innocent man from Boston into slavery. I would
speak of all men charitably; for I know how easy it is to
err, yea, to sin. I can look charitably on thieves, prowling
about in darkness; on rum-sellers, whom poverty compels to
crime; on harlots, who do the deed of shame that holy
woman's soul abhors and revolts at; I can pity the pirate,
who scours the seas doing his fiendish crimes--he is
tempted, made desperate by a gradual training in wickedness.
The man, born at the South, owning slaves, who goes to
Africa and sells adulterated rum in exchange for men to
retail at Cuba,--I cannot understand the consciousness of
such a man; yet I can admit that by birth and by breeding he
has become so imbruted he knows no better. Nay, even that he
may perhaps justify his conduct to himself. I say I think
his sin is not so dreadful as that of a commissioner in
Boston who sends a man into slavery. A man commits a murder,
inflamed by jealousy, goaded by desire of great gain,
excited by fear, stung by malice, or poisoned by revenge,
and it is a horrid thing. But to send a man into slavery is
worse than to murder him. I should rather be slain than
enslaved. To do this, inflamed by no jealousy, goaded by no
desire of great gain,--only ten dollars!--excited by no
fear, stung by no special malice, poisoned by no revenge,--I
cannot comprehend that in any man, not even in a hyena.
Beasts that raven for blood do not kill for killing's sake,
but to feed their flesh. Forgive me, O ye wolves and hyenas!
that I bring you into such company. I can only understand it
in a devil!

"When a man bred in Massachusetts, whose Constitution
declares that 'All men are born free and equal;' within
sight of Faneuil Hall, with all its sacred memories; within
two hours of Plymouth Rock; within a single hour of Concord
and Lexington; in sight of Bunker Hill,--when he will do
such a deed, it seems to me that there is no life of crime
long enough to prepare a man for such a pitch of depravity;
I should think he must have been begotten in sin, and
conceived in iniquity, and been born 'with a dog's head on
his shoulders;' that the concentration of the villany of
whole generations of scoundrels would hardly be enough to
fit a man for a deed like this!"

"Last Thursday