Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1845-09-26
COMMUNICATIONS.
THE AUGUST MEETING AT MARL-
BOROUGH.

Nv
Some, whose claim to genuine philantlro-
Nv cannot be doubted. are mourning that
,.brethren fall out by the way" In their eff
forts for moral reform. Let them not de-
spond. Fermentation results in the volatll-
izatiUn of gaseous, and the subsistence OF
gross particles, while that which is valuable
becomes embodied. 1t may be essential to
progress that conflicting elements be brought
in contact. Would the religion embraced Sy
the Emperor Constantine have included n ma
iority of his subjects in three hundred years
after its PRONUNCIATION, had IL not been oppo-
sedl Had its hundreds of bishops, with their
adherents, entertained precisely the same
views, there would have been no Nicene
council. But for ecclesiastical interferences
with the ccclcsiastic Luther professionalism
would have made comparatively little pro-
gress. The anne independence on the one
hand, and opposition on the other will account
for the increase of all the popular sects.
1t is not less true of the reforms Of our day.
The rapid advances in temperance and alb
clifton, could not have been made, had not
opposition excited sympathy for the persecu-
ted advocates of these reforms, which in due
time became interest in the causes themselves,
for their own merits. Aroused by the NAL
treatment of disinterested reformers, bye stln-
ders imperccptibiy commenced a work of in
yestigation in which, but for previous agita-
ton. thcv would not have been engaged
Whether the stimulus of conflict be an essen
tial element Of progression will not now be
discussed, though it may be suggested that
life of all kinds is the result Of a strife be-
tween antagonistic forces.
In 1883 immediateism, in abolition, cree
ted for itself Il platform. Great and good
hearts rallied to it. They were, or thought
they were of one mind. They had a skiliul,
powerful, malignant enemy without. Aware
that it would require unremitting vigilance,
and their united energies to contend with such
a foe. they had neither leisure nor inclination
to compare their views in detail. Excelsior
in the germ, no less than in the bud or the
blossom, is indispensable. In their defence of
their principles they moved not only onward,
but upward; new and higher views were pre-
scented and at each consecutive advance their
opponents partly conceding the rightfulncss
OF the previous position fought mainly against
the present one. Soon, comparatively, little
was urged against amllgamation, turning
loose &C.. but new fields had to be won.-
The soldiers of the enemy had lost somewhat
of their f~erocity, besides many had deserted
| and were doing battle in the other ranks
These and other promising signs, satisfied
some organizations and temperanents, and
when their brothers more sanguine and ar
dent, were pressing on with renewed and in
creasing vigor, the former Were prone to think
them ultra; they were wont to say "thiS is
going too far, or too fast, or perchance, it is
extraneous." PlradoXical az it may appear,
it is quite possible, now that the opposition
from without was less violent and less vlru-
lent, that the excitement could not have been
kept up to the beautifully efficient point
without agitation within. Neither materials
nor agents Were wanting. Whether person
was to be understood in the civil or social
Specification, was deemed a worthy question
to begin with, and Garrison and Tappan en-
tered the bcligerancy. Woman's rights was
the ostensiblc schismatic question, and Sc
c%ession followed its discussion. Old and
new organization threw crackers and rockets
into each others camp; both sent bombs and
balls into the pro-slavery fortress. Once the
c~nslaver hoped, and the emancipation, feared
they would waste their strength in domestic
collision. The hope is past, and the fear is
no longer painful, for it is seen that although
they cannot unite tremendously as they were
wont in by-gone days, yet each in his own
right and after his own manner, s~ustains an
unceasing destructive fire on the enemy.
At the present time abolition has at least
four costumes; the constitutional gradualism
of C.. NJ. Clay; the constitutions Immediate
ism of G. Baily jr.; the organized mo union
with s~laveholders'' of w. L.. Garrison, and
the unorganized no union with state, church,
or any other available instrumentality for the
perpetuation of slavery ofN, p. Rogers. The
first would engage in deadly strife before the
last emergency; the second, reluctantly even
then; the third would repudiate physical force
under any conceivable circumstances, and
the last consents not to any incumbrance oil
impediment being cast in the way of the free.
est thought and speech, he discards not only
physical force but mental restraint in all de,
grees. Each of these entertains his owl
views, of necessity, and tells his own story
confidently, the integrity Of each being above
suspicion. TO all this there can be no obiec.
ton until it is shown that opinion is control
led by %volition. Those who are active in eli
Their of the foregoing classes deem it impor
tant that they should explain, and at the leasi
recommend, the course of action which they
adopt. This they consider a duty, a duty
they must promptly and earne:tly perform
They write and speak freely, each in favo,
of his W theory, and dispara g.nglg of The
theories of the other. Thus far a Iauit can
not be imputed. One plan of o. e%rations il
nearer perfection than the others; the listen
ing public should have an opportunity to Sc