Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1851-09-06

frequently n subject of abuse.
From the Ant-Slavcry Standard.
No Voting and DlsuniOn,
There are two propositions which appear
TO be automatic top,lmost every free aud in
dependent American. The one, that Voting
is tie Universal Medicine, the Grand Area
nun, which is to cure all political and NOR
al evils. The other, that the Union OF these
States is an existing fact, MS well rs that it IS
the breath OF our nostrils, the withdrawal OF
which would produce National AsphyXia and
individual DEATH When, therefore, II set Of
men is 70 be found who refuse TO exercise
this heaven-born privilege OF suffrage, aud
utterly deny the existence of any Union of
the character so much vaunted, and us OPEN
~ advocate the duty and NECESSITY of repu-
| dinling the sham that is pnlnied upon the
people OF this Country for the genuine arti-
Gle, IT is n bard saying und few there be that
can hear it. Aud yet il does not seem as il
either OF these propositions were very dlih-
culi Of comprehension. The one seems TO
be os plain MS any ethical proposition that
eau be stated, aud the other capable of as
complete suhstuntnlion as any historical fact
or political theory resting upon historical
facts. As thus.
Why do hot the Abollionisis of the type
of the American Anti-Slavery Society accept
office aud vote at the polls? Simply because
| we have "preiudlce" which we have not
| yet "conquercd," lamentable rs our benight-
ed estate may appear TO Mr.. Daniel Webster,
against making promises which we do not
mean to keep. We are quite aware that this
is avery "unstatesmanlike" inhrmity, but it
is one to which we confess. We cannot
hols an office which must he entered upon
wiz Aau oath to support the Constitution OF
the United Suites (which includes nearly
every office, high and low) simply because
| we don't mean TO support il, and therefore
have a scruple Ia nice aud unnecessary one,
perlaps) against swearing TO do so. We
hold that the clause providing for the resto-
ration OF persons held to service or labor to
the party 10 whom such service or labor may
be due, means the restitution of fugitive
slaves to their masters. And as this happens
TO be one of the things which we are rcso-
lutte never 10 do, but, contrarwise, 10 inl-
! pcde, hinder and prevent TO the best of our
ability, we do not feel free to swear TO do it,
Now, we know that there are persons of
great responsibility and excellence who hold
! that this clause need not he construed to
mean Slaves, aud who prove, by verbal nj
ccties and logical distinctions, that there is
no comfort or aid intended TO be given to
Slavery by the Constitution. And some go
70 far us TO say that it can be abolished by
Act of Congress, under the Constitutions
Without entering into any consideration of
this argument at this time, we can only say
that we have not been convinced by il; but
that we think that the whole contemporary
III, -,
| tirmcd 10y the unanimous decisions of all the
Courts and the uniform practice aud consent
OF the government and country from the first,
shows it was the rendition of fugitive slaves
that that clause was contrived to secure. We
hive, at any rate, the rare luxury of being in
the majority, for once and wrong as we
think that majority for being willing TO main
tain such Constitution, we think that they
are quite right in their construction of it,
Aud so thinking of It's meaning, and so in
tending as 10 its execution, we do not think it
worth our while TO swear TO do what we
mean never to do.
So with respect to the clause for the sup
preston Of Domestic Insurrection, it is GER
talnly meant TO include, if il were not franz
ed exclusively TO cover, the only Domestic
lnsurreclons which can call for the interpo-
sition of the National arln-the Instructions
ofSlaves. Now, we hold that, in the pres
ence OF the American nnion aud in the light
OF It's history, lusnrrection is ut all times a
rlShtlul remedy of the slaves, whenever they
think that the time has come, in the course
of human events, TO dissolve the servile
bands that connect them with their muslers.
Therefore, we certainly do not mean, in case
of such an incipient Revolution, to help to
put it down in order that the tyrants may be
re-eslablished in their oppression We can
conceive, scarcely, of any crime more mean
and cowardly than such cooperation with
the trembling tyrants TO weld again the chains
which their victims had broken, by the in
terpositon of our physical force. Not in
tending, therefore, TO obey the call of the EX-
eculive, should the eXigences of the nation
even make one necessary, TO assist in a cru
sadie ior Slavery against Liberty struggling
into being, we do not intend to promise TO do
SO. The clause, too, protecting the African
Slave Trade for twenty years, and under
which that much abused branch of com
merce may be legalized again at any moment
by Act of Congress, we think brands the
! Constitution with mark of infimy, sutli-
cently indicative of its pro-slnvery charac-
ter, aud which certainly does not make us
swift to acknowledge allegiance to il. And
the three-fifths clause, whereby an aristocra-
cy resting on ownership in human beings is
established, power which has ever been,