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Show Wendell Phillips. 1 years 1cncc, w 11 e n tii Ji o(l 'ht of ('ivili z~1 tio n hn:; hnd more time to pene t ral c , \vhcn · cll'-intcr('·s l ha~ l>cen r ·bukell .b y th e n-orlt.l · · 1 · .· (l' 1't , \'('nlid on the~e (l'rca.t q11 e~ t ton :.:.;, when Jt 1Tll1gamgt\lll0 :-s b ....• 1· s no t a m:1 11 'u",l ll <l of .Abolitioni :--t:=; ' but the <'1\'dJzatJon of the nineteenth century in all its vari c<l f'orm~, interest:-;, :11111 ele-ments, that undvrtakes to enter tlw an•na, an1l d.i:-'<'ll:"i:"i thi · ln ·t great reform. '\Vhcn that <lay come:-', what wd~ be thought of' these Hr ·t martyr:', who l(;a ·h us how to ltve nwl how to die? Ila the slave a right to r c:-- i:-;t his ma:-;tcr? I will not argue that quc~:-; tion to a peoph• hoarse witl1 :-;IIouting \'Cr ~ince July '1, 177G, that all men arc er<'atc•<l <'qual, that the Ticrht to liberty is inali enable, and that ' r c: i: tan<'<' to tyrants is 0 obedien<"c to God." B11t may he r<':-;i~t to hloou- with rifles? '\Vhat nee<l of provin~ that to a JH'ople who loacl down Bunker II ill wil h ~ran it<·, a1Hl crow<l their }liJblic sqnarc~ with imag('S of' 'Vashington ; ~1y, wor:·dti.p the 1'Word so blindly that, ll':t,·ing th L· ir oldpst, stah'smen Hll<·, tiH'Y go down to the bloo<livst l>attlt• ii t·hl in l\Iexieo to dra:; ouL a Prc:-' i<lent? B11L may one lH·lp th t' slav' resis t, as B rown diu? A;:;k Byron Oil his (lt·ath-lwtl in ell \ lll<ll'Sht•s of .i\li ~:'0- 1ongh1. A~ k the Illl\1:--on a-; it:-; watt'rs kiss your sl10n', what :mswer th<'y bring f'rom th t• ~ran· of' Ko:--ciu:-;ko. I hide the ConncctieuL Puritan hd1intl Laf:tyett<·, bl<'eding at Brandywine, in bcbnlf of' a nation his righ tf'ul king iorlmde him to vi:5it. BuL J ohn Brown Yiolatetl the lnw. Ye. . On yontl<·r clc:;k lie the ins pired wonls of men who dit•Ll Yiolcnt deaths tor br<'aking t be law:; of Honw. \Vhy <.lo you li ~ t ' 11 to them so r<'ver!' ntly !' lltJ:-'s and \\ricklifll: Yi olntl'd law:>, why honor them? George \Vwd1ington. h;td ltc lwcn caught before l7o:3. wottl1l ha\'e <livd on the gibbet , for br<·akiug the laws of' ltiR so v<•r<·ign. Yet l have h<•nnl that, m :-111 pmisc<l within ~ ix month ~ . Y ·:-;,you ~ ay, but th P~' men broke bad law~. ,}ll::;t l::lo. It is honoraulc, then, to break bad laws, and such law- Wendell Phillips. 59 brr,aking History lovrs and God blcR~cs! "\Vho f;:l}'~', th r n, that s]a,· la\v:1. ar not t 'n tl10nsnnd times wor;-;c· th :m ;111y tho ·e men r esrstecl ? "\Vhatever argument (J.)"CIIS('S them, makes John Brown a . aint. uppo.'e John Brown l1acl not sta icl at lim·p ' r'~ Ferry. Suppo·c on that momr ntous 1\fon<lny niglll, w1 J<'n the <·xcit<·<l imaginations of two thou ~nnd Charlest<nvn pc·ople ltHd c·nlarg '<l him and hi liltle hnncl into four 11undrcd whit <' m<'n nud two hundred Llacks, l1c hnd vanished, ancl wh<•n th<> gallant troops arrived there, two thous:uHl s trong, they hnd ft>tllHl nobody! The mountain:-! would !ta,·c b<·c·n IH·opl<'d " ·it 11 <>nemi .· ; the All< ·ghanie:-3 woul<l l1a vc' hra ,·c·d witlt in:--IJIT<'tlion 1 Yot~ never would have convin <'cd Vi rginia that, all Pc·nnsylvan~ a W:ls not arnw<l nntl on the 11ills. Huppos<' l\fas:-:a<'husc w~, free 1\lm;s:~c h mwtt:::, h:ul not g iven the worl<l the t ·legmplt to fln~h Hews lik ' sunligl1t over IInlf tite globe'. ThPn 'l'u e~ <lay would have r ol led awny, while' :-\low-spr<•adin<r through dazt(l Virgin ia crawlccl th <' IH'W:> of' t1 1 i~ (' \'('ll~ 1\Icanwltilc, a bun<lred nwn 1J~H' in <r rallied to Brc>w r1 ', <··!c) • i? :-; ,..,1( ' he m1ght haYe mar('hc•d across tlte quaking Htatc to Hidnnon<l ancl pardoned GoYernor \\' i. c. Nat Turner's s 11 c·<·<·ss in t ;);J l . hows this would h:n-c h<'<'n po~sihlP. Fn·o t1 1ou<rht motht;. of invention, not Virgini:l, l>afTlcd Brown. Hui fi:e 'u1011 ,.,.ht • J ] n ' Jll t lC .ong nm, r, tr:mglc'.' tyrant~. Vir~inia h:ts ll OL l' lept Round srnce Nat lttriJ L' l' led an insmT<'et ion 1·,1 1 u31 ( 1 ,, . , . n , <111< s I e ~Hl fau· ~ v r to ha vc a nap now. (Laughte r.) F or this 1s not an 1n ~ urrection; tl1is i · the penetration of a different element. l\farlc you, it is not the opprcs:<·cl rnec risinrr. H '<~ollcct history. There neYcr was a race ]1cJd in act u: l cham ~ that vindicat <1 it own Jioerty but one. There never wa ~ a serf nor a ~Ja ve whose own woJ·cl Ctl t ofT'l1. J · • 1s own c· tam but one. Blue-eyed, 1ight-1Iaired Anglo-Saxo11 , it wns not our race. '\Vc were ~crfs for three eentu rie~, mH1 we wait e<l till commerce, and Chris tianity, and a different Jaw, had nw lt ed our fetters. '\V c were crow<.lcd down in to a. villanngc wltich |