Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-01-15

litical compact with them, in the same tela.
ton that the Shareholders did ,o The free
States in 1889, and you recognised and sns.
taihed their prejudice, wickeduess. ionor.
ance, or drunkenness, in your Conslitu,ion.
then | think you would be foreclosed. as a
Just man, from Directing TO them as candi-
dates' Ihls J conceive to be a fair illustr,-
tlon' All religions are placed, by the Con.
situuoh, on an equal footing. If a party
should De formed on the principle Of no yo-
ing Tor Catholics, nor for those in political
fellowship with Catholics" | think that par
" would stand on precisely the same ground
with yours. In both cases. the rarty would
rest upon the rejection of class of men.
whom, by the Constitutional consent. tne
people have agreed TO consider as GOOD as
ANYBODY else. 1t can be done. ofcoursp. but
only, apprehend, by a breach Of faith t-
wards the ostracised persons.
ifavlng finished your enumeration Of nv
blenders, you propose to me tho following
questions;
LIST. Do you not believe that it was settled
by The decision, in the year 1772, of the
highest court Of England, that there was not
any legal Slavery in our American colonies
I'd. Do you not believe that there was no
legal Slavery in any Of the States of this ma
ton at the time the Constitution was adopt.
ed!
Sd. Do you not believe that the Consiitu-
ton created no Slavery; and that it is to be
not held as even recognising Slavery, prnyi.
ded there was. at the time of lis adoption,
no legal Slavery in any Of the States 1!
4th. Do you not believe that had the A.
merican people adhered 10 the letter and
spirit Of the Constitution, challel Slavery
would, ere this, have ceased to exist in the
ndtionl
You then add, with singular %naireie, ''you
will, of course, be constrained to answer all
these questions in the affirmative" 1 cam
not conjecture why you should take my as
sent to these extraordinary propositions for
granted. l return a prompt, decided, EN-
phatic, and categorical negative to each and
all of them. This is all that is necessary, at
this time, even had ] space to discuss them.
] would only say to those who have never
sat at the feet of the present Gamaliel Of c
your party ("lts Cynthia Of the minute ~
that the play is on the word ~''legGL," and the y
answer to the questions depends upon the
definition given TO that word. As to the =
third question, of course | do not believe C
that the Constitution creaied Slavery, but it i
took notice of the actual existence of Slavery =
in the several sovereignties of which it was
the League, by their common and statute '
law, and recognized ard provided for it. c
| am not disposed to enter into the merits l
of the Non-Resistance question, at the pres !
ent time, although you open that issue at the ;
close of your letter. | will not even be at !
the pains TO correct your mistaken notions Of T
the nature of that movement,-which is not t
''hotly eager for the overthrow Of civil gov ,
ernments," but earnestly DESTROYS of chang
ing the dnimus that inform them,-which
does mot ODpoSp the uSp of nncpSSarv fDrca or
Of wise restraint, but would have been solely
employed for the cure and restoration, never
for the punishment, of the criminal, which
has no plot against the institutions of socie-
ty, but only a hope of substituting the spirit
of benevolence, good will, and mutual conf
dence for that of selfishness, fear, and vio-
lence which now pervades them. | will at
tempt no defence, or even explanation of that
philosophy. For what is it TO the present
purposel Suppose the non-resisiant Disun-
ionists to be all you imagine them. Sup
pose that we are in the habit of meeting, at
midnight, with dark lanlhorns and sloucIed
hats, like so many Guy FauXes, TO gloat
over the explosion of the mine which we are
running underneath the foundations of hu-
man society, and which is to blow it ''sky
high, Sir, sky high,"-what, then! You
surely would not condemn the innocent with
the guilty! For you can scarcely be ignor-
ant, Notwithstanding the dust that is thrown
by your party papers, that the non-resistants
are but a very nconsiderable fraction of the
Disunion ranks. The great majority of the
Disunionists have no quarrel with the Con-
~stitution of the United States, excepting its
pro-slavery character. | am sorry for it, but
90 it is.
One thing, however, you will permit me
to say, before concluding this long letter,
and it is this. | conceive that you and the
gentlemen who promulgate the doctrines of
your party, as to the Constitution of the Uni
ted States, are not the men to ccnsure nom
resistants for the mischiefs their opinions
would bring upon mankind. Your own
doctrines appear to me TO strike at the root,
not only Of civil government, but of human
society. If men may construe the most SOL
emn contracts to please themselves; if they
may receive the consideration of a bargain,
and then refuse to perform The conditions
If the sanctity of oaths may be dispensed
with by mental reservation or verbal pqnivo-
cation if Constitutions of Government and
solemn acts are TO he submitted, like the
dogmas of religious belief, 10 the caprices of
private judgment; if the obligations of PROM
Uses may be avoided by the pretence Of con-
science, and be construed on the understand
ing Of him that makes, and not him that ie-
ceives them il every man is thus to be a
Constitution and a law unto himsplf,-then,
a state Of genuine n0-gOrernment would en-
sue,-in which there would be no law but
mob-law. no magistrate but Judge Lynch, a
state of things which would be the very es-
sence of Jacobinism, the very quintessencc of
anarchy.
do not charge you or your party, with
any deliberate design to bring about this
condition of things; but such seems to me
the necessary tendency of the looseness of
your political morality. The tendency to
disorganization, and the growing disregard
to public and private obligations, is every
where to be seen, and nowhere out of the
slave country, more conspicuously than in
your own State. | do not suppose that your