titutional measure. It set aside the right
formerly enjoyed by the fugitive of trial by jury--it afforded to him no
protection, no opportunity of proving his right to be free, and it
placed every free coloured person at the mercy of any unprincipled
individual who might wish to lay claim to him. (Hear.) That law is
opposed to the principles of Christianity--foreign alike to the laws of
God and man, it had converted the whole population of the free States
into a band of slave-catchers, and every rood of territory is but so
much hunting ground, over which they might chase the fugitive. But while
they were speaking of slavery in the United States, they must not omit
to mention that there was a strong feeling in that land, not only
against the Fugitive Slave Law, but also against the existence of
slavery in any form. There was a band of fearless men and women in the
city of Boston, whose labours for the slave had resulted in good beyond
calculation. This noble and heroic class had created an agitation in the
whole country, until their principles have taken root in almost every
association in the land, and which, with God's blessing, will, in due
time, cause the Americans to put into practice what they have so long
professed. (Hear, hear.) He wished it to be continually held up before
the country, that the northern States are as deeply implicated in the
guilt of slavery as the South. The north had a population of 13,553,328
freemen; the south had a population of only 6,393,756 freemen; the north
has 152 representatives in the house, the south only 81; and it would be
seen by this, that the balance of power was with the free States.
Looking, therefore, at the question in all its aspects, he was sure that
there was no one in this country but who would find out, that the
slavery of the United States of America was a system the most abandoned
and the most tyrannical. (Hear, hear.)"

At the close of this address, the Rev. Edward Matthews, last from
Bristol, but who had recently returned from the United States, where he
had been maltreated on account of his fidelity to the cause of freedom,
was introduced, and made a most interesting speech. The next speaker was
George Thompson, Esq., M.P.; and we need only say that his eloquence,
which has seldom or ever been equalled, and never surpassed, exceeded,
on this occasion, the most sanguine expectations of his friends. All who
sat under the thundering anathemas which he hurled against s