Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1853-04-02

one without which our courts could not get
along for day. lie talks as though our oaihs
were general oaths, and not special ones ~
though they were oaths to peiorn dU the Of
fetal duties which the Constitution provides
for instead Of tho particular duties Of the
Office we ill. as member Of lie House cf
Representatives., not as United states Niar-
shall, or foul Fugitive Slave law ComuiS-
sioner When Free Soilers are found take
ing an oath which shall ohligo them 10 re-
turn fugitive slaves, then let them bc blasted
with the swiftest lightning
But to help cut this strange concoi;, Mr..
Phillips degrades our oaihs to heaven into
mere promises TO men, by declaring that they
are binding in TINT 'scnse in which the nn-
ton understands them.' Now had suppOs
cd that, as an oath makes Cod party to the
transaction, il is binding in ihSt scrse in
which lie knows the party tcnk il. Wheu
ask what is my duty under my oath, look
TO the record in heaven; Mr.. Phillips refers
mo to the votes ut the lac, election. My
doctrine is, that my guides TO duty arc uy
conscience aud my Maker Mr.. Phillips
doctrine is, that am hound by the Supreme
Court and the popular will or the will ot
the trhole nation as he elsewhere Expresses
IT, According 10 him, the President of the
United States and the Judges Of the Courts
take oatbs 20 interpret the Constitution ac-
cording to the opinion Of the nation, the
lcholc nation : and 80, Of course, they must
ascertain, at their peril, what that opinion is!
And if General jackson is elected President,
aud the opinion of the tcho'e nation changes;
or If Texas is annexed, aud that opinion
changes again, then tho oath changes
totes qt,olies, as tho lawyers say. He also
declares, in substance, that all the great aud
good men, who, for the last sixty four years,
have taken the oath, with views, in many re-
spccts or in any ,e-psci, different from those
Of the nation and the Supreme Court were
morally pcrinrcd. lie virtually tells us that
when that Christian philanihr0pisi, Mr. Ger.
rit Smith, shall take his Congressional sent
and oath, next December he will commit
perjury, aud th.t Mr.. G,diinrs has done so
for twenty yasrs lie tells rs that the on,h
is binding according aJ the nation and the
| Supreme Court conrrue il :; hut he does not
tell us what is to hc done when tho notio,l'
| is on one side Of question, aud the SIT
preme Court on the other; and nc discards
tho well known legal principle, that even the
opinions OF the Supreme Court arc not the
law, but only epidence Of thc iag.
Than all this. was there ever lower spec
| linen of Lower Law? Aud this, too, not
merely from the liiio Of champion of the
| Higher Law but from one so pure aud I'M
maculate in his own eyes, that, in his speech,
he spurned me as an unworthy champion
Of that law.
| But see what nrrant nonsense this is even
on the lower law suppo-ition that mn ont',
is promise to men. rather ilinn vow before
God! Has Mr.. Mann any Doubt cNclnims
MIR. Phillips, in who, sense tho uaton under
stands his oath 2 Not the slightest, MIR.
Phillips Howell Cobb aud Linn Boyd un-
derstood perfectly we'll in what sense would
take the oath, when thoy called me 10 the
Speakers desk aad administered il; aud all
the nation and the Supreme Court "hc
cared 10 know, knew as well as they jld, Al
any rate, it was not my fault il they did 30
know hsd told them often enough.
But if it be Wue, according TO the com
mon-place maxim, cited by Mr.. Phillips, tlia
promise is binding in that sense in whici
| the protnispr kuows the promilce understand
il it is Just as true, whatever words may he
used, thar a promise IL no further binding
than as tho promisce knows the pfomiso
understands it,
Besides, as member Of Congress, d'
not swear to support the Constitution III al!
such sense as tofhihs my doing all ! can Il
alter il. In thai Office, have better means o
| CnhUHluE ". NNl ~ FUuoHtS VNt'tj W 'Iu'
ine. 10 pote, as Mr.. Phillips would have me dc
reserve no remedy bu, violence and revolu
ton.
: The above four points include all TINT be
! lougcd TO our discussion. Here, therefore
| ought To hive been allow ed TO close. Isl
I MIR. Phillips has gonc out of his way, nn
4 gathered m numerous foreign topics, an
= iois,ed them into tho controversy. lie hc
Y not only collected topics wEicIi had no cnI
J nection with his aggressive speech, nor WI
v my strictly defensive reply, but has copous
; interspersed them with nisstntc,nent, taun
n ing and personal offence. Aud these irfcl
s want tones are more numerous than tho'
r. originally in discussion between us. shu
0, briefly reply.
lie /. Me-. Phillips goes hack many years
n nv life. 10 ncclPc nc of want Of irsnknes'
C, of stating hut halt truth while practis'
as conceameut of real facts aud then
d, spresds this chsrce over my conduct a.
III character up TO the present time. lins II
ps putHtiun, having no connection with O
present points Of difference, rHked up iro
TX the past of dozen years, obIiges me 10 sta
NJ the plain truth.
OF When the planning aud execution OF
'r- greSt educational enterprise was conl'ded
Iy, nv hands; whcn | was encountering
'e- opposition and the hosiililies of seIflshn,
do in a thousand forms, aud the hardly less i
of m;dshie ine1is Of cOmpacenry; when I
te- the mental and manual labor oil three or lu
ns, men was daily thrown upon mo, Mr. Phl'l'
ci. came up siealthily behind me, aud struck
he with dastsrd blows. Two years ago, he
nat tered aud prnted the most palpabie un'rul
= respecting me, alternating friends, and d'f
ale sing ill-wiIl towards me through vide
Gle. Since that time, he has revised the sa
INV untru,hs for republication, re without suppr
ss sion or modification. In the criminal cou
lad and in reference to those who are convic
ere over and over again, they speak Of third
,im fourth comers' To me, Mr. Phillips
oil. leas, fifth comer.' Yet in no instance