“‘My sorrow is my right,
And I will see the Sultan, and to-night.’
‘Sorrow,’ said Mahmoud, ‘is a reverend thing;
I recognize its right, as king with king:
Speak on.’”[144]
To take this right away from any portion of our fellow-subjects—even if you say they are not fellow-citizens—will be barbarous. And when I consider under what influence this proposition is brought forward, I present it as a fresh illustration of the Barbarism of Slavery,—most barbarous in the unconsciousness of its Barbarism.
The outrage is apparent from a simple statement.
In all the States—even in the Slave States—a free colored man may hold property of all kinds, personal or real,—even land, in which citizenship strikes its strongest root; but you will not allow him the poor right of petition.
He may own stocks of the United States, Treasury notes, and in other ways be the creditor of the Government; but you will not allow him the poor right of petition.
He is strictly bound by every enactment upon our statute-book; and yet you will not allow him to appear before you with a prayer to modify or soften this statute-book.