There is
"even-handed justice" in the fact that men cannot aid in enslaving
others, and themselves remain free; that they cannot assist in
robbing others, without endangering their own security.
Moreover, there is wrong done, even to the humblest individual, when
he is compelled to be ashamed of his country. When the judge passed
under chains into Boston Court House, and when Anthony Burns was
sent back into slavery, I wept for my native State, as a daughter
weeps for the crimes of a beloved mother. It seemed to me that I
would gladly have died to have saved Massachusetts from that sin and
that shame. The tears of a secluded woman, who has no vote to give,
may appear to you of little consequence. But assuredly it is not
well with any Commonwealth, when her daughters weep over her
degeneracy and disgrace.
In the name of oppressed humanity, of violated religion, of
desecrated law, of tarnished honor, of our own freedom endangered,
of the moral sense of our people degraded by these evil influences,
I respectfully, but most urgently, entreat you to annul this
infamous enactment, so far as the jurisdiction of Massachusetts
extends.
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