l'.\l'EHS 01•' :\f rn.•. ::E.\t; JkONAPAHTE L.\.\L.\1:
are intencl•.::<l to perpetuate. "I give you all- T ca11 110 more"; my heart and hand- a heart that beats warmly in the cause of liberty, and a hand that :-:hall second all that the heart. may feel, whenever my ~-itnte, judgi11g herself agrieved, shall clemancl it:-: aid. Will nny patriot say that I speak the language of treason? that I breathe the spirit of rebellion? Will any one please 10 designate a siugle sentiment that I have uttered either fayorable to tyranny or ho:-:t.ilt- to freedom? Yet follow Citizens, you whose hosoms give a ge11Prou:-: r0sponse to all that I have said, are branded with myself, as rebel:-:. HJl(l ,Jncobins, and traitors. Wherefore this denunciation? \Vhat prin<'ipl<'s do you cherish incompatible with liberty- what con- duct have you been guilty of: to merit these insulting and opprobrious epithets? Ir a ,·e you ever refused your services to your country in time of wnr? .Have you ever sought to enrich ,rnmseh·es by uncon- stitutional invasions on the rights & property of others? Have you ever held yourseh-es in rea<liness to volunteer your heart & hand & . swonl in a crusade against the Sovereignty of any sister confederate of the Union? If r-uch had been your conduct you might indeed have desen·eLl the insults of' your revilers. But instead of being sullied by guilt like this, I fiucl that you are the advocates of Constitutional Gon~nnent- that you are the friends of free-trade ~nd equitable legis- lation- that you are the .foes of .federal usurpation; the repellers of despotism, and the vindicators of southern rights and northern honor. Why theu are you branded as traitors? Is it because _2f sentiments and feelings like these? Is it because you are ever ready to make your hearts the shield of your Country's liberty, and your hands the a,·enger of her wrongs? From whatever motive the aspersion may spring, you ha\"e at least the consolatioi1 of knowing that you are not the first gallant patriots who have been honored by similar denunciations. The bran> and virtuous in every age and nation, who were foremost to ar-sert their country's rights, have not only been stigmatized with this epithet, hut have bcell too often doornc>d to suffer as traitors. EYen in 011r own land, at the very moment that Patrick Henry was souncl- ing the alarm or approarhin:r clespofo:m. his Pars WC're snlutC'd with t}l(' en· of treason! treason! And what was the fate of the brighte:-:t flower"of chivalry mu! the pride of the Emerald I sl<' ? H e r-till ~leep,; witlwnt his epitaph. But who that hath an.v nobility of nature- who that is not utterly im:ensibJe to guilt and slwmC', wonld not rnthC'r be Emmet, the Yictim, peri~hing in the assertion or his country's free- dom. thau to be> the hired instrument of tyranny- the mean, pollut<'d judge who gnn~ him a mock trial all(l doomed him to the scatfolcl? Doubtle;;:s many aspostate [sicl Sout.lwm:-:- the ready c•xel'utors of federal Yengeance-are sighing for a like opportunity to p11rchn::e the farnr of the General Uon•r11111cnt through thL• bloud of 111nrdNed pa- t r i o t:::. Doubtlcf':- th0v (!atte1· them~ehe:- that the frlleral 1,arnnet will _yet. plarr tlu:111 in a ;ituntion when• ihPy too. 111Hkr tlw fon;1:; of law. may fli~pl'll:-P rlcaih to those impious irlolator::: of Librl't_r- tl1o~l: ul,- i-tinat<' l'l1ililn•11 or rrPPdom who \\"lll'f-hip at till' :,:hrinc or tlu•il' 1·01111- tn··s ri~.d1t:-. :n:-tl'ad 11f ,rrarill!.!' thP lin•n· of 11ation11I ,·a,:,-ala:t«·, a11 1 l l11;,,-in:. / to tlu• rli,·initY or a g,:i•at politi1•:il .Tu!,!arnn11t. B11t th,,_,· ~i.!.!'11 in min. Thei1· g-11il1_,: 11!•:-:ire lik1· tiw hope 111' 1111· hypun·rit. will know no l'ruition. (/old n1;1\· :-<'dlll·l' th<> r-i•lti::'h, 11nd the 1111\·om·t may IPrrify . . . .
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