SENATE CHAMBER, May 1, 1854.
My Dear Sir,--I cannot be with you at your meeting on Wednesday
next: my post of duty is here. But I must not lose the opportunity
afforded by your invitation to express anew my abhorrence of the
outrage upon Freedom and public faith attempted by the Nebraska
Bill, and to offer my gratitude to those who unite in the good work
of opposing it.
In this warfare there is room for every human activity. By speech,
vote, public meeting, sermon, and prayer, we have already striven.
But a new agent is now announced. It is proposed to organize a
company of Liberty-loving citizens, who shall enter upon the broad
lands in question, and by example, voice, and vote, trained under
the peculiar institutions of Massachusetts, overrule the designs of
slave-masters. The purpose has a nobleness which gives assurance of
success.
With a heart full of love for Massachusetts, her schools,
libraries, churches, and happy homes, I should hesitate to counsel
any one to turn away from her, a voluntary exile. I do not venture
such advice. But if any there be among us, to whom our goodly
Commonwealth seems narrow, and who incline to cast their lines in
other places,--to such I would say, that they will do well, while
becoming, each for himself, the artificer of his fortune, to enter
into the Sacred Legion by which Liberty shall be safely guarded
in Nebraska and Kansas. Thus will mingle public good with private
advantage.
The Pilgrim Fathers turned their backs upon their native land to
secure Liberty for themselves and their children. The emigrants
whom you organize have a higher motive. Liberty for _themselves_
and their children is already secured in Massachusetts. They will
go to secure Liberty for _others_,--to guard an immense territory
from the invasion of Slavery, and to dedicate it forever to
Liberty. In such an expedition volunteers may win a victory of
peace, which history will record with admiration and gratitude.
Believe me, dear Sir,
Very faithfully yours,