4 April 1860, Wednesday
Concord, Massachusetts; Town Hall
[Remarks about Attempted Abduction of F. B. Sanborn]

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        On 17 February 1860, the Mason Commission, which had been established by the U.S. Senate to investigate Capt. John Brown’s raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, issued an order for Franklin B. Sanborn to appear in Washington, D.C., to testify on the part he played in the affair. More than six weeks later, on 3 April, a deputy U.S. marshall and four assistants, armed with a subpoena, attempted to abduct Sanborn but were delayed when Sanborn’s sister and another woman raised the alarm while Sanborn struggled against his would-be abductors, who were trying to shove him into a waiting coach. Soon someone rang some alarm bells, and more than one hundred Concordians, including Thoreau, arrived straightaway to foil the attempt. A writ of habeus corpus hastily prepared by Judge Hoar was served on the abductors, who refused to release Sanborn until Concord’s deputy sheriff, Mr. Moore, threatened to call on the assembled citizens to take Sanborn by force. The next day the Massachusetts Supreme Court met in a special session to discharge Sanborn from arrest, and that evening Concordians assembled in their Town Hall to celebrate their success (Days, pp. 423-24). An article in the Boston Journal of 5 April reported the meeting:

Mr. Sanborn’s Case.

Welcome by his Fellow Citizens of Concord.
Speeches by Mr. Sanborn, Mr. Thoreau,
Rev. Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Emerson,
Rev. T. W. Higginson
and others.

[Special Dispatch to the Boston Journal].

Concord, Mass. April 4.
        The Town Hall was crowded at 8 o’clock to consider the events of the day and last night. Great enthusiasm was manifested at the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Mr. F. B. Sanborn.
        Mr. Bowers called the meeting to order, and Dr. Josiah Bartlett was chosen Chairman.
        After a warm tribute to the two women, who saved the town from the disgrace of the kidnapping of Mr. Sanborn, he introduced Mr. Sanborn to the audience, which received him with shouts of applause. He appeared with the manacles on his hands, which were on them last night; and after expressing his thanks to his townsmen for their prompt action of last night, drew from these late events the lesson of increasing hatred to slavery, whatever disguises it may assume, and whatever persons it may lay claim to.
        Rev. Mr. Reynolds followed Mr. Sanborn, and congratulated his townsmen on the result of the day.
        Mr. Thoreau next spoke, advocating resistance even to law, when it opposed justice.
        He was followed by Mr. A. G. Fay, a dealer in gunpowder, who seemed to think a little of his commodity was needed.
        Mr. R. W. Emerson spoke briefly and pointedly against centralization, and in favor of the two women who had behaved so heroically.
        Mr. Bowers, Mr. Henry Warren, and E. W. Bull, Esq., also spoke, and finally T. W. Higginson of Worcester, who had come late to the meeting from Boston, spoke of the importance of what had been done, and the necessity of organization to guard against future outrages. The suggestion was accepted by the meeting, and a committee of seven was chosen to secure such an organization.
        Mr. Sanborn closed the meeting by stating his present position, and his determination to resist the Senate’s usurpation to the last. The whole proceedings were full of resolute enthusiasm, and a determination was expressed to defend Sanborn at all hazards.
        The following resolutions were adopted:
        Resolved, That the fame of old Concord for its spirit of noble daring on the nineteenth of April 1775, is glorious, and only equaled by the chivalrous rescue of one of our most honored citizens from a band of kidnappers, who had forceably seized and manacled him, and were hurrying him away from his home and friends, on the third of April, 1860.
        Resolved, That the doctrine of the Revolution, that "resistance to tyrants is obedience to God," is our doctrine, and that we proclaim our unswerving determination to resist all attempts to abridge the rights of any citizen to all privileges and guarantees of constitutional liberty.
        Resolved, That the attempt of United States officers, by false pretenses, and under cover of darkness, to rob a man of his freedom, is base, mean and cowardly.

Thoreau’s remarks, which we assume were impromptu and therefore do not qualify as a lecture, were more fully reported in an unidentified newspaper (from a clipping pasted into Bronson Alcott’s MS diary):

        Henry T. Thoreau, a genius and a philosopher, and reputed to be a man of practical sense and tact—his business a surveyor—said he had heard the bells ringing last night, as he supposed for fire, but it proved to be the hottest fire he ever witnessed in Concord. He denounced what he termed the mean and sneaking method the United States officials took to accomplish their purpose. Early in the evening there appeared a poor boy, under a forged name, seeking aid. This is the course the Senate of the United States took to arrest one of their own citizens. The kidnappers, he said, should have been in their place. (Applause.) He thought somebody should have taken the responsibility to arrest them at the time of the arrest of Sanborn. That was a mistake. Many had been congratulated because the affair had been conducted in a lawful and orderly manner, and their friend was now free according to the law. He did not agree with them. No. The Concord people didn’t ring the fire alarm bells according to law—they didn’t cheer according to law—they didn’t groan according to law—(loud applause)—and as he didn’t talk according to law, he thought he would stop and give way to some other speaker.