requests reached Rhode Island, the Legislature had under
consideration a bill to suppress abolition societies.

When a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature had been duly
organized to consider the documents received from the slave
States, the abolitionists requested the privilege of a hearing
before the committee. Receiving no reply, they proceeded to
formulate a statement of their case; but before they could
publish it, they were invited to appear before the joint
committee of the two houses. The public had been aroused by the
issue and there was a large audience. The case for the
abolitionists was stated by their ablest speakers, among whom was
William Lloyd Garrison. They labored to convince the committee
that their utterances were not incendiary, and that any
legislative censure directed against them would be an
encouragement to mob violence and the persecution which was
already their lot. After the defensive arguments had been fully
presented, William Goodell took the floor and proceeded to charge
upon the Southern States which had made these demands a
conspiracy against the liberties of the North. In the midst of
great excitement and many interruptions by the chairman of the
committee, he quoted the language of Governor McDuffie's message,
and characterized the documents lying on the table before him as
"fetters for Northern freemen." Then, turning to the committee,
he began, "Mr. Chairman, are you prepared to attempt to put them
on?"--but the sentence was only half finished when the stentorian
voice of the chairman interrupted him: "Sit down, sir!" and he
sat down. The committee then arose and left the room. But the
audience did not rise; they waited till other abolitionists found
their tongues and gave expression to a fixed determination to