ADDRESS LJ-r- OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY A PUBLIC MEETING v HELD AT Fanenil Hall, September 24, 1846, FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSIDERING THE RECENT CASE OF KIDNAPPING PEOM OUR SOIL, AND OF TAKING MEASURES TO PREVENT THE RECURRENCE OF SIMILAR OUTRAGES. WITH AN APPENDIX. BOSTON: WHITE & POTTER, PRINTERS, Chronotype Office. 1846. ADDRESS. FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES : A shameful outrage upon the sacred rights of Humanity has lately been perpetrated in our borders. It was one of those cases in which the wrong done to one man, puts into danger the rights of thousands of others, and affects principles dear to all. It was a case, which, if passed over in silence, would seem to show that we refuse to grant to others those rights which we would die to maintain for ourselves and our children. A young man, held in cruel bondage in the State of Louisiana, driven to desperation by his wrongs, and hopeless of the future, resolved, at whatever risk, to flee from his master and take ref uge among the freemen of the North. He hid himself in a ship, then ready for sea, and lay down upon the cargo with a little bread and water by his side to make the fearful trial of living, through the weary days and nights of a passage of two thou sand miles, in a dark, hot and stifling hold. The brave fellow arrived safely ; the ship cast anchor in a port, which, of all others in the world, history would point out as the haven of the oppressed, — the Port of Boston. But the owners of the ship, fearing the laws of Louisiana and the loss of a gainful traffic rather than the laws of Massachusetts and the loss of their good name, determined to send him back to bondage. But they knew that this would be an offence not only against humanity, but one punishable with the Slate Prison; and, therefore, they stealthily, and by force, carried away their vic tim from their ship, before it reached the wharf, and kept him concealed among the islands in Boston harbor. This cruel treat ment did not quite discourage him ; the dome of the State House, which seemed a temple^fLJi^eit^-^fo spires of the churches where a JUST GOD was worshipped; the very doors of the houses in which freemen lived, were in plain sight, and he hoped that, if he could only reach the city, he should find some brave and good man who would help him in his sore distress. At the first chance, he broke away from his keepers, seized upon a boat, and made for the shore. But his pursuers were close at his heels, and he ran for his life and his liberty. The foot prints of the flying slave and of his cruel kidnappers are yet fresh upon our soil ! They overtook him, seized upon him, ac cused him to the by-standers of being a fugitive felon ; and then it was that the poor fellow, looking eagerly around and seeing none but white faces, concluded there was no freedom for him here, bowed his head in despair, and was led away a slave through the streets of Boston. The men who were guilty of this crime, had wealth and power, and they found means to hurry their victim on board a ship and send him back to slavery, before the agents of the law would, or the friends of humanity could come to his rescue. As soon as the wicked deed became known, a public meeting was straitvvay called for, and Fanueil Hall could not hold all the multitude, which gathered together to manifest their indig nation at the wrong done to an unfortunate man, and at the shame which had been brought upon the city. That meeting appointed us a Committee of Vigilance, " to take all needed measures to secure the protection of the laws to all persons who may be hereafter in danger of abduction from this Common wealth." We accepted the trust, because we knew that cases of kidnapping were common in the country ; because we heard the voice of human beings crying aloud for help; and con science, manliness and love, all urged us to do our uttermost in their behalf. We have already taken some measures for preventing any fugitive slaves from being illegally carried away from Boston, but our sense of duty, our love of our fellow-beings, and our obligations to God, the common father of all men, bid us not to stop here. We therefore call upon our fellow-citizens — upon all the inhabitants of the Free States, to give us their sympathy and aid. Upon you it depends to say whether your soil shall be longer used as a human hunting-ground; upon you it de- pends to say whether the North shall any longer be a party to human slavery. If there be those among you who have not carefully considered what is their duty in this matter, we beg them to do so, and to decide what stand they will take in future questions about slavery. The greatest wrong that can be done to an innocent human being is to deprive him of liberty for the selfish ends of others; to treat him like a beast of burden or a senseless thing; to crush all manliness in his heart; to disregard his holiest affec tions ; to stunt his soul by preventing the growth of its highest capacities ; in a word, to enslave him for life. Our common sense and common humanity show this to be a crime, and forbid us to have part or lot in it ; the religion of Jesus forbids it, by telling us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us ; the laws of the United States forbid it, and declare that whoever commits it on the coast of Africa shall be punished as a pirate. Nevertheless, this wrong is this day done to millions of our fellow-beings, in this our country. We will not judge our brethren of the South ; we will not overlook the serious difficulties with which they are surrounded ; but we must and do proclaim that we cannot longer be made a party to slavery ; that we will not alloXv our free soil to be polluted by the slave-hunter and by the crimes of kidnapping and enslav ing human beings, without doing all that becomes men and Christians to prevent it. We say crimes, because, though the highest court in the land may declare such deeds to be legal, the higher Court of Heaven overrules the decision and declares them to be infamous and wicked. What God, speaking through the enlightened consciences of all men, declares to be wrong, not all the tribunals of the earth can make right. The Slave States of the South urged, perhaps, by what they think is dangerous to the lives and property of their white inhabitants, have passed laws which violate the spirit of the National Compact. They require us to surrender our State jurisdiction upon our own soil, whenever the question of slavery is concerned; they require us to reverse the great principle, that a man is innocent until he is proved to be guilty, and to con sider any one among us, whom they may demand as their prop erty, to be a slave, unless he can prove that he is a freeman. 6 They imprison the free colored citizens of the North who enter their ports, and they thrust out with insult and violence our Ambassadors who go to seek legal, constitutional and peaceable redress. It becomes, then, the Free States of the North, not impelled by a selfish regard to the lives and property of part of their inhabitants, but moved by a sense of duty to God and to their fellow-men, to repel these attempts to make them a party to slavery, and to take measures for the maintenance of the common rights of humanity. Amongst other measures, we earnestly and solemnly call upon the freemen of the North to obtain for the people security "in their persons against unreasonable seizure," and security of life and liberty to EVERY MEMBER of the HUMAN FAMILY found within their borders, unless the same shall have been forfeited by crime or uby due process of law " We call upon you to do this, because enlightened nations of Europe and sister nations in America, and even some States of Africa, have set you the example ; because it is in accordance with the plainest principles of political right and justice ; be cause you have no more right to deny the benefits of your free institutions to whoever will obey your laws, than you have to monopolize the light of the sun and the air of heaven ; because it is a shame and a disgrace that the house of a Christian free man cannot give as secure an asylum to a fugitive slave as would the tent of a barbarian Arab ; because your own con sciences and the laws of your State utterly deny and repel the idea of human ownership in human beings, and you violate both in delivering up one man to another who claims him as his property. If none of these considerations, nor the claims of human brotherhood can move you; if there be those who are content to let the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States* in the case of fugitive slaves pass as the law of the land, we beg them to consider, not how that decision affects the rights of O black men alone, but the rights of men of any color. The Agent of any Slaveholder may this day enter your house, and lay his hands upon your daughter, and carry her oif as his * Prigg vs. State of Pennsylvania, Peters's Reports, 1842. slave. If you make resistance and raise a tumult, he has only to go before a justice of the peace, or a judge of the United States Court, and swear that she is his slave, and the functionary must give her up to him, unless you can prove by testimony, satis factory to the justice, that she is not a slave ! And from this decis ion there is no appeal ! It would be in vain for you to demand a trial by jury, as you could if it were a question about your horse or any dead chattel ; it would be in vain to try to shield her by the act of Habeas Corpus ; you could save her only by forcibly resisting the law, or as the Roman centurion saved his daughter's honor ! Fellow-citizens! Such outrage and wrong is possible so long as the recent construction of the Constitution respecting fugitive slaves is to be considered as the law of the land. If you do not fear them in case of your own children, will you suffer them to hang over the children of the humblest individ ual among you, be his color what it may? For ourselves, we hold that any longer voluntary allegiance to the Union would be sin towards God, and treason to human ity, unless we conscientiously use every effort to effect a speedy change in those political relations, which deny the right of trial by jury in a matter of more than life and death to any member of our community ; which enable the slave-hunter to trample upon the Habeas Corpus ; which give him our free soil for a hunting-ground, and make us a party to a system of sla very that we abhor. We furthermore call upon all the inhabitants of the Free States to resolve, as we do, to oppose the election to any political office, of any man who does not stand pledged by his character and actions to strive for the immediate abrogation of all laws arid constitutional provisions by which the Free States are involved in the guilt of slavery ; To strive earnestly to obtain the enactment of a law confis cating all ships in which human beings shall be illegally carried from a free State into slavery ; of a law placing the crime of kidnapping a man from a Free State in the same grade and punishing it in the same way as man-stealing from the coast of Africa; and of such other laws as may be necessary to secure the blessings of liberty to every man who may choose to live among us : 8 To give comfort and help to any fugitive slaves who may be thrown upon our hospitality, and to strive to secure for them all the rights and privileges which we claim for ourselves; if a slave-hunter comes among us in the pursuit of a fugitive, not to give him any aid or counsel, but to regard him as the com mon enemy of mankind, until he shall renounce his evil purpose ; to watch him continually, and use every manly and Christian effort to prevent him from carrying his victim away into bond age ; and to regard with shame and indignation any freeman of the North who may in any way aid or countenance the kid^ nappers. Finally, fellow-citizens, being united together, as a committee for the protection of personal rights ; our principles contained in the foregoing address : — with the solemn determination to secure to all men, upon our soil, Life and Liberty ; we call upon you all to aid and assist us in our work ; to devote yourselves to every righteous exertion toward the establishment for all oth ers, of that liberty you so highly prize for yourselves. And for the procurement of the objects at which we aim, we would respectfully and earnestly recommend the early formation of a NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR FREEDOM, uniting in a permanent organi zation all who would strive to realize the IDEAL OF AMERICAN LIBERTY. SAMUEL G. HOWE, JOSEPH SOUTHWICK, ELLIS GRAY LORING, WALTER CHANN1NG, CHARLES SUMNER, S. S. CURTIS, J. A. ANDREW, BENJAMIN WEEDEN, SAMUEL MAY, A. C. SPOONER, HENRY B. STANTON, AMOS B. MERRILL, J. B. SMITH, CHARLES F. HOVEY, SAMUEL E. SEWALL, S. E. BRACKETT, JOHN G. KING, J. W. BROWNE, JOHN L. EMMONS, HENRY I. BOWDITCH, THEODORE PARKER, T. T. BOUVE, RICHARD HILDRETH, JAMES N. BUFFUM, (Lynn,) JOHN A. INNIS, (Salem,) GEORGE W. BOND, JAMES T. FISHER, WILLIAM F. CHANNING, WILLIAM F. WELD, JAMES F. CLARKE, WILLIAM C. NELL, GEORGE DODGE, ROBERT MORRIS, JR., HENRY JAMES PRENTISS. ANSON J. STONE, APPENDIX. Tliis report, with the exception of the speech of Hon. Stephen C. Phillips, was made by a friend, who is an amateur Phonographer. An immense concourse of people assembled at Faneuil Hall on Thursday evening, Sept. 24, called together by a notice in the papers, to consider the late case of abduction in this city. At a quarter past seven o'clock, the Committee of Arrangements came in with the Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, and took their stand upon the platform. The venerable gentleman was received with every demonstration of respect, and when he was conducted to the Chair, the hall resounded with plaudits and cheers. Dr S. G. HOWE stepped forward and said that he had been requested by the Committee of Arrangements to call the meeting to order, but it appeared that it would be unnecessary to call for the nomination of a Chairman, as one had already been elected by acclamation. MR. ADAMS then commenced in a very feeble tone of voice, but warming into strength and volume as he proceeded, and said — Fellow-citizens : It may, perhaps, be somewhat surprising to most of you here present, to see me in this place. But an event has occurred which has brought me here. Forty years ago, I stood, by the suffrages of your fathers and perhaps of your grandfathers, in this same situation. An event has now taken place similar to that which, at that time, brought us together, and I have complied with a request to come from my resi dence in a neighboring town, to preside over your deliberations upon that important event. The state of my health, and the feebleness of my voice, will not prob ably permit one in ten to hear what I may say. This was a great ob jection in my mind to my coming, and nothing less than the importance and the similarity of circumstances, could have overcome that objection. 1 recollect the former occasion well : A seaman had been taken out of an American frigate by the crew of a British man-of-war, and a similar meeting was called, not only of the inhabitants of Boston, but of the people of neighboring towns. The venerable Elbridge Gerry, of & APPENDIX. whom you have all heard, one of the signers of the Declaration of In dependence, was sent for to come from his residence in Cambridge, to preside. He came, and apologizing for his age and infirmities which should have kept him at home, he said that the event was of such a nature that if he had but one day more to live he would have come. On that same principle I now appear before you. The state of my health and my in firmities are such as would have prevented me on any other occasion than this, from leaving my house. What that occasion is, will be ex plained to you by the~gentlemen who called this meeting, and it is not necessary for me to enlarge upon it. Jt is a question whether this commonwealth is to maintain its inde pendence as a state or not. It is a question whether your and my na tive commonwealth is capable of protecting the men who are under its laws, or not. Fellow-citizens : If my voice were stronger, and I could hope to obtain a hearing, I might enlarge, and urge the people of the state to express, as on a former occasion, a cool, deliberate, and equally firm and intrep id resolution. It was then voted, that the President should nominate other officers of the meeting, and the following named gentlemen were nominated and elected : STEPHEN C. PHILLIPS, » y Presidents. SAMUEL MAY, ) JOHN ALBION ANDREW, Secretary. DR. HOWE then addressed the meeting as follows : — I have been requested, Fellow-citizens, as Chairman of the Commit tee of Arrangements for this meeting, to make a statement of the reasons for calling this meeting, and of the objects which it is proposed to attain ; and I shall do so very briefly. A few weeks ago, there sailed from New Orleans a vessel belonging to this port, owned and manned by New Eng land freemen, under the flag of our Union — the flag of the free. When she had been a weekuponher voyage, and was beyond the jurisdiction of the laws of Louisiana, far out upon o broad and illimitable ocean, there was found secreted in her hold, a man lying naked upon the cargo, half suf focated by the hot and stifled air, and trembling with fear. He begged the sailors who found him not to betray him to the captain, for he had rather die than be discovered before he got to Boston. Poor fellow ! he had heard of Boston ; he had heard that there all men are free and equal ; — he had seen the word Boston written on that ship, and he had said to himself — " I, too, am a man, and not a brute or a chattel, and if I can only once set my foot in that blessed city, my claims to human brotherhood will be admitted, and I shall be treated as a man and a bro ther," — and he hid himself in the hold. Well, Sir, the knowledge of his being there could not long be kept from the captain, and he was dragged from his hot and close hiding-place, and brought upon deck. It was then seen that he was a familiar acquaintance, — a bright intelli gent mulatto youth, who used to be sent by his master to sell milk on board ; he had been a favorite, and every man, from the captain to the APPENDIX. O cabin-boy, used to have his jokes with "Joe." They had treated him like a human being, — could he expect they would ever help to send him into slavery like a brute ? And now what was to be done ? Neither the captain nor any of his officers had been privy to his coming on board ; they could riot be con victed of the crime of wilfully aiding a brother man to escape from bond age ; the man was to them as though he had been dropped from the clouds, or been picked up floating on a plank at sea ; he was thrown, by the providence of God, upon their charity and humanity ! But it was decided to send him back to New Orleans ; to deliver him up to his old owner ; and they looked long and eagerly for some ship that would take charge of him. None such, however, was found, and the " Ottoman" arrived safely in our harbor. The wish of the poor slave was gratified ; his eyes were blessed with the sight of the promised land. He had been treated well for the most part, on board, — could he doubt that the hearts of his captors had softened ? Can we suppose that sail ors, so proverbial for their generous nature, could have been, of their own accord, the instruments of sending the poor fellow back ? I, for one, will not believe it. But the captain communicated with his rich and respectable owners, men whom he was accustomed to honor and obey, and they decided that whether a human being or not, poor "Joe" must be sent back to bondage ; they would not be a party, even against their will, to setting free a slave. (Loud cries of " Shame," " Shame," and " Let us know the name of the owner.") The name of the firm is John H. Pearson & Co. (Repeated cries of " Shame," " Shame," " Shame.") It was a dangerous busi ness, this that they undertook ; they did not fear to break the laws of God — to outrage the laws of humanity ; but they did fear the laws of the Commonwealth, for those laws threatened the State's Prison to whoever should illegally imprison another. They knew that no person, except the owner of the runaway slave, or his agent, or a marshal of the Unit ed States, had any right to touch him ; they were neither the one nor the other ; and they therefore hid their victim upon an island in our har bor and detained him there. But he escaped from their clutches ; he fled to our city — to the city of his hopes — he was here in our very streets, fellow-citizens ! he had gained an Asylum, — he called on us for aid. Of old, there were tem ples so sacred that even a murderer who had taken refuge in them was free from pursuit ; but no such temple did Boston offer to the hunted slave ; he was pursued and siezed,and those of our wondering citizens who inquired what it all meant, were deceived by a lie about his being a thief, and he was dragged on board ship. But the news of this got abroad ; legal warrants were at once procured ; the shield of the habeas corpus was prepared to cover the fugitive ; officers of justice were urged to the pursuit ; the owner of the vessel was implored to o.ive an order for the man's surrender, — but all in vain. A vessel was found, bound for New Orleans, which would consent to be made a slave-ship of, — (Loud cries for the name of the ship.) The Ni agara, belonging to the same owners, and on board of this ship the man 4 APPENDIX- was sent back, to receive the lash, and to wear the shackles, for his ill- starred attempt to be free, and to drag out all the days of his life, a de graded, wretched, and hopeless slave ! And now, fellow-citizens, how does all this differ from piracy and the slave-trade ? The man was free — free at sea, free on shore ; and it was only by a legal process that he could be arrested. He was siezed in our city ; bound and carried into slavery by those who had no more right to do so than has the slave-trader to descend upon the coast of Gui nea and carry off the inhabitants. All these facts are known and ad mitted ; nay, they are defended by some who call themselves followers of Him who said, " As ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them ;" they are defended, too, by some of those presses, whose editors arrogate to themselves the name of Watchmen on the towers of Liberty ! And now it will be asked, — it has been asked, tauntingly, — How can we help ourselves ? What can this meeting do about it ? In reply, let me first r'.ite what it is not proposed to do about it. It is not proposed to move the public mind to any expression of indigna tion, much less to any acts of violence against the parties connected with the late outrage. As to the captain, it is probable that he was more sin ned against than sinning. I am told that he is a kind, good man, in most of the relations of life, arid that he was made a tool of. Let him go and sin no more. As for the owners and their abettors — the men who used the wealth and influence which God gave them, to kidnap and enslave a fellow-man, — a poor, trembling, hunted wretch, who had fled to our shores for liberty and sought refuge in our borders — let them go too, — their punishment will be dreadful enough without our adding to it. Indeed, I, for one, can say that I would rather be in the place of the victim whom they are at this moment sending away into bondage, — I would rather be in his place than in theirs : Aye ! through the rest of my earthly life, I would rather be a driven slave upon a Louisiana plan tation, than roll in their wealth and bear the burden of their guilt ; and as for the life to come, if the police of those regions to which bad men go, be not as sleepy as the police of Boston, — then, may the Lord have mercy upon their souls ! But, Mr. Chairman, again it is asked, " What shall we do ?" Fellow- citizens, it is not a retrospective but a prospective action which this meet ing proposes, and there are many ways in which good may be done, and harm prevented, some of which I hope will be proposed by those who may follow me, and who probably will be more accustomed to such meetings than I am. But first, let me answer some of the objections which have been urged by some of those gentlemen who have been in vited to come up here to-night and help us, and have declined to do so. They say, " We must not interfere with the course of the law." Sir, they know as well as we know, that if the law be the edge of the axe, that public opinion is the force that gives strength and weight to the blow. Sir, we have tried the " let alone system " long enough ; we have a right to judge the future by the past, and we know that the law will not prevent such outrage in time to come, unless the officers of the law are APPENDIX, P driven by public opinion to do their duty. What has made the African slave-trade odious ? Was it the law, or public opinion ? But, Sir, in order to test the strength of this objection, let us suppose that instead of the poor hunted mulatto, one of the clergymen of Boston had been carried off into slavery. Would the pulpit have been silent ? Had one of our editors been carried away, would the press have been dumb ? Would there have been any want of glaring capitals and notes of exclamation ? Suppose a lawyer had been kidnapped in his office, bound, and carried off to work on a slave plantation ; would the limbs of the law have moved so lazily as they did week before last ? Or suppose a merchant had been torn from his counting-room in State street, and shipped for the slave-market of Tunis ; would there not have been an ex citement all over the city ? Think you there would not have been " In dignation meetings" on "Change?" And yet, Sir, are any of these men more precious in the sight of God than the poor mulatto? Or suppose a slave ship from the coast of Gui nea, with her human cargo on board, had been driven by stress of wea ther into our port, and one of her victims had escaped to our shore, and been recaptured and carried off in the face of the whole community ; would there have been any want of" indignation" then ? And, Sir, is there any difference, would it be a greater crime to carry such an one away, except that as this man had been once a slave, he might be made a slave again, — that is, that two wrongs might make a right. No, Mr. Chairman, these are not the true reasons. It is, Sir, that the "peculiar institution," which has so long been brooding over this coun try like an incubus, has at last spread abroad her murky wings, and has covered us with her benumbing shadow. It has silenced the pulpit ; it has muffled the press ; its influence is everywhere. Court street, that can find a flaw in every indictment, and can cunningly devise ways to save the murderer from the gallows — Court street can find no way of es cape for the poor slave; State street, that drank the blood of the martyrs of liberty, — State street is deaf to the cry of the oppressed slave : the port of Boston, that has been shut up by a tyrant king as the dangerous haunt of freemen, — the port of Boston has been opened for the slave- trader ; for God's sake, Mr. Chairman, let us keep Faneuil Hall free. Let there be words of such potency spoken here this night as shall break the spell that is upon the community. Let us devise such means and measures as shall secure to every man who seeks refuge in our bor ders, all the liberties and all the rights which the law allows him. Let us resolve that even if the slave-hunter comes to this city to seek his runaway victim, we will not lay our hands upon him, but we will fasten our eyes upon him, and will never take them off till he leaves our borders without his prey. Sir, there is a potency, a magic power, in the gaze of honest indignation. I am told that one of the parties of the late outrage — one of the owners of the u Ottoman," came up here to this temple of liberty the other night to hear Mr. John P. Hale talk about slavery. He was discovered and pointed out. And, Mr. Chairman, what was done to him ? Why, Sir, he was fairly looked out of this Hall. No one touched him ; but he could not stand the look of indigna tion, and he fled away. Sir, this beats the hunters of the West ; — (3 APPENDIX. they boast that they can "grint.be varmint off the trees," but they can- not look a slave-hunter out of countenance, as the freemen of the East can. I say, Sir, if ever the slave-hunter come among us in pursuit of his victim, let us not harm a hair of his head — " let us touch not the hem of his garment; but let him be a Pariah among us," and cursed be he who gives him aid, who gives him food, or fire, or bed, or anything save that which drove his friend and coadjutor from Faneuil Hall the other night. Dr. Howe was frequently interrupted by loud and repeated bursts of enthusiastic applause. After concluing his remarks, the following Re solutions were presented by JOHN A. ANDREW : — Resolved, That the first duty of all government is to guarantee the personal safety of every individual upon its soil; and that the removal, by fraud or force, of any person, beyond the jurisdiction of the laws, especially with the purpose of preventing inquiry into the rights of such person, by the competent tribunals, is an insult to the dignity of the sovereign power, arid a violation, as well of the rights of the government, as of the immediate victim of the outrage. Resolved, That we recognize nothing in the institutions or laws of any foreign State or Nation which can justify or excuse any violation of the smallest right or privilege of the humblest individual within the borders of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ; and that whatever may be the requisitions of foreign govern ments upon persons found within the reach of their legal process, here, at least, shall the equal laws of our venerable Commonwealth be respected as supreme and inviolable. Resolved, That the spirit of justice arid freedom will be dead amongst us, when an injury done to the least individual, shall cease to be felt as a wrong to the whole community. Resolved, That the'late seizing and abducting into slavery, without any pre tence of legal authority, of a man found in the exercise of his freedom in the streets of the city of Boston, should be felt as an alarming menace against the personal rights and safety of every citizen. Resolved, That every person, who by active or tacit co-operation has aided or abetted in kidnapping the individual and carrying him into slavery, deserves the stern reprobation of a community which lias solemnly branded the slave trade as equivalent to piracy. Resolved, That we call on the owners of the bark Niagara, who have been charged in the public prints, by Captain Hannum, the immediate abductor of the individual in question, with having aided in and consented to this illegal and shameful act, publicly to disavow all participation in a proceeding so fatal to their character as merchants and as men, or to make all the reparation in their power, by rescuing the individual suflerer from the tortures to which their ship has illegally borne him back, at whatever expense of money and effort to them selves. Resolved, That this meeting recommend the formation of a Committee of Vigilance, whose duty it shall be to take all needed measures to secure the pro tection of the laws to all persons who may hereafter be in danger of abduction from this Commonwealth. MR. SUMNER being now loudly called by general acclamation, came forward and said, — Mr. Chairman, and Fellow-citizens, I have been drawn here to-night simply as a spectator, to bear my testimony, by a silent vote, to the reso lutions that shall be adopted on this occasion ; and consequently I am not prepared to say anything except what comes from a heart overflow ing in the cause of humanity. I am proud to be in Faneuil Hall on APPENDIX. 7 this occasion, and to address you, Mr. President. I reverence you as one of the leaders in the cause of liberty. I listened with satisfaction to your statement from the chair to-night, that forty years ago in this very hall, you appeared as a defender of liberty. A seaman was kidnapped from an American frigate by an English frigate. The English frigate Leopard, in 1806, carried away an American seaman from the Chesa peake. It was on that occasion that you, Mr. President took the lead. It was then against the power of England that the indignation of this people was roused. Now it is not against the power of England, and 1 am glad that it is not, but it is another power — not foreign, but domestic — not of any nation beyond our borders, but a power that is within our own coun try — the power of Slavery. It is that Institution in our own country, which has invaded the soil of Massachusetts, — it is that Institution which has done to Massachusetts what the power of England did to the frigate Chesapeake. It has taken a man from our jurisdiction. It is, then, right for us to come up to Faneuil Hall, to see what shall be done in order to protect all who are beneath our jurisdiction, against such outrages in future. I listened to the remarks of my friend who opened this meeting, with great satisfaction, believing his course to be the true one. I would not harm a hair of the head of that captain who has carried back to sla very a fugitive slave. The captain of the " Ottoman, "it has been said, is in other respects an amiable man — a man of good character. And I fear that he has erred in this matter by yielding to the temptation of circumstances which have been too strong for him. And let this urge us to direct our opposition more strongly against that institution which puts such temptations in the way of our citizens. We are told that the poor African has been returned to slavery. And it may be asked, " Had the master of the vessel any legal right to do so?" 1 answer, No! In the whole transaction he was a volunteer — a volunteer against law and against humanity. There is no law of the United States, no regulation in the Constitution, rendering it necessary for a person under such cir cumstances, without authority from the master, to return a fugitive to bondage. I say then that the captain was a volunteer — he violated the laws of Massachusetts in the cause of Slavery. And now, Mr. Chairman, what is the duty of Massachusetts ? If I remember, it was said by an ancient sage, that Government is the best where an injury to the humblest individual is resented as an injury to the whole commonwealth. And that poor unfortunate, who has been pictured to you to-night, when he touched the soil of Massachusetts was as much entitled to the protection of its laws as any one of you, fellow- citizens, as much as you, Mr. President, covered with honors as you are. Some twenty years ago, in the state of New York, an individual, not a colored person, was kidnapped, carried away, and killed. That out rage caused an immense excitement in the part of the country in which it took place. The excitement spread from New York to Massachu setts, and finally enveloped all New England in its rage. The abduc tion of William Morgan — of that single individual, by the Free Masons 8 APPENDIX. of his own state, roused the Northern States and raised a party which exercised an important influence upon the politics of this country. Now an individual has been stolen — we do know that he has been carried away into slavery, though we do not know that he has been slain — but. he has been carried back to suffer all the wrongs which slave ry can inflict. That outrage should rouse the citizens of Massachusetts and the Northern states to call for the abolition of that Institution which has caused it. Mr. President, I feel that lean say nothing upon this question to add to the eloquence of your presence in this Hall, and I therefore content myself with seconding the resolutions which have been introduced. A call was then made for " Phillips," " Phillips," and MR. STEPHEN C. PHILLIPS was advancing, when several voices called for " Wendell Phil lips," and the former gentleman retired. Upon a renewal of the calls, however, he stepped forward and said : — It is true, Mr. President, as has been beautifully remarked by the friend (Mr. SUMNER) who preceded me — that the eloquence most appro priate to this occasion, is the eloquence of your PRESENCE ! — of the place of meeting, where we seem even now to listen to the returning echo of the accents of former days — and of the unsurpassed and ex pressive spectacle before us. In sympathy with the noble purpose by which you, sir, have been actuated, thousands of your fellow-citizens have met you here to-night, proud to share the honor of emulating your example. If you can deem it an act worthy of the last hour of your illustrious life, to give the sanction of your presence to the object of this meeting, well may we rally to your support, receive your counsels, and carry them into effect. The object of the meeting must touch the hearts of all who have list ened to the sad story which the Chairman of the Committee (Dr. HOWE) has related. It is difficult to believe it to be true. The scene is laid in Boston, and it refers to an act of inhumanity, which it is difficult to im agine should have been attempted here. The parties to the transaction are our fellow-citizens, and the offence charged upon them seems to be the last, which could have been committed by a Boston shipmaster and a Boston merchant. The sufferer is a poor, helpless, homeless fellow- being, who committed an error in supposing that a slave ivould be free in Massachusetts, and might be sure of Christian treatment in Boston. The unfortunate sufferer was a negro slave. He sighed for liberty, and who condemns the impulse of his nature ? Conscious that he was a man, he felt himself entitled to the rights of a man, and resolved that he would make a hazardous effort to obtain them ; and who blames him that he should conceive and execute such a purpose ? I learn that some \vhose opinions are respected, express the opinion that he should have voluntarily remained a slave ; that it was his only duty to " obey his master," to hug his chains, to bare his back to the lash, to extinguish the desire for a change of condition, to cease to regard human rights as any thing for him ; and that because lie aspired to a better fate, he should not be an object of our sympathy, and that humanity and Christianity APPENDIX. do not plead in his behalf. Repulsive, heart-chilling, unavoidably in sincere as is this suggestion, let whoever utters it consult his conscience, or "behold in a mirror," the man who will tell him what he thinks of it— it is the only pretext whereby the conclusion can be resisted, that the escape of a slave from slavery is, in itself, an act to be approved, the exercise of an indisputable right, and, under suitable circumstances, the discharge of a manifest duty. I care not, Mr. President, from what source, however respectable, this suggestion may proceed ; but before you, and in Faneuil Hall, I am compelled to assert, that a slave, present ing himself here, and claiming to be a freeman, would deserve to meet, as he would be sure to meet, the sympathy and admiration of every true man amongst us. The free citizens of the slave-holding States, may take a different view of their relation to their slaves ; but we of Massachusetts owe it to our known political and religious principles — and the slave-holding States should be so advised — to consider the slaves, equal with the masters, as our countrymen, as our fellow-beings, and as entitled amongst us to all the rights and privileges of any other country men, or any other fellow-beings. Some may scruple to sanction this de claration ; but I make it unhesitatingly, and I came here, to-night, as far as this case will allow me, to act upon it. It is a declaration in conform ity to the Bill of Rights, the laws and the judicial decisions of Massa- sachusetts ; and never as a citizen, as a Christian, or as a man, shall 1 be prevailed upon to abjure it. The sufferer was a slave from no other part of the world than our own country. This is the fatal fact which has caused the guilt and the dis grace of the criminal acts in which our fellow-citizens have participated. Had he been a slave from Cuba or Brazil, had he been a serf from Rus sia, had he been a fugitive from the oppression not yet extirpated from British India, had he been a human being presenting himself in any other character than that of an American slave, the sailor's heart would have warmed towards him upon the passage, the merchant's purse would have been open to him upon his landing, the voice of welcome and the hand of relief would have met him every where in our streets, and Boston would have proved to him a Christian city. In one word, had he been a slave, and not our countryman, he would have been treated as well as if he were our countryman, but not a slave. This shows us, Mr. President, what American slavery has " done for us," in one of its effects upon our principles, our character, and our conduct. The "suf fering man" from the ^ farthest pole" may become or be deemed " our neighbor," and be treated as such ; but as for the slave, who is " near home " — our very countryman — he must learn, and the Christian world must learn from his fate, that our patriotism forbids us to have any hu manity or Christianity, and that our laws are but a mockery, for Mm. Except so far as the proceedings of this meeting shall forbid such a con struction, Boston, with all her pride and fame, must expect, and must be understood, of her own choice, to consent to be thus judged and con demned for her direct and potential support of American slavery. The sufferer in this case is a negro. I know full well the force of the antipathy to which, on board ship and on shore, this fact has subjected him. Could he have been a white man, although a slave, his fate might 2 10 APPENDIX. have been different. But it is hard for us to do the negro justice. I fee! the severity of the rebuke that it scarcely becomes us to complain that negroes are enslaved at the South, until they shall be treated more like freemen at the North. I understand the difficulties arising from preju dice which resist all efforts to ameliorate their condition here. I have felt the difficulty of eradicating this prejudice. I am aware how hard it is to reconcile any physiological theory, however demonstrable, which disproves the original distinction of races, to our desire and determina tion to regard the negro as essentially inferior to the white man. Be this as it may, still the conclusion is irresistible — the judgement, the heart, the conscience, all sustain it — that negroes are, as much as any of us, men — physically, intellectually, and morally, men — that their degrada tion may be the result of unnatural rather than natural laws — and that since the Providence of God has placed them amongst us, we are re sponsible to God if we fail to extend to them the benefit of our political and social institutions, and to exert all the humane and Christian influ ences, which can promote the improvement of the individual, and the advancement of the race. The negro, let him have been freeman or slave, be he neighbor or be he stranger, — so long as he is amongst us, is entitled to all the rights and privileges of any white citizen ; — and, as Republicans, we belie the principles of our government, and fail to main tain the Constitution and laws, if we suffer the protection, which is afford ed to others, to be withheld from him, We meet, then, to consider our duty in the clear case of illegal, in human, and unchristian treatment, to which this American slave and negro has been subjected. By fraud and force he has been abducted from the streets of Boston, and he is already far beyond the reach of our sympathy, where neither our wishes nor our efforts can afford him any relief. Under the charge of the second Boston shipmaster, who has made himself an accomplice in the crime, he is on his way back to New Orleans, to meet the fate which there awaits the runaway slave. We may imagine the heavy heart, the disappointed hopes, the bitter grief with which he turned his last look on Boston, as he felt that all which Boston had done for him was to enforce the laws of Louisiana rather than those of Massachusetts ; and that what his Louisiana owner dare not have attempted, and could not have accomplished through any agent known to be such, a Boston merchant and Boston shipmasters had vol unteered, illegally and clandestinely, to accomplish in his behalf. Such, truly, Mr. President, is the revolting aspect of the facts of the case, and deep is the disgrace which must over-shadow the fair fame of Boston, so far as the mass of her citizens shall not promptly avow their abhorrence of this outrage, and adopt effectual measures to prevent its recurrence. I find it difficult to refer to the conduct of Capt. HANNUM in terms of modified censure. What can have induced, or who can have advised him to write the letter which we have read in the newspapers, I am at a loss to conjecture. A more disgraceful exposure of bad motives, and of the consciousness of guilt, was never coupled with the attempt to jus tify misconduct. J could pity Captain Hannum from the bottom of my heart, if his letter did not compel me to indulge and to avow still another sentiment. He admits that he sacrificed his private principles and the APPENDIX. 11 feelings of humanity ; and because he makes such an admission, and manifests no compunction for it, I shrink not from assuring him that such unprincipled and inhuman conduct is viewed in its proper light by the insulted community before whom he seeks to justify it. If he has been heretofore respectable, free from reproach in the relations of life, a sailor with an open heart and an open hand, I do not fail to see that he has aggravated his offence by resisting all the influences, and stifling all the impulses, which must have dissuaded him from it. That I may expose what it is manifest was the motive which influenced Capl. HANNUM in this transaction, let me say that I doubt not that he de served his previous reputation. I dare say, that in all ordinary trials, he might have proved himself a just, generous, and disinterested man. Had the poor negro, who sought protection in the hold of his vessel, have approached him upon a plank on the ocean in the height of a storm, I dare say the Captain would have sprung spontaneously to his relief, and, at any hazard to his own life, would have saved the life of the negro, and would have bestowed upon him all the care which his necessities re quired. To have done less than this, under such circumstances, would not satisfy the law of the sailor's nature, and the Captain, who, in the presence of his crew, should refrain from doing thus much, would cease to be respected, or trusted, or obeyed. I dare say that Capt. Hannum might have proved himself capable of performing any of the ordinary virtues, which are demanded by public sentiment, and involve no pecu niary sacrifice; but he could not abide a trial, which required the per formance of a duty involving such a sacrifice — plain enough to his con science when he thought he might escape from it without a loss of money, or a loss of reputation. With all his Yankee shrewdness, and even if he has employed others to make the calculation for him, he has sadly deceived himself, or been deceived, as to the result ; he may have saved his money for a time — he has lost his reputation forever. The poor negro, as he was brought upon deck into the Captain's presence, could feel his life to be as safe as if he had been rescued from the ocean ; it was his liberty that was in danger, and that was only in danger because the Captain could not secure him his liberty — or rather could not desist from depriving him of it — without a pecuniary sacrifice, which, for the sake of a negro's liberty, he was not willing to incur. Nay, so little did he value a negro's liberty, and so little did he regard legal or moral re sponsibility, when it might cost him something to refrain from violating law and justice, his private principles and the feelings of humanity in behalf of a negro slave, that he recklessly spurned them all, in open day committed an offence, which, if he shall be convicted of it, must immure him in the State Prison ; and he now stands before the community, to be "looked at," and remembered, as he deserves. Mr. President, the pirate who, stimulated by cupidity, roams the ocean in quest of plunder, and destroys countless lives in the accomplishment or concealment of his object, and the African slave-trader, who, for the sake of gain, subjects his victims, by hundreds and by thousands, to the horrors of" the middle passage," and the cruel bondage which succeeds it, are guilty of no other moral offence than that of sacrificing to the insatiable demands of such a motive, their " private principles and the 12 APPENDIX. feelings of humanity ;" and Capt. Hannum, while he differs from them in restricting himself within what he supposed to be the pale of public endurance, describes the nature of his offence in the very terms, which are sufficient to characterize their detestable misdeeds. I am aware that I am called upon by Capt. Hannum to excuse or pal liate his offence upon the ground that he acted by the authority, and under the instructions of his owners. He was, however, their voluntary agent ; and it does not appear from the tone of his letter that he felt or expressed any scruple in executing their wishes, or that he did any act to relieve himself from the full measure of the responsibility to which I have held him. Still I perceive, upon his statement, that his owners voluntarily and gratuitously assumed a still higher responsibility — that is to say, as I estimate their responsibility, in reference to the higher posi tion which they occupy, and the greater influence which their example must exert. They are Boston merchants ; and, as swcA, while the un fortunate shipmaster may be unnoticed and forgotten, they must remain the conspicuous objects of public attention ; and it should be expected of them, in a transaction like that under consideration, to maintain unsullied their own honor, and not to hazard the reputation of the class with which they are associated. Mr. President, I approach this part of the case with peculiar sensibili ty ; for I am a merchant. I know that the occupation of a merchant need not be otherwise than an useful and honorable one, and that it has been honored by the character and conduct of most of those who have engaged in it. I know that the mercantile character is often assailed by unfounded prejudices, by mean and petty jealousies, and by gross calum nies ; and the fault is not mine of having been backward to vindicate it. I know also that the character of the merchant is not always unsullied, and that cases will occur in which it is important to cause it to appear that the censurable acts of individuals are not justified or extenuated by the body at large. What, so far as it affects the owners, is the present case, as we are obliged to regard it upon the representation of Capt. Hannum ? He represents to his owners that he finds on board his vessel a fugitive slave, and asks what he shall do with him. The owners of the vessel have no authority to act for the owner of the slave ; they have accord ingly no more right to exercise any forcible control over that colored man, than any of us have over any colored man ; or any man whom we meet in the streets. The man, under the law of Massachusetts, as soon as he is within its jurisdiction, is free, because here " all men are free and equal ;" and under the severest construction of the constitution and laws of the United States, he is free until his owner claims him. Ex cept restrained by violence, illegal violence, he will of course at once assert his liberty, and, as soon as his feet touch the soil of Boston, if not safe at once, under the protection of public opinion, he may soon place himself beyond the danger of pursuit. All this is well understood by Capt. Hannum and his owners. They understand that if the slave is forcibly detained, it can only be done in violation of the law of Massa chusetts, and in defiance of the public sentiment of Boston ; and that, under the circumstances, they make themselves as much responsible, le- APPENDIX. 13 gaily and morally, for reducing him to slavery, as if they had kidnapped one of our native colored citizens, and by a similar act of violence had confined him on board their vessel, and sent him to New Orleans to be delivered to a slave-dealer. If the case had thus terminated with the confinement of the negro on board the vessel, and all the proceedings of the master had been sustained and authorized by the owners, the legal crime and the moral offence, in all their fiagrancy, would clearly have been committed, and the owners would have been responsible ; but it is necessary to state that the subsequent incidents, all which must be sup posed to have occurred with their knowledge and sanction, greatly aggra vate their guilt. The poor negro is not retained on board the vessel ; but before the vessel is brought to the wharf, he is sent, under the charge of keepers, to an island in the harbor, with the purpose of confining him there, until another vessel shall be ready to receive and transport him to New Or leans. All this is done illegally ; it is, in the view of the law, and in its moral aspect, a crime ; and the owners of the vessel sanction and au thorize it. Fortunately, the poor negro succeeds in escaping from his keepers, and, quitting the island, he reaches the main shore, and pre sents himself, a stranger and a freeman, in the streets of Boston. Could he have had time to make himself known, to implore the aid of the city police, to lay his case before a magistrate, the owners or their agents would not have dared to touch a hair of his head, and in shame, as well as lear, they would have shrunk from the prosecution of their design. But unfortunately — most unfortunately — the captain was upon his track, and representing him to the few by-standers, who were collected at the instant, as one of his crew whom he was apprehending as a thief, he succeeded in diverting their sympathies, in once more seizing his victim, in hurrying him on board a boat, and, by keeping the boat at sea, in cut ting off any other chance of escape, while at the same time the negro was removed beyond the reach of any assistance from the shore. This act made the captain for the second time a kidnapper, in the full mean ing of the law, and in all the enormity of the crime ; and his guilt, by their justification of the act, the owners have voluntarily undertaken to share with him. Whether or not the captain incurred any further responsibility, I do not distinctly understand ; but what strikes me as by far the most culpa ble conduct of the owners remains to be exposed. Sufficient time had now elapsed to dispel the secrecy in which the foul transaction had been involved ; it had become known that an attempt was thus in progress to deprive a man of his legal rights, and all the facts of the case were rapidly ascertained ; the popular sympathy was deeply excited ; the proper spirit of Boston was exhibited; and, as should have been done, the first attempt for the relief of the sufferer was an application to the highest legal tribunal for a writ of habeas corpus to release him from the illegal custody in which he was detained ly the direction of the owner. The aid of the law was promptly afforded ; an officer was charged with the execution of the process; it was in the power of the owners to suffer the law to take effect ; without their interference to prevent it, the law would haoe taken effect, and have rescued the negro from his captivity ; 14 APPENDIX. and they took it upon themselves to obstruct the execution of the law, to deprive a fellow being of the privilege of habeas corpus, to set the Su preme Court of the Commonwealth at defiance, to contemn public opinion, and to glory in the shame of succeeding in so base a design. The poor negro was kept on board his floating prison until these owners could des patch another ship, which they were loading for New Orleans ; a steam boat was employed to tow the ship against a head wind beyond the juris diction of Massachusetts, and while the officer of justice is almost suc ceeding in his last attempt to overtake the boat, from which he might rescue the negro, the agents of the perpetrators of injustice are thrust ing him on board the ship, whose private signal declares to Boston, and will soon declare to New Orleans, who are the owners that thus prefer to sacrifice their character in Boston, rather than to endanger their interests in New Orleans. Mr. President, I know that I cannot be under the slightest possible in fluence of ill will against the owners to whom I have thus referred. So far as I know them personally, I have no reason to think or speak unfa vorably of them ; so far as I have had slight transactions in business with them, I have found them accommodating, liberal, and honorable. Let them have the full benefit of the reputation they have acquired ; but let them not expect — let none venture to claim in their behalf, that when, for the sake of mercantile gains, or a mercantile standing abroad, (or from the influence of any motive which can be conjectured,) they have thought nothing of what was due to their character at home, and have not scrupled (through the authorized acts of their agents) to violate the laws, to evade and obstruct the execution of legal processes, to make themselves instrumental in depriving a human being of the liberty to which he had become entitled, and to scoff at the feelings and efforts of such as had compassion on him ; that they have enough of reputation left to shield them from the consequences of such glaring misconduct. Let them not suppose that they can be irresponsible to public opinion, or that they can hold up their heads as before, without meeting in the coun tenance of every honest man an expression of the sentiments of aver sion and disgust, which their proceedings must have excited. Let them be made to feel — if a virtuous self-respect has wrought this result in the community — that they stand alone in the low estimate which they place upon the public duty of Boston merchants and citizens of Massachusetts, when the claims of humanity are brought into competition with their private interests. I abstain from any farther consideration of the details of this unfortu nate transaction, and I have said what my duty seems to require of the parties principally concerned in it. I do not desire to wreak upon them any public or private vengeance and I am happy to perceive that such is not the purpose of this meeting. Let them be saved from the State Prison ; let them remain unharmed in the positions which they occupy ; let them be treated only, as, in the moral judgment of the community, they deserve ; but let not the memory of the transactions be obliterated, until it .shall cease to be useful as an effectual warning to others. I cannot and ought not to conclude, without adverting once more as every one must do, in his thoughts upon the subject, to the primary cause APPENDIX. 15 of the wrongs which have been suffered in this case. We shall not have learned the lesson which the case seems to have been designed to incul cate, unless it fixes our attention anew upon our exposure to ike evils of SLAVERY, and our responsibility for their continuance. Our commercial intercourse with the ports of the slave-holding States is now clogged by regulations, which make it almost impossible for those who continue in the trade, to exonerate themselves from an actual, a direct, a constant participation in the support of slavery. The captain and the merchants implicated in the present case, if they had not felt that their business de pended upon it, would have had no desire to retain and return the slave ; but they saw that it was for their interest to signalize their devotion to ihe interests of the slave owner, and, with this view, they were scrupu lously considerate of the laws of Louisiana, while they sought to evade, and dared openly to resist, the laws of Massachusetts. The fact is but too plain, that, unless Northern shipmasters and mer chants will connive at and will assist in executing all the harsh and hate ful measures which are prescribed for preventing the escape of slaves, and for arresting and returning fugitives, and will tacitly submit to the still more odious regulations by which our own free colored citizens, with out any imputation or suspicion of crime, are violently abducted from our vessels, thrown into prison, and some of them in the end actually sold as slaves, slavery will be scarcely able to sustain itself in any of the South ern seaports. In view of this state of things, I can see much good, mixed with evil, in the results of the case before us. It will open the eyes of the people of Massachusetts to the danger and the guilt of a silent and passive co-operation with such of her citizens as are practically commit ted to the support of slavery. It will arouse the public conscience, and insure the vigorous action of public opinion upon every occurrence which involves the sacrifice of human liberty. It will make it certain that no shipmaster, no merchant, no citizen of Massachusetts, will hereafter ven ture, in the support of slavery, to disregard and violate the laws of his own State. Occurring, too, in connection with the political and religious !; proceedings, which are rapidly converging to the same general issue, it i will help to make it manifest that OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY is henceforth • to be regarded as a political and religious duty, no longer to be question- j ed, no longer to be shunned, no longer to be postponed, but a