Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1860-05-16

moral suasion nor your Sharp's rifles
can subdue OF. terrify the people OF the
Sosth- you look through = medium
that mag nIfes vourselves, while it de
mipishes Others. Allow me to draw the
picture. The great msss Of mankind
who appear upon the stage Of life, seem
to be born but to eat, TO drink, to prop
agate their species, and to die. But lord
aud vassal, nobleman and peasant, king
and subject, though separated in life,
sleep upon the same pallet in death.
After the surprise Of youth and expert
epce is over, they loiter upon the earth
or burst like bubbles upon the sea of
matter, or flit like butterflies from sweet
TO sweet, from flower to flower then dis
appear forever. If born to position, or
occupy Office, 3hey are viewed in their
elevation. because of their wickedness
and crime, and are o. odious as they are
conspicuous. But some claim diviuer
right made under higher law, sent as
Rabbi teachers from God, to dictate the
will of heaven, who abide neither the
laws Of men nor the constitution of
their country, whose puritanical cant
and hypocricy make them odious to
every sensible man aud honest mind.
They may be ministers indeed, but
not ministers Of the religion Of Christ,
but Of divine vengeance, who some
times destroy not only themselves, but
the people to whom they preach. TO
this class, MIR. Beecher, allow me to
say you belong. Your slender virtues
are SO mixed with arrogance, impudence
and lc,imc. that the most acute analysis
could not discover one grain of honesty
in the composition; and if Gods grace
can save the sinner, the selfish hypo-
critic, the winged messenger of Mercy
would never light on so mean a thing as
you. Again, we have men who seem
to be created for higher purpose-sent
on important business, sent to desolate
and destroy, or to create,to hold up and
sustain; men not living for themselves,
as you do, but for the whole human race;
whose lives are the ornaments which
adorn the age in which they live. II
they appear either in public or private
life, the places they occupy are made
radiant with the glory of their acts
men who are stars and suns 10 the path
way OF life, to cheer, to guide, and to
save. Not a few have adorned your
profession, sir; some have adorned mine.
But the most marked and distinguished
men Of the past age were Washington,
JEFF erson, Madison, Patrick Henry, Cal
houn, Clay and Webster, most of whom
we're born in that State you would des-
olate, and under institutions which
you pr TESS to dospse. Such men are
the holy fathers of the church to which
| belong, and if sent to hell for the
enormous sin of slavery, allow me the
privilege OF choice to 60 with them
rather than to the heaven of the can't
ing hypocrite, whose every act is to
anathematize all but his own dogmas,
and propagate error and falsehood in
every step he takes in life. Such men,
under the garb of religion, in every age
of the world, and under every form of
faith, have despoiled the fairest hopes of
the human race. Such men as claim
to be guided by "higher law than
the the Constitution of the country,
would dash to pieces the fair fabric OF
our country's liberty, and lay their un-
hallowed, polluted hand npon the stones
Of the very temple Of liberty ere they
have grown cold from the hands OF
Washington and Jefferson. Such men
as you, sir, would see the waves of hui
man passion sweep over the ruins OF the
light house of the world, reared upon
times thousand miles of coast by tho
toll of millions of the just, the virtuous,
and the wise, at whose base lie the
brains and skulls of the fanatical gulls
that have dashed against it. And, sir,
if such men 60 to heaven they should
carry with them every creeping thing.
Such men would plot treason against
virtue and sacrifice even female honor
upon the altar Of their hel)ish designs.
l do not covet such heaven-have no
desire to walk the streets of your New
Jerusalem, were l to be saluted by the
whistle Of the rattle snake and the hiss
of Of the viper, and breathe the atmos.
phere poisoned by the breath of the
toad and the coppe,head.
This may be heaven for hypocrites
and fanatics, but not for me. MANY
years have passed since l knew you, cir.
an impudent boy, and having added
w'ckedness to impudence, you have be-
come more conspicuous man, while my
obscurity will scarcely bring me to mind.
have welded the knife in surgery for a
profession, and whether 1 have won
laurels or not, my history and profess
ion will show. But, sir, this much will
| say to you, that when my country is
destroyed by heartless fanatics, excited
to deeds of bloodshed, the knife which
has never been turned on the human
family but in kindness and mercy, shall
DE keenly whetted in Justice and in ven-
geance. My last surgical operation shall
De performed on such destroying mon
sters, TO cut from their hearts the root
ed cancer, and rid the world of such
canting hypocrites. am, sir, Hugenot
Protestant of the Marion stock, the Lee
Grand family Of France, nv immediate
ancestors by my mother. My father de.
scended from race Of Scots that have
never been conquered, of the Campbell
clan, and Rob Roy ,oas cousin. have
never bought,or sold,or stolen, or owned
a negro. | am Kentuckiau, born among