Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1852-07-10
NO. 43.
A Word 10 Joseph Treat


same paper as that in which your letter appear
ed but for the wish that what is said mny reach
our western readers particularly, which it would
not through the Standard. l understand you
to be of the opinion that TO dcnounce man
whatever his crime, is wrong, is Itself a crime.
That the acts Of men are to be denounced, but
man negey.
You say, "ffom the commencement Of our
enterprise, we have denounced slave -owneis.-
In this VIC have been in an error. Yes, We have
been wrong from .he very first, and our cause
has, ttcicioro, suffered from the first VIC have
not made the progress We should have done had
we taken a different course. And so now, for
tho sake OF the cause, We must turn about and
adopt new principle OF action" admit the
first charge made in the above quotation, but
the second, that this course was wrong, do not
sec SO clearly in fact do not believe word
of it. And as Cur as 1 have opportunity, de-
sire to tell you why do not believe it, 1t is a
little strange how extremes at times meet
The enemies of the anti.sluvery cause from the
beginning have declared that our manner was tho
thing they dislilscd, and repeated thousand
times. " that we were binding the chains Of the
slave faster," putting back the cause Of free
dom and, in some cases actually hiudcring
emancipation for liity or ono hundred years
Now, one Of our mast dcroted friends .akcs up
their very language, and urges it as trucism.
You propose AN entire change, a conf letc rcvo-
luton, and the means you propose to adopt is
TO dcnouncc the acts or crimes. "Thcsc we
are to dcnoui severely, unsraringly, day and
night with oil our heart and soul" This seems
to me very absurd indeed. What would be the
use of dcnouncng sins or acts separate from the
sinner or actor. That would verify DC rcprov-
ing sin 'in the abstract To steal man is
either right or wrong, if right, then the act is
not to be denounced hut if wrong, what them
Is it the sin or act that is to be cxccratcd, the
man who hasc done the act. 1t strikes my
mind that men who are so lost to every i'm
pulse of Justice and truth as to make mcrchan-
dizc of Gods image, would care but little
low loud were your anathcmas against the act,
20 long as you did not identify him with it. The
fact is, all men are not reached exactly in the
sumo manner. But m0st men think something
Of tho good opinion of the rest Of mankind
Some become convinced Of wrong doing upon
learning the intrinsic wckcdncss of sin in the
general, but very many moro by the direct
home thrust. Thou art the man." Vast
numbers arc deferred from the commission Of
acts because of the odum such acts will bring
down upon them. l grant that ii person is
only deferred because of public opinion, he is
not converted or made new man, but the
parties whom he intended to injurc arc saved
and so much good done. There are no class OF
men more sensitive to the good opinion Of oth-
crs then the Stakeholder, and it is only because
he has the good opinion of others that he con-
tirues to rob and plunder. Let him be declor-
cd in consequence of his life unfit for any of the
important positions he now occupies in the
church, state or social circle and let the people
net as though they believed the declaration true.
Let the STAKEHOLDER sec written over every Of
flee of trust, profit or honor. mo Union with
Shareholders Over every pulpit and com
munion board. No Union with Slaveholdss.'
Around the social circle, the same characters of
warning and rebukc, and would not the result
be seen in the freedom of the slave; True it
might not be done in all cases from the highest
motives, but no matter, better three millions of
mon be saved from thraldom from any motives
than they should remain slaves while hundred
thousand sin stccpcd souls arc pariliod.
Then, the thing you dcnouncc cannot be
avoided, and the thing YOU propose cannot be
accomplished. No man can think of the sin
without speaking of the sinner. The one has
no existence without the other. Just look at
n single sentence in your own letter. I'VE
ought not to dcnource slave drivers, because it
is our duty to dcnounco their crimes. o their
crimcs,-the crimes of the slave claimants Of
the South-Lord They reach to heaven they
mock anguage They are horribly cruel as
pcrpctrated against man, and infinitely blasphe-
nous as committed against God" Is it a fun
damental error to tell men whose crimes reach
10 heaven, and even mock language-how hor-
rbly cruel they arc is it wrong to still call
them blasphcmers against God, and the muir
,Gers of their racer The amount of guilt be-
longing to each, and the punishment connected
with the guilt, God will decide. But my bu-
.siness is to speak of these men as they present
themselves to the world,-and to let them know
that they shall not continue their warfare upon
the race without their characters being
marked and the indignation of oil intelligent
beings brought right down upon them.
Nature frowns upon the sinner, and demands
satisfaction, and obtains it in some way or 9TH
er God holds the WRONG DogR responsible.-
SO docs every thing as it seems to me in the
universe indicate its displeasuro when wrong
is done and all combine to Genounce, the viola
tor Of earths harmony. Do they retard tho