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Sir, I have done; not however, without offering my thanks to the honourable Court, for the indulgent attention they have been pleased to extend; on my part undeserved, and except in my gratitude, unrequited. Considering the stage of this trial, and the gentlemen who follow me, I have trespassed, perhaps, too long upon their time, if so, my apology must be sought, in the deep interest and importance of the

case.

In defending the honour and liberty of a gentle man, whose life, through a series of twenty years, has passed unspotted and unreproached: correct, I am justified in saying, not merely beyond censure; but irreproachable until this day, beyond suspicion. Dedicated to the holiest offices of religion, and employed in relieving those miseries and softening those sorrows, which should have awakened the sympathies of a colder heart.

Confiding in your virtue, the traverser awaits the verdict with calmness and security. If acquitted, glorying in the principles of his country, he will return to his duties with zeal and faithfulness; if convicted, supported by the consciousness of innocence will bear whatever punishment the law may inflict, with the resignation of a christian and the firmness of

a man.

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MR. PIGMAN'S ARGUMENT TO THE JURY.

Gentlemen of the Jury,

You perceive from the case before you, that it did not originate in Frederick county, and I trust, you also perceive, that the accused was bound in duty to his own character, and the still greater duty he owed to the sacred cause of religion, to embrace his legal privilege of changing the venue, to shield himself from an overwhelming and dangerous influence, which, from some strange and unaecountable infatuation seemed to be seeking his destruction. In this prosecution we have new proof, if any was wanting, that none need to look for angels in the form of men, and thát men, however respectable they may be, are involved in the same general condition of mortality, and liable to be urged on, to give. pain and uneasiness to perfect innocence itself, by erroneous judgment; and the still greater delusion of prejudice and inflated anger. Folly itself, give it time to cool and review what it has done, will shrink, abashed, from this prosecution, and be constrained, by the stings of a disturbed sensibility, to own, with silent anguish, if not public acknowledgment, that there is no criminal fault in the preacher. The intent with which any act is done, is to give it a criminal or innocent complexion. It is lawful to preach or debate against negro slavery in the pulpit as well as in the senate, if the orators have no criminal intent in their arguments; and stronger proof of an innocent

intent never was produced by any person accused of a crime, than that brought into court by the Reverend gentleman I now defend. It is in proof that the Camp-meeting where the discourse, containing the supposed crime was delivered, was not appointed by him, that the sermon preached was wholly accidental and unpremeditated, after he had laboured with great solicitude, but without success, with one of his brethren to preach in his place. He being Presiding Elder of the District, it was his duty to preach, as no substitute could be procured. His introductory prayer ushering in the discourse, possessed no signs of a treasonable or rebellious disposition. In this close converse with Almighty God he offered up pious petitions at a throne of grace for the peace, quiet, happiness and conversion of his congregation; and by 'the general scope of his whole discourse, it is proved, he enforced upon his audience the divine doctrines of repentance, faith in Christ, love of God and their neighbour. It is in proof, both by the witnesses for

NOTE.

During the reign of Charles II. in England, one Rosewell, a presbyterian preacher was accused by three women, of having spoken treasonable words, in a sermon. Upon the prisoner's proving, that he prayed constantly for the king in his family, and that in his sermons he often inculcated the obligations of loyalty, it was received as evidence, that there was no criminal intent; and even in the time of Jefferies, it was no further noticed than by some general declamations against conventicles and presbyterians.Humes Hist. Eng. vol. vii. p. 169.

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the state, and the accused, that in his particular address to the negroes, he inculcated the necessity of their seeking the pardon of their sins at a throne of grace; told them that the love of God, (which, of course, would carry with it love for their masters,) would ameliorate their condition, would procure their happiness in this life, and the approbation of the Lord in that day when he would come to judge the quick and the dead. That those of them who were yet in their sins, unrenewed by divine grace, were not only slaves to their masters, but slaves to their lust, slaves to the devil, and if they died without repentance towards God, they would be sentenced forever, by the righteous Judge, to damnation. It is in proof by a great mass of evidence, on the part of the accused, from a great many respectable witnesses, that to prevent all misunderstanding of his motives among the whites, and to suppress the least rising of a thought that would lead to insubordination among the blacks, he preached to the latter, obedience to their masters, resignation to their present condition, and urged those who had pious masters, to join them in their devotion; that by a strict, religious and moral deportment in the order of Providence, they might eventually obtain emancipation. The American sages who formed the constitution of Maryland, have, with cautionand sagacity highly honourable to their integrity and wisdom, preserved a declaration of rights on record, in which it is declared, "That it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to him; all persons professing the

Christian religion are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty, wherefore, no person ought, by any law, to be molested in his person or estate on account of his religious persuasion or profession, or for his religious practice, unless, under colour of religion any man shall disturb the good order, peace or safety of the state, or shall infringe the laws of morality, or injure others in their natural, civil, or religious rights." These sages were informed by the history of the old world, particularly that of England, that the secular authority had often assumed unreasonable and unlawful powers against the rights of conscience, and that a dominant and powerful sect sometimes exercising its power and influence to destroy a sect more weak and defenceless, had created frequently, strife and dissention in the Christian Church, and greatly annoyed the peace and security of civil society. They had learned in the book of Martyrs that good men had bled and burnt at the stake for adhering to the testimony of a good conscience, and had skill enough in political economy to know, that civil liberty could not long exist in any state where religious liberty was not freely enjoyed. The clause of the bill of rights just quoted, was therefore made, and is a precious jewel among the rights of the citizen. The legislature, though possessing more power than any other tribunal in the state, has no authority to take this jewel from the citizen; and however bold and frank a preacher may be in a discourse against the vice of slavery, permitted by law, to a mixed assembly of slaves and masters, yet, as long

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