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into a distant part of the country, where his family could never see him again, and where they knew he must linger out a miserable existence, more intolerable than death, amid the horrors of slavery?
I ask whether you could witness all this, without the most poignant grief?
This is no picture of the fancy.
It is a sober reality.
The only difference is, the men thus treated are black.
But in my view, this does not diminish the horrors of such cruel deeds.
Can it be expected then, that the citizens of this state, or indeed of any other, would witness all this, without instituting the severest scrutiny into the legality of the proceedings?
More especially, when it is known that the persons employed in this nefarious business of hunting up fugitive slaves are men destitute of principle, whose hearts are callous as flint, and who would send a free man into bondage with as little compunction as they would a slave, if they could do it with impunity.
Of latter time, we hear much said about a dissolution of the Union.
Far better, in my view, that this should take place, if it can be effected without violence, than to remain as we are; when a peaceable citizen cannot enter your territory on his own lawful business, without the risk of being murdered by a ruthless mob.
With reverent thankfulness to Him, who numbers the hairs of our heads, without whose notice not
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Boston, J. P. Jewett and Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington; London; Low and Company, 1854.
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