slavery; showing the disadvantages of colonization, and how much better it is to abolish slavery at once." This item is interesting as showing that the idea of colonizing the negroes (which has its advocates in our day, as a solution of the negro problem) was broached at that early day.

Those Lyceum lectures and discussions kept the matter before the people. But by 1837 the people had become so much interested that they felt the need of more frequent discussion than the Lyceum could afford, and they petitioned the town for permission to use the Town Hall for that purpose. The Town Record reveals the following under date of November 13, 1837:

"Article XII. To see if the town will give liberty to Lyman Allen and others, to have the use of the Town Hall to hold lectures on 'Slavery.'" And it was "Voted that the prayer of the petitioners be granted."

How long these lectures were continued does not appear; but sufficiently long to imbue the people with a thorough detestation of the iniquity of the institution of slavery, as will appear from the following Resolutions against the annexation of Texas which was adopted on June 5, 1844. These Resolutions were drawn by a skilful hand; and any town might well feel proud to have them on its official records.

REMONSTRANCE AGAINST THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS

"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled:

"The legal voters of the Town of Northborough, in the County of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in town meeting legally assembled and duly organized, in accordance with a right guaranteed to them by the Constitution, ask leave respectfully to present to your honorable body the following remonstrance against the annexation of Texas to the United States, either by treaty or by a joint resolution of Congress, or in any manner whatever.

"And they respectfully urge upon the consideration of your honorable body the following reasons for their remonstrance:

"In the first place, they regard the annexation of Texas to this Union under any form now proposed, as unconstitutional. Mr. Jefferson has declared, that the Constitution has made no provision for holding foreign territory, still less for incorporating foreign nations into our Union, and the fact that the Constitution provides the manner in which 'new states may be admitted' is evidence, that the admission in any other manner is unconstitutional; hence the annexation proposed, your

remonstrants believe, would be on the part of the Executive and the Congress of the nation an assumption of undelegated, arbitrary, unrighteous power; in its tendency subversive of the Constitution, the union of these states, and even of the foundation of our republican government, and in no way to be justified or tolerated by any previous acquisition of or for the accomplishment of any party, or sectional purposes, or for the advantage of the bond-holders or the speculators in Texan lands, or for any other reason now known to exist.

"The second reason for remonstrance against the annexation of Texas is, that it would be a violation of our treaty with Mexico, and an attempt to wrest from that government a large territory to which her claim has been conceded by this nation, a claim in no way annulled or even weakened by a recognition on the part of our government of the independence of Texas; and your remonstrants believe, that the proposed annexation would be in these circumstances a flagrant violation of our pledged faith to Mexico, an offence against the law of nations, and gross injustice to a government who may be supposed to have not the power of successful resistance.

"A third reason against the annexation of Texas is, that it will be a virtual declaration of war- an unnecessary and unjust war with Mexico. This is believed, not only by your remonstrants, but by many of the most eminent statesmen and jurists in the land; and the presidential incumbent, if he does not wish to provoke a war to hasten the annexation of Texas, as is manifest by his gathering troops on the banks of the Sabine and sending a squadron to the Gulf of Mexico. And the almost inevitable result of this unprecedented train of measures must be a war with some of the most powerful nations of Europe, and the merited indignation of the civilized world.

"A fourth reason against the proposed annexation is, that it is designed and adapted to perpetuate and extend the evils of slavery, and also to augment the relative power of the slave states; a design apparent from the written communications of those who negotiated the Texas Treaty, and from the treaty itself; a measure against which this meeting earnestly and conscientiously remonstrate, because they regard American slavery as the bane of this nation, and a stain upon our national character in the view of the civilized world, a violation of the inalienable rights of the enslaved, a violation of the precepts of Christianity, inconsistent with our boasted pretensions to freedom, and a sin, which, in the language of Mr. Jefferson, "as God is just, should lead us to tremble for our country.

"A fifth reason is, that should Texas be annexed to the

Union, it is conceded by the highest authority, that the Union will become responsible for the debt of Texas, whether that debt be assumed by express stipulation or not; a debt, the amount of which is not precisely known here, but computed by those best qualified to judge, to exceed thirteen millions of dollars; and against the assumption of any such pecuniary responsibility, or increasing a national debt by purchasing of Mexico a territory we do not want, and the acquisition of which in the manner proposed would be our reproach in the sight of all nations, we respectfully and deliberately remonstrate.

"The sixth and last reason for remonstrance to which this meeting would call the attention of your honorable body is, that to extend our territory so widely would greatly multiply conflicting and opposing interests, furnish new causes for collision and strife, and sectional jealousies; and surely weaken if not utterly subvert, our republican government. Two million of square miles under a genial sun, in a healthy climate, with a fertile soil, capable of sustaining a population of one hundred millions must obviously be a domain and a nation vast enough for any free government; and unless the citizens are universally free, enlightened, patriotic and virtuous-far too vast to dwell in peace, and sustain free republican institutions.

"These are some of the reasons why the citizens of Northborough in legal town meeting would respectfully and earnestly remonstrate against the annexation of Texas in any form to the territory of the United States; and pray your honorable body to resist such annexation.

"All which is respectfully submitted.

"NORTHBOROUGH, June 5, 1844."

"WARREN FAY

JOSEPH ALLEN

JOEL W. FLETCHER Committee.
ASAPH RICE
WILDER BUSH

This remonstrance was adopted June 5, 1844, and the committee, was instructed to procure signatures to the same, have it certified by the town clerk, and send it to the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled"; and also “to the Worcester Spy, and Boston Chronicle, and Emancipator for publication.

The Tyler Administration, with John C. Calhoun as Secretary of State, had negotiated a secret treaty with the Texan government on April 12, looking to the annexation of Texas to the United States; and ten days later it was presented to

the Senate for ratification. But it was not ratified. Many of the Senators who voted against it did so on the ground that annexation of territory should not be made by treaty, but by both branches of Congress.

The matter was brought up again at the following session of Congress in December.

That Northborough was in earnest in its opposition to a measure which it regarded as iniquitous is shown by the fact that it held another town meeting on December 23, when it readopted the remonstrance, and sent the following petition to the Massachusetts Legislature:

"To the Honorable Senate and the House of Representatives in General Court assembled:

"The Inhabitants of Northborough in the County of Worcester in town meeting legally assembled hereby petition your Honorable body to remonstrate forthwith to the Congress of the United States against the annexation of Texas to this Union."

Doubtless, many other towns in the state sent similar petitions, for it is a matter of history that the Massachusetts Legislature did remonstrate to the Congress of the United States. And it is also a matter of history that no attention was paid to the remonstrance; for on March 1, 1845, Texas was annexed to the United States by a joint resolution of both branches of Congress; and the resolution was signed by President Polk on the following day.

This action of Congress and of President Polk kindled the ire of the citizens of Northborough to a white heat. As an evidence of which, we append the following, which explains itself:

NOTE. What follows, is copied from the Secretary's original report, which manuscript is in the possession of the Northborough Historical Society.

"At a meeting of the citizens of Northborough at the house of E. D. Blake on Monday evening, March 3, 1845, for the purpose of adopting some suitable measures to express in a faint degree, the feelings of regret and deep sadness with which we have heard of the passage in the Senate of these United States, the resolutions by which Texas is annexed to this

Union.

"Mr. Asaph Rice being called to the chair chose A. W. Seaver, Secretary.

"Voted, that as the flag had been loaned to a neighboring town, that the same be sent for.

"Voted, that the two gentlemen who loaned the flag be a committee to send for it.

"Voted, to raise the flag tomorrow morning at half mast, with Union down, to hang in that position during the day.

"Voted, to have both the bells tolled for half an hour at sunrise, noon, and sunset.

"Voted, to choose a committee of three to revise the doings of this meeting and put it in proper form for publication, and send the same to the editors of the Worcester papers for publication. Chose Jairus Lincoln, A. W. Seaver and Dr. J. J. Johnson.

"Voted, that the same gentlemen be a committee to prepare business for the next meeting."

The meeting was then adjourned to March 5, at which adjournment the chairman of the above-mentioned committee "read certain declarations, which were discussed."

In view of the language used in the above votes it would be interesting to know what those "certain declarations" were. And in the hope that they were published in the "Massachusetts Spy," the author recently spent an entire afternoon at the rooms of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester going over the files of that paper-but his search brought nothing to light, beyond certain editorials reproduced from well-known papers throughout the country. Those editorials were couched in language not one whit less vigorous than the language employed by the citizens' meeting in Northborough. Indeed, the similarity of the language from various parts of the country is strong contemporary evidence that the Annexation of Texas was a measure to which the people of the northern states were bitterly opposed. They all prophesied that it meant war. And, as a matter of fact, the prophecy was fulfilled in the "Mexican War" -the one chapter in our country's history of which Americans are not altogether proud.

Being curious to know whether this "Remonstrance" was actually sent to Washington and read in the Congress of the United States, the author wrote to the Hon. John Jacob Rogers, Congressman from the Fifth Massachusetts District, asking him to look over the Congressional Record to see whether any mention were made of it. His request elicited from Mr. Rogers the following reply: