The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1848-04-27

ranged the code of nature, that society shall sufft
inproporon to the wrong it commits, or duties
negects, we apprehend no difficulty in identifyin
the wrong that has been the cause of such degre
of suffering that which the people of Ireland hav
recently undergone, when we shall have probed GU
way to it.
The fathers of country declared the prope
duties of government to be, to secure the naliena
BILE rights Of men; and those rights they said, wer
ne "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' il
b. which understand arc included all those right!
and privileges which God or nature has conferred
IN upon man. and which he cannot create for himself
and are essential to his physical comfort, and the
~ full development of all the powers with which
ture has endowed him, including the free use Of
earth, and all the other elements, together with all
50 the faculties of body and mind far is consis-
~ tent with tho equal rights of all.
~ Man is constituted, that to live, there must be
a constant connection between his respiratory Or
If gans and the atmosphere. To intercept that con-
Il necton, impose any restrictions upon it, is as
If much violation of the right to life as mprson-
meu would be of the right to liberty. The same is
true with regard to all other ri hts and clements
As in case Of light and the pursuit of happiness;
man being constituted as to render light essential
to the pursuit of happiness to intercept it from
those organs placed within him for its reception, or
impose any restrictions upon his access to it, would
be an Infringement of this right. There is also a
connection between mans stomach and the earth
he nhabits, which, if cut off or destroyed will cause
as certain death, to destroy the connection be-
tween his lungs and the atmosphere he breathes.-
To throw any obstruction, then, between him and
the earth he is under the necessity Of cuvating for
subsistence, to put it in the power of the few to
extort and appropriate to themselves, the Of
living produced from the earth by the many, through
the power of title deeds, or by whatever MEANS is
manfestly violating the foundation of all right. To
acknowledge a mans inacnabe right to "life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and then de-
mand Of him price for water to Stake his thirst -
atmosphere to breathe,-or such a portion of the
earhs surface as is necessary to supply his natural
wants. is absolute mockery. However plausible
it may in the light Of time-honored practice it
is system that originated in the darker ages, and
when carried to its legitimate extent, and viewed in
the light Of self-evident truth, less outrage
upon Humanity, than the tearing of child from its
mothers bosom and demanding price forits return.
Herein consists the giant wrong, the awful pen
atty which has fell with such destruction upon
the people Of Ireland The beautiful green earth,
spread out by a bountfu providence for the com
mon sustenance of all, has been wrested from the
hands Of the cutivator and passed into those of land
monopolsts or money lords; so that he can no
longer enjoy it as an inheritance from his creator,
or as an inaenable right, and can find to it
only through the mercy or caprice Of such rs have
it represented upon parchment, and filed away in
iron safes" The produce of his labor that should
have been used to feed cothe, and educate his
children, has been taken from them in enormous
rents, and Iavishcd upon ideness and luxury, or
flung to dogs. The deeds of the landlord, backed
by the power of the government, have Intercepted
the connection between their stomachs and the soil
on which they were born, and they have starved.
We think it must be apparent to ALL that the gov
eminent which sways the destiny OF Ireland, has
not only failed of discharsng its highest duty that
of securing to the people their nalienable rights,
but if not the principal it has been accessory to her
greatest suffering.
But, let US see how the case stands in our own
country, among ourselves
1t is generally suppo ed that our government has
discharged all of its highest functions, viz the Sc
curing to the people their inalienabe rights and
that all the people, with the exception of about three
millions of chatte slaves in full possession of I'LL
their natural rights and that every person might,
l.
home; and that all the means of moral, physical,
and intellectual Development so far as nature has
provided, are within the reach of all and that pow
ery and want exclusively the result of indvidu-
al, and not of any social wrong.
We arc of the opinion that the reverse of this is
true; that the government of the United States, and
of the several States instead of securing to the peo-
pie their natural rights, have actually usu,ped them
and are doleing them out at prices and that power
ty ignorance, and crime exist in the most favored
parts of country in consequence of this usurpa-
ton, and by force Of circumstances within reach of
legislative enactment, combined with individual eff
fot.
The first, and most essential right with which |
man is endowed we consider to be, the right of each
individual to so much of the earth's surface as is
necessary for the supply of his natural wants.
Man cannot live without land Neither can he
live without bread. But it is not essential to natu-
raj equality that he should have bread furnished
ready for his table; for God has only furnished the
elements ont Of which it can be obtained, and has
ordained labor means of obtaining it But if
one man has to labor for the support of another
part or all of his life condition of using these
elements for himself while the other has free access
to them, enabled to control greater portion of
them than he needs, there is manifestly an inequai
ty that does not exist in the order of nature.