It must be obvious to my readers that I have not been guided in my
narrative by the order of time, so much as by the relation of events
and actors to one another. My last article had to do in part with
occurrences that happened in 1852. I shall now return to 1842.
Much to my surprise, in 1842, I was nominated by Hon. Horace Mann, and
appointed by the Massachusetts Board of Education, to succeed Rev.
Cyrus Peirce as Principal of the Normal School then at Lexington.
At once was heard from various quarters murmurs of displeasure, because
an _Abolitionist_ had been intrusted with the preparation of teachers
for our common schools. Mr. Mann was not a little annoyed. He earnestly
admonished me to beware of giving occasion to those unfriendly to
the school to allege that I was taking advantage of my position to
disseminate my antislavery opinions and spirit. I assured him that I
should not conceal my sentiments and feelings on a subject of such
transcendent importance. But he might depend upon me that I should not
give any time that belonged to the school to any other institution
or enterprise; that I should conscientiously endeavor to discharge
faithfully every one of my duties; but that, as I should not be able
to attend antislavery meetings, or co-operate personally with the
Abolitionists, except perhaps in vacations, I should contribute to
their treasury more money than I had hitherto been able to afford.
Accordingly, I consecrated every day and every evening of every week
of term time to my duties, so long as I was principal of that school,
excepting only the afternoon and evening of every Saturday. Those hours
I always gave up to some kind of recreation. So much as this about
myself, the readers will soon perceive, is pertinent to the tale now to
be unfolded.
Some time in the month of October, 1842, an interesting young man,
calling himself George Latimer, made his appearance in Boston. He was
so nearly white that few suspected he belonged to the proscribed class.
But soon afterwards a Mr. Gray, of Norfolk, Virginia, arrived in the
city, and claimed the young man as his slave. At his instigation a
constable arrested Latimer, and the keeper of Leverett Street Jail took
him into confinement. Their only warrant for this assault upon the
liberty of Latimer was a written order from the said Gray. It was as
follows:--
“TO THE JAILER OF THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK.
“SIR,--George Latimer, a negro slave belonging to me, and a
fugitive from my service in Norfolk, in the State of Virginia,
who is now committed to your custody by John Wilson, my agent and
attorney, I request and DIRECT you to hold on my account, at my
costs, until removed by me according to law.
“JAMES B. GRAY.
“BOSTON, October 21, 1842.”
To this high-handed assumption of authority was added an indorsement,
by a young lawyer of Boston, of which the following is a copy:--
“BOSTON, October 21, 1842.
“I hereby promise to pay to the keeper of the jail any sum due him
for keeping the body of said Latimer, on demand.
“E. G. AUSTIN.”
With reason were the good people of Boston and the old Commonwealth
aroused, excited, almost maddened with indignation and alarm at this
insolent, daring assault upon the palladium of their liberty. If such
a proceeding should be allowed, no one would be safe, black or white.
Here comes a man from a distant part of our country, an utter stranger
in our city, and arrests another man about as light-complexioned as
himself, claims him as his negro slave, and, without offering any proof
that he had ever held the man in that condition, hands him over to a
common jailer for safe-keeping. This surely could not be borne with.
Some of the colored people to whom Latimer was known first bestirred
themselves. They attempted to get him out of prison by a writ of
_habeas corpus_. Hon. Samuel E. Sewall, the long-tried friend of the
oppressed, always ready to endure obloquy and encounter danger in
their service, assisted by his friend, C. M. Ellis, Esq., earnestly
endeavored to get that writ allowed. They petitioned for it in the
Court at which Chief Justice Shaw was then presiding, and, strange to
say, their petition was denied. That eminent jurist, on the authority
of the United States Court, in the famous Prigg case, gave it as his
opinion, that, by the supreme law of the land, so expounded, the man
Gray had permission to come to Boston and seize the man Latimer (as he
had done), put him into jail or some other place of confinement, and
keep him there until he could have time to bring on proof that he was
his property, and then take him off by the assistance of any persons
he could get to help him. Accordingly, Judge Shaw refused the writ
of _habeas corpus_, and left Latimer in Leverett Street prison. This
action of the chief justice aggravated the public excitement.
Mr. Gray, alarmed probably by the outcries of indignation that came to
him from so many quarters, brought charges against Latimer of thefts
committed upon his property, both in Norfolk and in Boston, as the
reason for his arrest. If this were true, it was said, he surely should
have proceeded against the criminal, in the ordinary course at common
law, and not under the decision in the Prigg case. But by this step
he got himself into another and graver difficulty. George Latimer,
instructed by his legal advisers, at once commenced the prosecution
of Gray for slander and libel. So the biter, finding he was about to
be bitten, let go this hold upon poor Latimer, and determined to rely
wholly upon the decision of Judge Story of the United States Court, who
was soon to hold a session in Boston.
But the excitement of the public had spread far and wide, and the tones
of indignation were deeper and louder. An immense meeting was held in
Faneuil Hall. Mr. Sewall presided, and made a full, clear statement
of the case, exhibiting all its odious features. Mr. Edmund Quincy
addressed the meeting with great force; and Mr. Phillips spoke most
effectively. Public meetings on the subject were held in Lynn, Salem,
New Bedford, Worcester, Abington, and in many other large towns. And
petitions were prepared and extensively signed and sent to Congress,
praying that we of the free States might be relieved from such outrages
upon the feelings of the people, and such violations of common law, as
could be perpetrated under the exposition of United States law, given
by the court in the “Prigg case.” Petitions were also prepared and
extensively signed to the Massachusetts Legislature, praying that the
prisons and jails of the Commonwealth might not be used by slaveholders
or their agents for the safe-keeping of their fugitive bondmen when
retaken; and that all sheriffs, constables, police officers of every
grade might be peremptorily forbidden, in any way, to assist in the
capture or return of slaves.
The sheriff and the deputy sheriff of Suffolk County and the keeper of
Leverett Street Jail were severely censured for the part they had taken
in Mr. Gray’s service. And the sheriff was about to order the release
of Latimer, when negotiations were entered into with Mr. Gray for the
purchase of his victim’s emancipation. Fearing that he might lose all,
he concluded to take a part, and sold him for four hundred dollars,
although he had declared he would not let him go for three times that
sum.
Wholly engrossed as I was by my duties in the Normal School, I could
not help hearing of the great excitement, and sympathizing with those
who were determined Massachusetts should not be made a hunting-ground
for slaves. At length it was reported that there was to be “_a Latimer
meeting_” at Waltham, five or six miles from Lexington. And lo! a few
days afterwards there came letters from Rev. Samuel Ripley, then the
prominent minister of Waltham, and from his son-in-law, the Rev.
George F. Simmons, who a few years before had been compelled to resign
his pastorate of the Unitarian Church of Mobile, and hastily leave the
city, because he had dared to speak from his pulpit of the evils of
slavery and the duties of those who held their fellow-beings in that
condition.
Each of those gentlemen cordially invited me, urgently requested me, to
attend the meeting in behalf of George Latimer that was to be held in
their meeting-house, adding that it was appointed on the next Saturday
evening, so as to accommodate the operatives in the factories, who were
not required to work on that evening.
As I have already said, Saturday evening was my _leisure_ time. Always
on closing school at noon of Saturday, I endeavored to lay aside my
cares with my textbooks, and if possible think no more of school until
Sunday evening, when I never failed to examine the lessons I intended
to teach the next day. It seemed to me that nothing would refresh and
recreate me so much as attending an antislavery meeting, and giving
vent to my pent-up feelings. Then I was the more eager to go to
Waltham, because Mr. Ripley was one of those who had been particularly
severe and satirical in their remarks upon _my_ appointment to the
charge of the Normal School. I really wished to see how he would look,
and act, and speak, under the inspiration of his new-born zeal in
the cause of freedom. So I informed my two devoted assistants, who
needed recreation not less than myself, and who I knew were zealous
Abolitionists, of my intention, and invited them to accompany me.
Almost immediately I received the names of twenty of my pupils who
wished to attend the meeting. Accordingly, I procured two double
sleighs, and we started for Waltham, as I supposed in good season. But
we did not reach the meeting-house until just as the exercises were to
begin. We naturally walked in together without the slightest thought of
making a parade. But on opening the door, we found all the pews filled
excepting the conspicuous ones, on either side of the pulpit. To these,
therefore, we went as quietly as possible, but not without attracting
the notice of the audience, and calling out the remark from more than
one, “There comes Mr. May with his Normal School!”
Before long I was invited by Rev. Mr. Ripley, who presided, to address
the meeting. I did so for twenty minutes or more, and I have no doubt
that my words and manner, my accents and emphases, showed plainly
enough how deep was my abhorrence of slavery, and how sincerely I
sympathized in the public alarm caused by the high-handed procedure of
the claimant of Latimer and his abettors.
I returned to Lexington revived, invigorated, knowing that I had
neglected no duty to the school, and utterly unconscious that I had
violated any obligations, expressed or implied by my words, when I
accepted the appointment. But a few days afterwards I received a letter
from Mr. Mann, complaining of what I had done, informing me that I
had given serious offence to several prominent gentlemen of Waltham,
and had lost as a pupil a bright, fine girl who was intending to
enter my school at the beginning of the next term. I replied stating
the circumstances of the case just as I have done above,--that I had
taken no time, withheld no attention, no thought, which was due to the
school; adding that I did not believe any concealment of my sentiments,
or other unreasonable concessions to the prejudices of the proslavery
portion of the community, would conciliate them. But, as it seemed my
understanding of my duties differed so much from his, I thought it best
for me to retire from the position; and therefore I tendered him my
resignation. This he would not communicate to the Board, and requested
me to withdraw it. I did so. But scarcely a month had elapsed before it
was announced in the newspapers that I was to deliver one in a course
of antislavery lectures in Boston, without stating, as I had requested,
that it would be given _during my vacation_. This brought a still more
earnest remonstrance from Mr. Mann, showing how hard pressed he was
on every side by the conflicting influences, in the midst of which
he was striving so nobly to infuse into our common schools the right
spirit, and to establish our system of public instruction upon the
true principles of human development and culture. In this instance he
was more easily satisfied that I had not departed from even the letter
of our agreement, though I have no doubt he wished I would keep my
antislavery zeal in abeyance through my vacations, as well as in term
time.
I have given this recollection, that my readers may be more fully
informed to what extent the so-called free States of our Union,
not excepting Massachusetts, were permeated by the spirit of the
slaveholders, or rather by the disposition to acquiesce in their most
overbearing demands.
Let it not, however, for a moment be inferred, from what I have
related, that Horace Mann was ever willing, for any consideration, to
abandon the rights of the enslaved to the will of their oppressors, and
suffer the dominion of slaveholders to be extended over the whole of
our country. Far otherwise. A few years after the arrest of Latimer,
Mr. Mann became a member of Congress; and there he uttered some of the
boldest words for freedom and humanity ever heard in our Capitol. As he
assured his constituents, in convention at Dedham on the 6th November,
1850, “with voice and vote, by expostulation and by remonstrance, by
all means in his power, to the full extent of his ability, he resisted
the passage of all the laws” proposed in Mr. Clay’s Omnibus Bill,
especially the one respecting fugitives from slavery. He emphatically
declared that “he regarded the question of human freedom, with all the
public and private consequences dependent upon it, both now and in all
futurity, as first, foremost, chiefest among all the questions that
have been before the government, or are likely to be before it.”
But in 1842 Mr. Mann could not foresee, nor be persuaded to apprehend,
that the senators and representatives of the Southern States would
become audacious enough in 1850 to demand that the people of the free
States should do for them the work of slave-catchers and bloodhounds.
And he was, at that time, so intent upon his great undertaking for
the improvement of our common schools, that he thought it our duty to
repress our interest in every other reform that was unpopular.