He had been kept there nearly twelve
months because he could not pay the jail fees, and instead of
obtaining any redress for false imprisonment, was about to be
sold into slavery for a term to reimburse these fees.
"The next morning I was desirous of handing to the President the
memorial, of which the following is a copy:
"'_Address to the President of the United States, from
the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery
Society_.
"'SIR,--As the head of a great Confederacy of States,
justly valuing their free constitution and political
organization, and tenacious of their rights and their
character, the Committee of the British and Foreign
Anti-slavery Society, through their esteemed coadjutor
and representative, Joseph Sturge, would respectfully
approach you in behalf of millions of their fellow-men,
held in bondage in the United States. Those millions are
denied, not only the immunities enjoyed by the citizens
of your great republic generally, and of the equal
privileges and the impartial protection of the civil
law, but are deprived of their personal rights, so that
they cease to be regarded and treated, under your
otherwise noble institutions, as MEN, except in the
commission of crime, when the utmost rigor of your penal
statutes is invoked and enforced against them; but are
reduced to the degraded condition of "chattels personal
in the hands of their owners and possessors, to _all
intents, constructions, and purposes, whatsoever_.
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