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Show 74 After the mob of Philade,phia, who wonders at the mob of Harrisburg ? 1 h bl meless Another aggravation of this act was, t mt t e a . character of those who had erected and were occupymg the Hall of Freedom, was distinctly understood. The assembla( Te thron"ing this edifice, was not made up of profh-gatcs, o" f the fa"l se, the lawless, t h e pro fane ·. On th. at oc-casion were met together citizens of Pluladelphla and visiters from other cities and States, who wer.e seco~d to none in purity of life; and they had convened '" obcd.ence to what they believed, however erroneously, the Will of God and to accomplish what seemed to them a great work of j~st.ice and humanity. I doubt whether, at that hour, there were collected in any other smgle spot of the land so many good and upright men and women, so many SI~c.ere friends of the race. In that crowd was John G. 'Vh!tller, a man whose genius and virtues would do honor to any city whose poetry bursts from the soul with the fire and indi~nant energy of an ancient prophet, an~ whose noble simplicity of character is said to be the dehght of all who know him. In that crowd was Lucretm Mott, th~t beaullful example of womanhood. Who that has heard the tones of her voice, and looked on the mild radiance of her bemgn and intelligent countenance, can endure the thought, t~mt such a woman was driven by a mob, from a spot to wh1ch she had gone, as she religiously believed, on a mission of Christian sympathy ? There were many others, worthy associates of those whom I have named, rehgtous men, prepared to suffer in the cause of l~umanit!, d~vo~cd. w~men whose hearts were burdened w1th the mfimte md1gmties 'heaped on their sex by slavery. Such were tl~e people, who were denied the protection of the la~vs ; demed the privilege granted to the most profligate poht!Cal party, and even to a meeting of Atheists ; treated as outcasts, as . the refuse and offscouring of the world. In them was rev1ved 75 the experience of the first witnesses to the Christian faith. Happily Christianity has not wholly failed to improve society. At fir•!, the disciple himself was destroyed ; now only his edifice ; and this is certainly some progress of the world. And what was the mighty cause of this outrage ? A general reply is, that the Abolitionists were fanatics. Be it so. Is fanaticism a justification of this summary justice? \Vhat more common than this fever in our churches ? How does it infect whole sects ! What more common in our political meetings ? !\'lust the walls within which fanatics meet be purged by desolating fire ? Will not then the whole land be lighted by the flames ? Shall I be told, that the fanaticism of the Abolitionists is of peculiar atrocity ? that they arc marked, set apart, by the monstrousness of their doctrines ? These doctrines are, the brotherhood of the human race, and the right of every human being to his own person and to the protection of equal laws. Such are the heresies, that must be burned out with fire, and buried under the ruins of the temple where they arc preached! Undoubtedly there may be crimes, so unnatural, so terrible to a community, that a people may be forgiven, if, deeming the usual forms of justice too slow, they assume the perilous office of inflicting speedy punishment. But that the processes of law, that the chartered rights of a free people should be set aside, to punish men, who come together to protest against the greatest wrong in the land, and whose fanaticism consists ·in the excess of their zeal for the opprPssed ; this is a doctrine, which puts to shame the dark ages, and which cannot long keep its ground in our own. But this general charge of fanaticism is not the main defence of this hall-burning. The old cry of "danger to the Union" is set up. Abolitionism was to be committed to the flames, because it threatened to separate the States. I |