Volume 4 — POSITION AND DUTIES OF THE MERCHANT,

ILLUSTRATED BY THE LIFE OF

GRANVILLE SHARP.

Address before the Mercantile Library Association of Boston, on the Evening of November 13, 1854.

Veluti in speculum.

Here was another effort to obtain a hearing for unwelcome truth. While portraying the life and character of Granville Sharp, Mr. Sumner was saying what he had most at heart on Slavery, and exposing that swiftness which had been shown here in support of the Fugitive Slave Act. Describing the simple championship of the Englishman, he presented an example for imitation. Showing how Slavery had been overturned in England, he exhibited the essential rule of interpretation, by which, in the absence of precise words of sanction, it necessarily becomes impossible. Condemning the London merchants who contributed to support this wrong, and also the able lawyers who lent themselves to the same cause, he presented a picture where our merchants and lawyers might see themselves. Extolling that conscience which sustained Granville Sharp in his career, he vindicated all among us who would not bow before injustice.

The address was well received. The tide was then turning. Since then the lecture-room has been free. The condition of the public mind was noticed at the time. One newspaper said, that "a Boston audience of the kind then and there present would not have listened to it with patience four years ago,"—that, "valuable as the lecture is on account of its literary merits, its real importance consists in marking an era in Boston opinion." Another paper says, with enthusiasm, "That Mr. Sumner should have delivered such a lecture before 'the solid men of Boston' is a great, a sublime fact in American history," and, after proceeding in this strain, concludes with the remark, that "it is one of the most striking examples of whipping one set of people over the backs of another that we ever heard of."