cerns the three millions of men constituting the mercantile marine of the civilized world, any of whom, in the vicissitudes of the sea, may find themselves in American bottoms. I commend it as a measure of enlightened philanthropy, and also of simple justice.

I ask that the Bill, having been read twice, be referred to the Committee on Commerce.

The motion was agreed to.

THE ANTI-SLAVERY ENTERPRISE; ITS NECESSITY, PRACTICABILITY AND DIGNITY, WITH GLIMPSES AT THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE NORTH.

AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE PEOPLE OF NEW YORK, AT THE METROPOLITAN THEATRE, 9 MAY, 1855.

THIS address was the concluding lecture in an Anti-Slavery course in the city of New York. On the night of its delivery the Chair was occupied by the HoN. WILLIAM JAY, who introduced Mr. Sumner in the following words:

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I have been requested, on the part of the Society, to perform the pleasing but unnecessary office of introducing to you the honored and well-known advocate of Justice, Humanity and Freedom, Charles Sumner. It is not for his learning and eloquence that I commend him to your respectful attention; for learning, eloquence, and even theology itself, have been prostituted in the service of an institution well described by John Wesley as the sum of all villanies. I introduce him to you as a Northern Senator on whom nature has conferred the unusual gift of a backbone-a man who, standing erect on the floor of Congress, amid creeping things from the North, with Christian fidelity denounces the stupendous wickedness of the Fugitive law and Nebraska perfidy, and in the name of Liberty, Humanity and Religion, demands the repeal of those most atrocious enactments. May the words he is about to utter be impressed on your consciences, and influence your conduct."

As soon as the applause had subsided, Mr. SUMNER said :
I am not insensible, sir, to this generous applause. Pardon

me if I say, I cannot accept it for myself, but for the cause in whose behalf I am here to speak. Let me add that I am proud to be introduced on this occasion by one whose name, illustrious by a father's renown, is also illustrious by his own noble devotion to the Rights of Man.

MR. SUMNER then proceeded to give the following address :

HISTORY abounds in vicissitudes. From weakness and humility, men ascend to power and place. From defeat and disparagement, enterprises are lifted to triumph and acceptance. The martyr of to-day is gratefully enshrined on the morrow. The stone that the builders rejected is made the head of the corner. Thus it always has been, and ever will be.

Only twenty years ago, -in 1835, -the friends of the slave in our country were weak and humble, while their great Enterprise, just then showing itself, was trampled down and despised. The small companies, gathered together in the name of Freedom, were interrupted and often dispersed by riotous mobs. At Boston, a feeble association of women, called the Female Anti-Slavery Society, convened in a small room of an upper story in an obscure building, was insulted and then driven out of doors by a frantic crowd, politely termed at the time, an assemblage of "gentlemen of property and standing," which, after various deeds of violence and vileness next directed itself upon William Lloyd Garrison, known as the determined editor of the Liberator, and the originator of the Anti-Slavery Enterprise in our day, then ruthlessly tearing him. away, amidst savage threats and with a halter about his neck, dragged him through the streets, until, at last, guilty only of loving liberty, if not wisely, too well, this unoffending citizen was thrust into the com

mon jail for protection against an infuriated populace. Nor was Boston alone. Even villages, in remote rural solitude, belched forth in similar outrage; while thè large towns, like Providence, New Haven, Utica, Wor

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pathies; villages, towns and cities vie in the new manifestation; and the press itself, with increased power, heralds, applauds and extends the prevailing influence, which, overflowing from every fountain, and pouring through every channel, at last, by the awakened voice of pulpit, politician and merchant, swells into an irrepressible cry.

Here is a great change, worthy of notice and memory, for it attests the first stage of victory. Slavery, in all its many-sided wrong, still continues; but here in this metropolis, ay, sir, and throughout the whole North, -freedom of discussion is at length secured. And this, I say, is the first stage of victory-herald of the transcendent Future;

"Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears!
A God! a God! the vocal hills reply,

The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity." *

Nor is there anything peculiar in the trials to which our cause has been exposed. Thus in all ages has Truth been encountered. At first persecuted, gagged, silenced, crucified, she has cried out from the prison, from the torture, from the stake, from the cross, until at last her voice has been heard. And when that voice is really heard, whether in martyr cries, or in the carthquake tones of civil convulsion, or in the calmness of ordinary speech, such as I now employ, or in that still small utterance inaudible to the common ear, then is the beginning of victory! "Give me where to stand, and I will move the world," said Archimedes; and Truth asks no more than did the master of geometry.

* Pope's Messiah.