenty millions Of slave catchers in this Chris.
tan RcDullic of oura f(,heera \ IN ,y;lI;, a, A.