Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-04-02

nv " II IhOfOoED CONSl Thu ltNs -
Gourernenr Norris in lie Convention Of 1887.
Madison Papers, 1864.
We have read with attention the many CO.
lumns which Mr.. Goodell has showered up
on MS from various quarters, and can say,
with perfect sincerity, without meaning to be
s%atiricll, that they contain nothing which
needs any notice from us, or which can mis-
lead a thoughtful reader of our previous cri-
ticism.
Next in order Of time comes the Essay Of
Lysander Spooner on the Unconstilutionali-
ty of Slavery. We shall but fulfil an old
promise in reviewing the argument it con.
talns. Events beyond our control have de-
layed us till now, which we regret only as it
seems to have led some of Mr.. Spoonor's adj
mirers to imagine that the delay proceeded
from an unwillingness, on our part, to mea-
sure lances with so skilful an adversary
We exhort them, on the contrary, TO believe
that we have no innate antiPathy to the idea
Of an Anti Slavery Constitulion-thai so far
from being obstinately welded to our own
opinion, Mr.. Spooner, or any one else, shall
find in US a most ready, willing, and easy
convert to a doctrine, which will restore to
us the power of voting-a right we much CO.
vet-and a direct share in the Government Of
the country-a privilege we appreciate as
highly as any one can. Only c]onrince us
fairly and we will Guido Alvan Stewart him
self in glowing eulogy of this new found vir-
tue of the ArAerican Constitution. Indeed
if merely beheUing the Constitution to be
Anti-Slavery would really make it so, we
would be the last TO stir the question. If
the beautiful theories of some of our friends
could GUST from its place the ugly reality of
a pro-slavery administration, we would sit
quiet, and let Spooner and Goodell convert
the nation at their leisure. But alas, the
ostrich does not get rid of his enemy by
hiding his head in the sand. Slavery is not
abolished, although we have persuaded our
selves that it does not exist. The pro-slave-
ry clauses of the Northern Compact still
stand there in full operation, notwithstand-
ing our logic. The Constitution will never
be amended by persuading men that it does
not need amendment. National evils are on
ly cured by holding mems eyes open, and
forcing them 10 gaze on the hideous reality.
10 be able to meet a crisis men must under
stand and appreciate it.
All that we have to do, as .4Johtionisls,
with Mr.. Spooner's argument is to consider
its influences on the Anti Slavery cause. He
maintains that the Judges IF tie United States
Courts hare the right to dechpre Siqcery iHegaL,
and he proposes that they should be made to
do so. We believe that in part he mistakes
fancy for argument; in part he bases his con-
illusions on a forced Interpretation of legal
maxims, and that the rest of his reasoning.
where not logically absurd and self-contra-
dietary, is subverSive of all sound principles
of Government and of public faith. ANY
movement or party, therefore, founded on his
plan, would, so soon as it grew considerable
enough to attract public attention, be met by
the contempt and disapprobation of every en-
ligItened and honest man. To trust ourcause
with such a leader is to insure its shipwreck.
10 keep, therefore, so far as our influence eX-
tends, the Antl-Slavery movement in its le-
gitimate channel, to base it on such priuci-
Piles as shall deserve and command the as
sent of every candid man, to hold up con-
stantly before the nation the mirror of its
W deformity, we undertake the distasteful
task of proving the Constitution hostile TO us
and the slave.
1t is but Justice to Mr.. Spooner to acknow-
ledge that his performance differs from most
of those which have preceded it, not only in
the ingenuity of the argument, but in the
honest aim of the writer. With him 9 the
wish " does not appear to have been g father
to the thought" He did not first found a
party and then stretch cut both hands to
clutch something that would sustain him in
Tilt ilSht VI NOlin1 d ale lie ulu nor violate
his W convictions, and then, obstinately
shutting his eyes cry out, " don't see where
l am Inconsistent" His logic does not grow
out of a lingering love of the ballot, or a Sc
cret desire TO put "non-resistance horS du
combat" He did not vote in order to save a
corrupt and trembling Church and shield it
from the storm of deserved rebuke, endeavor
to build an ark of political refuge out of legal
scraps and dlsiolnted and misunderstood quo
tatlons' lie seems to have persuaded him
self OF the truth of his own theory, and then
to have thrown it out fearlessly to the world.
trusting in its truth to make it useful. and
with no Interior object or private end to
serve.
Before we touch on the argument of Mr..
Spooner's Essay, we wish to call attention TO
two points:
lst. Allowing, for the moment, as he
claims, that the Constitution contains no
guarantee or recognition of Slavery-and
granting him, also, in his own words:
"That the instrument was plain, and the
people had common-sense and those two
facts cannot stand together consistently with
she idea that there was any general or even
considerable misunderstanding of its mean
ing."-Q. LEG I'd Edition.)
We go on to ask, (of Abolitionists, not of
MI oPooner,) now comes Ii mat, as he all
along confesSes, Courts, Congress, and the
people have uniformly warped and twisted
the whole instrument aside and awry to serve
and sustain Slavery : that the whole admin
i~Stration of the Government, from its very
commencement, has been pro-slaveryl If
the Constitution be g~uiltless of any blame in
this matter, then surely there must be some
powerful element at work in the Union itself,
which renders it impossible for this to be an