470 Page – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Here is the translated text as follows:

438 X, AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

His heart glowed with an ardor, which he took for a love of liberty and his country, and he had formed no design fatal to its privileges. He recollected, no doubt, that he had heretofore exposed himself for its service. He had bared his bosom in defense of his native soil and still felt the smart of wounds received in conflict for his king and country. Could that spirit, which had braved the shafts of foreign battle, brook the keener wounds of civil contest? The arrows which now pierced him pierced as deep and rankled more than those of former times.

Is it rational to imagine that much harmony could long subsist? We must take human nature as we find it, and not vainly imagine that all things are to become new at such a crisis. There are an order of men in every commonwealth who never reason but always act from feeling. That their rights and liberties were filched away one after another, they had often been told. They had been taught by those whom they believed that the axe was now laid to the root of the tree, and one more stroke would complete its fall. It was in vain to expect to silence or subdue these emotions by reasons, soothings, or dangers. A belief that nothing could be worse than the calamities which seemed inevitable had extended itself on all sides, and arguments drawn from such sources had little influence. Each day gave rise to new occurrences, which increased animosities. Heartburnings, heats, and bickerings became more and more extensive. Reciprocal insults soured the temper; mutual injuries embittered the passions. Can we wonder that when everything tended to some important action, the period so soon arrived? Will not our wonder be increased to find the crisis no sooner taking place when so many circumstances united to hasten its approach? To use an allusion somewhat homely, may we not wonder that the acid and the alkali did not sooner ferment?

A thought here imperceptibly forces itself on our minds, and we are led to be astonished that persons so discordant in opinion, and so opposite in views, attachments, and connections should be stationed together. But, here, gentlemen, we...

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