Free Virginia Hamilton by Anthony Burns: The Defeat, Triumph of a Fugitive Slave Page B

seems to me,” Phillips continued, “I have talked to little purpose, for within three years two slaves can be carried away from Boston. Nebraska [the Kansas-Nebraska Bill] I call knocking a man down, and this spitting in his face after he is down.”
    A hush settled over the great hall.
    â€œWhen I heard of this case and that Burns was locked up in that Court House, my heart sunk within me.” Wendell Phillips bowed his head. He next raised it and let his gaze travel around him, fixing on an intense face here and another there.
    â€œSee to it, every one of you, as you love the honor of Boston, that you watch this case so closely that you can look into that man’s eyes.” His deep voice rang out through the hall. “When he [Burns] comes up for trial get a sight at him—and don’t lose sight of him.”
    The audience broke in, “We won’t! We won’t lose him! Never!”
    â€œIf Boston streets are to be so often desecrated by the sight of returning fugitives,” Phillips continued, “let us be there, that we may tell our children that we saw it done. Fellow citizens, I will not detain you here any longer.”
    There were cries of “Go on! Go on!”
    â€œFaneuil Hall is but our way to the Court House where, tomorrow …”
    Cheers rose and swelled, rolling in waves fromthe back of the hall forward.
    â€œâ€¦ where the children of Adams and [John] Hancock are to prove that they are not bastards. Let us prove that we are worthy of liberty,” Wendell Phillips finished.
    Feverish shouts of praise rang out, and long applause followed.
    Reverend Theodore Parker next stood to speak. Parker was as ungraceful as Phillips was elegant. Often, his admirers watched affectionately as he walked and stumbled, preoccupied, along the city streets. Short of stature, with a massive head of dark hair, he had a dark complexion, and his large, dark eyes stared out with deadly calm behind his spectacles. Occasionally he coughed hard, as though ill with a serious congestion. But now he pursed his lips, then smiled sardonically at the assembly. “Fellow-subjects of Virginia!” he said.
    Instantly, there were loud cries of “No! No! You must take that back!”
    â€œFellow-citizens of Boston, then—”
    â€œYes! Yes!” the crowd answered.
    â€œI come to condole with you at this second disgrace which is heaped on the city… .” Parker thrust his hands into his pockets and looked heavenward. “There was a Boston once. Now there is a North suburb to the city of Alexandria, Virginia—that is what Boston is.”
    There were hoots and laughter at those words.
    â€œAnd you and I, fellow subjects of the State of Virginia—”
    â€œNo! No!”
    â€œI will take it back when youshow me the fact is not so,” Parker said, and went on: “I am an old man. I have heard hurrahs and cheers for liberty many times; I have not seen a great many deeds done for liberty. I ask you, are we to have deeds as well as words?”
    The tumultuous crowd answered, “Yes! Yes!”
    Reverend Parker then proposed that the meeting be adjourned and that they all gather at Court Square in the morning at nine o’clock. “Those in favor of the motion will raise their hands.” There were numbers of hands raised, but a hundred voices yelled, “No, tonight!”
    â€œLet us take him out!”
    â€œLet us go now.”
    â€œCome on!”
    One man rushed frantically about, crying, “Come on!” but none seemed ready to follow him.
    Someone else shouted weakly, “Let’s pay a visit to the Revere House—where the slavers stay!”
    Reverend Parker then called, “If you propose to go to the Revere House tonight, then show your hands.”
    Some hands shot up.
    â€œIt is not a vote,” Reverend Parker said. He realized he was shouting and becoming hoarse. He coughed. His chest ached