cuss that question with you.' I replied, that if a man should
propose to me a discussion on the propriety of picking pockets, I
would turn him out of my study, for fear he should carry his theory
into practice. 'And meaning you no sort of offence; I added, 'which I
cannot mean to a gentleman who does me the honour of paying me a civil
visit, I would as soon discuss the one question with you as the other.
The one is a paltry theft.

'He that steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands'--

but he who thinks he can vindicate the possession of one human being
by another--the sale of soul and body--the separation of father and
mother--the taking of the mother from the infant at her breast, and
selling the one to one master, and the other to another--is a man whom
I will not answer with words--nor with blows, for the time for the
latter has not yet come.'"

If such a spirit of manly indignation and unbending integrity pervaded
the Northern breast, how long could Slavery stand before it? But where
is it to be found? Alas! the man whose hands are red with blood is
honoured and caressed in proportion to the number of his victims;
while "he who departs from evil makes himself a prey." This is true,
universally, in our land. Why should not the Slave Power make colossal
strides over the continent? "There is no North." A sordid, truckling,
cowardly, compromising spirit, is everywhere seen. No insult or
outrage, no deed of impiety or blood, on the part of the South, can
startle us into resistance, or inspire us with self-respect. We see
our free coloured citizens incarcerated in Southern prisons, or sold
on the auction-block, for no other crime than that of being found on
Southern soil; and we dare not call for redress. Our commerce with the
South is bound with the shackles of the plantation--"Free-Trade and
Sailors'-Rights" are every day violated in Southern ports; and we
tamely submit to it as the slave does to the lash. Our natural,
God-given right of free speech, though constitutionally recognised as
sacred in every part of the country, can be exercised in the
slaveholding States only at the peril of our lives. Slavery cannot
bear one ray of light, or the slightest criticism. "The character of
Slavery," says Gov. Swain, of North Carolina, "is not to be
discussed"--meaning at the South. But he goes beyond this, and adds,
"We have an indubitable right to de