e other son-in-law of Mr. Charles P. Curtis, who refused
to return my salutation, and who, "by a miracle," was put on the new
Grand-Jury after the old one was discharged, and then was so "very
anxious to procure an indictment" against me. I leave all that with
you. You can easily appreciate the efforts made to silence not only my
Sunday preaching, but also the magnificent eloquence of Wendell
Phillips; yes, to choke all generous speech, in order that kidnappers
might pursue their vocation with none to molest or make them afraid.

But, Gentlemen, I fear you do not yet quite understand the arrogance
of our Southern masters, and the fear and hatred they bear towards all
who dare speak a word in behalf of the Rights of outraged Humanity.
The gag-law of Congress which silenced the House of Representatives
till John Quincy Adams, that noble son of a noble sire, burst through
the Southern chain; the violation of the United States mails to detect
"incendiary publications;" the torturing of men and women for an
opinion against Slavery--all these are notorious; but they and all
that I have yet stated of the action of the Federal Courts in the
fugitive slave bill cases, with the "opinions" of Northern Judges
already mentioned, do not fill up the cup of bitterness and poison
which is to be poured down our throats. Let me, therefore, here give
you one supplementary piece of evidence to prove how intensely the
South hates the Northern Freedom of Speech. I purposely select this
case from a period when Southern arrogance and Northern servility were
far less infamous than now.

About twenty years ago Mr. R.G. Williams of New York published this
sentence in a newspaper called the Emancipator,--"God commands and all
nature cries out, that man should not be held as property. The system
of making men property has plunged 2,250,000 of our fellow countrymen
into the deepest physical and moral degradation, and they are every
moment sinking deeper."

For this he was indicted by a Grand-Jury of the State of Alabama, and
the Governor of that State made a demand on the Executive of New York
insisting that Mr. Williams should be delivered up to take his trial
in Alabama--a State where he had never been! But the New York
Governor, after consulting with his law-advisers, did not come to the
conclusion that it was consistent with the public policy of New York
to "interfere actively" and promote Slavery in Alabama. _So he refused
to deliver up Mr. W