Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1852-07-31

| tact Is Stunned MS if it were Infection.
Such is the American slave-trade; and
such ARE its statistics, as nearly as the census
will give them. Aud yet intelligent men in
! our Northern cities, men of humane aud
Christian sympathies, but misled by commer-
cinl Interests, directly or indirectly, or 10y the
influences of political or ecclesiastical parti-
zanship, will tell us--with such statistics ms
these within their reach-thnt the rcpresen-
tation of slavery given in Mrs. Stoves ex-
quisite story of "Unrlc Toms Cabin" is un-
Just. Yes, mCn-nnd women tOo-of high
culture aud refined nsibility-while the
census informs us, aud informs the world,
that this slnve.trade with It's unuiterabe
crimes aud miseres, violating everything that
is hoyand tearing every heart-strng, nilm-
hers at the lowest estimate FROM twenty to
forty thousand victims every yenr-can nuke
up their faces to tell us that "Uncle Toms
Cabin" is nischicvous book. "LoRD !!
WHAT IS MAN THAT THOU ART MiNFFuL or
mMf"
Perhaps you arc wondering what oil this
has to do with a discussion of the fugitive
slave law. You snail see, iIyou will be pa
tient Let me ask, Why did Congress pro-
hihit the African slave trade Why follow
up that prohibition with one act after another
increasing in stringcucy till the importation
of slave from Africa was made piracy?
Was it the manifest duty of Congress TO en-
net those laws? Would it bc an outrage on
the moral sense of the nation aud OF the
world to repeal them? Then why has not
Congress provided parallel stries OF laws
against this infamous American slave-trade
Why is it that the laws against the African
slavo-trnde have been permitted to become
in .,fl..,t NJ n,a f.tr titn
lection of the American slave breeder against
foreign compeiition? Is there any good
reason for such discrimination Are such
men as the slnvc-,rading firm of Bruin g.
I'LL any better, or any less worthy OF the
gallows, than a man who buys slaves OH the
coast Of Africa, except as the law which con-
demns the one protects the other?
There are two plain reasons, and no third,
why the American save-tradc, from one
state to another, is not prohibited by act OF
Congress. The first is that if bill for such
an uct were introduced, the Union would be
Immediately " in danger" by the agitation"
aud the bill consequently could not puss.-
The second is, that il such law were en-
acted, il could not, in present state of public
opinion ai the South, be carried into eXecu-
ton. There would be so mnny ways of
cvnding il, aud indeed it would be so gener-
ally regarded as an invasion of the sacred
right Ofproperiy, that II would presently be-
come n dead letter on tho statute hook
Now beg ienye To say, that these two rca-
sons are equally Wild against the fugitive
slave law of 1850. The enactment of such
law on that subject and the attempt to carry
il into execution have produced-nnd every
renewed attempt 10 execute il will inthllibly
produce" agitation" the agitation of tho
whole question of slavery in all its relations;
aud "ngitation," you know, makes it neces-
sary for commercial men, aud patriotic men,
and eloquent men, and good mcn,t do many
things that would otherwise he very disagree
nble-ior the sake ofsaving the Union. Aud
then the execution of such n law, violating
ms il does, every sentiment of justice and OF
sympathy with those who suffer, aud break
ing down the buwarks erected by our an
cestors for the defense of personal freedom,
is sure To he resisted in every method of lcgn
or peaceful opposition and after few more
attempts, stirring the public mind with deep
er disgust aud indignation, il will appear that
the law is little more than n dead letter.
Such law ought not 10 have been enacted
10y government too impotent or too cow
ardly to take any measure against the stu
pcndous airocity of the internal slaye-trade.
And till Congress shall begin to exert It's
constitutional power against that trade-nt
least till it shall adopt some other policy than
that of protecting the domestic producer of
slaves against all foreign competition, by the
most eflectua discriminating duty that can
he conceiyed-auy ertra constitutional zeal
IN the way OF giving positive aid TO the re-
capture OF iugltives, may very decently be
dispensed with.
The Constitution, as you will remember,
contcmpaies only the case of fugitive from
"servlce or labor and provides only that he
shall bc delivered up to the necessity of per-
forming the service or labor from which he
has fled. But the fact is, the Legislation of
Congress under the Constitution has been so
conducted that now the fugitive does not fly
from the mere obligation TO service or labor
imposed by the laws of the state which en-
slaves him, but rather from another evil in
comparison with which the obligation TO
lifelong labor, unrequitcd, on his masters
acres, is only n trlle. lie does not escape
rom labor or service merely, but from the
dreadful chance of falling into the hands of
the snve-iraders. And when he is caught
by some base device of n venaI police, aud
summarily "delivered up" by the sentence
OF petty officer fit for business so degra-
ding, he is never carried back to his former
place, there 10 perform the service or labor
TO which he was held under the laws of that
state, (which is what the Constitution con-
templates and provides for; but he is car
ried TO the slnvo-malket, TO n doom which |
thousands would pronounce more terrible |
than death. Suffer me TO say that the fra
mers OF the Constitution never intended to |
make such compact as this. Our fathers
verify thought that the Constitution gave all
necessary security for the complete Suppres
sion OF the slnve-trnde; but behold in the |
grand new compromise of 1850, this fugitive
slave law is introduced, for llie purpose of
making the power of the Union auxiliary to
The conservation not of slavery only, hut of
that traffic in slaves which, in the words once
used by Jefferson, is continued civil war