Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-11-10
AbOlitiOnists and Land RcfOrmers.
From the Anti slavery Standard.

are not content Win the Slmple preaching OF
their doctrines, but pepper their discourses
with interjectional smiths at the A~bolitionists.
We confess that We can see no logical con-
tinuity here, any more than in Chas. Lambs
famous case of the turnip crop and the boiled
shoulders of mutton. Ii wages-slavery were
the worst of the two, the Abolitionists would
not be guilty Of making it SO, nor does it fol-
low that ciottelslavery is not bad enough
because II is not so bad as something else
But II Is the fashion for every one who has a
panacea for our social evils, to head their adj
vertisements with a Betcare Of Qiiachs!
The Abolitionists do not profess to have
found any panacea. One particular evil has
presented itself prominently to their minds,
and they set to work to eradicate it. For so
it is, that by its own elective a~flinities each
mode Of reform takes up the minds that be-
long 10 n and are suited to carry il on, and
leaves all the rest. We smile sometimes
when we see an honest person stumbling over
the Lazarus lying on his own doorstep, in
his hurry 10 drop in his mite for another La
zarus at the antipodes. But meanwhile, per-
haps, another sympathy is making its way
eter from the antipodes under precisely sim
liar circumstances 1t is not till we have
reached the highest class in the school Of life
that we learn the great lesson that Nature is
wiser than we. Nor are we satisfied that the
walls of limitation which she has built up
Around us have any solidity, till we have
knocked our heads against them all. And
then; perhaps, we spend the rest of our days
IN rubbing our sore pates. No doubt the ra-
Sens which supplied Elijah left some poor
fellow bewailing the loss of his dinner, and
wishing Tor bow and arrow to make instant
examples of those thievish birds. Let us
eudeavor, brother land-reformer, not only to
be satisfied, but even to be thankful for each
other and 60 about our respective works with
a better heart. Perhaps we Abolitionists
haze but one idea, but that is 10 reason why
you should endeavor TO take away from us
the one idea that we have. Concede, for the
arguments sake, that you arc in the same
predicament, and suppose we should try the
experiment OF clubbing our two ideas for the
benefit of those that have none. Here would
be practical Association. We are not en-
tirely prepared to grant that the Abolitionists
are totally depraved, for we have never yet
to,;nd q man without some good in him, no,
not even a d~oughface,
Suppose there is no adequate help for It's
but IN a thorough social reorganization, yet
we must remember that the first thing need
iul is to convince the stupid Body Polite that
he is sick at ali. Or rather, perhaps, we
must begin by waking him up to make him
capable of conviction, Once walked and
convinced, it will be for the patient himself
20 choose between our respective pdthies.-
We confess that the arguments of the anti
iand-monopolists are entirely conclusive, and
we admit the great importance Especially in
our new and as yet not fully peopled coun-
the remedy is TO be a radical one, and oI dnss
comprehensive kind before spoken OF, it may
be questioned whether the scheme OF either
the Land-retormer or the Abolitionist alone
will be sufficient.
On the whole we think it wise for each
to put his hand ~strenuously to that work
which has for him the strongest attraction.
We may then be sure that we are all work.
ing together for good. Let us take courage,
and be thankful that the good Father has rG-
vens ready for every Elijah pcrishing in the
wilderness. We will not complain that they
nre not all detailed for the particular services
which we think most important, and surely
we will not shoot poisoned arrows at the di-
vinely-commissioned birds flying with the
bread of lite in any directions. Or, suppose
the ravens fall to quarrelling with beak and
claw among themselves, what becomes of
the bread, and, worse yet, of the Eljahs?
We do not see how any advantage is to
spring from disputes as to whether this or
that injurious system is entitled to an evil
pre-eminence, but we are not to be supposed
US granting that chattel-slavery is no worse
than wages-slavery. 1t is one of those as
sertions which recoil d~isastrously upon those
who make them. Opinion resembles a pen
dulum in this, that it swings as far back be-
sond tine graritatlng point on one side, as it
mas been forced beyond it ON the other. And
here the parallel unfortunately too often ends.
For, having an inward faculty of resistance,
ii ceases to o~scillate and remains ~obstinately
fixed in its retrogrGde position.
This matter of comparative miseries is
hardly one TO be settled by argument. Our
human instincts decide it ior us at once, aud
without appeal We do not believe that there
is a hired laborer imam or woman) in Amer
lea who would exchange conditions with the
latest and slcekest slave in the South, not even
it were TO be owned by Henry Clay
or General Taylor himself. Were the ques-
lion one solely of physical well being, it
would not bear argument for a moment
The Southern Quarterly Reuie,p estimates the
annual expense Of a plantation slave at thir-
Iy-fve dolls. year, or less than ten cents a day.
But it is not a question of mere bodily
comfort. The condition of the hired laborer
is one which admits of excep-
tons in favor of superior energy and intelli-
gence. That of the slave knows no excep-
lion, but brushes all to one dead level of stu
Pid aaiimalism or sulien despair The slave
mas no nope but that weary northward flight,
the ~bioodhounds and the worse than blood
hounds at his heels, and that horrible distrust
of every human being in his heart. And at
the very outset we are met by this great dis
JUNCTION OF complexion which makes the poor
runaway an object of suspicion South of
Mason and DfSon's line, and Of l~ife-long con-
tumeiy North of IL
Nor is il only m the condition of the slave
that the Abolitionist finds an imperative rea-
son for combating the atrocious system of
which he is the victim. Slavery has para4y-
zed those hnc instincts and energies of our
Republic which should have rendered it moi
only tire example but the protector and de-
Ho1nAAn ~ Gnn1oHu III A..-1--