Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-12-01
From the National Era.
California Free!

lure OF ue news rom CaiiOr1lla yesterday,
CALIFORNIA is PRE- beyond cavil--she has
framed her Constitution, and by an unani-
nous vote provided therein that ".Neithr
.Nasery nor h~,celuntary Scrvitud,. ercept for
Che PHHishasNt Of Crime, shall erer be tolerated
M this Slate" AL this is in precise. accord
once with our expectations, our advices, our
assurances, for months past.-.Netc York Tri-
Suae,
Why should the Tribune rejoice so much
that California has expressly prohibited slave
Fy? Was it not Indifferent, q few weeks
since, on this point? Was it not seeking to
prepare the Wing party for nn abandonment
of the ground of positive prohibition, and for
al assent TO the admission of California with
a Constitution silent OH the Slavery question?
Did it not write;
"California and Deseret will come into the
Union, no matter whether this year or next,
no matter epen If t0ithout express prohibition Of
Sdrey it their Constititions-as Free States,
with no law authorizing one man to hold an
other as his %cliattel, aud with no shadow of
probability that such a law eau ever be en-
acted?"
When it knew that in this country slave
holders claimed to carry slavery wherever
there was no positive law against it? Why
This extra shout of triumph on the part of the
Tribune over the express prohibition of sla-
very by the Californian Constitution, if no
prohibition would have answered just as
well? Most fortunate is it for the cause of
Freedom in our Pacific empire, that its Con-
stitution was formed before the people there
could know of the change of position in the
Tribune and the party it represents. Had
Shere been n telegraph to carry this intelli-
;sence to California before the adoption of
fhe express interdict against slavery, the
probability is that it never would have been
adopted. For, anxious as the people there
are to obtain a recognised Government, could
they have been assured of the support of the
Northern members of Congress, tor u Con-
'~stitution silent on the Slavery question, it is
hardly probable that they would have insert
ed any provision that could hazard the sup
port of the Southern.
"There never was any serious danger that
such u population as has been suddenly at
tracted TO California, together with such as
was found there by our people, would ever
deliberately establish and legalize slavery"
No thanks to time-serving politicians in
this country. The result is mainly to be at
tributed TO the Anti-Slavery and Free Soil
movements. The Abolitionists for many
years had been plying the public mind with
arguments and facts calculated to awaken its
sensibilities OH the subject of slavery, so that
the moment it became manifest that a vast
extent Of new territory was 10 be acquired,
with the design, il-concealed, of finding new
fields for slavery, the sudden introduction of
the Wilmot Proviso sent a thrill through the
heart of the People, That was a movement
which gave utterance, in a practical form, to
the deep-seated convictions of their UNDER
standing. From that hour, the agitation of
the question spread these convictions among
the most Indifferent, and, as if Providence
were determined to cooperate with an agi-
tation, which had for its object the consecra-
ton of the New Territories to Freedom, i'm
mense gold regions, that had lain hidden for
centuries, were suddenly revealed, attracting
TO our Pacific coast, in the course of a few
months, a population that would, at another
time, have been as many years coDgregating
there and this population, too, from the free
States Of the Union, which, at the moment,
were all alive with Anti-Slavery sentiment.
Had il not been for the discovery of gold, the
Territory would have been slowly settled,
and ~slave-owners would then have stood an
equal chance with non-slaveholders; but
men encountered with property, especially
with human chattels,' in the general rush
which this discovery occasioned, were fairly
distanced by emigrants owning nothing but
themselves; SO that in the course of a year
enough on-slaveholders from the free States,
VI VIII Tit AuCdo ptOutCCu Ny
the Free Soil agitation, and the conviction
that the people of the North would never
consent to the admission of California, ex-
cept as free territory, were settled in that
country, to battle the plot for converting it in
TO a slave market. But we again ask, would
such have been the result, had the views
now entertained by the Tribune and its bro
tier Wings, then prevailed among people of
ell parties at the North ? Never.
1t will be observed that we proceed on the
assumption that the final action of the Con-
ventioD III California on the subject of slave
~, will conform to its action in Committee
of the Whole. This is highly probable, tho
not certain.
But, let us not deceive ourselves: this
question of Slavery in relation to the Terrific
ries is by no means settled. We only begin
to see the dawniDg of the day-a day which
may yet be turned into night
Were there no other Territory but Califor-
nia-were its boundary distinct, its urea OF
reasonable extent, we should entertain no
doubt OF its easy admission as a State, with a
slavery-excluding Constitution. The menu
bers of Congress from the free States would
be united, and perhaps few Senators and
Representatives from the South would so far
trample under foot their ~favorite doctrine of
State rights, as to vote against il.
The question, however, will not be pre-
scented in this simple form. California COM
prises an alea of $4,000 square miles
what shall be the boundaries of the new
State? At the latest dates, the Convention
had not settled the question. Deseret in her
Constitution strikes out a boundary which
gives her a port on the Pacific, and nearly
three-fourths of the present Territory of Cali
iornia. In examining The various projects OF
boundary, submitted in the California Con-
%vention, we find none that proposes to take
less for the new State than half of the terri
tory, aud the entire Pacific coast. We pre-
n.y. Tia Ho.nsAo.. "a H.. III -