Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1853-07-02

NuC thHttNuuOu Ullu UtiItI NIlut SldNtTl WOutu
soon die out, and when the expected time
should arrive, the duty of forbearauce or
ncquiescence would he ut nm end aud the
strict language of the Constitution, in its
natural aud legal sense, should then be the
rule of action for all.
Suppose A and B 10 propose partnership
for ten years. On all the nnin points Of the
relation their interests aud wishes coincide
but there is n collateral nlutter, not only I'M
important in proportion to the great motives
which prompt the union, but understood to
be OF temporary character, in which they
clash. This matter both parties have reason
for not spreading on the face Of the contract
Terms are therefore adopted which do not,
IN nomine, or in specific phrase, either except
or reject what Is desired 10y the one or denied
10y the other; and il is understood that n
temporary forbearance, or recognition even,
is to be allowed. Or suppose two parties
to have an amicable litigation in court, and
the question between them is, in what terms
| the decree of the court is to bo entered-
On all points but one, they are agreed. On
this point, claiu is made, by one of the
parties, which the other will not admit, aud
the court itself refuses to enter il upon the
record, as being contra bonos niores, or against
sound morals. AT last,as n temporary y,nrrange-
ment the terms of the record are agreed upon,
excluding the claim, but with personal under
standing between the parties, that during the
brief period for ,ohich The erigency is understood
10 erist, practical resistance to the Claim shall
be iorborne. Now, do not these suppositions
| fulfil all the conditions of the rule of con-
! temporary Interpretation and what Judge
or jurisi, what court or chancellor, can say
that such an arrangement, which was only
| formed to get rid of transtory difficulty,
shall he afterwards, by any change Of cir
cunlstances, ninde co-eytensive with The legal
aud binding relations into which the parties
| have entered
! II, then the rule of contemporaneous con-
struction should be allowed to open the
Constitution for the purpose Of letting in the
idea OF slavery, all the limitations attached
to that rule must necessarily come in with
| il; and among these is the Limitation Of time.
twould be the most unrigheous of lnterpre-
tations, even ns between the original parties,
and without reference to the rights Of third
persons, To impose new reading upon the
Constitution, 10y force of the rule of histori-
cal exposition, and then to claim that reading
as perpetual, when the very history that gave
IL birth demonstrates that il was to be tenn
porary only. IL contemporaueous history is
! allowed TO change the Obvious prima fdcie
! meaning of the instrument, we must have
the whole of the contempornneous history,
so us TO know hop much-thnt is, in this case,
hop icng-il is TO change IL and, on this
point, nothing can lie clearer Than the proof
offorded by that history.
The fac, that slavery has not passed AWAY,
ns was expected but is to-day two-fold more
extended IN the territory which il covers, and
sx-fold more numerous in the victims which
il contains, has not feathers weight in in
validating this course of the conclusions TO
which il leads. IL is an argument the other
way. IL claim is Sc, up 10 make that en-
during which was understood TO be iransitory,
and that national which was understood to
he sectional, the reasons are, not so much
the weaker, but so much the stronger, for
discnrding the transient gloss that has been
put upon il, and for giving it n practical in.
terpretntion in accordance with the great
principles of liberty it was designed to Sc
cure and uphold.
This argument, il seems 10 me, becomes
irresistible, when we escape from our pres
ent environment of thcts, and go bnck aud
take Our stand among the facts of 1857 and
'S5. Who, at that period, saw the Immense
expansion IN the culture of cotton aud the
effect II would hive upon the interests of
men, the diplomacy of courts, and the desli-
ny of nations? Who ioresaw the cupdity
Of Northern cities, which would make them
abandon the grent principles OH which the
war of the revolution itself proceeded, for
the hope of cent n yard on calico, and a
penny pound on iron, in prospective tar
i'll, never, to I've obtained? Who ioresaw that
Northern apostntes would gamble for the
Presidency, aud use the bodies and souls oi
men for their dice? Had n vision of these
now present facts been presented 10 the
ffanArs of tile Constitution, they would have
viewed them ns impossible us cnnnibalism.
For those who admit that slavery was tol-
Grated and ncquiesced in, by our government,
from the conslrant of momenlnry necessi-
~, but deny that il was adopted as an endur-
ing part OF our system, only one further
question refnnins. What length of acquies
censce or federation should he allowed, in
fnlflment of the original understanding p
When did, or when will, the lime arrive
beyond which all implied or expected obli-
guiions in behalf of slavery must cease TO
exist, even on the principle that il was at
first allowed TO meet temporary exigency' ?
This question is analogous to that OF ade-
quate Iimus,' or reasonable times which is
passed upon every day by juries, and decided
every day by the courts. Looking at this
question from IA point Of view inside the
Constitution, considering the number of
slaves in whit are now called the slave States,
in 1897, their value, and their relation OF
social aud economical dependence borne
towards them by their masters, OIL the one
hand and, on the other hand, considering
the Declaration of independence which the
people had just proclaimed TO the world us
their rule OF faith aud practice; considering
the immortal principles OF equity and justice
which were embodied in the Constitution OF
tile United States, aud the sacrifice which
had been made to secure their enjoyment for
ages to come ;-consdering oil these things,
] say, who can suppose That any man believed,
or, at most, that any considerable number OF
men believed, that the dominion of slavery