By his generous exertions the negro Somerset, claimed as a slave by a Virginia gentleman then in London, was defended, and the Court of King’s Bench compelled to that immortal judgment by which Slavery was forever expelled from England…

Slavery, which is a scandalous anomaly and anachronism here, must be made to disappear from the national capital,--if not in one way, then in another.

But there is no consideration of right or of policy, from the loftiest principle to the humblest expediency, which may not properly enter into the conclusion of Congress.

First, the relation of master and slave at the national capital has from the beginning been established and maintained by Congress everywhere in sight, and even directly under its own eyes.

The master held the slave; but Congress, with strong arm, stood behind the master, looking on and sustaining.

Not a dollar of wages has been taken, not a child stolen, not a wife torn from her husband, without the hand of Congress.

If not partnership, there is complicity on the part of Congress, through which the whole country has become responsible for the manifold wrong.

And, secondly, even if not all involved in the manifold wrong, nothing is clearer than that the mode proposed is the gentlest, quietest, and surest in which the beneficent change can be accomplished.

If there could be any doubt on this point, it would be removed, when we reflect that the abolition of Slavery, with all the natural incidents of such an act, has been constantly recognized as within the sphere of legislation.

I have yet to learn that the power of Congress for this purpose at the national capital is less complete than that of any other legislative body within its own jurisdiction.

Good men and great men were degraded to be captives, while many, neglected by fortune, perished in barbarous Slavery.

Even in our colonial days, there were Americans whose fate, while in the hands of these slave-masters, excited general sympathy.

And yet the disposition so common to palliate Slavery in the National Capital showed itself with regard to Slavery in Algiers; and, indeed, the same arguments to soften public opinion have been employed in the two instances.

The parallel is so complete, that I require all your trust to believe that what I read is not an apology for Slavery here.

If I continue to unfold this strange, eventful story, it will be to exhibit the direct and constant intervention of Congress for the ransom of slaves; but the story itself is an argument against Slavery, pertinent to the present occasion…

Newspapers pleaded, while the corsairs were denounced sometimes as “infernal crews,” and sometimes as “human harpies.” But it was through the stories of victims who had succeeded in escaping from bondage that the people were most aroused.

As these fugitive slaves touched our shores, they were welcomed with outspoken sympathy.

Glimpses opened through them into the dread regions of Slavery gave a harrowing reality to all that conjecture or imagination had pictured.

True, indeed, it was that our own white brethren, entitled like ourselves to all the rights of manhood, were degraded in unquestioning obedience to an arbitrary taskmaster, sold at the auction-block, worked like beasts of the field, and…

The parallel becomes more complete, when it is known that the white slaves at Algiers were about the same in number with the black slaves at Washington whose redemption is now proposed.

It has been a fixed principle with Congress to establish the rate of ransom of American captives with the Barbary States at as low a point as possible, that it may not be the interest of those States to go in quest of our citizens in…

Had it not been for the danger it would have brought on the residue of our seamen, by exciting the cupidity of these rovers against them, our citizens now in Algiers would have been long ago redeemed, without regard to price.

At public celebrations the toasts, “Happiness for all,” and “Universal Liberty,” were proposed, partly in sympathy with our wretched white fellow-countrymen in bonds.

A fervid appeal by the captives themselves was addressed to ministers of the Gospel throughout the United States, asking them to set apart a special Sunday for sermons in behalf of their enslaved brethren.

Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.