Year: 1860

ie'o"e'ohaiy 'e1oiy' having grossly ira
vested the whole testimony Of our fathers


turned the Ship Of State end for end the,
stand crying and weeping that theyare vic
tins ofpconStante ersecution Bnt the la incl
offree territory for Slavery has been pilaged
Consider some of the events on the 9th
or side of this conflict In this great work
the turning period of which we celebrate
now, God did not call the great and the many
but the humble and the few The men many
of them almost unknown, who first agita.ed
in behalf Of Liberty against Slavery were the
truest martyrs this age has seen Mr.. Beech
er said he must bear witness; though he
was not Of his party and did not agree with
all his views, to the fidelity of VIM. Lloyd
Garrison. He then referred to the early
history of the Anti-Slsvery movement, low
societies churches, everything was against it;
yet it lived and prospcred We should see
what is the power of moral
principle, steadily pressed, over all
resistance. 1t cannot be destroyed
We should never be afraid of minorities so
that minorities are only based on great
moral principle We should also take notice
of the safety and of the power of free speech.
Free speech, however unpopular has been
omnipotent. Speaking is Gods safety
valve for free people, and if suppressed it
works within till there are revenges,
riots, and revolutions. Jud ring by this
standard, he did not think there was much
Danger of revolution in South Carolina.
They talk too much. There is no danger
of explosion when the safety.valye of an
engine is lifted /; but when there is no escape
for the steam but through the joints and
seams, and the boiler tremb'es and
shakes, then stand one side for there is
danger Dumb dogs bite barking dogs
don't Therefore, all honor to free speech.
1t is the channel through which men let off
their passions innocuous Thetefore, when
you are in cause, see that it touches the
bottom Almighty God. Then talk it. If
men muzzle you, talk on--tak living, and
talk dying. There is no peril in talking
only in reticence and guilty silence. We
cannot check the power of this great move
ment. We did not like 10 GO to school to
Africa; but God Almighty meant this peo.
pie should receive their bin of rights, and
He sent the hoolmaster-abolititon 1t
was not our own rights: but the liberty of
those who could not claim il themselves.
From all the opposition to this, there came
such reasoning and such loud discussion
that to-day there is better knowledge North
and South, and better understanding of the
great principle Of human rights, than there
was when the first drum beat in the Revolu-
ton. Notice again, the light for the future !;
this is one of the results Of defeat. He cod
not tell how many funerals of the Ant-Sla-
very cause he had attended how Presbyte-
ries and Synods had put their foot upon it
but it was not there now it had been kicked
out ofdoors yet it is strong and flourish
ing. SO when Christ received the kiss Of Ju
das, they thought they had conquered him !:
when they hauled him before the Sanhedrim
at midnight; when he marched bound be
meath his cross; when they lifted him up on
Calvary, and with unutterable agony he died,
then they thought their victory accomplished,
but it was their everlasting defeat. How
the serpents hissed when John Quincy Ad-
ans spoke for liberty in Congress. How
cali we measure the difference, when Abra-
ham Lincoln shall stand as President of the
United States, in tn. Capitol of that same
city, and take bis place as chief executive of
the nation? 1t is threatened he shall not
take his place. We shall see. We must
also take notice of the essential grandeur of
such victory over every element Of power
when made by convictions ofjudgment and
Conscience, rather than by arms and revolu.
tions. Two hundred year ago such change
would probably have caused one hundred
years fighting. But now it takes place by
the merest mind power It is time to look
not for the rising star, but for the broad sun
light, for we must be near to il. Under all
these circumstances we must be tender to
those who do not see. There are always
blind men in the world. There are persons
like the amiable editors of some rapers,
whose religion seems to be in ridiculing ev-
erything good, and working for everything
bad. We need no. be afraid Of these dumb
dogs; they only bark at vcrything good
and excellent. In the second place, we
are to consider the relations of this eventive
history to the future. This era is the term
ination Of a gigantic movement in the dire ).
ton of evil. 1t can go no further; it has
reached its highest point, and must from
this recedc. And we have thus averted wal
and bloodshed. Ten years ago we could
have had fraternal war; Truth and lies can.
not so together; we may believe now tina,
this conflict has passed away, and we
SHALL grow stronger from this
time. He hailed the time, for he
believed it would come when he might trav
el in safety through Virginia, and when al
] the people ofthe land would again join hands
and speak for liberty, when the whole pow
er Of the Government shall be the exponent
Of liberty who can measure its future glory
Mr., Beecher then considered the duties W.
owe to the times. There are always peculiar
temptations to corruptions, in any party