Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-09-01

change in the order Of nature, an entire king
dom or community were 10 be enveloped in
total darkness-to have no day, no dawn, but
midnight evermore Into what infinite forms
Of violence and wrong would the depraved
passions Of the human heart. spring up, when
no longar restrained by the light Of day, and
the dangers OF exposure! SO far as legal rights
are concerned, the slave lives in such world
Of darkness. A hundred Of his fellows may
stand around him and Witness the wrong he
suffers, but not one of them can appeal to
jury, magistrate, or Judge, for punishment or
redress. The wickedest white man,
in a company of slaves bears a charmed life.
There is not one of the fell passions that RACES
in his bosom which he cannot indulge with
wantonness, and to safety, and the court has
no ears to hear the complaint OF the victim.
How dearly does every honorable man prize
character ! The law denies the slave a char
acter, for, however iraduced, legal vindica-
ton is impossible.
And yet infinitely fragrant as the anomaly
is, the slave il amenable to the laws Of the
land for all offences which he may commit,
against others. though he is powerless TO
protect himself by the same law from often
ces which others NAV commit against him.
ne may SultT NIOIR, anu w CuuItb VIII IlOI
hearken 10 his testimony; but for the first
wrong he does, the courts inflict their Sc
vererest punishments upon him. This is the
reciprocity Of the slave law-to be forever
liable to be proved guilty, but never able 10
prove himselfinnocent TO be subject TO all
punishments, but, through his own oath TO
no protection. Hear what is said by the
highest judicial tribunal Of South Carolina.
Although slaves are held to be the absolute
property Of their owners, yet they have the
power Of committing crimes ed Mott and
McCord's Rep, 479.) A negtois so far ame-
nable 10 the common law, that he may be
one Of the three to constitute the number nee
essary to make a riot. list Bays Rep. 35S.)
BY The laws Of the same State, a negro may
be stolen, and he has no redress, but il he
steals a negro from another, he shall be hung.
(2d Mott and McCord's Rep. 1872 (.An sr-
ample. IF This penalty suffered By n siare.)-
This is the way that slave legislatures and
slave ludicatorles construe the command Of
Christ, Whatsoever We would that men
should do unto you, so do ye also the same
unto them" Nay, by the laws of some OF
the slave States, where master and slave are
engaged in a Joint act. the slave is indicta-
Bile, while the master is not.
What rights are more sacred or more dear
TO us than the conjugal and the parental
No savage nation, however far removed from
civilization, has ever yet been discovered
where these rights were unknown and un-
honored. The beasts of the forest feel and
respect them. 1t is only in the land Of
sla q that they are blotted cut and annihila
ted.@
Slavery is an unspeakable wrong TO thu
conscience. The word conscience con
veys a complex Idea. 1t includes con
scientiousness /; that is, the sentiment or in
stinct of right and wrong; and intelligence
which is the guide Of this sentiment, C0n
science, then, implies both the desire or i'm
pulse TO do right, and also a knowledge Of
what is right. Nature endows us with the
sentiment, but the knowledge we must &C
quire. Hence We speak on an enlightened
misunderstanding thereby not only III,
moral sense, but that knowledge Of circum
stances, relations, tendencies and results
which is necessary in order TO guide tn
f moral sense 10 Just conclusions. Each o
these elements is equally necessary to ena
BILE a man to feel right and 10 act right
Mere knowledge, without the moral sens
can take no cognizance of the everlasting
distinctions between right and wrong, ant
so the blind instinct, unguided by knowledg
will be forever at fault in its conclusion. -
The two were made 10 co.exist and operat
together, by Him who made the human SOU
But the impious hand Of man divorces thes
twin-ca pacities wherever it denies know
edp. If one of these coordinate powers /
the mental realm be a%nnulled by the legi:
lature, it may be called law; but it is re
pugnant to every law and attribute Of Goo
But not satisfied with having invaded tn
l human soul, and annihilated one of it's mos
sacred attributes in the persons Of three mil
| ions Of our fellow men; not satisfied vii
: having killed the conscience as far as it ca
f beskilled by human device, and human fore
in an entire race we are now invoke1to mt
v tiply that race, to extend itover regions yet u
scathed by its existence, and there to ca
s into being other millions of men, upon who
v souls, and upon the souls of whose poste
e ity. the same unholy spoliation shall be col
IS mittedf orever.
v Slavery is an unspeakable wrong TO Il
religious nature Of man. The dearest al
most precious Of all human rights, is I
fe right of private judgment in matters Of re
rion. ] am interested in nothing SO mu,
as in the attributes of my Creator /; and
VI the relations which he has established
tween me and himself, for time and for Ell
a nifty, To investigate for myself these re
tons, and their momentuous consequence
to to search the scriptures; TO explore I
C. works of God in the outward and visible u
verse 10 ask counsel of the sages and
K vines in the ages gone by-these are rigl
m which it would sacrilege for me to surrend
is which is worse sacrilege for any human
n ing, or human government to usurp.
RS by denying education to the slave, you d
G. troy not merely the right, but the pOmer,
ne personal examination, in regard to all {
to most nearly concerns the SOULS interests
10 Who so base as not TO reverence the mig
o. champions of religious freedom, in d.
ed when the dungeon, the rack and the flag
lis were the arguments ola government thee
ks owl Who does not reverence, | say, Wi
IS. life, Huss, Luther, and the whole army