Court. Mercy, Sir, is
kindness to the guilty. I am guilty of no crime, I therefore ask for
no mercy. No, Sir, I ask for no mercy; I ask for justice. Mercy is
what I ask of my God. Justice in the Courts of my adopted country is
all I ask. It is the inhuman and infamous law that is wrong, not me.

My feelings are at my home. My wife and my children are dear to my
heart. But, Sir, I have counted the cost. I am ready to die, if need
be, for the oppressed of my race. But slavery must die; and when my
country shall have passed through the terrible conflict which the
destruction of slavery must cost, and when the history of the great
struggle shall be candidly written, the rescuers of Jim Gray will be
considered as having done honor to God, to humanity, and to
themselves.

I am told there is no appeal from this Court; yet I do appeal to the
Court of High Heaven, when Judge Drummond and Judge Caton, the rescuer
and the rescued, shall all have to stand at the judgment-seat of the
Most High.

I have, Sir, endeavored to obey the Divine law and all the laws of my
country that do not conflict with the laws of my God. My humble wish
is, that it may then appear that I have done my duty. All I wish to be
written on my tomb-stone is, "He feared God and loved his fellow-men."

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Speech of John Hossack, Convicted of a
Violation of the Fugitive Slave Law, by John Hossack

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