Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1850-11-02
What shall be Done with the Law!

And now my friends, what is to be done
with law like this? Go home to your
houses tonight, and if you find man, no
matter what may be the color of his skin,
hungry, sbivering with cold, asking nights
lodging, at your farm house it may be, ask
ing food to alay bis hunger, will you refuse
TO succor him will you refuse 10 " "harbor"
him in your comfortable dwelling? will you
turn him abroad to perish by the way-side !?
mo never! mol no1 Or feeling the duty
which YOU owe to your fellow man, and re-
membeiing that the eye of the Maker of
YOU both is upon you, as you value your pres
ent and everlasting peace, will you not re-
ceivc that man into your habitation, and give
him food and shelter? Yes yes! that we
will And when the stakeholder seeks the
penalty at your hands, bring him before q
jury of your country aud let him receive the
full assurance that law which outrages hu-
manity, while it violates the dearest princi-
pies OF the Constitution cannot be enforced
by jury of ireenen.
My friends, if men can he found base
enough to execute the law, the country may
swarm with Commissioners, whose declared
duty shall be, to issue warrants against itigl-
tives, aud to issue them under bride, UNDER
A BRIBE-to sit in Judgment upon poor
fugitive, under briJe! For If he deliver MN
up, and give hin to the Shareholders what
is his compensation ?-Ten Dollars, for each
case, whether the slaves are brought before
him singly or in hundreds! But OH the other
hand, suppose he sets the man free, what is
his compensation /? just one half! Five Dol
lars, and thus bribe of double fees is given
TO induce the Commissioners to send the
mar back to slavery. The county too, may
swarm with myriads of men who shall be
required to execute that law, under the d.
rection Of those Commissioners. And how
shall the poor fugitive escape? My friends,
here is the law, as il is found in the statute
book; but there is another law, it is the law
of public sentiment. (Cheers.) II was to
that law our fathers appealed before tne
American Revolution, when the British far-
lament imposed Stamp Act upon the COL
onies, and public sentiment set that law at
defiance. Public sentiment rose against II,
with such Inanimity, that no man, VINO val
ued his peace or his standing in community,
dared be its executor. No man dared be the
Commissioner of excises, who should carry
that law into execution. i believe, in some
instances the men of that day went little
further, and where some one had the bold
ness to assume the duties of Commissioners,
they rewarded him for his courage by giving
him complete suit of tar and feathers, W !
thusiastic shouts and nppause.) But Gus
toms change my friends, and perhaps the
customs of our fathers might seem too rough
for us of the present generation. douot
not the Marshal or Commissioners wonld
think so. CLaughter.) But without resorting
to the usages OF revolutionary times, the end
will he attained. 1t is enough if public SEN
tment shall spring up from the hearts OF the
whole people, demanding the repeal OF that
law, and denouncing as unfit to live IN hu-
man society, and to be within the reach oil
human syinpathies, him who shall under
take. for the brbe, to perform the duties i'm
posed by the slave law. (ilear, hear.) Who
is there in this community that Will dare TO
look upon the indignant countenanccs OF his
fellow men, as he passes along the streets, us
he engages in his daily concerns who is
there, who for the sake of the bride, will be
willing to find himself shut out from the pale
of human sympathes? who is there that will
not respect the Just sentiment of this COM
munity, when it rises in its majesty and de-
mands that an iniquitous law shall not be
carried into effect (Applause.) That power
is mighty and that power is sufficient. Use
il! exert it to the utmost! (npplause.) and
whatever other measures wise men and
brave men, Christians and patriots may
adopt, adopt you the same, (hear, hearr) SO
that by no means shall this law be enforced
Massachusetts, (Cheers.) So that this free soil
shall not be polluted by the footsteps of the
savehunter, hear, hear,) so that this soil,
consecrated to freedom, and where sleep our
fathers, shall not become the hunting ground
of the slavehuntcr. loud plaudits.) For if
the spirit of Massachusetts, has so died ont,
if the spirit of the fathers has so degenerated
in the children, that law thus infamous can
be executed in this free country, i'll the midst
of her farms and her workshops, then say
that the people OF Massachusetts are them
selves fit to be slaves: (sensalion,) then say
that nothing but the whip of the STAKEHOLDER
would renew them to knowledge aud ap-
probation of their righls.-iSpeech Of Hon
Charles .4llen, at Worcester.