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men, were loud in their cries of shame! shame! Quickened, roused, urged on by this almost universal denunciation of the outrage upon freedom, some men, more ardent, less patient or cautious than the rest, broke through the slight partition between the victim and his liberty; struck off the chains that bound him; and gave him "a God speed" to a country, where man hunters may not follow him. Then such a shout of gladness rose upon the air, as never made this welkin ring before. It was not my privilege to witness the release. I came as soon as my feet could bring me (from the Dillaye Block) to the scene and join the loud acclaim. If that were sinful, then there were few if any saints in all our town that night. If that were treason, then were there few patriots here.
And now there are men, (so called honorable men,) going about to inflict heavy pecuniary penalties, imprisonment, and, if they can compass it, death upon those individuals, who may be proved to have aided and abetted the rescue of a man from slavery; to punish as felons those who mean to obey God, and respect the rights of their fellow beings! Nay, but they say, it is for violating law, you are to be punished. Will they then—Americans as they are—will they maintain, that a government cannot enact a law so bad, that the people would be justified in tramping it under foot? It they take this position, they condemn utterly the fathers of the revolution. But if they stand upon the American doctrine, that "resistance to tyrants is obedience to God"—then I fain would have them tell me if they can, what law could be more tyrannical than this, which, some of our citizens are accused of having violated? For one, I cannot believe that the public sentiment of this nation will sustain our rulers, in their attempt to enforce obedience to this outrageous enactment.
But, fellow citizens, whatever may betide any of us, for the aid we have given, or the sympathy we have shown, to a hunted fellow man, let us meet it firmly, in the spirit of christian fortitude and long suffering. Let there be no violence offered or thought of, towards the misguided men, who are attempting to execute this great unrighteousness. They cannot dispose of us by any summary proceeding. They cannot deny us the "due process" of Law. They cannot withhold from us "a trial by jury"—nor if we should need it, can they forbid us "a writ of Habeas Corpus." We can venture to wait. There is no dire necessity upon us to resort to any violence in order to escape ourselves, or to rescue any of our number from a doom, which every man accounts far worse than death. They cannot make us slaves. Our legalized persecutors may take from us our money; but they cannot rob us of our respect for the rights of man, and our consciousness of good intention. They may incarcerate our bodies, but they cannot imprison our souls. They
