Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-10-27
Mrs. SwiSSheIm'S Political Action.

' Si'C SOuNolho on dlNClt III ItSpouot " OnO
of mine in the Bugle of Sept 30. 1t contains
some ideas upon which ! feel an irresistible
desire 10 make a few comments, and with the
permission Of its Editors, will speak through
the Bugle. In the first place, however, an
acknowledgement is due from me TO Mrs.
Swisshelm for the candot and courtesy which
she evinced while reviewing my rather un-
ceremonious attack upon some of her posi-
tions. She says my article did not break
her head" and that she felt better for read
ing it. Sure enough I! one might as well I'M
dertake 10 crack the moon, as to break such
material as her head is made Of. | am very
thankful that my name possessed a charm po-
tent enough 10 secure me a "patient hearing
aud a candid answer y and will endeavor TO
keep it unsullied by aught that would cast a
reproach upon my revertd name-sake. lie
was a martyr 10 the cause Of Humanity, and
his spirit went up TO be a living witness at
the Throne Of God against the heartless traf-
fckers in human flesh and blood. Seventy
thousand victims are annually inundated up
on the reeking altar Of American chaliel sla-
very. II there is a judgment and a recon-
pense in a world to come, what will be the
final doom of the vast body Of American
Christians! Away with the thought! it is
too empowering for the heart and brain of
an invalid-too horrible to contemplate
let us turn to a less oppressive part of the
subject.
Mrs. Swisshelm's reasons for acting with
the Free Soil party would be perfectly salts
factory to my mind if | could find any thing
in the "Buffalo Platform which binds the
party, as a party, to WELD its political pow
er, when it gets any, not only for abolishing
slavery in the District Of Columbia, and
against its extension, over territory now free,
but against the institution itself. Whenever
a political party pledges itself TO use all con.
stitutional means for overihrowing slavery,
in my humble opinion, the gun shoots itself.
Mrs. Swisshelm seems to think that the prin-
ciples of the Free Soil" party embrace the
highest anti-slayery action of which The times
will admit. Is not that anii-slavery action
the highest which is the most efficient ! Now
| cannot persuade myself that the buffalo
Platform" or any other platform embraces
the true and ultimate issue between freedom
and slavery. The Buffalo Platform" con-
tains one principle which, if successfully car
ried out, may force the true issue upon the
country; and the Free Sellers may be the
unwilling instruments, at some future day,
for accomplishing an object which they now
condemn. To resist the encroachments of
the slave power, is only to irritale and make
more vigilant the guardians OF the institution.
However, it is said that those whom the
gods design to destroy, they first make mad.
So far, so good. To abolish slavery in the
District of Columbia is only a slight conces-
sion to Northern public opinion, wrung from
the South, and for which it will not only
claim, but obtain a thousand fold remunera-
ticn. 10 effectually restrain slavery within
its present limits, to say "thus far and no
farther shalt thou CO." is TO thoroughly arouse
The "chivalry" Of the South to a sense OF
their degradation, call forth all their powers
of physical resistance (who will take care
of the slaves while the masters are fighting
to maintain the beloved institution y and
!. snap the Union like a thread of twine. The
contemplation of such a result is the only
sympathetic lie existing between myself and
the Free Soil ~party-with the exception Of
the magnetic one which draws me towards
Mrs. $50 far as political action is concern
ed. Their Frje Soil principles are quite an
other thlng-cannot stop to examine them
now. If the institution Of slavery is going
to flourish until the legal Interpreter of The
Constitution pronounces it an anti-slavery
document, | am somewhat afraid the under
ground railroads which are springing up all
along the borders of the slave States will an
ticipate the day; and not a victim will be
left in all the vast domains of slavedom to
shout foE prospective freedom. When occu-
plying the forum, | have sometimes ~illustra.
ted my views of constitutional action againsI
slavery by the following anecdote A man
applied to a quack doctor to have the head oil
an Indian arrow extracted from his jaw, where
it had lain for a long time. The doctor put
on his spectacles and examined it, and then
taking them off and assuming a very know
ing air, said, 81 can't 'stract that ere from
your jaw, kase it would kill you; but III
give you some pills that II dissolve it in your
} head"
Now, it is almost universally scknowledg.
ed that slavery is an organic part of the Con.
slitutiOn; and consequently, cannot be ex.
plunged therefrom without, destroying the
Constitution itself. The leaders of political
parties understand their game perfectly well
and tTifle with the anti-slavery feeling at th'
North by pretending they are going TO dis