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

ueNoteu-Wltl uecency and Kindness, Instead
of contempt and brutality. ] honor you and
your associates as true-hearted friends of the
slave; and nor man, nor devil, shall ever en-
tort from my lips or pen a word Of injustice
against any Of you. | honor you also for the
sincerity of your beliefs, that they who dis
sent from your expositions Of the Constitution
are in the wrong. But | am deeply grieved
at your snpercihousness and intolerance toward
those whose desire to know and do their du-
~ is no less strong nor pure than your own.
Far am | from intimating that the blame Of
the internal Discussions Of the Abolitionists
belong wholly 10 yourselves. No very small
share OF 1t should be appropriated by such of
them as have INDUCED a bad spirit in speak
ing uncandidly and unkindly Of yourselves.
All classes Of Abolitionists have need to hum
BILE themselves before Con for having reta.d-
ed the cause Of the slave by these guilty dis
sensions.
would that ] could inspire you with some
distrust of your infdllibility. | shoLld, there
by, be rendering good service to yourself and
TO the cause Of truth. Will you bear to have
me point out some Of the blunders in the let
ter to which am now replyingl And when
you Shall have Sc N them, will YOU suffer
your wonder to abate, that the great BODY of
Abolitionists do not more promptly and inn
plicitly bow to the ipse dirifs of yourself and
your fellow intalliblesl Casting myself on
your indulgence, and at the risk of ruffling
your sey-complacency, | proceed to point out
to you some of these blunders.
Blunder No. !. You charge me with hold
ing that the clause of the Constitution relat-
ing to the slave-trade, provides for its abOli-
ton. What | do hold TO, however, Is, that
the part of the Constitution which eutrusts
Congress with the power to regulate COM
mercr, provides for the abolition Of this trade.
That Congress would use the power to hboI-
ish this trade was deemed certain by the
whole Convention which framed the Ctnsii-
tuition. Hence a portion of its members
would not consent TO grant this power, unless
modified by the clause concerning the slave
trade, and unless too, this clause were made
irrrpealable. When the lifetime of this mod
iicalion had expired, Congress, doing just
what the anti-slaveTy spirit Of the Cunstitu-
ton and The universal expectation OF the ma
ton demanded, prohibited our participation
in the African slave-trade. | readily admit
that the clause in question is, considered by
itself, pro-slavery. But it is to be viewed as
a part of the anii-slavery bargain for suppress.
ing the African slave-irade, aud as a part
without which, the anti slavery bargain could
not have been made. Dad | not iufer from
your own words, that you cannot possibly
bring yourself TO condescend to read the 'wri.
tings or speeches of Liberty party men,
would ask you TO read what | wrote to Jnhr
g.. Whittier and Adm Ballou, on that part Of
the Constitution now under consideration.
Blunder No. .. But what pro-sIavery ac'
can that part of the Constitution which re.
spects the African slave-trade, require at tie
hands of one who should non sw ear to sup.
port the Constitution None. No more
than If the thing, now entirely obsolete, had
never been. hat a bIunder then to speak
Of This part of the Constitution as an obstacle
IN the way OF swearing to support those part:
OF II which still remain operative!
Blunder No. 3. In your letter before me
as well as your approval Of an article in the
IiberatOr ui Both last month. you take the DO.
slllon that the pro-slavery Interpretations OIL
the Constitution, al lie hands Ot Courts and
lawmakers. are conclusive that that insIru.
meni is pro-slavery. But you will yourself
60 so far as 10 admit that all slavery under
the national fig, and in the District Of Co.
lumbIa, and Indeed everyw here, save in the
Old Thirteen States, is nconstltuti"Ial.-
Nevertheless, all such parts Of uuconstiluliun
al slavery have repeatedly been approved by
Courts and lawn kers. I,u say that the
Constitution is what lis eXpounders interpret
1t TO be; and that inasmuch as they interpret
1t 10 he pro-sIavery. you are hound to reject
it. But the dignilird and authoritative eX-
Founders of the Bible interpret ii to be pro.
slavery. Why then, according to your owG
rules, should you not reject the Blole also
Talleyrand, you know, thought a blundeI
worse than a crime. You and | do not agree
with him. But we certainly cannot fail Il
anpaa uIth zach otbar that v,n bln,Ior N,
5, is a very bad blunder.
Blunder No. 4. You declare that because
the Constitution is, as you allege, pro-slave
ry, 1t is Inconsistent and unfair to reject
Shareholder from holding Office under it. Fix
tend the application if You will, that you MAJ
see its absurdity. The Constitution OF my
State makes a dark skin a disqualification 70
voting. Hence. in choosing officers unde
it-even revisers Of the Constitution itself
] am not at liberty, according to your rule, t.
exclude a man from the range OF my selec
ton, on the ground that he is in favor of sucl
disqualification. Nay, more, | must regarc
his agreement with the Constitution on ihi
point, as an argument in favor of his CLAIM
to my vote. Again, to conform 10 your rule
a wicked community should, because it i
wicked, choose a wicked preacher-or be
cause lis ignorant, choose an ignorant schoo
master. Yours is a rule that refuses to yiel,
to the law of progress, and that shuts the doc
against all human improvement. You would
for the sake of their consistency, have an in
dlvidual-have a people-Temain as wicke
as they are-and vote for drunkards and slave
holders, because they have always done Sc
The provision of the Constitution for its ow
amendment, is. of itself, enough to silenc
your doctrine, that the agreement of a man
character and views with the Constitution, i
necessarily an argument for, and can neve
be an argument against, his holding ofic
under it. The provision opens the door 70
choosing to office under the Constitution
those who disagree with it. This %provisio
implies that in the progress of things, a man
agreement with the Constitution may be