The Trial of Theodore Parker: For the "Misdemeanor" of a Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping, before the Circuit Court of the United States, at Boston, April 3, 1855, with the DefenceParker, Theodore
Religion
The Trial of Theodore Parker: For the "Misdemeanor" of a Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping, before the Circuit Court of the United States, at Boston, April 3, 1855, with the Defence
Parker, Theodore
Antislavery movements -- Massachusetts -- Boston; United States -- Fugitive slave law (1850)
"Thus shall the Justice of the Lord
Freedom and peace to men afford;
And all that hear shall join and say,
Sure there's a God that rules on high,
A God that hears his children cry,
And all their sufferings will repay."
2. After Mr. Webster had made his speech of March 7, 1850, pledging
himself and his State to the support of the fugitive slave bill, then
before Congress, "to the fullest extent," Thomas B. Curtis, with the
help of others, got up a letter to Mr. Webster, dated March 25, 1850,
signed, it is said, by 987 persons, who say: "We desire to express to
you our deep obligations for what this speech has done and is doing."
"You have pointed out to a whole people the path of duty, have
convinced the understanding and touched the conscience of the nation."
"We desire, therefore, to express to you our entire concurrence in the
sentiments of your speech."
3. A little later, Mr. Webster returned to Boston, and was
"rapturously received" at the Revere House, April 29, 1850, by a
"great multitude," when Benjamin R. Curtis made a public address, and
expressed his "abounding gratitude for the ability and fidelity" which
Mr. Webster had "brought to the defence of the Constitution and of the
Union," and commended him as "_eminently vigilant, wise, and faithful
to his country, without a shadow of turning_."
4. Presently, after the passage of the fugitive slave bill, at a
dinner party, at the house of a distinguished counsellor of Boston,
Charles P. Curtis declared that he hoped the first fugitive slave who
should come to Boston would be seized and sent back!
5. Charles P. Curtis and his step-brother Edward G. Loring, and George
T. Curtis, defended the fugitive slave bill by writing articles in the
_Boston Daily Advertiser_.
6. In November, 1850, the slave-hunters, thus invited and encouraged,
came to Boston, seeking to kidnap William and Ellen Craft: but they in
vain applied to Commissioner Benj. F. Hallett, and to Judges Woodbury
and Sprague, for a warrant to arrest their prey. Finally, they betook
themselves to Commissioner George T. Curtis, who at once agreed to
grant a warrant; but, according to his own statement, in a letter to
Mr. Webster, Nov. 23, 1850, as he anticipated resistance, and
considered it very important that the Marshal should have more support
than it was in his power as a Commissioner to afford, he procured a
meeting of the Commissioners, four in number, and with their aid
succeeded in persuading the Circuit Court, then in session, to issue
the warrant.
Gentlemen, as that letter of Mr. George T. Curtis contains some
matters which are of great importance, you will thank me for
refreshing your memory with such pieces of history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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