Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
IO2 LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
"Such is the truth of man's right to liberty. It
existed in the very idea of man's creation. It
was his even before he comprehended it. He was
created in it, endowed with it, and it can never
be taken from him. No laws, no statutes, no
compacts, no covenants, no compromises, no constitutions,
can abrogate or destroy it. It is beyond
the reach of the strongest earthly arm, and
smiles at the ravings of tyrants from its hiding
place in the bosom of God. Men may hinder its
exercise, they may act in disregard of it, they are
even permitted to war against it; but they fight
against heaven, and their career must be short,
for Eternal Providence will speedily vindicate
the right.
" The existence of this truth is self-evident. It
is written upon all the powers and faculties of
man. The desire for it is the deepest and strongest
of all the powers of the human soul. Earth,
sea, and air,—great Nature, with her thousand
voices, proclaim it. In the language of Addison
we may apostrophize it:—
"' Oh, Liberty! thou goddess, heavenly bright,
Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight!
Thou mak'st the glowing face of nature gay,
Giv'st beauty to the sun, and pleasure to the day.'
" I have said that the right to liberty is self-evident.
No argument, no researches into mouldy
records, no learned disquisitions, are necessary