The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-10-31

IHOW-a-uayS VINO interpret tnat raw
[Hear.l But how is it that the Constitu-
tion of the United States, when it begins to
speak Of these very same slaves, names
them? Does it call them s'slaves % Does
1t speak of them as in "servitude ?" 1t
Lifts itself up as if consciously inspired
with the grandeur of the thought and dig
nifty of man, and says "Persons held to
service" [Hear and cheers.] Go to South
Carolina, and ask what she calls slaves,
and it says "things,' and the old Capitol
..No, persons [Cheera:{ Cheers Cd to ) South ,
Carolina and her fundamental article says
she looks upon slaves as things and
again the Constitution echoes, mo, per-
sons" [Hear.] Go to the charter of Lou
isiana with their Constitution, or to the
South Western Slave States, and still that
doctrine of devils is enunciated-it is
'schattel' it is "thing.'' Looking upon
those for whom Christ felt mortal anguish
in Gethsemane, and stretched himself in
death on Calvary, their laws call them
suppressed tones of thunder the Constitu-
ton of the United States says, persons"
| What was it, then, when the country had
| advanced SO far towards universal Eman-
cipation in the period Of our national for
nation that stopped this onward tide?-
First, the wonderful demand for Cotton
| throughout the world, coupled with the fa-
cility of producing it, arising from the in
venticn of the Cotton Gin-that introduced
a new element Of value. Slaves that be-
fore had been worth from $500 to $40O, be-
gan to be worth $500. That knocked away
one-third of our adherence to the moral
law. Then afterward they became worth
$7G0, and half the law went-[cheers and
laughter j then $500 or 5000, and then there
was no such thing as moral law-Icheers
and laughter land then 81, 900 or 81, 200,
and slavery became one of the beatitudes on
the mount. [Cheers and laughter.l When
Moses wrote his laws, delivered by the
Highest, he wrote them on tables of stone;
but when the devil, through his minion,
wrote his laws, he wrote them on silver
| [Cheers and loud laughter.l Their pocket
is their Mount Sinai-[cheers and laugh
| ter i they are the lineal descendants of
those men who before worshiped the gold
en- calf. [Cheers.l ,a
The other cause which prevented the
progress OF Emancipation that had already
so auspiciously begun was the political
cause. The policy OF America has been
shaped by the essential spirit Of 'Slavehol-
ding Southerners. All the aggression, the
tillibuster-all the threats to England and
the taunting Of Europe, and all the bellig-
erence our Government has assumed, have
been under the inspiration and under the
almost monarchical sway of the Southern
oligarchy. Loud cheering.l And now,
|
Southerners, and domineered over by the
Southerners ["No!'], yet now Great Bri-
tain has thrown her arms of love around
the Southerners. ["Nor' She don't?-
Cheers.l have only to say that she has
been caught in very suspicious circum-
stances. Laughter.] But / have said it,
perhaps as much as anything else, for this
very sake-to bring out from you this ex-
pression-to let you know what we know,
that all the hostility felt in my country to-
ward Great Britain has been sudden, and
want you to say to me, and through me
to my countrymen, that those irritations
against the North, and those likings for the
South, that have Been expressed in your
papers, are not the feelings Of the great
mass of your nation. [Great cheering, the
audience rising.] Those cheers already
sound in my ears as the coming acclama-
tons of friendly nations-those waving
handkerchiefs are the white banners that
symbolic peace for all countries. [Cheers.l
Join with us, then, Britons. lCheers.]
man was worth from you we learned to
detest all expressions from you we learn
ed that it was the noblest thing q man
could do to die for principle. [Cheers.]
And now, when we are set in that very
course, and are giving our best blood for
principle, let the world understand that
when America strikes for the liberty of the
|
Britain endorses her. Loud cheers.J
And now I come 70 the period in which
I myself became an actor. [Cheers.] From
that time to this time there has been no
important movement on the subject OF
public affairs in the connection of Slavery,
that ! have not either had part in it or
been most interested and intimate obser-
yer of it, and shall tell you, not what I
believe, but what / know. Hear, hear. j
1t was extremely difficult to get the voice
of the public. Those that first attempted
it were made well nigh martyrs. | re-
member full well when Birney's Press
was mobbed in Cincinnati, and dragged in
to the Ohio, for no other reason than tor
anti-slavery sentiments. / remember the
early martyrdoms, and for two years, with
my pockets filled with pistols-to the hor-
ror, ! suppose, of those peace-loving slavery
| men-I patrolled the streets, made a Spe-
| cial constable for the defense Of these poor
creatures houses. / suppose 1t was very
naughty to meddle with firearms; but l
was not then Minister; then only was
a student for the ministry, and l did not
fire the pistols off once. Mr.. Weld, Mr..
Garrison, Allan Stewart-now. gone-and
a multitude of men whom / ought to have
prepared myself to mention, that might
| not, in mentioning the few, seem to ne
glect the many. These are the pioneers
You have been pleased to say in this ad-
neers. 1 unloosed the shoe-latchets OF the
pioneers, and this is all. l was but little
more than boy, and bear witness that
the hardest blows and the most cruel sut-
! ferings were endured by men before was
thrust far enough into public life to take
any particular share, and do not consid-
er myself entitled to rank among the plo-
neers. They were better men than 1. Those
| noble men did resist this downward tend
ency of the North. They were rejected by
society. To be called an Abolitionist eX-
cluded man from respectable society IN
those DAYS. To be called an Abolitionlst
blighted any mans prospects in poilticai
life in those days. To be called an Aboll-
ZIONIST marked mans store-his very
customers avoided him as if he had the
plague. To be called an Abolitionlst IN
those days shut up the doors Of confidence
from him in the Church, and he was re-
garded as a dsturber of the peace. Never
i theless, they maintained their testimony;
i loud cheers.l Little by little they gained
the conscience-they gained the under
standing. And as, when old Luther spoke,
laundering in the ears of Europe the long
\ buried treasures Of the Bible, there were
hosts against him, and the elect few, new
l~~t