Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-05-07

NipidtluU dHu tHb IeWdIuS VI lNtlI lulllI161ts
Thee is no evasion, no escape. They are
unrelenIing, memorable and immutable. Tho
plea or Ignorance or accident a%vaiieih noupht.
The person who puts his hand in the fire
suffers equally whether he did it through ig-
norance, accident or malice. SO with every
thing else belonging 10 our moral, mental or
physical nature. The healthy qualification
and exercise of every faculty gives us plea
sure, while its prevention OF violation gives
Us pain. But it 10 impossible for Us to har-
monize with the laws Of our being as long as
we are ignorant of them. We cannot obey
laws that we do not understand, nor act upon
principles we do not comprehend. So long
as we continue TO float on the ocean Of chance,
tossed by the gales Of passion, and borne in
every direction alternately, to suit each pass
ing breeze, so long we must be wrecked and
grounded on the shoals and rocks Of wretch
edness and uncertainty but when we have
learned TO regulate our sails to suit the breeze,
mark our course by the compass, and placed
a skillful pilot at the helm, then shall we be
able 10 stem the contending pillows AMI ride
in smooth, u%nrufled majesty into our destined
port. To do this we must have knowledge.
We must understand the nature Of wind and
water, their relation to each other, and that
Of the vessel in which we sail. We must
know the effect that every action will have
upon her progress. We must know the use
Of every mast, rope and sail on board. We
must know the situation of every bar and
snag and rock that lies in our path. This
knowledge is the pilot Of the ship of life, and
just in proportion as that pilot is perfect, SO
is our chance to gain the port of happiness (;
and in proportion as it is defective, SC is there
danger of being lost.
But aside from these, there are considera-
tons Of self-interest, as well as the duty
which, as social beings, we owe to our race,
which are of sufficient moment to prompt us
10 act. Tho time is coming when respecta-
bility will no longer be guaged on a scale Of
gold-when titled wealth will no longer be
the standard OF power and influence. But
when men shall be known and honored in
proportion as they are intelligent and useful
when true merit shall b. appreciated and
acknowledgements he shall be most re-
spected who is the wisest and the beet
The signs of the times are onward and up
ward TO perfection. A mighty work is CO.
ing on in the world. Revolution follows re-
v%olution; change succeeds to change reform
follows upon reform. Great al advances have
already been made. Much has been accom-
plished to remove the cause of misery and
unhappiness. Noble hearts and willing
hands are engaged in the promotion of hui
man diSenthrallment. But much still re-
mains to be done. There is yet a wide field
of action open for the Reformer and the
Phllanthropist.. The munster vice Of In
ants, still stalks abroad in the world. The
noxicus pestIleniial vapors yet arise from
thousands Of distilleries, polluting the very
heavens with their foul infections. The very
air you breathe is yet tainted with the hot
breath of the inebTiate. Our jails, our peni-
tentiaries, our insane asyluns, are literally
crowded with the wretched victims of the
destroyer. The sobs and tears of the heart
broken wife-the cries of starving children,
mingled with the horrid curses of the drunk
en- father, or The maniac-screams of the VIC
tim Of delirium tremens, yet arise on every
breeze. The CHASTITY demon of Slavery yet
feeds upon the vitals Of humanity, and fallens
upon The hearts blood Of the race. The
wronged and degraded African is not its only
victim. Its influence is by no means limited
to the three million slaves that now toll and
bleed and die beneath the whips and chains
of the South. So long as there lives a slave
on earth the freedom of every individual is in
danger. Let the proclamation 60 forth that
slavery is right-let but silence give sanction
to the monstrous doctrine that man may be
The property of man-let it be decided that
man was born 10 be a tyrant or a slave, TO
wear the calling f%ct,er, or WELD the bloody
lash, ard Liberty is but name, an unmean-
ing sound ; human dignity a phantom of inn
aginaiion. For the SAM principle, the same
fendish spirit that will make the colored
man a slave, will rivet the fe,ter on your
white limbs whenever it has the power
And the same spirit that invades the domes-
tic relations Of the colorej man, violates the
noblest feelings of his heart and t~ramples up
on tho fondest ties of his nature, will teal
your wife from your arms whenever sordid
interest demands it and public opinion sane.
tions the deed. But if your interests were
not affected, If your rights were not endan-
gered, is il not enough to rouse you that there
are those whose rights are all invaded Is il
not enough that they are robbed of their hui
manity and crushed beneath the level of the
brute Is it not enough that such monstrous