Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-04-17


the cars, still naked, b be sent q long distance,
and threaten with violence the man who has
the compassion to give him a cup of coffee.
and, finally, sitsf being jeeEed at every station
along the route, tbs victim Of your cruelty,
free citizen, erawls into q stable and beas,
stealthily begs, the cast of clothes of an ostfsr
to hide his nakedness. You drive aWay yOunO
ladies that 90 to teach school impTison OF 4
exile preachers Of the GospeIs and bav your
debts by raising the mad~dOg cry Of Abolition !
against the agents Of your creditors. il
Mr. BARKsD4LE, Dem, Miss. - The meanest \
slave in the South is your superior. [CTiss Of |
"0dsrlp from the Republiean side. Ia |
Mr.. MARTiN, Dem, Va.) III hope gentlemen |
from the South will let him talk a. he pleaBes /;
bot 60 away and not listen 70 him.
AMEMBER, on the Republican Side-Well, |
60. "Stand not upon the order Of yOur going, |
but 90 at once" Esd 4f, ati4 'f 4
! MI. LovEIoY--Nr. Ohainnan, say claim
the privilege Of gong anywhere and every.
where within ths limits Of this American Re-
public, as free citizen, unmolssted, and Of ct.
tsring, in an orderly and legal WaY, any senti-
msnt that choose to utter and yet, aFe We
allowed to de it, Are we, for that, in these
United States, to be subjected to vsOlenesi oat.
rage, tar and feathers, burning, imprisonment
and the gallOWs Answer that question. |
know that gentlemen say that self preservation
is the first law Of nature; but II you cannot
keep Slavery and allow free discussion, then /
sag, in Gods name, before free discussion an j
all the RI IhtS Of free citizens are 20 be sacri-
feed 10 that MolOch of Slavery, that MolOeh
must be immolated at the shrine Of liberty,
Tree speech, free discussion, aud all those rights
that cluster around an American citizen. Why,
Mr.. Chairman, a citizen Of Roms, when the
scOurge was already upraiSed and about to fall
upon him, if be uttered the cry, II Sm RO-
man citizen" it arrested that scourge. Well
Sir, is not there more of chsEIn, is it not q
proudeF position to DO an American than to be
Roman citizen Are we in the nineteenth
century, living under this Constitution with our
free Institutions are our persons and our
rights to be less sacred than they we're under
the old Roman administration eighteen centu-
ries ago and more? That is nv response to the
question why recommended the circulation Of
the Helper book. Now, what about John Brown.
Cries Let's have it ~ This affair Of John Brown
brings US to the reality of things. This raid
confronts US with Slavery, and makes Us ask is
slavehOlding right And if so, what rights
has it When the curtain rose and startled
the Nation with this tragedy, John Brown lay
there like a wounded lion with his head upon
his paws, a saber cut upon his brow, bayonst
gashes in his side, the blood OOzing out, and
life itself apparently ebbing fast around were
certain little specimens Of the canine species,
snufing and smelling, and finally one Of them
yelped out " Mr.. Lion, was the old war horse
''that psstured with you on the Western Reserve
"in this expedition ~ The lion slowly raised
his head, cast disdainful side glance upon the
il quirer, growled out eontemptuOus negative,
and rePOsed his head ss before. In regard to
John Brown, you want me 70 curse him. will
not curse John Brown. You want me to pour
out execrations upon the head of Old 0ssswat-
tonne. Though all the slayeholding Balaks in
the country fill their houses with silver and
proffer it, will not curse John Brown. do
honestly condemn what he did from my stand,
point, and from my convictions, / disapPrOYe of
his action, that is true but believe that his
purpose was a good One-that, 50 far as his
own motives before God were concerned, they
were honest and truthful and no one can
deny that he stands head and shoulders above
any other character that appeared on the stage
in that tragedy from beginning to end-from
the time he entered tbs armory there to the
time he was strangled by Gov. "Fussstion."
| General Laughter He was not guilty Of
murder OF treason. He did unquestionably
violate the statute against aiding slaves to es-
cape but no blood was shed, except by the
psnic~strieken multitude, till Stevens was fred
| upon while waving a flag of truce. The only
murder was that of Thompson, who was
snatehed from the heroic protection Of woman
and riddled with balls at the railroad bridge,
DespOtism has seldom sacrificed three nOblsr
victims than Brown, Stevens, and Hsxlitt. As
1 remarked, Mr.. Chairman, this brings US to
confront Slavery, and ask what right this Calls
ban has upon earth! 1 say no right. Ny
honaaf eonvir4for,-and do uof knoru
gentlemen need take o6ense they need not
unless they choose-my honest conviction is,
that all these saVeholding laws have the same
moral power aud force that rules among pirates
have for the distribution Of their booty that
regulations among robbers have for the division
Of their spoils; and although do not believe
gentlemen have behaved very handsomely to
me, | am going to add, notwithstanding, that
do not mean to say that gentlemen who are
slaVeholders would be guilty of these partieus
lar things-thSt is not the pOint-I am talking
about this matter in the court Of conscience,
in the court of right and wrong and l insist
that any laws for enslaving men have Just the
same moral force as the arrangement among
robbers and pirates for distributing their spoils
want to know by what nght you can come
and make me slave I want to know by
what right you can say that my child shall be
your slave l want to know by what right you
say that the mother shall not have her child, |
given to her from God through the martyrdom |
Of maternityl Hear that soft exquisite warbls |
Of mothers love;
Ere last years. sun had left the sky,
A birding sought nv Indian nest
And folded al 50 lovingly,
It's tiny vim upon nay brssSt.P
Now where is the wretch who would dare to |
90 up and take that huttering and painting 1
hipdia fha ~ sf-v
" 1t is mine; will sell it like a calf will I
sell it like pig!" What right had that moth
er to her babe Wasit because she was "Fsn.
ny Forester" the gifted authoress! was it i
because she was the wife of venerable and /
veneratsd missionary No, it was because /
she was its MOTHER and every slave mother 1
has just as good title to her babe, as Fanny /
Forester" had to hers. No laws can make it !
right to rob her. / say, in Gods name, my
child is mine and yet I have no right to my 1
child that slave father has not to his child. 4
Not particle. The same argument that proves /
my right TO my personal liberty, proves the /
right Of every human being to bis. The aEgu>
ment that proves my right to my children gives /
the same title, the same sacred claim to every
father. They, as I, get it from their God, and /
no human law can anhul the claim. No, Sir,
never TherefoTs every slave has a right to
ms freedom, IN spise OF your slave laws Nv
cry slave hAs q right to run away in spite Of
your slave laws. tell you, Mr. Chairman, and
tell you all, that if I were slave, and had I
the power and were It necessary to achieve my 4
freedom, would not hesitate to fill up and
bridge eyer the ehaEm that yawns between the
he'll of Slavery and the heaven Of Freedom
with the carcasses of the slain. Give me my /,
freedom Hands off Unthrottle that man a
Give him his liberty He is entitled to it from
his God. With these views, do not think, of
course, it is any harm to help away q slave.
told you that q year ago. I need not repeat il.
A MEHBER-"You steal them" s.-.
Mr.. LsvE1oY-WhO steals, when man
comes and takes my child from my hearthstOnol