Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1850-03-16
Mercy Tortured into Crime.

The speech Of Col. Dissell, Of Illinois on the
Slavery Question. has been much laudod by the
press os a bold defence Of the North and scath-
ing rcbukc of Southern arrogance. That it con-
tains some passages worthy, to certain extent,
of such laudotion, we chccrlully acknowledge
but what terms Of cxccration arc Strong enough
to be applied to the following passagcl 1t is
not enough for Col. Bisscn sorrovfqlly to adj
NIT that the obligation to restore the Fugitive
to his tyrout master is part of the national
compact, with cool and heertless eiirontory
worthy of volunteer in tho infamous war with
Mexico, he ranks with vicious people, bad
ncn,' and negro stcalcs, those who aid in
their fight from a worse than Austrian dcspo-
tsm the Bems, Jagelos and Kossuths of the
South. o, shame upon the man whose hearts
thus petrifed by scllishncss, and whose lying
lips can thus torture deed of mercy and hu.
manity into crime How low has the North
fallen in her degradation when such men stand
forth as her defmdersl But to the extract;
Another charge against the free States is that
of aiding fugitive slaves to make their escape.
That We have vicious people as we'll as deluded
people among us, VIC do not denyi and that
thoy have aided slaves 10 elude the pursuit of
their owners, is, regret to say, more than prob
able. Such acts are not in consonancc with the
spirit Of our Constitution, and they tend direct
ly to destroy that good ncighborhood among the
people and the States of this Union, which ey-
cry true.hearted American desires to cultivate.
They arc acts against tho commission and for
the punishment of which the General Govern
ment ought to provide. / hope such provision
will be made before the close of this session. II
need not be expected, however, that any humun
laws, however rigidly enforced, will wholly
remedy this evil. There arc bad men In all
mmunitics-in the North as we'll as the South
--and one unprincipled man, by cnticing away
or aiding the escape of q slave, may bring re-
proaches upon a whole State. / ann confident,
however, that the number of such men in the
free States is very greatly ovcr-cstimated by
gentlemen from tho South. They should re-
member that it takes but very few mon to occa-
sion all the annoyance they have suffered in
this respect They should remember, too, that
these things arc done secretly, and nrc by nc
means countenancod by the mass OF the people
For my own part, am ready TO go any reason
able length TO secure such Legislation as will
hencclorth prevent, far possible, this griev-
anco desire to sec a law enacted this present
session, which shall secure to you, as far as
! practicable, your rights in this respect Tho
slaves arc your own property; recognized as
such by that Constitution, every line and every
intcndment of which hold scored. But let me
ask gentlemen if they have not nesrc-stealers
in their own States--if they have not every va
riety of unprincipled characters among thom
Neither they nor VIC can FREQ our respective
States from such men and they should consid-
or whether, if things were rcrcversed--they occu-
pying our position, and VIC thcirs-thcy would
be likely to keep themselves frrcr FROM just re-
proach than VIC have been. .,.,,.l -.,.., 4.