You will find that all the arguments in favour of
kingcraft were of this class; they always bestrode the necks of the
people,--not that they wanted to do it, but because the people were
better off for being ridden. That is their argument; and this argument
of the Judge is the same old serpent, that says, "You work, and I eat;
you toil, and I will enjoy the fruits of it." Turn in whatever way you
will,--whether it come from the mouth of a king, an excuse for enslaving
the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a
reason for enslaving the men of another race,--it is all the same old
serpent; and I hold, if that course of argumentation that is made for
the purpose of convincing the public mind that we should not care about
this, should be granted, it does not stop with the negro. I should like
to know--taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares
that all men are equal, upon principle, and making exceptions to
it--where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean a negro, why
not another say it does not mean some other man? If that Declaration is
not the truth, let us get the statute-book in which we find it, and tear
it out! Who is so bold as to do it? If it is not true, let us tear it
out.
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