* * * * *

Now, Gentlemen, that you may completely understand the accusation
brought against me, I must go back a little, and bring up several
other matters of fact that have straggled away from this long column
of argument which I have led into the field thus far;--and also rally
some new forces not before drawn into the line of defence. I must
speak of the Hon. Justice Curtis; of his conduct in relation to
Slavery in general, to this particular prosecution, and to this
special case, _United States_ vs. _Theodore Parker_.

First, Gentlemen, let me speak of some events which preceded Mr.
Curtis's elevation to his present distinguished post. To make the
whole case perfectly clear, I must make mention of some others
intimately connected with him.

There is a family in Boston which may be called the Curtis family. So
far as it relates to the matter in hand, it may be said to consist of
six persons, namely, Charles P. Curtis, lawyer, and Thomas B. Curtis,
merchant, sons of the late Thomas Curtis; Benjamin R. Curtis, by birth
a kinsman, and by marriage a son-in-law of Charles P. Curtis, late a
practising lawyer, now this Honorable Judge of the Supreme Court of
the United States, and his brother, George T. Curtis, lawyer, and
United States Commissioner for the District of Massachusetts; Edward
G. Loring, a step-son of the late Thomas Curtis, and accordingly
step-brother of Charles P. and Thomas B. Curtis, lawyer, Judge of
Probate for Boston, United States Commissioner, and, until recently,
Lecturer at the Cambridge Law School; and also William W. Greenough,
son-in-law of Charles P. Curtis, merchant.

This family, though possessing many good qualities, has had a
remarkably close and intimate connection with all, or most, of the
recent cases of kidnapping in Boston. Here are some of the facts, so
painful for me to relate, but so indispensable to a full understanding
of this case.

1. In 1836 Charles P. Curtis and Benjamin R. Curtis appeared as
counsel for the slave-hunters in the famous case of the girl Med,
originally a slave in the West Indies, and brought to Boston by her
mistress. Med claimed her freedom on the ground that slavery was not
recognized by the laws of Massachusetts, and could not exist here
unless it were in the special case, under the Federal Constitution, of
fugitives from the slave States of this Union. The Messrs. Curtis
contended with all their skill--_totis viribus_, as la