Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Slavery volume 5 .djvu/137

Rh tuted authorities of the country. . . . It is not with a view of cooping up slavery. . . within limits too narrow for its natural growth;. . . it is not for the purpose of girding it round with lines of fire, till its sting, like that of the scorpion, shall be turned upon itself,. . . that I have ever advocated the principles of the Ordinance of 1787."

Mr Mann, I think, is still called a Whig, but no member of the free soil party has more readily or more ably stood up against the extension of slavery. His noble words stand in marvellous contrast to the discourse of the Representative from Boston. Mr Mann represents the country, and not the "metropolis." His speech last February, and his recent letter to his constituents, are too well known, and too justly prized, to require any commendation here. But I cannot fail to make a remark on a passage in the letter. He says, if we allow Mr Clay^s compromise to be accepted, "Were it not for the horrible consequences which it would involve, a roar of laughter, like a feu de joie, would run down the course of the ages." He afterwards says—"Should the South succeed in their present attempt upon the territories, they will impatiently await the retirement of General Taylor from the executive chair to add the 'State of Cuba' . . . to this noble triumph." One is a little inclined to start such a laugh himself at the idea of the South waiting for that event before they undertake that plan!

Mr Mann says: "If no moral or religious obligation existed against holding slaves, would not many of those opulent and respectable gentlemen who signed the letter of thanks to Mr Webster, and hundreds of others, indeed, instead of applying to intelligence offices for domestics, go at once to the auction room, and buy a man or a woman with as little hesitancy or compunction as they now send to Brighton for beeves?" This remark has drawn on him some censures not at all merited. There are men enough in Boston, who have no objection to slavery. I know such men, who would have been glad if slavery had been continued here. Are Boston merchants unwilling to take mortgages on plantations and negroes? Do Northern men not acquire negroes by marrying wealthy women at the South, and keep the negroes as slaves? If the truth could be known, I think it would appear that Dr Palfrey had lost