Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1860-06-29

wayside as we approach the national
capital it is on the marble steps which
we mount it faunts on this floor. !
stand now in the house of its friends
About me while / speak are its most
sensitive guardians, who have shown in
the past how much they are ready TO
either to do or not to do where slavery
is in question. Menaces to deter me
have not been spared. But / should i'll
deserve this high post Of duty here, with
which / have been honored by a gener-
-ous and enlightened people, if / could
hesitate. Slavery can only be painted
in the sternest colors; but l cannot for
get that natures sternest painter has been
called the best. In presenting the char
acter of slavery, there is little for me
to do, except to allow slavery to paint
itself. When this is done, the picture
will need no explanatory words"
Under the character of slavery Mr..
Sumner presented its law and origin, and
the five essential elements of its barbar-
ism, viz: It's divesting man of bis hu-
manity and converting him into chat
tel; by its complete abrogation of the
parental relation its closing the gates
of knowledge; and its appropriation of
all the toll of its victims. Under the
law of slavery, no marriage sacrament is
respected, and no such contract can ex-
ist. Stripped of every defense, the chas-
tity of whole race is exposed to viol-
ence, while the result is recorded in the
tell-tale faces CT children, glowing with
their masters blood, but doomed for their
mothers skin to slavery, through all de-
scending generations. There are many
disgusting elements in slavery, which are
not present in polygamy, while the single
disgusting element of polygamy is more
than present in slavery. After exhaust
ing these several elements" the speak
er said American slavery as defined by
existing law, stands forth as the greatest
organized ban barism on which the sun
now shines. 1t is without a single peer.
Its author, after making it, broke the
die. The speaker showed by compari-
son that it was not derived from the He
brew, Roman, Mohammedan, or Spanish
laws, but came from Africa-that ancient
nurse of monsters-and the barbarous
prerogatives of barbarous African chief.
are perpetuated in the American slave
masters. Abiding to Mr. jefferson.
remark that Virginia was fast sinking tc
be "the Barbary of America" meaning
the Barbary Of his day, before slavery
had been given up-the speaker formed
an apt comparison between the BarbarJ
States and the South, saying, There
are no two spaces on the surface of tht
globe, equal in extent, (and an examina
ton of the map will verify what I an
about to state which presents SO many
distinctive features Of resemblance
whether we consider the common paral
lels of latitude on which they lie, tn,
common nature of their boundaries, thei
common productions, their common eli
mate, or the common barbarism whicl
, sought shelter in both.'
Passing to consideration of the ef
tect of slavery upon the slavemasters
he showed from southern authority tha
! the institution not only blighted the land
f but affixed curse upon its owners
Slavery being founded in brutality an
; vulgarity, all these things must be mani
: fest in slavemasters, and yet unconsciou
e of their condition, they make boast
J, which reveal still further the unhapp
, influence. Barbarous standards of cor
duct are unblushingly avowed. Th
: swagger of bully is called chiyalry
1 swiftness to quarrel is called courage
4 the bludgeon is adopted as the substitut
2 for argument and assassination is lifte
| to be one of the fue arts. The speak
e er quoted copiously from southern law
\ and judicial opinions, and asked " Ca
: barbarism further go? Here is an irr,
n sponsible power, rendered more irrespor
q sible still by the seclusion of the plant;
tion, and absolutely fortified by the SUI
f Elementary law excluding the testimon
6 of slaves. That under its shelter emo
: mites should occur, stranger than fl
2 tion, too terrible for imagination, and su
V passing any individual experience,
e simply according to the course of natul
: and the course of history. The visitatic
is of the abbeys in England disclosed viz
IS and disorder in startling forms, cloakt
y by the irresponsible privacy of monast
> life. A similar visitation of plantation
&c would disclose more fearful results, cloal
a ed by the irresponsible privacy of sIav
, rv Everv slavernasfer on his nIant