Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1863-12-30
Fer the Newsdealer.
MANS RIGHTS.

his being IN the manner pointed Out py
the Jaws of his organization. If it is OBJ
vious from his physical structure that he
was destined to walk erect, who may de-
ny his right to do so? If it is equally
clear. from his mental organization, that
he has numerous natural wants and de-
sires which demand ratification, and that
his Creator has spread around him the
means of indulgence, who can deny him
this means of happiness? Not man,
surely. agsl. Ha
There is no general law of nature which
opposes the happiness of man. On the
contrary, his constitution is in complete
harmony with the laws of matter; and
these may be rendered subservient to his
advancement and happiness. Life, then,
is bestowed by the Giver of all good for
the purpose of happiness. If SO, to live
and be happy is our right. a
But having a right to happiness, man
has also a right to employ the means for
its accomplishment. The right to be hap
py would be vain without the means of
becoming so. Let no one fear that dam
gerous conclusions may be drawn from
these premises. We are not contendiug
for the abuse, but for the enlightened
qualification of mans natural desires not
justifying violence to the laws of the Gre
ator, but struggling for conformity to
them. We are seeking to establish the
divine origin of human rights, and not
the divine origin of Human transgressions.
That any human being who has not for
feitel his liberty by ais crimes, has a right
to be free-and that whatsoever forcibly
withholds liberty from an innocent man,
robs him of his right and violates the
Moral Law, are truths which no man
would dispute or doubt, If custom had
not obscured our perceptions, or if wick
edness did not prompt us to close our eyes.
The whole system of one mans right
to another is essentially and radically
bad. Injustice and oppression are its fun
damental principles. Wh 'tever lenity
may be requisite in speaking of the agent,
none should be shown and none should be
expressed for the act. We do not affirm
or imagine that every man that robs an
other of his liberty, is therefore a wicked
man but if not, it is upon the score of
ignorance. If he is exempt from the
guilt of violating the Moral Law, it is
only because he does not p%rcceive what it
requires. Let us leave the heart of the
individualt to Him who knoweth the heart
of his actions we may speak, and we
d should speak in the Language of reproba-
ton, disgust and adherence. Such men
apparently do not believe in the moral
government of the world. or they do not
know the manner in which it il admin
istered; if they did. they would &C.
knowledge that those who SOW the wind
have no right to complain when they reap
the whirlwind. rFrHz -r.
The permanence of slavery in the
Southern states is impossible, because it
is a system of gross injustice, cruelty and
oppression and no such social fabric can
permanently endure. Its fruits have long
been poisonous and bitter, and the plant
ers are suffering the penalty of having
reared them. They ought, however. to
thank the justice and frmness Of the
. President for his proclamation of freedom
to the slaves, which has so greatly miti-
gated their punishment; for they may
rest assured that the anuoyanccs now suf-
fercd are light and transient compared
with The calamnltles which would have
befallen them had slavery been prolonged
until it had wrought out its own termina-
tion. If our premises be correct, the
slaves would have had a divine right to
have wrought out their own freedom, even
to the extent of a s~ervile resurrection.
49,
But we are thankful that the shareholders,
themselves, have averted, 10y their own
crimes, the calampities which would have
be~fallen, not only themselves. but their
wives and children, if they had left slav-
cry to work out its termination.
1t is quite evident that our slave sys-
tenn will be abolished, and that its sup
porters will hereafter beiegardcd with the
same public feelings, as he who was an