Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-10-14

life? mo. no6 Am to go there to t9ach
nv, little SON that the chief blessing OF MS
oreat future is to run from street to street,
md from man to man. and insist that lie Is DIS
sonrd a man upon this subject OF slavery as
lives? (Cheers) Am l to see my helSH-
bors and friends hung by the neck oecausI
tl,.v have doubted that the cihel business vi
the Great Ruler of the universe Is not III uiiect
in(, and controlling and maturing and perpet-
,lat;,,rr tho institution of slavery. (Cheers. }
No felIow citizens; if ! cannot 60 there and
stril,a hands with my friends at home; if |
cannot be.agan united with my family, except
mon the terms that ! am to live in such sOci-
etv rs existed there, hard as it is to utter,
can find it in my heart to say, let me never
see them. But if you mean by the restora-
ton of the Union as it was, a restoration OF
that Union such as our fathers intended it to
be, then, with all my heart, let us have it.
(Great applause.)
The issue is simple; it is plain. The way
faring man must read it as he runs, though he
be a fool: Slavery on the one hand, and Lib
erty on the other. loud applause.) And
yet, fellow-ci citizens, for these brief desultory
words honestly spoken | am yet to be further
tried Friends doubtless who have stood up
for me hitherto, will say | am not prepared
for this yet. But fear not for them; they
will arrive in due time where stand and | will
add even at the expense of being considered
arrogant, if you please, that what have said
tonight, all uninteresting as it may be to you,
will strike cord deep in the hearts Of my
people | know how the peop.e feel, their
modes Of thought, to what conclusion their
minds have already been brought. 1t is ''your
negroes, my Children" | love my children
best, do not intend to part with the hopes
that | have predicated upon my little son. He
has, or ought to have, he did have till you
took it away from him, the right to aspire to
the highest honors in his country's gift. He
shall have it. | will fight that my son may be
free, even at the expense Of freeing your ne
groes (Cheers.) Let me, then, fellow citi-
zens, indulge the hope that if it shall be my
fortune again to visit home and friends, I can
say, ard say it truthfully | am a freeman-I
am not merely theoretical freemen-I have
the constitution of the United States guaran-
teeiug me my freedom; but ] have what is
dearer still have countrymen, have So
cIety, | have brethren, fellow citizens, all
over the state without an exception, who in
tend that shall practice as freeman through.
out my life. They intend that | shall indulge
the noblest right that can be given to men, the
right of thought, and of impressng my
thoughts, humble though they be, upon the
minds Of others.
If I can go home with that kind Of freedom
| want it; less than that | shall never be sat
isfed with. (Cheering.) Hundreds Of men
have persisted because they had thought, be-
cause they had loved freedom, and INDUCED
occasionally in speculations as to how free
dom was best to be preserved; they have been
hung like felons. l want that to cease; | want
the government of the United States to treat
every man in the land as its enemy who will
attempt to impose further restrictions upor
the right Of a free people to think and to talk
(Chcers.) When | see that, then l can lt
my hands and say, Blessed, indeed, is Thu
government! Then | can accept that flag al
the emblem of freedom, really, unqualifedly
having gained new luster by the very struggle
in which its citizens have engaged to-day.
will indulge the hope that victory upon TIN
field may not only perch upon the standard
Of our arms, but that a moral halo will sur
round it from the consciousness Of those wh
are fighting that they are struggling to sustain
liberty and to crush the last remains of slave
| ny. Enthusiastic applause.) Let then Gu
last thought upon government and society be
| | am yet a citizen of free government;
| still occupy the position Of a recipient of tn
! largest rational human liberty; | am yet Of
/ freedoms soil, with freedoms banner fioatn
| DER nae. cloud and continued applause.)