Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-04-17

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circumstances of the slave system in Ameri-
ca, and to addnce proof of the assertion, that
the people OF England are largely implicated
IN its encouragement.
The slave population of the United States
of America may be estimated at $500, 900.
This large number of our fellow men, whose
right to liberty is no less sacred than our own,
are cruelty coerced to toll for the benefit of
others. With worse than savage barbarity,
the marriage relation among these victims Of
oppression is not recognized by law hence
those who morally sustain the relation of hus-
bands and wives are often separated for life,
by the sale of one or both at the will of their
|" owner" to places distant from each other.
The ties Of parent and child are equally dis
regarded, as might be expected from those
who scruple not TO sever the conjugal rela-
ton. In addition to this disregard of the So
cial rights and of the common feelings Of hui
mainly, slaves are debarred from an acquaint-
ance with even the rudiments Of knowledge,
lest they should therefore become acquainted
with their wrongs, and learn how to escape
from them. To teach a slave to read is pun
ishable with severe penalties, and in one
slave State, louisiana death is the legal
penalty for a second offence. For attempt
ing to escape from bondage, the laws of all
the slave States allow the life of the slave to
be taken by the pursuers, if he cannot other
wise be secured and imprisonment or death
is tile penalty inflicted on those who aid a
slave in his escape from bondage.
The American domestic Slave Trade, which
is carried on etween the various slave States,
Is In some OF Its features too revolving for de-
tail. BY this trade it has been estimated that
no less than 10000 persons are annually
sold, the greater portion taken from the place
of their birth to more fertile regions, and to
severer toll, and in a multitude of instances,
subjected 10 those cruel separations of the
nearest domestic ties TO which we have be-
fore alluded. To all who recognize the prin-
ciple that to hold an innocent fellow being in
slavery is criminal in the sight of God, we
need scarcely say, that it is a Christian duty
to avoid, as far as possible, all participation
in, or encouragement of, the crime.
In stating our belief that the consumers of
articles produced by slave labor, are accesso-
ries to the maintenance of the whole system
of which some features have been described,
we advance no new doctrines. During the
early struggle for the abolition of the Slave
Trade, in the latter part Of the last century,
the friends of that cause, as we have been in
formed, published and circulated tens Of thou
sands of copies of a small tract recommend
ing the dlsuse of sugar., at that time eXclu-
sively produced by slave labor. In this tract
we think it was satisfactorily shown, that a
small number of families, by their ordinary
consumption Of sugar, afforded the motive for
the removal of one slave from Africa, and
that, consequently, by abstinence from sugar
on the part OF a considerable number of fami-
lies, the ravages Of the Slave Trade might
be expected TO be materially lessened. Tho
mas Clarkson, in his "History of the aboli-
ton of the Slave Trade" estimates the mum.
Der OF persons in Great Britain who %volunta-
rlly abandoned the use Of sugar at the period
to which we refer, at SOC, 900. In addition
TO the reasons that have been already named
for substituting, as much as possible, free
grown for slave grown produce, it is manifest
that in SO doing, the subject of Slavery would
be much more frequently brought under the
notice OF our countrymen, and a standing pro-
test be held up against it.
We have already stated, in concurrence
with tEe testimony of some of the most emi-
nent friends Of the slave in the United States,
and undeniable facts, that the demand for the
cotton OF that country in Great Britain has
been a chief means OF perpetuating and ex-
tending Slavery in America. Shortly after
the declaration of American Independence,
there was much ground to hope that Slavery
would not long exist in the Union. The tide
Of public opinion, which had already led to
acts for the abolition OF Slavery in several of
the Northern States, was directed with con-
siderable force against it there were at that
time few articles of export produced by slaves
in the States of great pecuniary value. In
1890, the number of slaves was 6J7 1000, and
the cotton exported, $4,000 lbs. In 1913,
the number Of slaves was estimated at 2,SI7,-
! SI0. fbE ontfnn "oynortad urae I n2I ON nOn
lbs. and unless the most vigorous means be
used TO stay this mighty evil, it is impossi-
Bile to calculate what may be its future ex-
tension. Shall we, then c%Ontinue to uphold
and furnish an Hducement for the m%ainten-
ance of this vast system of crime and misery
which we profess to deplore and abhor =
Humanity, justice, and religion forbid us so
to do; and we therefore confidently cherish
the hope that, as one means of discountenanc-
ing Slavery, many OF our countrymen and
countrywolnen will now be found willing and
determined, as far as in them lies, to relin-
quIsh the use of American slave-grown cot
ton. Nor will they, we trust, be less reso-
lutte in reference to other articles, the produce
of slave labor, among which We may special
ly reckon Carolina rice and tobacco in all its
FIRMS.
b. BY such a course as the above, (Which we
strongly recommend, } they will not only in
dlyidually perform that which appears to be
a manifest duty, but will encourage the eff
forts of those friends Of the slave in America
who deem il right thus to act. The number
of these is, we learn, decidedly on the in
: crease. We are glad to be able to inform