Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1853-01-01
T III E B U G L E
SPEECHES OF
Parker PillSbury and Frederick Douglass,
At The .4unircrsay Of The ". a. S. Society,
held al Sdlem august, 1859.
SPEECHES OF
REPORTED BY }. W. TowNER.

Upon the resolutions with respect to the
character of Slavery, and the relation of the
Church thereto, Parker Pillsbury remarked:
1t seems to me well to begiu with the
nvowal, that there is no such thing MS sin, If
Slavery is not Il sin. There is an almost
total nlisapprehension ON the part of the
people generally, of the character of slavery.
l do not believe it is possible, for politician
TO comprehend the heigblh aud length and
breadth of the crime of slavelolding. We
do not know what is the palue of man. If
we did, we could then tell somewhat of the
amount of guilt that must stain the character
Of him who would ensave mnn. We cs-
timate horse at, say a hundred dollars,
sheep at two. II n man can estimate these,
and then steal a horse or sheep, we can esli-
nnte his guilt, and treat him accordingly
Whoever steals horse worth hundred
dollars, goes 10 prison year, perhaps longer.
Now If that is justice, who can tell what
shall be done to him who steals man p
Bui by such estimates as these, we cun only
approximate the reality, for who can tell
what number Of dollars, or thousands of
dollars, man should be rated at. | know of
conclusion in this matter, aud that is, to place
ourselves in the position of slaves. How
much gold would it take to hire any of you
TO become n colored man or woman, assun-
tnU MT gI,a ti,pn nlI ntl,nr difficulties
and inconvenencies belonging to such
position. We henr great deal of the gold
mines Of California; but if all the mountain
ranges were one solid mass of gold, it would
lie small inducement to any one to take
suslI position. This is but feeble illus
tration, but we cannot calculate, the value of
manhood in any better way. There is not
gold enough in the world 10 hire n man of
you TO send n son or daughter into slavery.
Liberty is valuable, because 1t makes man
valuable. Man is valuable only as he is free.
II you cannot compute the value Of man,
you cannot compute the value of freedom.
wish we could take such view of man
ms we ought. Nothing is so cheap us man,
nothing is valued so little. And am nlraid
we have valued man SO little, for. so long n
time, that he has become actually worth but
little. And judging ourselves by our great
men, do not know us there is much mis-
take in this matter. II seems TO me rs il
Dan'l Webster is not worth much, as at pres
ent occupied. | do not know of man who
could be better spared. If Slavery could be
wiped ont by the sacrifice of man, i know
of none who can be spared better than he
But look upon him as great in his ruins
We cross oceans and traverse continents, to
explore the ruins of the great cities of the
deserts, but yet we ought to know, whit
ndmiring these magnificent ruins, that TN
meanest slave that sweat, and ioiled, and up
heuved those magnificent monuments, wa
of infinitely more value than all those cities
in the zenith Of their glory. We look upoi
the works of creation, aud admire our loft.
mountains and splendid catnracts, and il
them trace the mighty hand of him win
created them, but when we stand on th
brink of Niagara, aud behold its might
grandeur, we must remember tllat tue small
est tear that falls upon the cheek of a slav
child, is of much more value than all th
cataracts that God has ever formed. 1t
only by such illustrations, that we can hop
10 arrive at the value of man. We migl
compare him with his Creator, and it woul
be no sacrilege. What is man but the in
press and image of the divine? What
man but God duguereotyped on the l.olishe
mirror ofihe human face? Man is Divine
descended. We have heard tine children
kings aud conquerers spoken of as met
and idiotic. What if they are. We are n
the children Of such, we are more royal
descended, we trace our brthright UP to Il
Great God himself We are bis offsprin