A colored man named Shadrach was claimed as a slave; he was arrested, put in prison, and the kidnappers felt that for once they had a sure thing. Boston. however, was a strange place for a human being to be in a dungeon for wanting to be free; and Shadrach was spirited away to Canada, no one knew how. The men of Boston who traded largely with the South, felt that their city was in disgrace in not being able to execute the Fugitive Slave Bill, and many of them wished heartily for another opportunity. So, on the night of the third of April, 1851, Thomas Simms was arrested, and after a trial which became historical, was sent back into slavery, to the utter disgrace of all concerned in his return. Next came the rendition of Anthony Burns, a Baptist clergyman, who was arrested at the instance of Charles F. Suttle, of Virginia. The commissioner before whom the case was tried was Ellis Greely Loring. This trial excited even more commotion than did the return of Simms. A preacher in fetters because he wanted to be free was a new thing to the people of Boston. During the progress of the hearing, the feeling extended to the country towns, and nearly every train coming in brought large numbers of persons anxious to behold the new order of things. To guard against the possibility of a rescue, the building in which the commissioner did his work was in chains. Burns was delivered to Suttle, and the Union was once more safe. The Boston Court House in chains, two hundred rowdies and thieves sworn in as special policemen, respectable citizens shoved off the sidewalks by these slave-catchers, all for the purpose of satisfying "our brethren of the South." But this act did not appease the feelings or satisfy the demands of the slave-holders, while it still further inflamed the fire of abolitionism. The Dred Scott Decision" added fresh combustibles to the smouldering heap. Dred Scott, a slave, taken by his master into free Illinois, and then beyond the line of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, and then back into Missouri, sued for and obtained his freedom, on the ground that having been taken where, by the Constitution, slavery was illegal, his master lost all claim. But the Supreme Court, on appeal, reversed the judgment, and Dred Scott, with his wife and children, was taken back into slavery. CHAPTER XLI. RELIGIOUS STRUGGLES. CASTE, the natural product of slavery, did not stop at the door of the sanctuary, as might be presumed that it would, but entered all, or nearly all, of the Christian denominations of our country, and in some instances even pursued the negro to the sacramental altar. All churches had their "Negro-pew," where there were any blacks to put into them. This was the custom at the South, and it was the same at the North. As the religion of the country was fashioned to suit the public sentiment, which was negro-hating in its character, the blacks of the United States would have formed a poor idea of the Christian religion in its broadest sense, had not an inward monitor told them that there was still something better. The first step towards the enjoyment of religious freedom was taken by the colored people of Philadelphia. This was caused by the unkind treatment of their white brethren, who considered them a nuisance in their houses of worship, where they were pulled off their knees while in the act of prayer, and ordered to the back seats. From these and other acts of unchris tian conduct, the blacks considered it their duty to devise means of having a house for religious worship, of their own. Therefore, in November, 1787, they seceded from the Methodist Church, in Philadelphia, formed a society, built a house to meet in, and set up for themselves. Although the whites considered the blacks as intruders in their churches, they were, nevertheless, unwilling to allow them to worship by themselves, unless they should have the privilege of furnishing their sable brethren with preachers. The whites denied the blacks the right of taking the name of Methodist without their consent, and even went so far as to force their white preachers into the pulpits of the colored people on Sundays. The law, however, had more justice in it than the Gospel; and it stepped in between the blacks and their religious persecutors, and set the former free. In 1793, Rev. Richard Allen built a church for his people in Philadelphia, and henceforth their religious progress was marvellous. In 1816, Richard Allen was ordained Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church; Morris Brown was ordained a bishop in 1828; Edward Waters in 1836; and William P. Quinn in 1844. These were known as the Bethel Methodists. About the same time, the colored Christians of New York, feeling the pressure of caste, which weighed heavily upon them, began to sigh for the freedom enjoyed by their brethren in the City of Brotherly Love; and in 1796, under the lead of Francis Jacobs, William Brown, and William Miller, separated from their white brethren, and formed a church, now known as the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. This CHAPTER XLI. RELIGIOUS STRUGGLES. CASTE, the natural product of slavery, did not st at the door of the sanctuary, as might be presumed th it would, but entered all, or nearly all, of the Christi denominations of our country, and in some instanc even pursued the negro to the sacramental altar. A churches had their "Negro-pew," where there were a blacks to put into them. This was the custom at t South, and it was the same at the North. As the religion of the country was fashioned to s the public sentiment, which was negro-hating in character, the blacks of the United States would h formed a poor idea of the Christian religion in broadest sense, had not an inward monitor told th that there was still something better. The first step towards the enjoyment of religi freedom was taken by the colored people of Philad phia. This was caused by the their white brethren, who conside in their houses of worship, v their knees while in the the back seats. From the 1 treatment " a nuisa pulled ordered |