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heresies yesterday and have heard nothing yet but applause. . . . It is the place for me and I think there is now but a small chance of a reaction against me— as I have already taken ground against the War (they say) and my next Sunday's blast will be but a following up of that.’
The preacher evidently did not foresee that these frank utterances would antagonize his hearers.
In reference to an anti-slavery convention at
Newburyport, he wrote:—
I read the notice of the Convention and said I should preach on Slavery in the afternoon—in connexion with it—which I did, on the text, “Behold the men who have turned the world upside down are come hither also” giving a free spoken blast, showing . . . the apathy . . . and the duties of the North— and finally recommending (indirectly) my hearers to go to the Convention in the Evening—which many did. . . . There has been much discussion on the subject this week and I feel entirely satisfied with the success of my effort—which has not, so far as I know, excited any opposition.
At all events I have defined my position.
The pro-slavery sentiment was very strong in
Newburyport, and Mr. Higginson's parish contained sundry sea-captains who saw no sin in returning fugitive slaves to their owners.
Later one of these very men took
Sims, the runaway slave, back to
Savannah.
Mr. Higginson's frequent sermons on the
