Page:The Natick resolution, or, resistance to slaveholders.djvu/19

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, Dec. 10th, 1859.

,—In the Senate of the United States, you were called upon, on Tuesday, December 6th, to give an account of yourself to the slave-drivers for attending a meeting in Natick, called to discuss a resolution affirming "the right and duty of slaves to resist their masters, and the right and duty of the North to aid them." A Mr. Brown asked you, in an insolent tone—"Were you present to countenance such a meeting?" You explained and said, "It was a lecture attended generally by Democrats and others; that nobody interrupted the proceedings; that only some dozen Garrison Abolitionists voted for the resolution, and that the great mass of the meeting came from curiosity." The slave-driver who held the lash over you said, "I am satisfied!" But another, Mr. Iverson, still flourished the lash over you, taunting you because, "being a Senator from Massachusetts, you heard such treasonable sentiments avowed at a public meeting, in your own town, and did not at once rebuke them, instead of sitting and giving silent assent to them."

Instead of rebuking those insolent lords of the lash for presuming to dictate to you your course of conduct at home, among your neighbors, you submissively attempted to explain to them the whys and wherefors of your action, out of Congress, as if anxious to deprecate their frowns and stripes.

That meeting was called by public notice to discuss the question of "Resistance to slaveholders as obedience to God, in reference to John Brown at Harper's Ferry." It was hoped and expected that both sides would be heard. It was stated at the opening of the meeting, you being present, that it was not a lecture, but a meeting for discussion. A prominent citizen of Natick was appointed chairman, who 2*