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Show Charles O'Conor. many act b 'ncficent toward the negro, ':hic~1 otl~crwi~c wou~d be 1wrformctl. (Applmre.) In tn~th, 111 !act, Hl <! e<.'tl ~-m truth, in i~tct, in tlec<l, the white mall 111 the Sl~n-ehohllng lates h:t.:; llO more nulhority by the law of the land Over hi :-; s}ayc than our laws allow to a father over hi:; minor children. lie call no more violate humanity with J' '.spect to them than aJ fath er in any of the Free States of thi ' Union can cx<'rcise acts violative of humanity over his own son uutlcr the nge of twenty-one. So Car as the law i .concerJ~cd, you own your boys, and have a right to their scrnces unt1l they arc t.wcnty- ! one. yon can make them work for you; you can lure out tbeil' services and take their earnings; you have the right to chas ti~c them with judgment and r eason if they v iolate your command=-- ; and they arc entirely without political rights. Not one of them at the age of twenty years and •leYen mollths even cnn go to the polls and give a vote. Ther cfol'!', g<'ntlenwn, bcfoi'e the law, there i::; but oue difference hetwt>cn the free white man of twenty yenra of age in the Northcm States, and the ne(l'ro bonflman in the Southern States. The white 0 mnn is to be emancipated at twenty-one, b ~cau. e hi ~ Go<l-given intellect entitles l1im to emancipation and fit :::; him for the duties to devolve upon him. 'I'hc negro, to be ... nrc, is a bondman for life. lie may be sold from one master to anoth '1', bnt where is the ill in that?- one may be a.· goou ~1s :mot her. If there be laws with r espect to the mode of sale, which, by separating man and wife, do occn ionally lead to that which shock hum~1nity, and may be said to Yiolnte all propriety and all conscience- if such things arc <lone, let the Soul h alone, and they will correct the evil. Let om· br thren of' the South take care of tlwir own domestic institutions, a.ncl they will do it. (Applans '.) They will so govern them ·ch·e~ a · to . uppre sa 'ts of tl1i ·description, if they :lrc ocea;-;ion:tlly committcc1, a pcrhap~ they nrc, and we must a.ll admit that they arc contrary to all just conceptions of rjgltt and llUmanity. I have neYer yet hcaru of a nati on conquer ed fi·om evil practices, brought to the light of civilization, or brought to the light of • Charles O'Conor. religion and the knowledge of the Gospel by the bayonet., by penal laws, or l>y extemal persecution.· of any kind. It is not by declamation and outcry again t a people from those abroad and outside of their territory that you can improve thcil' manners or their moral in any respect. No; if, standing outside of their territory, you attack the errors of a people, you make them cling to their faults. From a entiment somewhat excusable - akin to sclf-re.'pcct anu patriotism- they will re · i ~ t their nation's enemy. Let our brethren of the South alone, gentlemen; and if there be any errors of thi' kind, they will correct th ·m. There i but one way in which you can thus I •ave them to the rrn idancc of their own judgment, by which you can retain the~ in this Union a our brethren, and perpetuate this g lorious Union ; and that iR, by rc olving - without r eference to the political party or faction to which any one of' you may belong; wi thout r eference to the name, political or otherwise, which you may plea ·c to bear- 1·e olving tbat the man, be he who he may, who advocates the doctrine that negro slavery is unju t, and ought tv be a ailed ot· legi la.ted against, or who agitateH the subject of extingui -hing negro lavery in any of its forms a a political hobby, that tl~at man shall be denied your suffrage , and not only den ied your suffrages, but that yon will . ·lect from the ranks of the opposite pat-ty, or your own, if neces~ary, the man you like lea. t, who entertains opposite sentiments, but through whose in trumcntality you may be cnabl 'd to llcfeat his election, and to ccure in the councils of the nation men who are true to the Con titution, who arc lover of the Union- men who cannot be induccu by con ... ider at ion of imaginary benevolence for people who r eally do not de ire their aid, to sacrifice or to jeopard in any derrree the bles in crs . 0 b we enJoy under this Union. l\fay it be perpetual. (Great and continued cheering.) Three cheers were g iven for the State of Virginia. |