Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1859-08-18

at aS fanatlclSm. MODS nave Deen
gathered again and again to silence
discussion with fire and blood. Men
high in office, Of the best culture the
country affords, we'll verscd in history,
familiar with the principle and phi
losophy Of things, have proposed, in
orde. 70 protect the right of property
in man against free thought. the en-
actment of laws abridging the right
Of Free Speech. In one instance, the
attempt to establish free press in a
Free State cost the individual who
made tho attempt his life. The Rev.
Mr. Lovcjoy, the brother of the pres
ent noble member of Congress from
Illinois, for the sake of protecting hu-
man property, was shot down as an
outlaw.
But not only does the claim Of prop
erty in man wage a war of extcrmina
ton against the freedom of the Press
and the Pulpit, it can not be forgotten
how the right of Petition, the right OF
the most abiect slave that brcathcs to
kneel TO tho proudcst despot on earth,
and supplicaie for mercy and justice,
was sought to be struck down in the
halls Of Congress, because it threaten
ed the security of property i'll slaves
Do you not remember, and remember
with pride and JOY, how no5ly the at
tempt was met, and resisted by one
who had been clothed with the high
est official dignity which this people
can bcstow. and yet all whose official
honors faded away in the cfulgence
of the glory that irradiatcd him in that
great battle.
But there are nearer and dearer
rights even than the rights of Petition
and Free Speech, if any rights can be
dearcr than thesc,-there are rights
most holy, if there is anything holy
on earth or in heaven. which the claim
Of property in human flesh tends ut
terly to destroy, and which this mon
strous claim has already put in Such
jeopardy, that they can be exercised
only under penalty of fine and impris-
onmcnt. The right to give food and
shelter to fellow being fleeing fol
what is dcarer than life, personal lib
crtv, this right, the exercise of which
Religion and Humanity enjoin as O
most sacred and imperative duty,
which no man can neglect without vi
olating the law of God. and doing
deadly harm to his own ul,-;his
right the claim to hold man as proper
ty not only denies, it has actually and
deliberately. with all the forms Of hu'
man law, in defiance Of Almighty God
and the universal conscience of man.
kind, converted into a penal offence
so that, at this very time. in one o.
! the so o-called Free States of this Union
numbers have been prosecuted and
imprisoned for obeying the plain die.
tates of common humanity. for dis
charging the first duty of true Chris
tian men. the duty which. being left
undonc, not only renders all prcten'
sions to the Christian name WORTHLESS.
and contemplate, it divests a man o.
his personal honor, aud ruins him SOU
and body.
Thus this unhallowcd claim, o.
which | speak. makes good evil. and
light darkness. It's nature is to rem.
der the performance of indispensable
human duties impossible. And il
has actually made itself effective tc
such an extent, that it has scared the
Conscience of the great Christian
Church, and so blinded the under
standings of mo eminent professor,
oi religion. that they can not distin
gulsh the piercing shrieks of human
agony from the dull crcaking of deaC
political machinery, but stand unmov
ed and dumb when hunted mothe
murders her child to save il from be
ing treated as chattel and brute
lo the most vital in,ents and purpo
ses, the alleged right to hold huulaI
| property expunges from the Bible tn
pIa'nest precepts of God, and its self
evident truths from the Declaration o
Independence. thrusting itself in tn
place of both. usurping the authorit,
oil the Highest, and virtually declaring
the fundamental principles Of our In
s'itutions to be. the right of one mai
~ N.u l.