The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-05-26


gro would not know the miseries of Slav
cry, which he feels every hour Of the four
and.twenty, unless he were told bv som.
Abolitionst that Slavery was a ,niserah'
condition.
There is nothing that makes us think s,
badly Of you a. your strain Of ribaldry il
attacking the Abolitionists. iu
The desire to procure, abolition, is, in It
self virtue and deserves our love for it,
charitable disposition, as it does respect and
veneration for its courage under favorable
circumstances. Instead Of the ribaldry o
your attack upon the Abolitionists, yol
ought to respect and countenance them
1f they err by excessive zeal. they err ia :
righteous and holy cause. You would d.
well to check their errors and mitigate :hei,
zeal within the bounds of s,riot prapriaty
But il you had the genuine feeling Of Irish,
men, you never would confound their errors
with their virtue In truth. we much fear
or rather we should candidly say. we readi
lv believe that you attribute to them i'm
aginary errors for no other rea son than tha
they really possess ono brilliant virtue
namely. the loye tf fhunan Freedom in IN
tense perfection.
Again we have to remark that yon az
aggerate exceedingly when you state tha
there are fifreen millions of the white pop
ulation in America whose security and hap
piness are conneote ed with the maintenance
of the system Of Negro Slavery. rs ) F7rt
On the contrary, the system Of Slavery
inflicts nothing but mischief upon the faI
greater part OF the inhabitants OF America
.vAs.sA,,aI
est is connected with Slavery are the slave
holding States. NV, in those States. al
most without an exception, Gf. indeed
there be any exception the people Of col
or greatly exceed the whites, and thus ev.
en- { an injury were to be inflicted on the
whites by depriving them Of their slaves
the advantages would be most abundantly
counterhalanced and compensated for by
the infinitely greater number Of persons who
would thus be restored to the greatest o
human blessings-personal liberty. Thus
the old Benthamte maxim Of doi1y the
greatest possible good to the greatest pos.
sible number" would be amply carried out
into effect by the emancipation Of the ne.
groes. la gr,ra.l..ya a s g-a q
You charge the ,Abolitinnists. rs with y
crime. that they encourage a negro, fving
from Kentucky. to steals horse from an
inhabitant Of OHIO. In order to aid him. II
necessary, in making his escape. We
are. not upon full reflection. sufficiently
versed in casgistrv to decide whether. un.
der such circumstances. the taking Of the
horse would be an excusa ble act or not. -
But. even conceeding that it would be sin.
ful, we are of this quite certain. that there
is not one Of you that addresses Us who, il
he were under similar circumstances, that
is. having no other means Ct escaping per
petual Slavery, would not make free with
your neighbor's horse to eftectuate your
Just and reasonable purpose. And we are
also sure Of this, that there is not one ol
you who. If he were compelled to spend
the rest Of his life as apsrsonal slave,
worked. and beaten. and sold, and trans
ferred from hand to hand, and separated,
at his masters caprice, from wife and fam.
to ignorance working with
out wages. toiling without reward-with!
out any other stiInula1t to that toll and Ia.
bnr than the drivers eartwhip-we do saw
that there is not one Of you who would not
think that the name Of pick pocket. thief,
or felon. wonld not be too courteous name
for the being who kept you in such thral
dom
We cannot AVOID repeating our astonish.
ment that you, trish'nen, should be SO de-
void Of every trace Of humanity as 10 be-
come the voluntary I'd pecuniary disinter.
ested advocates Of humsn Slavery; and es-
pecially, that you should be so in America
But what exciies our uncQnqueratle loath-
ing. is to find that in your address /, ,ou
speak OF man being the property of nun
o. one human being the property ofanother,
with as little doubt, hesitation. or repug
n.nce, as il yoq were speaking Of the beasts
If the field. 1t is this that tills us with
utter astonishment. 1t is this that max o.
Is disclaiR you as countrymen. We can.
not bring ourselves To believe that you
breathed your natal air in Ireland-Ireland
the first Yf all the nations on the earth that
the dealing in slaves. The slave.
trade Of that dsy Yas, curious enough. a
slave trade in. British youths--Ireland, that
never was stained with negro slave-trading
--Ireland, tdat never comWited an offence
sgainst the men Of c"lor- Ireland, that new.
sr fitted out . single vessel tor the traffic
70 blood op the African coast. 9r
II is, to be sure, affecting and heart-rend.
ng to me to think that ,msny Of the Irish
n America should be so degenerated as to
2e among the worst ensuies Of the people;
u color. Alasl alasl we have thst ,fact
placed beyond doubt by the indisputable
estinony Of Lord Morpeth This is foul
blot that we would fain wipe of the escutch.
'on of expatristed Iri>bwen. 'u'
Have you enough Of the genuine Irish
nan left among you to ask what it il that
We require you to DO? It is this:
First: We call upon YOU ip the sacred
lame Of humanity, never again to volunteer
m behalf Of the oppressor; nor even for any
elfnterest to vindicate the hideous crime
4 fpersonal slavery. seN e..-. =
Second: We ask yoY to assist 10 every
Vay you can IN prom, ,u9g the EDUCATION of
he free men Of color, and in disco untenan
ing the foolish feeling OF selfshness-of
hat criminal selishness which m.kes tb.,
Gh,te man treat the man Of color as de.
raded or inferior being. ~
Third: We ask you to assist in obtaining
,r the free men of color the full benefit Of
II the rights and privileges Of free man in
Thatever State he may iphabit
Fourth: We ask you to exert yourselves
endeavori9g to procure for the man of
olor. in every case, the benefit Of q trial by
,ry. and especially where a man insisting
hat he is free pau. is claimed to be a slave
Fifth: We ask you to exert yourselves in |
very possible way to induce slsveowners tn
as many slaves as possible. The
'nakers in America have several soci ties
" this purposes Why should not the Irish
nitate them in that virtue 2
Si1th: We ask you to exert yourselves in |
] the ways YOU possibly can to ppt an epi |
} the internal slave. trade Of the States =
he breeding of slaves for sale il probably |
,e most immoral and deba Siny practice ever