We now say
that no man should be an involuntary gaoler, much less shall the
inhabitants of these colonies be the penal slaves and gaolers of the
British Empire. (Cheers.) We assert that a community should deal with
its own crime, at least so deal with it that in its disposal it shall
not injure those who never offended--so at least that the honest and
industrious labourer should not be brought into unfavourable comparison
and competition with the hardened criminal, so that, at all events our
sons shall not be driven from their homes to seek employment in distant
lands--to meet there suspicion and contempt. These are the wrongs of
which we complain--wrongs which could never have been perpetrated but in
oblivion of that first great Law, alike the basis of private and public
virtue: "do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you." The
Rev. gentleman resumed his seat amidst loud and prolonged cheering.
W.P. WESTON, ESQ.--It was with mingled feelings that he rose to address
that meeting; but when he ascertained that Mr.
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