Frederick Douglass, of Lynn, Massachusetts, formerly a slave in the South, addressed a large meeting at the Town Hall on Monday evening last, on the subject of American Slavery. He belongs to the Garrisonian or ulta school, charging the existence and perpetuation of slavery to the church, and indiscriminately denouncing the whole church, north and south. Although we think in justice he ought to make worthy exceptions, the fact cannot be denied that a large and overwhelming portion of the churches of this country have been and are now the bulwarks of the cursed system of slavery. Douglass is one of the best speakers we ever heard — nay, further, we undertake to say, that , a man only six years out of slavery (what our southern brethren call a chattel) has presented the best specimen of true and graceful native eloquence, ever heard in a town blessed with as good a system of schools as any place in New England. Surely, if this is a genuine personification of a ‘thick skull’ and ‘obtuse intellect’, refined and cultivated heads fall sadly below par. It is a matter of regret, and one that should receive the attention of the citizens of this village, that a public lecturer on any subject, cannot speak in our Town Hall without being disturbed and oftentimes insulted by lawless boys and overgrown and bearded striplings. –— Hallowell Cultivator.
(Liberator, June 14, 1844, pg 1)
