Speech Of Daniel O'connell: Before The Irish National Repeal...

Tiie cliairman of the meeting said, in introducing O'ConnelI - 'IJc was sorry thore wero Irishmen in Amcrico, who had takeu the wrong side with regard to the Jibertics of the human race, and it was to induce them to take a wiser courss that he appaared beforo the meeting. He hoped the fceling of the associaíion would be expressed strongly in accordance with lus views, and that Irishmen in America would not bc found taking part with the pro-slavery party tliere (cheers.) Mr. O'Connell then rose and said - 'In (tiie letter from the anti-slavery society in PhiladelphiaJ is a production framed in the purest effort of simplicity, but at the saine tiir.e, powerful in its eentiments, so at once to reach the liaman heart, and stir up the human feelings to sorrow and execration - sorrow for the victims, and execration for the tyrants, (loud cries of hear hcar, nnd cheers. ) It will have its efFect throughout Ireland; for the Irih people did not know what was, alas! familiar to you, Sir, and to me - the real etate of skvery in America, and the unequalled evils which it inflicts; for slavery, wherever it exists, is the bitterest portion that can be cominendcd to thelipsof man. Lot it bo presenled in any shape, and it must disgust, for a curse inherent to it, grows with it, and inflicta op pression and cruelty wherever it descenda (hear, hear, and cheers.) Mr. Mooney had been onc of oursclves who went to America on his own business, where lig liiiuüy voluL'teered to act for tbi associalion; but he never was recognized as the ogen of ihis ossociation; and I will say that it va considerable audacity in Mr. Mooney, acting as he wag in our cause - for he did not venture to cali himself our agent - that he should dare to tarnish the cause of Irishmen residing in Ireland,vith the doctrine which he has presumed to promúlgate (hear.) I teil Mi: Mooney ihis, that ;f he ever again ventures upon a single expression in mitigation of slavery, from thnt moment no other letter of hisshall ever be received by this association (hcar, hear.) I ' irish the slavery Society of America should knoic, that this associatioñ were in no ivay partia'pators in the sentiment which he ■putforlh (liear.)I caro not who the Amcricans inhcrit the system from, but this I know, that tliey not only mherited it originally from Englsnd, but they have sincc thcn Bpread it through States that were not ui existence at the timo of their separating from the mother country (hear, liear.) They liavc, eince their índependence, addcd six or eeven new slave States to the Union, and I would wish to know from Mr. Rlooney what participation had England in that-(hear, hcar.) . But ihere can be no excuse for so atrocfous a crime as that of kccjring ány na?i in slavcry, - claiming owncrehip in those who were made by the samo Creator, intended for the same eteniity,redeemed by the precious blood of the simo Saviour, made heirs of the same promises, and embodied in the same covenant of the Son of God. No - no man shall daré to say that sucb beings shall be made the property of their folio men, and treated, not as human beings, but as the brute beast, that expires, and thcn ceases to have any other existence (hcar, and cheers.) No - we do not tolérate it hcre. We proclaim it an ovil; and thougb,as a member of this association, I am not bound to tal;e up any national quarrcl,still, I do not hesitate to deciare my opinions - I never paltered in my own'setiments (cheers.) I never said a word in mitigation of slavcry in my lifc; and I would consider myelf the most criminal of human beings if I had done so. (TIcar, and cheers. ) Jls an individual, I declare I icould not hold converse teith the persou tcho kceps a slavc . (Cheers.) I would not shake hands witli a piek pocket, I would not consent to treat with fainiliarity the petty larceny scovndrel, and why should I do so with the man who makes the life and labor of his fcllow men his property, instead of leaving it the property of the being ón whom God conFérret! these gifts? (Hear, hcar, nnd chceis )I put it on the grouml of its being contrary to the law of" God for man lo continue his follow mun. in sUivery, nnJ what thc law of God forbids no human iaw can sustuin orcountcnancc. (Hear.) But the American Constitution declares in ïts opening pnrngraph hat all mankind are bom to the inalienable rights of life, tp liberty, and the pursuit of luman happincss; and accordingly the Slate of Massachusetts decided in its highest court of judicature that the declaration overruled he slight allusion that wns contained in it to slavery. But Columbla, whero it existe, could tornorrow abolish slavery without the slightest breach of Constitutional principie or Constitutional law. But when they talk of he Constitiition, I ask, why not put an end 0 slavery there, wherc they have the capital of American liberty - the temple of constitutional freedom - the hall of their assenibly; where resides the President chosen by the nople; wiiero ra short, existí ihe eacred tem)le of human liberty, but where, while the white man is enjoying the blessings of freelom, the st reets resound with the lashes nilicfed on the back of the black slave - where he children are torn from their parents, and parents from their children - wherc the yell of despair, and the ehriek that attends expiring ïumnnity fall upon theear. Yes, Iwill say, shame vpon evcry man in America icko is mt an anü-slavery man; shame and disgracc ipon Mm! I do not care for the consequenecs, but I will not yestrain my honest Í7idignation oj feeling when 1 pronovnee &e.ry man a FAITHLESS MISCREANT who duc3 ix)t talie a part for the Abohlion of slavery. (Tremendous cheering for several minutes.) It may Le said that ojftnee will he taken at these words - come ivhat may from ihem, they are MY words. (Renewed applauee.) ■ Wc might have shrunk from the quesüon by rcferring the document to a. committee, but 1 would consider such a coure nnworthy of me, enjoying as I do he coníidence of the virtuous, the religious, nnd the humane people of Ireland, for I would be unfit to te what I would desire to consider myself, the representive of the yirtues of the people, ïf I iverenot ready to make every sacrifico for them rathe than to give the least sanclion to human sla vcry. ■ ■ ? Thcy say that tho anti-slavery advocates ar for tho immediate emancipation of tbe slaves but, I ask, which of themselves are favorab! BVèn to gradual abolition? (iiear.) The; sa}', also, tbat-slaveó are worse ireaied, sinc tbe cry of alíoluíon bas" been raiserj' ín the] favor, as it bas made their masíers mora sucpicious of them, and more severe agains them; but bas that any weigbt with me? - How often was I told durin our agitation,tha 'the Catbolics would be emaucipatedbul for the violence of that O'Connell. ' (Laughter.) Why, one of the clcverest men n the country wrote a pamphlet in 1827, in which he stated that the Protestants of Ireland would emancípate their Catholic countryme long before, but for me, and fellows of my kind, and yet, two years after I got emancipation in spite of them. (Chcere.) But it is cloarly an insult to the understanding to speak so. When did tyranny relax its gripe merely because it ought to do so? and f it would, why did they not emancípate their slaves for ccnturies that passed without agitation? (Hear.) As long as tbere was no agitation, the master enjoyed the persecution of their slaves in quietness; but the moment the agitation commenced, they cncd out, 'Oh, it is not the slave we are flogging,but we are flogging through his back the anti-slavery men.' But, good Ileaven! can Irishmen be found to jistify,or rathcr to palliate, for no one could daré attempt to justiíy a system which shuts out the book of human kr.o'.vledge'an:l see'cs to reduce to the condition of the Flave 2,500,000 human beings - which close3 against them not only the light of human ecience, but the rays of divine revelation, and Ihe doctrines whicb the Son of God carne upon the earth to plant. The man tcho will do so belongs not to ?ny kind. (Hear, hearj Over the broad Atlantic Ipour forth my voice, sayivg - 'Come out of such a land, you Irishmen, or if you remain and dare countenance the system of slavery that is support cd thcre, we will recognize you as Irishmen no longer. fHear, hear, and cheers.) But is that all tliat can be said against slavery? Can any thing be more dreadfully destructivo of morality? I ara prevented by the presencc m which I spcak, from entering1 as fully into this subject as I might beforo a more select, but less pure auditory than the preeent; butl ask, enn there be moraJity undcr such a system which prevente the marriige 8tate,or where t!jose who are married today, may be forced Trom each other forever to-morrow; where the husband is sold to one slavo-owner. nnd the wife to nnother, and where the children may be torn from the parents, and sent elsewhere? Can there be morality where the power of the master over the fcmale blavc is unlimitcd, and where no passion is 80 brutal, that ït haa not tho nicatis of ils gratification? I say the man ia not a Christian - hc cannot bclicvc in the binding law of the dccalogue-hc may po to thcchapc! orhe church, and he may turn up the whitea of is cycs- but he cannot kneel as a Christian cfore his Creator, or he would not clare to alliate such an infamons Bjstem. JVo-Jlmc ica, the black spot of slavery resta vpon yemr tar-spangled hanner, and no maiter whal rlory you may acquire heneath it, thc hideous, amning stain of slavcy remains upon yov, nd a jusl providence will sooner or later aenge itsdffov your críme. ( Loud and contiued cheers.) Sir,I have spoken the sentiments ƒ the Reptil Aaioc'atior. (Renewed cheere.) There is not a man amongst the hundreds of loiLsands that belong to our body, or alongsl the milhons that will belong to it, wlio oes not conaxr in ichat 1 have stattd. Wc nay not get money from Amcrico, after tbis edaration; but even if we should not, tve du oí want blood-staiwed biokey. (Ilear, car.) Iftheymnke it the condilion of our ympathy, or if there be implied any submision to the doctrine of slavery on our part, in eceiving their romittances, let them cease ending it at once. But there are v.ise and ood men every where, and there are wiso nd good men in America - and that docu - ment which you have read, Sir, is a proof, among others,that there are - and I vvould wish to cultívate the friendship of such men; but the crimináis and the abettors- Ihnse ivho commit and those icho countenancc the crime of lavet y - I regard as enemies of Ircland, and I desire to have no sympathy or support from them. (Cheers.) I do not wish to go onelihe beyond my duty tovvards the Irish pcople, but thin I will say, thcy are not what f think of them, if they are in any way displeasedwith me for denouncing, witht a voice that I desiro tobe loud and emphatic the hoiroro of slavery, and the crime and guilt of slaveholders. (Cheers.)