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.
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