Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-02-25

- ~ iuFN llS lltdl u OIL. !
his body divided into quarters, and the parts
set up in the most public places. In the We.
ry seat Of government, any colored person
may be apprehended as a fugitive slave and,
II he proves himself free, he Is CHARGED with
all the fees and rewards given by law for the
apprehension OF rnnaways, and, upon failure
10 make payment, he is liable to lie sold as n
slave. Thus, under the very eve oil Con
gresS' a Tree man of color, on his lawful bu.
slness, may be arrested, thrown into Jail, and,
! 100 poor TO pay charges, which range from
ioriy-hYe TO ninety dollars, sold into irredee-
mabIe slavery. There have been, however,
cases IN which blacks thus arrested have
been discharged. There was reported To the
House Of Representatives a case, in which
a black man was taken up on suspicion Of
being a runaway slave. and kept confined
fur hundred and fire dams, in which time
vermin, disease, and misery had deprived
him of the use of his limbs, and made him a
cripple for life, and he was then DISCHARGED
because no one would buy him. Yet, while
these things are well known in Congress,
and are brought before that body by commit
tees of their own, they have repeatedly vO-
ted 10 make no alterations in the slAve-lawS
Of the District, and to such votes scores of
Northern Legislators have recorded their
names in the affirmative. Meanwhile the
neighboring State Of Maryland, from which
many Of these slave-laws were derived, yield
ing to the spirit OF the age, has eXpunged the
most obnoxious Of them from her statute
book and on her soil, the man, who con-
fesses h~insclfa slave, is released, if his mas
ter does not answer an advertisement, and
appear to claim him, within a limited time.
Under the eye, and with the sanction of
D f',a-r,.. H. n:,,r... r C1-l.- :I--
made the great slave-market of the Union.
There have been single numbers Of the Ma
tional lntelligencer, that have contained ad-
v~ertisements relating to the purchase or sale
Of not only hundreds, but even thousands of
slaves. In the city OF Washington, so lu-
%crative is this trade, that licenses to carry it
on, still under the authority OF Congress, are
given and regularly paid for at a rate prescri-
bed by the city corporation, which has been
and probably is now no less than fur hun
dred dollars. Northern members of Congress
are often compelled to meet droves of slaves
on their way TO a market or TO tho river, hand
cufted and chained together. This traffic is
disgusting 10 the best people Of the District,
has been petltloned against by large numbers
of them. has been presented as d nuisance
by grand iuTies, has been commented upon
with righteous severity in Charges from the
Bench, and yet Legislators from he nom
slavelIolding States have not principle, ener-
gy. and independence enough to dc it away.
BY the Constitution, the regulation Of com
merce between the several States is vested
in Congress, and Congress has enacted laws
permitting tie slave-trade between the States
coastwise in vessels OF over forty tons bur-
then, and prescribing infinitely the manifest
forms OF entry at the custom-house, and spe-
cificatlons to be made by the masters of such
vessels. BY the same authority a vast in
land slave-tfade is carried on, and immense
numbers are driven in herds from the North
ern to the Southern and Southwestern eX-
Iremities Of the slave-holding district, often
thirty or forty attached TO Inc same long
= chain, each by a short chain affixed to his
iron handcuf. In Maryland and Virginia,
. this is a business of prime importance and
: large, jail-like places of deposit, well suppl
ed with thumb-screws, gags, and cowhides,
are scattered at not inirequent intervals over
/. the territory of those States. In 1886. no
less than FORTY thousand slaves had been sold
, out OF Virginia within a year, for a sum of
not less than t~,oentyj0ur millions of dollars
q and, not long before that date. a distinguish.
: ed statesman of Virginia publicly declared,
that his native State had been converted into
y ; inv -AANh AAA' "a ~ " NV - ~ 80
f ed for the market, like oxen for the sham.
bles."+ And all this under the authority ol
q Congress. and with the consent Of Northern
d Legislators.
But our Federal Government has not con.
fined its action on this subject within its owl
jurisdiction. BY express votes of Congress
and of course, of Northern members to con
sti,ute a majority, the Government has repea
tedly negotiated with Great Britain, (thouGt
" happily with no success, except a paitry pc
e cuniary enumeration in one or two instan
ces,) for the restoration of fugitive slaves
from Canada, and of slaves that have beer
cast by shipwreck upon British soil. And
to cap the climax of degradation, our repuh
70 lie, when the permanence of slavery in tn
II island OF Cuba was supposed TO be threaten
ed, made to the courts of Madrid and OF s
ID Petersburg, and to the Congress of Panama
"a the most dolorous representations Of the ct
of feet, which emancipation in Cuba must need
have upon her own domestic institutions, an
- minated in the most explicit terms, that tn
United States would without hesitation EN-
bark in any war, which might be n%ecessar,
GO to perpetuate slavery in that island,-ye'
&c pledged the entire strength and resources {
this nation, which styles itself free, to kee
in hundreds Of human beings out OF its own pr
4. cincts in hopeless degradation and bondage
Mt Now. while such has been the spirit OF
Id large portion of the delegation to Congress
from the non-slaveholding States, we cann,
he regard the long rejection of petitions bearin
upon slavery as a matter of surprise, or a
n. furnishing additional ground for moral indi!
Of nation to an honest and philanthropic hear
IS. Before the right of petition was formally d,
,s MED, the majority Of Northern members ha
If sufficiently shown that there was no right tC
is sacred to be yielded up to Southern dictatiol
in and, as they would at any rate have treatc
,rs the subject matter of these petitions with ne
w. lect and indignity, it may have been as we
in for them TO do the work in brief, and to say
= Niles Register, Oct. 8, 1888.