Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-06-16
More Oppression Another Drop.

The facts in the case are these.
In December, 1915, a mother and her six
children, who were said to be slaves, were
arrested and thrown into the Jail at New
Castle, Delaware. Thomas Garrett, Of Will
mington, had them taken out on a writ of
habeas corpus, and after they had been dis
charged by the Judge, gave them shelter and
aid. For this crime he was arraigned, and
fined in the sun Of $500. John HUM,
who also appears to have been concerned in
the same case, was fined $1,000. The
claimant of the slaves, also sued Thomas
Garrett for trespass, and obtained a verdict
against him for $1,000 which was just $500
more than the former showed the alleged
slaves TO be worth.
How long are such things to be tolerated
How long is mercy to be branded and pun
ished as a crime in this land? Have the
people become so slultifed by the presence
and power of slavery that their entire man
hood is destroyed This is not by any
means the first case of the kind. There haIR
been enough such to arouse any nation that
is not itself almost hopelessly ensIaved.-
The American idea of liberty has become ex-
ceedingly restricted in its signilication-it is
now very far from what it was wont TO be.
The platform of American freedom has be-
come so narrowed down 10 suit the interests
of the slave power, that those who in &c laid
its foundation would fail TO recognize it. In
the creed of the American people submission
to foreign tyrants is odious; TO domestic,
patriotic. They cannot bear that another pa
ton should threaten to infringe upon one
of their rights, but they dare not resist the
slave power which takes all. They sing
peans in honor of liberty in France, and in
their rejoicings forget the clank of their own
letters. This IS not eXaggeration-would
that it were. 1t is sober reality. Their
leaders have appealed to their jealousy of
foreign aggression, to conceal the aggressions
made upon them at home, and have so long
sung the lullaby song of self-glorifcation,
that, Judas like, they have been able 10 he
Tray .llttlll Will ii klSN' we ltNCl saw Il
more forcible illustration than the so-called
freemen of this land present of the truth of
some common assertions which are false
when applied to the negro siaves.-"They
are contented and happy,'-"They would
not take their freedom if they could get it,"
A nation may boast of its freedom, as a
coward may boast of his courage; hut the
test of both is to be found in their Deeds
1t is easy to talk of our glorious Constitution,
and Of our just and equal laws; but when
the one forbids, and the other Furnishes as
crime, deeds which no man, who as a man,
could refuse to do, the common sense of eve.
ry one will compel the admission that the
Constitution is Infamous, the laws atrocious,
and the people slaves ; and all the fine speech
es and sophistry that may be used to prove
the contrary, cannot make it otherwise.
Yonder a trembling sister from thu
r house of Southern bondage. She is travel
worn and weary, her bruised and swollen fee
attest the hardships Of her journey, her lace
rated back affords a glimpse into the histor,
of her former sufTerings, and the infant in he
S arms appeals with no common power 70
shelter and for aid. Who, in all this wild
land, is free to help her? There is not on
from Maine TO TeXas-not one between tn
shores Of the Atlantic and those of the Pa
N ciic whom the law will hold g%uiltless shoul
he harbor that woman or aid her in her e'
s. cape. Pile up if you will your privilege
If before us until they reach the very heaven.
and tell us all these are yours; we shall nj
$ deny it-bui while the law brands you as
criminal if you act the part Of a Christia
! toward that slave mother, you are mol fret
t, You may spread ont a feast of intellectu
Of and moral privileges, you may load your t
BILE with the choicest viands, and deck it wi
x the rarest flowers; the gTinning skeleton 81
le ever there to remind you that your boast,
,e freedom is but like its dry and leshless bone
m Our sympathies as sbolitionists are n
r confined to the negro slaves of the South
/? they embrace as well the white slaves Of t
Ie North and we were not true to the bon
of mans cause Were it otherwise. We won
" point out a remedy for that great and growi
e. system of wrong which e%nslaves and degrad
ID both the white man and The black man.
IL Were we advocates of war, we would III
We the use of those means which a Revere
p gentleman approved of being applied to che
is the progress of Abolitionism-" Dupon
ce best, and cold steel !" but as we feel ass
ed that no true and permanent freedom
ng be won by bloody warfare, the revolution
on would have, must be wrought out by pea
X full means. The remedy is simple, and e
70 Eli 90 EnnLrnil J L.