Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-11-20
PclihOning

oath TO support the Constitution, which is a
.'leanue with satan and an agreement with
hell" and
If a man cannot act as a legislator, with
out first becoming associated in the league
with Satan, and a party TO the agreement
with hell, then
A man cannot without violating moral
right, ask the law making power TO enact or
repeal any law however desirable it nigh:
be--unless
1t is righi TO do urong that rigM or per-
manent good may grow out of 1t which Is
false in the nature Of things.
We may ask wicked men to do right, but
we cannot ask them TO act under a wicked
oath.
We cannot ask the Legislature not to pass
n wicked law, without implying that they
may act under their oath to enact good laws.
II should see Mr.. and Mrs. Jones the OBJ
iects of a vile and infatuated mob, and were
10 say to the rabble ''you ought not to throw
eggs at Mrs. JONES'" wha. would the mob
understand by liz "But you may at Mr..
jones'
You may ask wicked men under a great
many different circumstances TO do good
deeds, but whenever you ask them 10 remain
in a state of wickedness, you ask them to
sin and you contradict the truth that nOU is
the time 10 repent.
J. c. MARSHALL.
REPLY.
The above is an ingenious intermixture of
truth and sophistry. Part of it we agree
with, and part wholly dissent from. The
premises are true, the conclusion irrational.
A government, such as the government of
this country which the writer evidently had
in his mind, is nothing more nor less than
an assemblage of agents who represent the
wishes of the people, and are empowered to
act on behalf of the individuals who appoint
ed them. 1t matters not whether the deter
mination of The people be expressed throngh
their agents or without them, whether by
oral declaration, resolution, legal enactment,
or personal action, if we have a right TO ask
the individual TO forego a wicked determina-
ton, we have a right TO ask the agent OF that
individual to do the same on behalf of his
principal, and that without any reference to
the price the agent paid for his appointment.
A man declares that he will assault ]. G.. VI.
at least once every year; have we a right to
ask him to repeal that unwriiten law! None
will deny it. If ten men make the same dec
l%araiion, or ten hundred men, have we not
the same right to ask each individual Of the
thousand TO forego, to repeal his determine
lion! If the thousand, moved by conven-
ionce OF caprice, appoint ten Of their number
to act as representatives of the whole, and to
~reiterate the same declarations may we not
rightfully demand of the ten representatives
what We have demanded of the one, the ten,
aud the ten hundred individuals? Not i
they have taken a wicked oath of office
our correspondent would reply. Let us see
What is this oath of Office! Simply tina
they will sustain a constitution which say
that ]. c. M. may be assaulted yearly. VIVA
have they done which the individual wrong
doer has not done! One has uno6iciaN
sworn he will assault j. c. NJ. so long as hi
inclination requires 1.-THE others have of
ciaHy sworn they will do it so long as the ii
c%lination of their employers require it.
we may ask a pro-slavery northerner to re
peal the Ubiquitous law he has framed in hi
heart and sworn TO sustain, that he will sen
back every fugitive slave he can catch, ma
we not ask his representative TO do it VIII
has sworn in a different place, and ina some
what different manner to do the same thing
or does the place, and manner of an oat
change its character But our corresponds
inlimsies that the representa- lives of this 80,
eminent would have no power to repeal u
righteous laws, did they not themselves O
cupy a false position. Very good. Ofcour.
a sinner cannot repent unless he is a sinner
and it should be borne in mind that the pos
: ton of the private individual is as far from
true one, as is that of the man who represen
n in public the opinions and wishes Of the fc
mer.
g g If. C. NJ. believes the conclusion he h
drawn, is he not by his own showing gull
if of a violation of principle whenever he as
an Office holder TO throw up his commissio
for it could not be thrown up unless he fl
70 received it, and he could hot have received
70 had he not first taken the oath of office.
II Consistency does not always require us
,e ask of IA drunkard in the same breath that
a. shall no, break his crockery, abuse his oh
dren, beat his wife, fire his house, dii
rum, play at cards, go 10 the theatre, Gu
and swear, vote for a STAKEHOLDER, nor N
abolitionists. If, with torch in hand, he
about TO fire his dwelling, it is perhaps su
n cient for the time that you endeavor to C
vince him of the madness of the attempt
i'll he is about to disturb an anti-slavery me
A. ing, a lecture on card playing and profar
might be dispensed with until you have Z
nd PEELED his mobocratic feelings. In cert
at cases men should be governed by circl
stances in deciding how much and what
III ask and it matters but little whether the
he dividual of whom the request is made i
drunken citizen or drunken representa-