l Hall, August 21, 1835, at which a remarkable speech was made
by a lawyer who had graduated at Harvard College in 1812, a man no
longer young, of large talents and great attainments in the law. He
spoke against discussion, and in behalf of Slavery and Slaveholders:
he could see no good, but only unmixed evil "consequent upon agitating
this subject here." He said:--

"When did fear ever induce a man to relax his power over the
object that excited it? No, he will hold him down with a
stronger grasp, he will draw the cords tighter, he will make
the chains heavier and sink his victim to a still deeper
dungeon."

"The language and measures of the abolitionists clearly tend
to insurrection and violence." "They [the slaves] hear that
their masters have no legal or moral authority over them.
That every moment's exercise of such dominion is sin, and
that the laws that sanction it are morally void: that they
are entitled to immediate emancipation, and that their
masters are to be regarded as kidnappers and robbers for
refusing it." "It is deluding these unfortunate beings to
their own destruction, we should not aid them. The
Constitution provides for the suppressing of insurrections
... we should respond to its call [if the slaves attempted
to recover their liberty]; nay, we should not wait for such
a requisition, but on the instant should rush forward with
fraternal emotions to defend our brethren from desolation
and massacre."

"The South will not tolerate our interference with their
slaves, [by our discussing the matter in the newspapers and
elsewhere]." "The Union then, if used to disturb this
institution of Slavery, will be then as the 'spider's web; a
breath will agitate, a blast will sweep it away forever.'"

"If, then, these abolitionists shall go on ... the fate of
our government is sealed.... And who will attempt to fathom
the immeasurable abyss of a dissolution of the Union?"

"Tell the abolitionists this; present to them in full array
the consequences of their attempts at immediate
emancipation, and they meet all by a cold abstraction. They
answer, '_We must do right regardless of consequences._'"
"They assume that such a course [undoing the heavy burthens
and letting the oppressed go free, and loving your neighbor
as yourself] _is_ righ