“And a negro-thief into the bargain.”
By Mr. Barksdale, of Mississippi, again:—
“I hope my colleague will hold no parley with that perjured negro-thief.”
By Mr. Singleton, of Mississippi, again:—
“No, Sir! any gentleman shall have time, but not such a mean, despicable wretch as that!”
By Mr. Martin, of Virginia:—
“And if you come among us, we will do with you as we did with John Brown,—hang you up as high as Haman. I say that as a Virginian.”[117]
But enough,—enough; and I now turn from this branch of the great subject with a single remark. While exhibiting the Character of Slave-Masters, these numerous instances—and they might be multiplied indefinitely—attest the weakness of their cause. It requires no special talent to estimate the insignificance of an argument that can be supported only by violence. The scholar will not forget the ancient story of the colloquy between Jupiter and a simple countryman. They talked with ease and freedom until they differed, when the angry god at once menaced his honest opponent with a thunderbolt. “Ah! ah!” said the clown, with perfect composure, “now, Jupiter, I know you are wrong. You are always wrong, when you appeal to your thunder.” And permit me to say, that every appeal, whether to the Duel, the revolver, or the bludgeon, every menace of personal violence and every outrage of language, besides disclosing a hideous Barbarism, also discloses the fevered nervousness of a cause already humbled in debate. And then how impotent! Truth, like the sunbeam, cannot be soiled by outward touch, while the best testimony to its might is found in the active passions it provokes. There are occasions when enmity is a panegyric.
(4.) Much as has been said to exhibit the Character of Slave-Masters, the work would be incomplete, if I failed to point out that unconsciousness of its fatal influence which completes the evidence of the Barbarism under which they live. Nor am I at liberty to decline this topic; but I shall be brief.