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Show ) 190 Edwin M. \Vheelock. of our fath e rs for their freedom, deny the right of the American bonuman to imitate th eir high exnm plc>. And those who rejoice in the deeds of a Wallace or a Tell, a 'Va"hington or a Warren; who cherish with unbouno<.'d grat ituclc the 11ame of Lafayette for Yoluntcering his aid in behalf of an oppre;-;secl people in a de~ pernte cri;..;i;-;, and at the darkest l1011r of th eil' fttc, cannot rcfu~c equal merit to this strong, free, he roic man, who ha, freely con ccratcd all l1is power-, aml the labors of hi , whole life, to the help of the mo t needy, fi·iendless, and unfortunate of mankind. The picture of the Good Samaritnn will ]i,e to all future ages, as the model of human excellence, for h elping one whom he chanced to find in need. John Brown did more. lie went to seek those who were lost that he might snxe them. IIe a fhnatic! IJe a madman! lie a traitor! Y cs, and the crowned leaders of the next. the heroes of to-morrow. fanatics of this nge arc the st:u·And the madmen of to-clay are It is we who have committed treason, we who h ere in America, roofed oYer with the Declaration of Indcpende r1C'e, turn more people into merclmndi 'e than exi:-;tcd here when our fathers made that . olcmn deelnration; \rP, w Ito claim that the right to buy and sell men and women i · as f'ac red a.' t ltc right to buy and sell horses; ·we, who build our national temple on the profaned birthright::; of humanity, the FugitiYe Slave Bill being the chief corner--tone. But t hi~ " trnit01·" is Lin~ America, and carries the Deelamtion of '7 G in his heart. I think the time i fa t coming when you will be forced to do as he ha' done. You will be obliged to do it by the inroads of laYery upon you r own libertie and rig htR. 'Vhat you are 110t brought into by con cience, you will be harn ed into, ancl what you nrc not. hnmed into, you will be driv<'n into by the slm·eholder~ th c m ~el ves. Slavery will neither let peace, nor liberty, nor the Union tan d. A few years more will roll away, this tyranny steauily Edwin M. Wheelock. marching forward, till the avalanche comes clown upon you all, and you will be obliged to take the Ye r·y groun<l on which stands this high- oulecl and devoted man. Editor:; nncl Politician call him mad, and so he is - to them. For be ha. builde <.l hi8 manly life of more than threescore years upon the f~tith and fcnr of Gotl- a thing wltich. Etlitors ancl Politi cians, fi·om the time of Chri ' t till now, have alwa.y:s conn ted a ' full proof of in ~ anily. Oue such man makes total depravity impossible, and proves that American greatness died not with Wa ·hington. The gallows from which he a cends into heaven will be in our politics what the cross is in our r eligion- the sign and symbol of supreme sclf-cleYotedness; and from his sacrificial blood the temporal al vation of four millions of our people yet sha ll spring. It takes a whole geological e poch to form the one precious drop we call diamond; and a thousand years of Saxon progress, every step of which has been from sc:tffold to scaffold, and from take to stake, haYe gone to the making of this shining soul. That Virginia scaffold is but the ~etting of the co tly gem, who~e sparkle shall light up the face of an uncounted army. vVhen the old Puritan truck o stout a blow for the American slave, it rang on the fette r of thirtythree enslaved republic~, where every foot of soil is lawful kidna1)pin(T rrround, and where every man, white or blnck, b b •. hold his liberty at the will of a slaveholder, a comm1 s10ner, or a marshaL The only part of America which ha been, in this {reneration, conquered for God, is the few square feet of land on which tood the engine-house at IIarper' · F erry. Car1yle somewhere says that a. "rotten Rtump will stana a lon(T time if not haken." John Brown has shnkcn thiR , tump 0 of the old Barbarism ; it r emnins for n to tem· ou t en· r-y root it lm sent into the f'oil of the North. U n:-nppol'tcc1 hy these, the next brenth of insurrection will topple it to the ground. |