Perhaps I do not know what are the duties of a Governor;
but if to be a Governor requires to subject one's self to so much
ignominy without remedy, if it is to put a restraint upon my
manhood, I shall take care never to be Governor of Massachusetts. I
have not read far in the statutes of this Commonwealth. It is not
profitable reading. They do not always say what is true; and they do
not always mean what they say. What I am concerned to know is, that
that man's influence and authority were on the side of the
slaveholder, and not of the slave- of the guilty, and not of the
innocent- of injustice, and not of justice. I never saw him of whom
I speak; indeed, I did not know that he was Governor until this
event occurred. I heard of him and Anthony Burns at the same time, and
thus, undoubtedly, most will hear of him. So far am I from being
governed by him. I do not mean that it was anything to his discredit
that I had not heard of him, only that I heard what I did. The worst I
shall say of him is, that he proved no better than the majority of his
constituents would be likely to prove. In my opinion, be was not equal
to the occasion.
The whole military force of the State is at the service of a Mr.
Suttle, a slaveholder from Virginia, to enable him to catch a man whom
he calls his property; but not a soldier is offered to save a
citizen of Massachusetts from being kidnapped! Is this what all
these soldiers, all this training, have been for these seventy-nine
years past? Have they been trained merely to rob Mexico and carry back
fugitive slaves to their masters?
These very nights I heard the sound of a drum in our streets.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22