The Trial of Theodore Parker For the "Misdemeanor" of a Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping, before the Circuit Court of the United States, at Boston, April 3, 1855, with the Defence

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[Transcriber's Note: A table of contents has been added for the
reader's convenience. Errors listed in the Errata section have been
noted with a [Transcriber's Note]; other obvious printer errors have
been corrected without note.]




THE TRIAL

OF

THEODORE PARKER,

FOR THE

"MISDEMEANOR"

OF

A Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping,

BEFORE THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES,

AT BOSTON, APRIL 3, 1855.

WITH

THE DEFENCE,


BY

THEODORE PARKER,

MINISTER OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY IN BOSTON.


BOSTON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR.
1855.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by

THEODORE PARKER,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
  Massachusetts.

CAMBRIDGE:
ALLEN AND FARNHAM, PRINTERS.




CONTENTS


PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
DEFENCE
ERRATA
OTHER WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR




TO

JOHN PARKER HALE

AND

CHARLES MAYO ELLIS,

MAGNANIMOUS LAWYERS,

FOR THEIR LABORS IN A NOBLE PROFESSION,

WHICH HAVING ONCE IN ENGLAND ITS KELYNG, ITS SAUNDERS, ITS JEFFREYS,
AND ITS SCROGGS, AS NOW IN AMERICA ITS SHARKEY, ITS GRIER, ITS CURTIS,
AND ITS KANE, HAS YET ALSO SUCH GENEROUS ADVOCATES OF HUMANITY AS
EQUAL THE GLORIES OF HOLT AND ERSKINE, OF MACKINTOSH AND ROMILLY,

FOR THEIR ELOQUENT AND FEARLESS DEFENCE OF TRUTH, RIGHT, AND LOVE,

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED,

BY THEIR CLIENT AND FRIEND,

THEODORE PARKER.




PREFACE.


TO THE PEOPLE OF THE FREE STATES OF AMERICA.

FELLOW-CITIZENS AND FRIENDS,--

If it were a merely personal matter for which I was arraigned before
the United States Court, after the trial was over I should trouble the
public no further with that matter; and hitherto indeed, though often
attacked, nay, almost continually for the last fourteen years, I have
never returned a word in defence. But now, as this case is one of such
vast and far-reaching importance, involving the great Human Right to
Freedom of Speech, and as the actual question before the court was
never brought to trial, I cannot let the occasion pass by without
making further use of it.

When Judge Curtis delivered his charge to the Grand-Jury, June 7th,
1854, I made ready for trial, and in three or four days my line of
defence was marked out--the fortifications sketched, the place of the
batteries determined; I began to collect arms, and was soon ready for
his attack. When that Grand-Jury, summoned with no special reference
to me, refused to find a bill and were discharged, I took public
notice of the conduct of Judge Curtis, in a Sermon for the Fourth of
July.[1] But I knew the friends of the fugitive slave bill at Boston
and Washington too well to think they would let the matter sleep; I
knew what arts could be used to pack a jury and procure a bill. So I
was not at all surprised when I heard of the efforts making by the
Slave Power in Boston to obtain an indictment by another grand-jury
summoned for that purpose. It need not be supposed that I was wholly
ignorant of their doings from day to day. The arrest was no
astonishment to me. I knew how much the reputation of this Court and
of its Attorney depended on the success of this prosecution. I knew
what private malignity was at work.

[Footnote 1: 2 Parker's Additional Speeches, 178-283.]

After my arraignment I made elaborate preparation for my defence. I
procured able counsel, men needing no commendation, to manage the
technical details which I knew nothing about and so could not meddle
with, while I took charge of other matters lying more level to my own
capacity. I thought it best to take an active part in my own
defence,--for the matter at issue belonged to my previous studies and
general business; my personal friends and the People in general,
seemed to expect me to defend myself as well as I could.

A great political revolution took place between the Judge's charge and
my arraignment, June 7th, and November 29th, 1854, and I thought the
Court would not allow the case to come to open argument. For
certainly, it would not be a very pleasant thing for Judge Sprague and
Judge Curtis, who have taken such pains to establish slavery in
Massachusetts, to sit there--each like a travestied Prometheus,
chained up in a silk gown because they had brought to earth fire from
the quarter opposite to Heaven--and listen to Mr. Hale, and Mr.
Phillips and other anti-slavery lawyers, day after day: there were
facts, sure to come to light, not honorable to the Court and not
pleasant to look at in the presence of a New England community then
getting indignant at the outrages of the Slave Power. I never thought
the case would come to the jury. I looked over t