Yet however hard the duty of the hour might be, Mr. Emerson never failed in his duty as a good citizen to come to the front in dark days. “In spite of all his gracefulness and reserve and love of the unbroken tranquillity of serene thought, he was by the right of heredity a belligerent in the cause of Freedom.” [128] _Page 181, note 1._ Shadrach was hurried to Concord after his rescue, and by curious coincidence Edwin Bigelow, the good village blacksmith who there harbored him and drove him to the New Hampshire line, was one of the jurors in the trial of another rescue case. [129] _Page 183, note 1._ Mr. Emerson wrote in his journal, after Mr. Hoar’s return:— “The position of Massachusetts seems to me to be better for Mr. Hoar’s visit to South Carolina in this point, that one illusion is dispelled. Massachusetts was dishonored before, but she was credulous in the protection of the Constitution, and either did not believe, or affected not to believe in that she was dishonored. Now all doubt on that subject is removed, and every Carolina boy will not fail to tell every Massachusetts boy whenever they meet how the fact stands. The Boston merchants would willingly salve the matter over, but they cannot hereafter receive Southern gentlemen at their tables without a consciousness of shame.” [130] _Page 192, note 1._ Apparently from Vattel, book i., ch. i., p. 79. [131] _Page 201, note 1._ But there was chaff within the flour, And one was false in ten, And reckless clerks in lust of power Forgot the rights of men; Cruel and blind did file their mind, And sell the blood of human kind. Your town is full of gentle names By patriots once were watchwords made; Those war-cry names are muffled shames On recreant sons mislaid. What slave shall dare a name to wear Once Freedom’s passport everywhere? See note to poem “Boston.” Mr. Charles Francis Adams’s _Life of Richard H. Dana_ gives light on the phrase used in the first of these verses. The following passage is from Mr. Dana’s journal during the trial of Anthony Burns, the fugitive:— “Choate, I had an amusing interview with. I asked him to make one effort in favor of freedom, and told him that the 1850 delusion was dispelled and all men were coming round, the Board of Brokers and Board of Aldermen were talking treason, and that he must come and act. He said he should be glad to make an effort on our side, but that he had given written opinions against us in the Sims case on every point, and that he could not go against them. “‘You corrupted your mind in 1850.’ “‘Yes. Filed my mind.’ “‘I wish you would file it in court for our benefit.’” Shakspeare said,— “For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind.”