Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts, 1843 #232733

I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity. I come to place before the Legislature of Massachusetts the condition of the miserable, the desolate, the outcast. I come as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane, and idiotic men and women; of beings sunk to a condition from which the most unconcerned would start with real horror; of beings wretched in our prisons, and more wretched in our almshouses. And I cannot suppose it needful to employ earnest persuasion, or stub born argument, in order to arrest and fix attention upon a sub jcet only the more strongly pressing in its claims because it is revolting and disgusting in its details. I must confine myself to few examples, but am ready to fur nish other and more complete details, if required. If my pict ures are displeasing, coarse, and severe, my subjects, it must be recollected, offer no tranquil, refined, or composing features. The condition of human beings, reduced to the extremest states of degradation and misery, cannot be exhibited in softened lan guage, or adorn a polished page. I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the pres ent state of insane persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience.