The Portland daily press., 1865-12-09
Independents Course Lecture of Err ederick
Douglas. yf.l aaI n

A very large audience again assembled in
City Hall, last night to listen to Mr.. Douglas
very eloquent address on the Assassination
of President Lincoln" The speaker was in
troduced by Judge Kingsbury, and was receiv-
ed with hearty applause. QoHiisA
Events, the lecturer said, are the natural
teachers of nation. A few can comprehend
principles and tendencies; the mass must see
them illustrated in events. Long ago, few
men saw the cloud arising which was big with
all our recent woe, but the great body of the
people could not see until the lightning fash
ed and the thunder roared around them with
er events were tending. No occurrence OF
the war had made so powerful an impression
on the people as this assassination; the reason
was that it was the Inauguration of new
crime; it was type of depravity which had
until then had no manifestation among u.s.
In very eloquent manner the speaker sketch
ed the character of the great martyr in the
cause of freedom, and the overwhelming
grief his loss occasioned, and said, g am not
here to tell you all this, or to speak the eulo-
gy of Abraham Lincoln, but because / wish to
underScOre this event in our history, and TO
endeavor to paint out its cause.n He then
went on to show how the rebellion, the war
which followed it, and the assassination which
marked its close, were the legitimate out
growth of slavery. There were men who
said that the war might have been avoided |;
that if it had not been for Calhoun in the
South, and Philips and Garrison in the North,
we should have had no war. But Calhoun
and Garrison did not make the principles they
uttered-the principles made them. Slavery
and class privilege made Calhoun, freedom,
Plymouth Rock, made Garrison. This great
crime was the bloody flower in which was con-
centrated the poison of four centuries of sla-
very. pi9o
At the late hour at which we, write, it is
impossible to give the full report Of the lee
ture which we could wish. 1t was full of elo-
quent passages, of the happy hits and close
and eogent reasoning for which the speaker
is distinguished. Its chief object was not SO
much to illustrate the causes or circumstances
of the crime to which it referred, as to press
home the lesson which that crime should teach.
That lesson is, that events move according to
fixed law; that as men sow so shall they
reap; that men cannot plant injustice and
hope to reap prosperity or safety. Our faith
ers smned ignorantly. They knew not the
full dangers of compromise of principle
They dared TO buy liberty for themselves at
the expense Of justice to the slave. Their act
was disastrous blunder. If we, in the light
of their example and its results, shall dare to
buy restored union at the price of justice to
the freedman, our act will be stupendous
crime . 1A
The application of the lesson to the prob
lem of reconstruction now attracting the at
tention of all minds, was most powerfully made,
and was received with the applause which
showed its acceptation with the audience. The
address occupied an hour and half in delivery.
Shaw's Quartette furnished some of their
agreeable music at the opening and close of
the lecture. tfu g bsa8