The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-05-08

were scourged and murdered for suspected
insurrectioni Political freedom" and
certain security" in a land which de-
mands that seventeen millions OF freemen
shall stand guard to seize and carry back
fleeing bondmeni
The Senator from South Carolina ex-
claims. aThe man who lives by daily
labor, your whole class of manual labor,
ems are essentially slaves-they feel CALLED
bv their degradation" Whata sentiment
ia this TO hear uttered in the councils OF
this democratic Republic! The Senator'S
POLITICAL associates, who listen to these
words which brand hundreds OF thousands
of the men they represent IN the Tree
States and hundreds Of their neighbors and
personal friends as slaves, have found nc
words to repel or rebuke this language
This language of scorn and contempt l.
addressed to Senators who were not nursed
nv a slave: whose lot it was to toll with
their own hauds-to eat bread, not by the
sweat of another's brow, but by their own
Sir. l am the son of hireling manua
laborer." who, with the frosts of seventy
winters on his brow, {" lives by daily labor
/, too, have lived by daily labor: ], too
have been ga hireling manual laborer.'
Poverty cast its dark and chilling shadow
over the home of my childhood, and want
was there sometimes-an unbidden guest
At the age of ten years-to aid him who
gave me being in keeping the gaunt spec
tire from the hearth of the mother who
bore mel left the home of my boyhood
and went to earn my bread by " daily la
bor." Many weary mile have l traV.
elled,
ITO beg brother of the earth
To give me leave to toll.
Sir, have toile6 as hIrellng manual
laborer " in the field and in the workshop
and tell the Senator from South Carroll
ma that l have never felt CALLED by
nv degradation" No, sir-never
Perhaps the Senator who represents that
"other class which leads progress, and
civilization and refinement" will aseribe
this to obtuseness of intellect and blunt
ed sensibilities of the heart. Sir, was
conscious of my manhood i was the peel
of nv employer knewthat the laws
and institutions of my native and
adopted States, threw over him and over
me alike, the panoply of equality
knew too, that the world was before me
that its wealth, its garnered treasures Of
knowledge, its honors, the coveted prlz-
es of life, were within the grasp of a brave
heart, and a tireless hand, and l accepted
the responsibilities of my position, all un-
conscious that was a " slave" l have
employed Others, hundreds of " hireling
manual laborers;;" some of them possess
ed, and now possess more property than
ever owned some of them were better
educated than myself-yes, sir, better
educated and read, too, than some Sena,
tors on this floor and many Of them II
moral excellency and purity of character
I could not but feel, were my superiors
have occupied, Mr.. President, for more
than thirty years, the relation of employ.
er and employed and while never felt
"galled by my degradation " in the one
case, in the otherI was never eonsciou:
that my hireling laborers," were my in
feriors. That man is snob" whc
boasts of being hireling laborer;;" thai
man is snob who feels any inferior
ty because he is hireling laborer," o.
who assumes any superiority over other
because heis an employer. Honest Ia
Dor is honorable and the man who i!
ashamed that he is or was hireling la
borer." has not manhood enough to fee
CALLED by his degradation"
Having occupied, Mr.. President, the
Y, sc o;thor DIauar or plnuoC
for the third of century having
lived in g Commonwealth where the
hireling class of manual laborers
are the repositories of political power;'
having associated with this class in al
the relations of life I tell the Senator
| from South Carolina, and the class he rep
resents, that he libels, grossly libels them
when he declares that they are essen
tally slaves ~ There can be found no
where in America a class of men more
proudly conscious or tenacious of thei
rights. Friend or foe has ever found
| them
"a stubborn race, fearing and fattering none
The Senator tell us, Mr.. President
that their slaves are "well compensatory
Why, sir, the Senator himself, in a speech
made at home, On home consumption, en-
tered into an estimate to show that fielc
hand could be supported for from "eigh
teen to nineteen dollars per annum " OF
the rice and cotton plantations. He estate
the quantity of corn bacon and salt nee
essary to support the well compensated
slave. And this man supported by eigh
teen dollars per annum, with the privilege
of being logged at discretion, and having
his wife and children sold from him Al
the necessity or will of his master, the
Senator from South Carolina informs the
Senate of the United States is swell
Compensated" Sir, there is not a poor.
house in the Free States where there
would not be a rebellion in three days i
the inmates were compelled to subsist OF
the quantity and quality of the food the
Senator estimates as ample compensa
ton " for the labor of slave in South
Carolina.