Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1851-10-25

free speech; that is, the very foundation
principles, the central truths, the life aud
soul oi the Constitution will be sacrificed, and
Tor what? For the empty name, for the
hollow lorm aud shell of the Constitution,
under the authority of which an Austrian
despolIsln will be practiced. Is this at all
improbable? Have not leading Southern
men mready called upon the Northern States
70 enact laws suppressng the freedom of
speechE Have not our most eminent Nortli-
ern statesmen declared that the discussion OF
the subject OF Slavery must he stopped in
anu OUT OF Congress? Aud are not the men
VINO hnve made this declaration, the men
VINO speak with the greatest authority, nnd
VINO are considered profoundly learned in
the principles of Liberty? Does not the
fress, furnishing to thousands upon thous-
ands Their only reading, does it not lreiterate
The same declaration? Is it not in many
quarters putting forth its utmost energies,
sparing no pains, TO concentrate public feel
ing and cast all the guilt and bloody conse-
quences of inhuman laws upon those who,
as II snys, stand ut n distance" protesting
agaiDst the trade in human flesh, and assert
ing the commandment of Almighty God7
II shows, by the way, how determined is
the purpose TO put down Free thought and
Free speech, in that il is asserted over and
over ngaln, with an oversight of the sim
plest instincts of human nature, THAT would
be amusing if il were not so melancholy--it
Is asserted that men who have fled from
bondage, would surrender their freedom
and never think of defending it unless they
were inslgated thereto by others. Shame
upon those, upon their understandings and
tier hearts, who cannot account for mans
resisting the attempt TO reduce him again to
servitude, cannot understand how he should
prefer death to bondage, without supposing
that he must have been told to do so by
others! But the absurdity only bttrays the
eagerness that exists TO fasten upon The oppo-
nenis OF mn unrighteous and inhuinnn law, the
inevitable consequences of the law ITSELF Ii
shows what deadly peril is beseitng the
first laws and principles of our civil order, the
Freedom Of Thought and Speech. My
friends, the signs Of the times are full of an
appalling meaning. Ii is become more and
more clear every hour that nothing will
satisfy TIE demands Of the Save-power but
the utter ruin of our most sacred liberties.
II clnncfs for the suppression of every word,
and ev3y thought which opposes IL. II
would spread over the land and over every
accession of territory, the midnight dark
ness of an unmittigated despotism. Has it
not already slenced thousands, and made
them unwilling TO speak, unwilling to think
even upon the subject of its outrages? And
can any man say how long it will be permit
ted him to call his thoughts, his tongue, his
own? Is there moment to be lost? As
we profess to be Christians, as we are men,
shall we not start from our slumbers and
save ourselves, by a faithful, yet pacific as
sertion of the commandments of God, from
being reduced TO state in which our
religious services will be miserable mock
cry
In what have now said, my friends, of
the dangers that threaten us, am not con-
cious of having INDUCED in any eXagera-
ton. feel myself all TO weak to depict
those dangers in their true colors. l feel at
times as il all language were Inadequate, even
though it came from the lips of an angel,
to impress upon us a sense of our dnty TO
the commandments of God, as if the blood
of saints and martyrs must flow, and that
were the only thing that could reach the
hearts of this people. The silent, unresist-
ing sutierings of the servants of Peace and
Freedom and Truth-these must speak. To
nothing short of this, can the enactors and
upholders of wrong be brought TO listen. -
Most earnestly do pray God that it may
not come TO this. For the present, putting
our trust, not in the arm of flesh--not in
brute force-not in the weapons of worldly
warfare, but in the divine force of Truth ;
let us humbly strive, beseech you, to be
faithful to that at every cost to ourselves
Let the weak and the injured have our
voices and our hearts. If the laws of man
threaten penalties, those penalties let us pa
tienty endure, rather than allow any human
authority to terriiy us into rransgression OF
the law of Mercy, the commandment OF
Christ.