Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-03-24

Arm. Had they said the true word. and the
woId which true spirits would have had them
say Slavery would have persisted, or have
dragged out a precarious existence " thin the
domain that it laws waste. But the North
TOOK the young serpent TO her bosom, and
now she marvrls that, warmed by her vital
heat and fattci ing upon the blood that it has
drawn from her heart, that it is grown into a
dragon that threatens to devour her and her
children. The union of these States was
founded in selfish cowardice. In hopes Of
escaping from the ills they had, and those
they feared, our fathers flew to others that
they hoped might be turned to blessings,
bat which have revealed themselves in the
shape Of unmitigated curses.
Standing where we stand, and reading the
history of the past in the light of our own
experience, how plainly do we perceive the
folly which proposed to weld into a homo
geneous Union parts essentially, and oftheir
own nature, discordant! How clearly eau
we see the philosophical absurdity of men
seeking to secure their own rights by con-
senllng to assist at the sacrifice of those of
others! For we see the wreck which these
concessions have made Of the character, the
spirit, the honor of the Nation. From the
moment of that consent, Slavery has been the
absolute Sovereign Of the Nation. Armed
IN the strength Of that Conspiracy against
Human Rights, called the Constitution of
The United States, it has lorded it equally o.
yer the personal rights of the Slave and the
political rights Of the nonindlly Free. 1t has
enlarged the bounds of its domain al its plea
sure 1t has shut up the ports of our COM
merce, 1t has plunged us into bloody wars,
IL has dictated and changed the national pol
icy Tor our punishment, ithas made our Pres
ldents and our laws, and ii rules us with a
rod OF iron. Happy would ii have been for
us had the original crime never been pcrpe-
trated! Had our fathers but refused the price
OF the boon, and permitted the old coniede-
ration 10 fall into the divisions uhicl nature
and affinity would have pointed out, instead
81 attempting 10 unite the incongruous parts
into one whole, what a load Of ruilt, what a
penalty OF degradation would they not have
saved to us, their sons! How would The re-
ligIon OF the land have been saved from dis
grace! How would its politics have been
compatible with honor and conscience! What
an example would they have exhibited to the
instead of the farming they are nowi
How would they have completed the work of
their Revolution, instead Of leaving a heri-
tage OF more deadly conflit for human riphts
" 10 suns
THE PUNISHMENT.
In describing the Crime have we indica-
ted the Punishment. Never did Gauss and
Consequence follow each other more closely
than has the Penalty lrod in the footsteps of
our National Guilt. 1t has made our lleli-
Slon a mockery, our Republicauism IA by.
our Name a disgrace. Ii has made The
American people mean and compr misinr.
and sets its brand upon their sonls II has
luenched their shirt and made Thorn nromn,
10 bow their neck TO anv woke that 81, varv
proposes 10 impose. II has morked ,b,,1
with an arbitrary government under the farms
of a Free one. 1t has made Ms stand nm in
the presence of the Mother Countrv = livinr
witness of the failure of our aitemnt At Freoe
Government, to make which. we hurst the
lie that bound MS to her. For We find that
we have placed our new Instiiutions nm = Inss
popular basis than her own.
1t sounds paradoxicaL. bpt il is ,rro n sov
that the voice of the people of ENGLAND Is
moIe potential for national recormotiops than
that of America. There is. ia effect bntone
power in the British Emnirs. and
that is the House of Commons. kim and
Lords are merely draUs unon tho machina Of
They NAV retard is motion for a
while, but lhev can meyer bL,ck il ent;rolv
Both know that when = sufficient head oC1nor-
nlar steam is on, thew must ret of the trppc[
Or be crushed TO atoms. The kim il in The
of the Commons. and tho J,orJs ara ~
The hands of The EinC. Tbo rov.or ~ ,ha
controls the mower of the Sword mo
perennial quality of the Fountain of Uonor
keeps the streams that flow from !, in cLont
The King cannot move hand ar foot vi,hoM,
The permission of his ..f,itbruI Commons, ;;
And the Lords know that the infinite nro-
rogative of Creation will make the dignitrr Of
the Peerage dirt-cheap. if their resistance n
necessary change be pnshed ,o its ntmos,
extent. Tbe kim basa Coms,i'
%lutional Veto: but it has not 5een nsod for :
and 6Gv vears Tba H. -
Lords have a legislative mower coordino,a
with the uouse Of Commons. Int ILa J,u ~
lono past since thew da,ed 70 intnranso y 10
between the Jeliber,,o ufn IS ~
people and lis leoisIotive acconn Mil "'
In the national Policy Of America TOO