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Show 22 FIR!'T DAY-ii!OR\'\H\0 SESSION'. to convince them of the impolicy of its continuance. \Ve arc told, however, this must not be. 'Ve are enthusiasts, and must not be allowed to breathe an objection against their anointed and prescriptive right. They say we are enthusia~ts,-fanatics is the favorite word. What is an enthusiast? One elevated in fancy and exalted in ideas ; affected by religious frenzy : we cannot either confess or retort the charge. Are we mad, because we say slavery is an evil! They admit it, and prove it daily, by their ill-dis· guised fears. Are we mad, because we say it should be abolished without delay ? Then were Burke and Sheridan, Pitt and Fox, and 'Vilberiorcc, and all the eminent statesmen for the last century, mad-for they have pro· claimed the same thing. Are we mad when we speak with indignation of the wanton imprisonment of C randall, and the murder of Lo\·ejoy, in terms of unmitigated horror anrl detestation? An impartial world joins in the ~cntiment, and justice and posterity will ratify it. Are we mad, when we express our determination to assemble up011 our own soil and express our opinions freely, under our constitutional right, in respect to this or any other national evil. \Ve do not threaten secession from the South, if they do not conform to . our views. 'Ve do not attempt intimidating them with nullification, if they refuse to conform to our views. \Vc do not instruct or authorize our repre· sentatives to bluster or bully them into our measures. 'Ve pursue the even artd direct tenor of our way, to the great object of emancipation,-unseJuced by blandishmenls, and undismayed by threats. 'Ve are not opposed to our S~uthern brethren ;_-we ~esire t~ serve and to aid them,-we desire to agree With them,-but, like spoiled cl11ltlren, they will have the rau\e let it cost what it may; and the more we reason with them, the more they ~re inflamed in their desire. Fanaticism! \Vere our forefathers fanatics when they declared all men equally free and independent? 'Vas \Vashington a fool or a fanatic, when on his dying bed, he declared all l1is slaves free? \Vas Jefferson a fanati~ when he exclaimed, "I tremble for my country when l reflect that God is just; that his ju~tice cannot sleep for ever; that considering numbers, nature, and _nalu~·al n~eans only, a r~ ''olution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of sJtuatton, '.s among poss1ble events ; that it may become probable by supernatural mterference. The Almighty has no attribute which can take side ~vith us in such a contest?" 'V ere the parliament of Great Britain fctn.atwal, when they appropriated twenty million poundR sterling to the libe· ration of the slaves in their dependencies, and secured to themselves im· pel'is~1able national glory at the expense of their treasury? If these be fanat1cs, how glorious is fanaticism! All reform, all improvements, have ever been thus encountrrctl,-have ever been thus exposed and assailed. 'Vh_en the question is between fanaticism and impiety, we should not long hes1tate ~vh1ch_ to choose._ Look to the ?rigin and course of Christianity,look to Its bnght dawmng over a ben1ghted world-look to its glorious st~uggles through seas of blood-look to its UJ1earthly Founder, and its sam ted martyrs,-what were they all? The world proclaimed them all to be fanatics, enthusi~sts, incendiaries, traitors. As such they were buffeted, rep.roached, and reviled, . condemned and crucified. It is the slang of this, as •_t was ~f that dny. The very men who use it, aUach no definite notion to 1t. .It IS a ~er~ of rep~oach-a term adopted to raise a sort of hue and cry ag~mst prulCJple_s which can rationally neither be disputed nor resisted. ~as Crandall a fanatic, becau~e b_ad men con~igned him for months to prison, without _an otfe?ce? '"a~ h1s s1ster a fanat1c, because she deemed it her duty to impart wstruction to her colored fellow~creatures? Were the courts: and juries fanatics, by whom after long sufl'ering, they were acquitted and DAVID l'AUL BROWN1S ORATION. 23 discharged? I absolve our adversaries from the imputation of fanaticism. Let them defend .themselves against that of insanity or cruelty, if they can. J\m _I a. fanatic when I <iecided!y condemn kidnapping, man-stealing, tr~f~ckmg 111 human flesh, disfiguring and destroying the mind of man, the !TIIniature !esemblance of the Deity? Is it fanaticism or prophecy, when m a warnwg, though humble voice, I predict the results to which such irreligion and inhumanity must inevitably tend? Is the voice that spoke from Mount Sinai, the voice of fanaticism 'l How preposterous ! how pre· sumptuous! Ye~ such is the language which our adversaries adopt. \Vhether fanatical or not, we are sincere ;-that virtue, at least, can· not be questioned. Can as much be said for our antagonists? 'Vhat have we to gain personally from this struggle? Contumely and odium. \Ve act under the inlluence of sympathy towards the whole race of m::m~ kind. They act under the more questivnable influence of seHishness and personal aggrandizement. VVe are untainted with any thing like a suspicion of_ g uilt, _while in their sack the s ilver cup is found ;- the thirty pieces, the pnce of mnocent blood, are detected. Among those who dare to think for themselves, which embraces far from the largest portion of m~nkind-among those who do not belong to the common flock, which is always sure to follow where the bell~ wether leads,there are few uninterested and untrammelled, who will venture to maintain the expediency or justice of slavery. I say there are few uninterested and untramt_nclled. Do you ask a modern politician for his opinion,-politicians now bemg followers, not leaders,-beforc he expresses it, he borrows a hint fran~ the SOl~th; ~h e vote of the South must be secured. Do you ask a parusan for hts opmion? He regulates his answer by its influence ltpon the election . . Do you ask a would·be patriot? He tells you Jefferson was a fool, and ans~ead of 8'\avery destroying the country, h will destroy the country to a.bohsh sla.very. Do you ask the adherents of those several classes for their opinion? Why, they think as their principals, or neigh· bor~ thi1~k. And do rou inquire the views of the last and lowest class? They don t t~11nk at ~II. fhey are the a.ct?rs-:-the rank a1~d file, always brawling about liberty without ever understanding it, and elevating themselves into that lawless superiority w~ich depend~ solely upon brute and physical force. I do not mean the mechamral ?r labonng classes,-who are, in truth, the pride-the stay--the bone and sinew of the country,-but the mob-made up lly the refuse of all the other classes, and preying upon all. . . ''The still :md mentnl pm·ts 1 hnt do oontrn•e how many lmnds shaH st•·ikc \Vhcn fitness calls them on, ami know by mc:1surc Of thci1· olJscn·ant toil the enemies' weight; ,\Yhy this h:~th not a fingc•·'s dignity- ~!'~f.a~'l~l~~l :~~ ~~c::u:~o~-~; l;~~'l~~~~~; 't ~~~os"~~l j :a•·' J·:m· the g-J'tnt swing :_md •·udcnct;S of hii poise, I hey plalX!d Lcfot•c Ius hand that m:tltc the cr. .. iuc Oa· those thnt with the fineness of thcit· souls 0 • Hy t·cason gui1lc his execution." . " ' ho tlJCn are the fanatics? Those who assert the right to discuss suL· Jects of national policy and philanthropy? or those who utterly forbid it ? W~-·~ venture to dcm_and om citizens for daring to discuss or express an optn1on upon the subJect, and who even attempt to bully the representatives of the. free states, (I do not usc the term invidiously,) into an abant.lonmcnt of thCJr sacred ~uty? Look to the case of Hopper in Georgia, of Howartl Payne, of Lovejoy, of Crandall. |