Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-10-06
WHOLE NO. l63.

sulilcltHily enlOTces lnat power. henueTlng
State legislation, especially by Tree States,
and as encouraging, rather
than condemning the unrightenus practice of
slaveholding. Should not every conscien-
tious citizen Of the State Of Ohio shudder at
the thought of being accessory TO the guilt
and sin of slavery and are they not so, and
will they not continue to be so, while they
quietly acquiesce in the continuance of these
laws! Much 10 the credit Of Pennsylvania,
notwithstanding she borders upon several
slave States, she has recently withdrawn her
facilities to the slave owner for the recovery
of his fugitive from labor and so ought
Ohio and all other free States.
Now, fellow citizens, let us seriously con-
slider whether the laws which we have copied
INTO this Address, drawing the degrading dis
t~nctions they do. between the descendants
OF the African race and our own, can be re.
conciled with the laws of Justice and humani-
ty, or with the principles on which our 90.
vernment is professedly erected Are thew
framed so as to fulfil the primary object Of
law: the protection Of the weak against the
entertainments of the powerful !-are they
calculated TO recognize and unaiiera5iv esfa6-
Hsh the general great and essential princfpes
0f liberty and free government 20
The negro or m~ulatto, no less than the
white man, is an object OF Redeeminp Love.
and born according to the laws of nature,
equally free with ourselves. Freedom is an
Inherent night, not 10 be forfeited, except by
crime legally proved. To require such an
one to prove his freedom is in reality 10 de.
mand that he should prove a negative a spe-
cies Of proof unknown TO the legal profess
sion. Now the law of 1904 provides that no
black or mulatto person shall be permitted to
settle or reside in Ohio, unless he or she
shall first produce a fair certificate from some
court Of record Of his or her actual freedom.
This provision not only lays, as we appre-
bend, a burden on the colored race which we
should feel TO be very unjust, and unreason-
able, if applied to ourselves; but it seems to
be a perversion Of an established principle of
law.
Section 3, of the law of 1904, as will be
seen, provides that no person or persons, re-
sidents of this State, shall be permitted to
hire, or IN any way employ, any black or
mulatto person, unless such black OF mulatto
person shall have a certificate of his or her
right to freedom, under pain of forfeiting and
paying any sum not less than ten, nor more
than fifty dollars. This, we apprehend, is a
palpable encroachment on the rights of the
citizens Of the State, and is in reality felt TO
he so by a large number.
1t is indeed difficult to conceive upon what
principle such a law can be defended. A
law so impolitic and unjust, we apprehend,
could not be enacted in this enlightened day.
Why, then, continue it in force! Or do we
prefer to wear shackles upon our own legs,
and impede our w prosperity, in order to
render more secure and available the %institu-
ton of slavery in our sister States. If a man
whatever the pressure of business may be,
--nI@ - -1- -
able and willing to assist him, without being
exposed to a penalty in a country, too, where
every man should of right be presumed 10 be
free, we certainly hold our property and our
rights by a very precarious tenure. What
an absurdity. that a man should be required
to carry in his pocket a certificate that he is,
what God has made him-free! A condi.
ton which our Bill of Rights, as well as the
Constitution Of Ohio declares, belongs by
nature, TO all men-an inherent right of which
he could never have been deprived but by
force applied in his own person, or exercised
upon his ancestors.
If colored person, ignorant of those unna-
tural and unrighteous laws comes into the
State, without such certificate, and is desti.
tute Of property, must be driven TO beggary
or to theft, though able and willing TO labor
for his subsistence? Certainly, policy, a:
well as humanity, forbids it,. Does the re
ligion OF Jesus Christ and his Apostles teaci
or justify such cruelty and oppression 10
wards a dependent race OF our fellow beings
Who so fifty, as the poor African, repre-
sents the man whom we read of in the Cos
pei, that fill among the thieves, and wa
stripped of his raiment, and wounded, an
left half dead-dragged by merciless hand
from his native land robbed of all the deal
est rights Of life, and doomed to degradatio
r and toll; for these and no other a~ssignabI
causes, prejudice fixes upon him and his pos
terity the unjust distinctions and disabilitie
imposed by the unequal laws which are III
subject of ttis appeal.
The provision which renders the employ,
Of a person VINO may be afterwards found
have been a fugitive slave, not only subjet
o to a penalty, but also amenable 10 the owne
S whenever he may appear, recognizes a rigf
in such owner mol reconcilable with the de
e c~laration above cited from the Constitution q
Ohio. If"all men are born equally free,
3 slavery is a violation Of natural right, an
= the claim of the master TO The service of tn
: slave is an assumption, not the assertion OF
right. Does it become the authorities Of
{ free State TO enforce such a claim at the eX
r pense of our own citizens! This provision
, Of law, as it stands, goes even further thai
the law of Congress Of 1898, and also Of i'm
I porlant decisions had in the case. By these
, before the penalty is incurred, proof must b
made that the person employing, or harbol
ing, knew the person employed was a fugl
live slave. The peace Of society may re
quire our submission to acts Of injustice G
oppression when redress cannot be oblaine
by legal and constitutions means, but III
people Of the non-slave-holding States are, a
we have already said, under no obligation
afford an acfire support to the system {
slavery. Our moral and religious obligation
+ are unquestionably on the side Of lrsedom.-
We repeat, that the submission on Tho pa
Of Ihs non-slave-holding States % the law
See Constitution Of Ohio, article Q.