vered himself with honor by his
decision. And soon after, (Aug. 29,) the Daily Advertiser, the "organ"
of the opinions of this family, said:--

"In some of the States there is ... legislative provision
for cases of this sort, [allowing masters to bring and hold
slaves therein,] and it would seem that _some such provision
is necessary in this State_, unless we would prohibit
citizens of the Slave States from travelling in this State
with their families, and unless we would permit such of them
as wish to emancipate their slaves, to throw them, at their
pleasure, upon the people of this State."

Gentlemen, Mr. Curtis in 1836 contended for all which Mr. Toombs
boasts he shall get--the right of the slaveholder to sit down at the
foot of Bunker Hill monument with his slaves! Nay, Mr. Curtis granted
more: it may be the duty of Massachusetts "to interfere actively," and
establish slavery in Louisiana, or in Kansas. It may be said, this was
only a lawyer pleading for his client. It was--a lawyer asking the
Supreme Court of Massachusetts to establish slavery in this
Commonwealth. Is it innocent in a lawyer to ask the court to do a
wicked thing, to urge the court to do it? Then is it equally innocent
to ask the Treasurer of a Railroad to forge stock, or an editor to
publish lies, or a counterfeiter to make and utter base coin, or an
assassin to murder men. Surely it is as innocent to urge men to kidnap
blacks in Africa as in Boston.

Gentlemen, That declaration--that the Statute supersedes natural
Justice, and that the only "Standard of Morality" by which the courts
are to be guided is "that which the law prescribes"--deserves your
careful consideration. "He that squares his conscience by the law is a
scoundrel"--say the proverbs of many nations. What do you think of a
man who knows no lawgiver but the General Court of Massachusetts, or
the American Congress: no Justice but the Statutes? If Mr. Curtis's
doctrine is correct, then Franklin, Hancock, Adams, Washington, were
only Rebels and Traitors! They refused that "Standard of Morality."
Nay, our Puritan Fathers were all "criminals;" the twelve Apostles
committed not only "misdemeanors" but sins; and Jesus of Nazareth was
only a malefactor, a wanton disturber of the public peace of the
world!

The slave child Med, poor, fatherless, and unprotected, comes before
the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, claiming her natural and
unalienable Ri