Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1860-04-25
gentleman why he does not attempt to as
sert his right?

ScueItHldh why AS uOSS uOt dteSAApS W d.
sert his right?
Mr.. LoYEJoY-Yes, Sir. The gentle
man comes from Slave State, where they
are in the habit of speaking of the laboring
classes in the Northern States as greasy
mechanics, )" "flthy operatives" +" ''clOse fist
ed farmers" and they jeer at us as worse
than Slaves. This insulting languages can
be, and is, used in the Free States without
mOlestiOn or injury. Yet they say, ''if you
come here and utter the sentiments you
sincerely believe, we viii hang you" If a
mechanic from Free State goes there and
utters the sentiment that he thinks-if they
had more white labOrers and fewer black
ones, that labor in the South would be more
respectable-what do you do with him?-
Denude him, scourge him. and to intensity
the indignity, you drive the knotted thong,
by the hand of slave, deep in his quiyer-
ing flesh; then tar and feather him; and
then put him on the cars, still naked, to be
sent long distance, and threaten with
violence the man who has the compassion
to give him cup of coffee. And, finally,
after being jeered at every station along the
route, this victim of your cruelty, free
citizen, crawls into stable and begs, steal
thily begs, the cast-off clothes of an ostler
to hide his nakedness. You drive away
young ladies that 60 to teach school I;
imprisOn or exile preachers of the Gospel /;
and pay your debts by raising the mad dog
cry of Abolition against the agents of your
creditors.
Mr.. BARKsDALE,-Dem., Miss THE
meanest slave in the South is your superior.
[Cres of "Orderl' from the Republican
side.
Mr.. MARTIN, (Dem., VAIL hope gen.
tlemen from the South will let him talk as
he pleases; but go away and not listen to
him.
A MEMBER, on the Republican side
Well, 60. "Stand not upon the order Of
your going, but go at once."
Mr.. LOvEJoY-Mr Chairman, say
claim the privilege of going anywhere and
everywhere within the limits of this Amer
lean Republic, as free citizen, unmolested
and of uttering, in an orderly and lega
way, any sentiment that choose to utter
and yet, are we allowed to do it? Are We
for that, in these United States, to be sub
jected to violence, outrage, tar and feathers
burning, imprisonment and the gallows?-
Answer that question. l know that gen.
tlemen say that self preservation is the first
law of nature; but if you cannot keel
Slavery and allow free discussion, then
say, in Gods name, before free discussion
and all the rights of free citizns are to b
sacrificed to that MolOch of Slavery, tha
Moloch must be inundated at the shrine O
liberty. free speech, free discussion, and al
those rights that cluster around an Ameri.
can citizen. Why, Mr.. Chairman, citi-
zen of Rome, when the scourge was already
upraised and about to fall upon him, if he
uttered the cry al am Roman citizen, - II
arrested that scourge. Well, Sir, is not
there more of a charm, is It not a prouder
position to be an American than to be a
Roman citizen? Are we in the nineteenth
century. living under this Constitution with
or free irstituticns-are our persons and
our ,::1hts 70 be less sacred than they were
under the OLD Roman administration
eighteen centuries ago and mory. Iha' Is
my response to the question why recon-
MENU - the circulation of the Helper book.
Now. wbas abo1.. John Brown. lCries
Let's have it!'7 ms affair o. ge g'@hn Brown
brings US to the reality of things. This
raid confronts US with Slavery, and makes
US ask is slayeholding right? And if so,
what rights has it? When the curtain rose
and startled the Nation with this tragedy.
John Brown lay there like wounded lion
with his head upon his paws, a saber cut
upon his brow, bayOnet gashes in his side,
the blood oozing out and life itself appar-
antly ebbing fast; around were certain lit
tie specimens Of the canine species snufing
and smelling, and finally one of them yelped
out: "Mr. Lion, was the old war-horse
chat pastured with you on the Western
Reserve in this expeditiOn?" The lion
slowly raised his head, cast disdainful
side glance upon the inquirer, growled out
a contemptuous negative, and repOsed his
head as before. In regard to John Brown,
you want me to curse him. l will not
curse John Brown. You want me to pour
out execrations upon the head of Old Os-
sawattomie. Though all the slaYeholding
Balaks in the country fill their homes with
silver and profer it. will not curse John
Brown. do honestly condemn what he did; !,
from my standpoint, and from my conviic-
tions. l disaprove of his action, that is true;
but believe that his purpose was a good
one-that, so 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 the armory there to the
time he was strangled by Gov. "Fustation."
General Laughter He was not guilty
of murder or treason. He did unquestion-
ably violate the statute against aiding
slaves to escape; but no blood was shed, |
except by the panic-stricken multitude, till
Stevens was fired upon while waving flag
of truce. The only murder was that of
Thompson, who was snatched from the he
roic protection Of woman and riddled with
balls at the railroad bridge. Despotism
has seldom sacrificed three nObler victims
than Brown, Stevens, and Hazlitt.
As 1 remarked, Mr.. Chairman, this
brings US to confront Slavery, and ask what
right this Calisban has upon earth? 1 say
no right. My honest eonvictiOn-and l do
not know why gentlemen need take Ofense;
they need not unless they chOOse-my hon
est conviction is, that all these slaveholding
laws have the same moral power and force
that rules among pirates have for the dis
tribution of their booty; that regulations
among robbers have for the distribution Of
their spOils; and although | do not believe
gentlemen have behaved very handsomely
to me, am going to add, notwithstanding,
that 1 do not mean to say that gentlemen
who are Shareholders would be guilty of
these particular things-that is not the
point-I am talking about this matter in
the court Of conscience in the court of right
and wrong; and insist that any laws for
men have just the same moral
force as the arrangement among robbersF