I lately attended a meeting of the citizens of Concord, ex-
pecting, as one among many, to speak on the subject of slavery
in Massachusetts; but I was surprised and disappointed to find
that what had called my townsmen together was the destiny of
Nebraska, and not of Massachusetts, and that what I had to say
would be entirely out of order. I had thought that the house was
on fire, and not the prairie; but though several of the citizens of
Massachusetts are now in prison for attempting to rescue a slave
from her own clutches, not one of the speakers at that meeting
expressed regret for it, not one even referred to it. It was only the
disposition of some wild lands a thousand miles off which ap-
peared to concern them. The inhabitants of Concord are not
prepared to stand by one of their own bridges, but talk only of
taking up a position on the highlands beyond the Yellowstone
River. Our Buttricks and Davises and Hosmers are retreating
thither, and I fear that they will leave no Lexington Common be-
tween them and the enemy. There is not one slave in Nebraska;
there are perhaps a million slaves in Massachusetts.

They who have been bred in the school of politics fall now
and always to face the facts. Their measures are half measures
and makeshifts merely. They put off the day of settlement indef-
initely, and meanwhile the debt accumulates. Though the Fugi-
tive Slave Law had not been the subject of discussion on that oc-
casion, it was at length faintly resolved by my townsmen, at an
adjourned meeting, as I learn, that the compromise compact of
1820 having been repudiated by one of the parties, "therefore, . . .
the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 must be repealed." But this is not
the reason why an iniquitous law should be repealed. The fact
which the politician faces is merely that there is less honor

-68-