Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-01-05
From the North Star.
Repatriation.

Governor Smith, of Virginia, has just pro-
posed, for the third time, to the Legislature
of that State, the removal of the free colored
people,. He recommends the passage of laws
by the Legislature for the accomplishment of
this result. From no high functionary in this
land has there ever come a more unjust and
impudent proposition. For a landlord to en-
pei a family which has failed to pay rent
regularly, excites compassion for the family,
and indignation against the landlord, in any
but a heart of stone but for a person 10 90
into the house and home of a man, and COM
pei him by force TO leave, is to make himself
guilty OF a crime, compared with which high
way robbery is insignificant. What have
the colored people done to merit this cold
blooded treatment at the hands of their white
neighborsl and what right has the high
hand ed plunderer TO propose their expulsion?
Who gave him or his villainous companions
a right TO expel any portion Of the human
family from any portion of the habitable
globe! OF one blood God made all nations,
TO dwell on The face of the earth. Has one
member of the family a right 10 decide for
the other where he shall or shall not live ?
Do huisan rights depend upon the whims
andhesHs;ssss- Of wicked mani But shame on
all reasoning in a case so plain. 1t would
seem that any man needing TO be instructed
on such a point, is a fit subject for the mad
house.
The colored people have as good a right to
live in Virginia as has this i~nsolent Govern
or. For two hundred years they have toiled
over its felds-"hav watered them with
their blood'-they have been the laborers of
that States the source of all the wealth that
the State enioys-they have reaped down the
| fo1lc yUhila tho law 1pppTipr WhItpG hava
reaped the harvest, and to eXpel them from
their homes, is an act of cruel rapacity de-
serving the eXecration of the civilized world.
We say TO our brethren, Stay in Virginia.
Do not move an inch from her borders. Give
up your lives rather than your homes. Be
firm. Show that you are men and not beasts.
Stand by your fresides, your wives, and your
children. Many OF you have wives in bond
age stay by them, never leave them. God
will stand by you, and the sense of justice OF
the whole world will be on your side. If you
I rive way, some other State, emboidened by
the wicked example of Virginia, will propose
the same Internal measure, and soon the Co.
lored man will be on the bloody bayonets Of
white men throughout the Union. We would
that you could hold public meetings among
Yourselves, and give 10 the world an express
sion of your views and feelings on this sub.
iect; but alas in addition to the ten thou
ssnd other g~rievous wrongs you are compel
led to endure, the right 10 tell your wrongs
to the world is denied you. We are left to
imagine your hardships and sorrows, and this
fact speaks trumpet-tongued of their terrible
character.
The reasons urged by Governor Smith, fol-
the expulsion of the free colored people, de-
feat themselves, and show that the evils Of
which he complains, result, after all, from tbs
immortality and cruelty of the whites, raiheI
than from the immortality OF the blacks. !
is easy to account for the fact, if it be a fact
that there is a larger proportion of free ne
rroes in the Penitentiary, than whites. WheI
il is admitted that by law he is forbid TO in
teImarry with the whites, to bear testimon,
auainst them-foTbid TO learn TO read an,
write-to preach the word Of God to his fel
lows; and when it is remembered that tn
bare testimony of one white man against tina
of a thousand blacks, will send a black ma
to the Penitentiary, the disproPortion in ques
ton is easily accounted for. In this sam
State of Virginia there are seventy-one crime
for which a black man may be executed
while only three of the same crimes will sub
iect a white man to the same punishment
The following is an extract from the Govern
sr's message:
"By the penitentiary report, we also lear
that, on the first day of October last, ther
were in the penitentiary l49 whites, and 8
negro c%onvicls, the white population contr
buting about Is for each 100000 persons
and the free negroes contributing, from a sin
liar number of their own race, about lGO pc
sons 10 the penitenliary; proving that tn
free negro perpeirates at least ten times a
much crime in proportion to numbers as tn
white man. This statement, verified by OF
legislation, presents such a picture OF The M
, raj degradation of our free negro populatlo
as is we'll calculated to excite the sympath
a of the philanthropist. Without meaning
enter into any discussion, as to The moral an
: intellectual capacity OF the negro, as TO while
| have heretofore very fully and distinct