Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-06-08
Why arc not the people with us!

popular Indignation is raised against themE
If liberty be so dear 10 the human heart as
the gifted Henry declared tiff death be
preferable TO representation freedom may
not be infringed with impunity, why do we
not protest against the violation of the dear
est rights Of man in the person of three mil
lion of American Citizens who are clanking
their chains to-day in hopeless bondage. II
the security of personal liberty be worth an
effort if the enjoyment of domestic relations
is a thing to be desired-if man be entitled
to the avails Of his industry and should be
protected in their possession, then should
every human soul struggle to secure them 10
all. IL free Institutions republican gov
ernment-freedom of speech, of the press,
and of the pulpit be the American Idea of a
true social system, why do not the people
arise and repei the encroachments which are
made upon this ideal Why do they not
make open war upon ~slavery-that insid
enemy that has ba filed every attempt to ess
tablish in this land the freedom and equality
OF the race! Why do not the politicians
the priests, the press, the people seek to
erase from our nations history the mortify-
ing fact that liberty exists here only in
name?
Slavery is a national sin, and the curse
which clings to the system-has poisoned
the life's blood Of the nation. Ithas its sun
porters at the South and at the North-its
victims are here, and there, and every where.
The very persons who drag the Car of this
Juggernaut, are themselves crushed beneath
its wheels. They who do most to sustain
it, not unfrequen,ly are the first to experience
its blighting, whitening influence; and they
who oppose it are not able to escape its
d~amning effects. Aside from the immediate
visitation of this system with all its untold
wrongs upon those who drag\t chain of
the bondman, the people have suffered per-
haps more than in any other way by its eff
fects upon the moral sense Of community
1t has dimmed their perception of what is
right and what is wrong-darkened their vi
sion so that they have mistaken error for
truth, and truth for error. From the pulpit
they have learned that God regards with ap-
probation the relation of master and slave;
and from the same source they have learned
that they who oppose this relation are wor-
thy the burning anathemas Of the church,
So corrupling have been the effects Of slave
ry upon the religious sentimen, ofthe nation,
that crime receives its strongest sanction
from the teachers of religion, and the people
look upon deeds dark as midnight with ap.
prevail. Outrages that need not be enumera-
ted, which involve the violation of natural,
social, civil, religious, and domestic rights
are daily inflicted upon the slave populations;
yet so dead is the public conscience, so hard
is the national heart, so low-toned is the re-
liglous sentiment Of the country, so obtuse
is the moral vision Of the people that The per-
petrators are left unmolested to exercise their
despollc power as they will. A few are
found to protest against it-a mere handful
OF abolitionisls who are d~espised for their
ultra notions of equality, and ridiculed for
their fanaticism. We comprise but a small
band and we stand upon eternal truth. God
is with us, Christianity is with us, Humani-
y &c ~ uSb iJIOti'y u Will us, ana w nv
are not the people with us1
Why do not the religious professors of the
land-those who live within the influence of
The thirty thousand American pulpi,s take
part in the Anti-slavery movement? Be-
cause, the good deeds of the Aboli,ionlsts
are a reproach to the church Because to
admit the christian character and moral beau
ty OF the anti-slavery enterprise, is to de-
clare their religion 10 be of the Devil An
tl-Slavery says, L" Break every yoke -; the
Church says "Slavery is sanctioned by Jeho-
yah, we have his express permission for the
continuance of the yoke" Anti-Slave-y says
to the degraded slave and 10 the oppressed
free man of color, Arise and stand upon
the platform of equality, enjoy the same
rights and privileges that others enjoy, and
form with them one common brotherhood -
the Church says, " will strengthen the arm
Of the tyrant, that the day of your oppres-
sion be prolonged. God made you 10 be
hewers of wood and drawers of water. The
rights and privileges others possess you shall
never enjoy-an impassable barrier has been
set up between you and them -
The reason then, that religious professors
are not with US, is because ours is emphali-
cally a christian movement, opposing every
thing that sustains or gives countenance to
the system of slavery, while their religion
t%ramPles humanity into the dust, dishonors
the name of Jesus, sets at naught the CON-
mands of Jehovah, and sells Gods children
upon an auction block. If those who pro-