Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1858-03-04

! tlllS Slue OF tue ocean are equal TO tnoSe
born on the other side oft; it does not say
all EagliShmen are born equal, or all
Frenchmen, OF all Dutchmen, or all uhae-
men, or all taunymen, or all blackmen, but
That every human being endowed with
a rational existence, created in the image
of his God, was equally entitled to life
and liberty. 1t is on this principle that
criminal Jurisprudence rests. The law in
its Divine impartiality exacts the life of
the murderer, whatever his position, for
| that of his victim. Whatever may have
been the intellectual endowments of the
homicide, however exalted his social posi-
ton, he must pay the forfeit of his life for
Staying the most abiect and idiotic of his
ispecics. And why? Because the life of
the poor AMI the debased victim was as
sacred and inviolable as that of his gifted
and exalted slayer. The one was equally
entitled to his life as the other. SO pre-
cisely with regard to liberty. To that
every human being is equally entitled.
! 10 protect these rights, Governments
are instituted among men. Not to bestow
rights are governments instituted among
men, but to protect those which God
has already given anteccdcnt to all organ
ic forms of government | do not depend
upon parliament, or kings, or congresses,
or majorties for my rights. | hold them
direct from the Creator who formed me
So does every human being. The man, or
body of men, who take away these rights
without the form of law, unless forfeited
by crime, are despots, tyrans and us
urpers, and by the vcry act forfeit their
own.
If man is robbed of these rights it
makes no difference whether it is done by
one man called king, or by many men
called majority | do not subscribe to
that translucent phantom of popular SOW
ereignty when it claims the right to en-
slave men. In company Of hundred
men, have ninety-nine the right to rob the
hundredth, provided even it is submitted
to them and they have a fair election? A
majority of hundred men, of which am
one. may have the right to make rules
which shall operate alike upon us all
But when they come to commend an en-
bittered chalice to my lips, of which they
will not themselves partakc, then say they
have no right to do tit is wrong.
If the people of Territory or of a State
will vote that they themselves and their
children shall alike be slaves, am content.
Dut that a majority have the rightful pow
er to take away the natural rights of any
one single human being, deny. Those
rights, repeat, are given and guarded by
tho common Father of us all. And as the
lpaternal instincts so forth with peculiar
Ienergy and jjealousfy towards the unfortu-
nate and less favored member Of the fam
lily circle, protecting his interests and
avenging his wrongs, so the Divine Parent
watches with peculiar vigilance over the
rights of the weak and helpless ones of
the earth, and avengcs their injuries with a
terrible and unusual retribution. Did it
never occur to you, gentlemen, that as
with the individual, so with the nation?-
Power, elevation, rare endowment, instead
of comforting privileges and prerogatives
impose obligations The All-Wise and
the .ill-Powerful is the All Good as well:
and it is His goodness that claims our al
olation. And that one expression. which
we have been taught to lisp in childhood,
and to utter in the strength of years
l"Our Father'---is the Magma Charta of
human brotherhood and Of human equality
before God and before law 11 80
What now is our country's duty. des,i-
N.Y. and true glory? To go maranding
over the territories of weaker nations like
buccaneers and paltroons, to extend the
area of slavery; to hunt down fugitive
Slaves and take them back, manacled, to
bondage; to break down the dykes of free
dom and let the dark and eilsanguined wa
ters of slavery rush in destructive flood
over the landi MOI In the name of the
fathers, in tle~n ~name-of the Constitution,
In the name of the Declaration, In the
name our dignity and position, and in the
name of God, no! The. true mission of
this nation, the work assigned, the trust
committed, is to reduce to organic form as
We have already done, and now to illustrate
before the world, the great and ever endu-
ring truths that i have recited, and Tins
to exemplify before the nations; of. the
earth the principles Of civil and religious
/ i'ccuoiH aHu ee udlIty, anu 50 ttacu them
that their monarches and despotisms are
usurpations. never read that declara-
tion but with new admiration and delight.
So comprehensive, yet SO full. Embracing
theientire Divine theory Of human govern
ment in single paragraph. All men are
endowed by their Creatorawith an equal title
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happinessl
Governments, are instituted among men to
secure these rights, deriving all their lust
powers from th, consent Of the govern
O ctlfc wef tea zfolA 80 sei74 NNe
p We hear about keeping step to the mu-
sic of the Uniom.r Sir, gosbrasl a huge or
gan on , the shelving sides of the Reeky
Mountains, and let the angel of liberty
strike its keys and chant forth that sub
lime and grand old anthem OF universal
freedom; and then, as its notes rool over
the land, solemn and majestic, in Gods
name, sir, | will keep step, to the music
Of the Union. 1t is divine symphony.
But when you call on me to keep Step to
the sound of clanking chains, and Of human !,
msnaeles, to the wild shrek OF human .lr.-
ony and suffering ~ l cannot do ait.oi It
CRATES upon. me like the very -dissonance of
he'll: | cannot keep step tosuch mucic. :,
4.