ad slept but
little the previous night, having been frightened by dreams of
Daniel Webster chasing her husband, pistol in hand. The evening was
stormy, and she asked him if they could not remain there till
morning. "It would not be right, Ellen," he replied; and with tears
in her eyes, they went forth into the darkness and rain. Was _that_
a man to be treated like a chattel? How many white gentlemen are
there, who, in circumstances as perilous, would have manifested such
nicety of moral perception, such genuine delicacy of feeling?
England has kindly received that worthy and persecuted couple. All
who set foot on _her_ soil are free. Would to God it were so in
Massachusetts!

It is well known that Southerners have repeatedly declared they do
not demand fugitives merely to recover articles of property, or for
the sake of making an example of them, to inspire terror in other
runaways; that they have a still stronger motive, which is, to
humiliate the North; to make them feel that no latitude limits their
mastership. Have we no honest pride, that we so tamely submit to
this? What lethargic disease has fallen on Northern souls, that they
dare not be as bold for Freedom as tyrants are for Slavery? It was
not thus with our fathers, whose sepulchres we whiten. If old Ben
Franklin had stood as near Boston Court House as his statue does, do
you believe _he_ would have remained passive, while Sims, the
intelligent mechanic, was manacled and driven through the streets,
guiltless of any crime, save that of wishing to be free? _My_ belief
is that the brave old printer of '76 would have drawn down the
lightning out of heaven upon that procession, with a vengeance.

What satisfactory reasons can be alleged for submitting to this
degradation? What good excuse can be offered? Shall we resort to the
Old Testament argument, that anodyne for the consciences of
"South-Side" divines? Suppose the descendants of Ham were ordained
to be slaves to the end of time, for an offence committed thousands
of years ago, by a progenitor they never heard of. Still, the
greatest amount of theological research leaves it very uncertain who
the descendants of Ham are, and where they are. I presume you would
not consider the title even to one acre of land satisfactorily
settled by evidence of such extremely dubious character; how much
less, then, a man's ownership of himself! Then, again, if we admit
that Africans are descendants of Ham, what is to be said