I therefore offer no excuses on that score. But I do feel as if it
required some apology to attempt to convince men of ordinary
humanity and common sense that the Fugitive Slave Bill is utterly
wicked, and consequently ought never to be obeyed. Yet Massachusetts
consents to that law! Some shadow of justice she grants, inasmuch as
her Legislature have passed what is called a Personal Liberty Bill,
securing trial by jury to those claimed as slaves. Certainly it is
_something_ gained, especially for those who may get brown by
working in the sunshine, to prevent our Southern masters from taking
any of us, at a moment's notice, and dragging us off into perpetual
bondage. It is _something_ gained to require legal proof that a man
is a slave, before he is given up to arbitrary torture and
unrecompensed toil. But is _that_ the measure of justice becoming
the character of a free Commonwealth? "_Prove_ that the man is
property, according _your_ laws, and I will drive him into your
cattle-pen with sword and bayonet," is what Massachusetts
practically says to Southern tyrants.
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