of their "property" and "industry" being addicted to
running away]. _And shall Massachusetts nullify that law?_"
"The question for us to-day is whether we will in good
faith abide by, and carry out these _Peace Measures_ [for
the rendition of fugitive slaves, the new establishment of
Slavery in Utah and New Mexico, and the restoration of it to
all the North] or whether we shall rush into renewed
agitation," etc. "Resort is had to a new form of _moral
treason_ which assumes by the mysterious power of a '_Higher
Law_' to trample down all law [that is, the fugitive slave
bill]. Some of our fellow-citizens have avowed that the
fugitive slave bill is to be treated like the _Stamp Act_,
and never to be enforced in Massachusetts. If that means any
thing, it means that which our fathers meant when they
resisted the Stamp Act and threw the tea
overboard--Revolution.[181] _It_ [opposition to the fugitive
slave bill] _is revolution, or it is treason. If it only
resists law, and obstructs its officers, it is treason; and
he who risks it, must risk hanging for it._"[182]

[Footnote 181: The learned counsel for the fugitive slave bill
confounds two events. The Stamp Act was passed March 22d, 1765, and
repealed the 28th of the next March. The tea was destroyed December
16th, 1773.]

[Footnote 182: Report in Boston Courier of November 27th, 1850.]

Gentlemen, that meeting determined to execute the fugitive slave bill
"with all its provisions, to the fullest extent." It is dreadful to
remember the articles in the Daily Advertiser and the Courier at that
period. Some of the sermons in the Churches of Commerce on the
following Thursday, Thanksgiving day, were filled with the most odious
doctrines of practical atheism. The "preparatory meeting" had its
effect. Soon the seed bore fruit after its kind. But some ministers
were faithful to their Brother and their Lord.

(2.) February 15th, 1851, a colored man named "Shadrach" was arrested
under a warrant from that Commissioner who had been so active in the
attempt to kidnap Mr. and Mrs. Craft. But a "miracle" was wrought:
"where sin abounded Grace did much more abound," and "the Lord
delivered him out of their hands." Shadrach went free to Canada, where
he is now a useful citizen. He was rescued by a small number of
colored persons at noonday. The kidnapping Commissioner telegraphed to
Mr. Webster,