Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-06-24


last will and testament Of certain very distinguished
but aged and infrm candidats for the Presidency
wherein they gave and bequeabed to the South all
the rights and benefits guaranteed in that compro
mise, in consideration Of the anticipated support Of
southern politicians for that high Office; and the
usual testamentary form, running in this wise
. We, a. b, &c, being weak in body, but of sound
and disposing mind and memory, in view of the
uncertainty of political life, and the certainty o
/, political death, and being fully persuaded thai
tins is our last and only remaining chance for real
zing the high object of our ambition, do give and
bequeath," &c., would have been no inapt preamble
to these measures.
Il But sir, that compromise was, and ever has been
odious to the people of the free Statos of all par
ties. Out of compassion to the eminent gentlemen
to further whose chances for the Presidency it was
made, and to quiet the Of certain timid and
conservative gentlemen who were doubtless really
alarmed at the rawlings, and hissings, and howl
ings' (t1 use tho amiable language OF the gentle
man from Georgia) of southern gentlemen ON the
fl0or, that compromise was reluctantly acauicsced
IN by the wings and Democrats Of the North. But
! 1t never received more than reluctant loathinr
acquiescence; and in this turks the great and fatal
dcIuslon OF the projectors and advocates of this
most iniquitous measure. Neither the intellect
tho heart nor the conscience of the people of the
free States WITH or for that COMPROMISE, On
the contrary, the intellect the heart and the con-
science of that people, (thoso of them, | mean,
who were endowed with these attributes condemn
cd, repudiatcd abhorrcd that dishonorable, that
humiliating act. But, sir, the gentleman from
Georgia, and those who are co-workers with him.
are laboiing under the strange delusion that the
compromise of 1850 has NOW become popular in
the free States and that this Nebraska aud Kansas
BILL being only another unlicked cub of the same
litter, will also as speedily become as great favor
ite with the people of the free States From hence
sir comes to the advocates of this bill the pleasant
fancy that all the opposition to the guilty project
OF cursng with the mildcw of slavery the heart of
the North American continent, and turning it into
kennel for the breeding of slaves for the shambes
lot the South, are but the cravings, and howlings
and hissngs of the beaten and routed ranks Of the
actionists and malcontcnts," as the gentleman
from Georgia has it.
Why, sir, we "factionists and maleontents" pre-
dicted just such n fRale to that weak and wicked
bargain, sale, and surrender Of humanity and ins-
tcc, and the honor and interest Of the free States
and We take this ncn rascality very coolly; but
your treacherous arrow has touched the crural
nerve of the drowsy and sumbering old fogies who
were snoczing comfortably under the shadow of
southern chivalry and southern honor bat now
the great deep of the northern heart is heating
with the indignation Of those betrayed but thor
oughlY reused leyiathans and my advice to the
chivalry and the doughfaccs is to stand from
under" 'ior If thou hast run with the footmen
and they have weared thee, then how canst thou
contend with horses?"
Yes. sir, if the few obscure. dcspieed and hated
nbolitionists, MS you contcmptibly call them, have
been an oycr-match for you what are YOU TO do
when the united hosts of betrayed and indignant
free States enter the course against you? Oh sir
says the gentlemen from Georgia to the Represen-
ayes OF The free states, betrty your constituents
commit treason against humanity and mako your
names but ether words for hypocrisy, knayery and
cowardice.
'Go hack to your constituents md tell them You
rre right and they are wrong" Yes, sir, tire gen
teman from Georgia recommends that we return to
our constituents with this fagitious ''lie in our
right hands, and try to palm it of on the reading
rejecting, moral, religious sentiment of the
free States; and he seems TO think thev will take
all such stuff Gospe', rs readily as a congrcga-
ton of ilIiterate, hat drunken, pot house loaiers
would the oracular cruditics, cant and humbucgerv
Of fayorite political leader, from whom they ex-
peeted to receive gratis both politics and whiskey
But in this business, this sublime, heroic busi-
ness of boarding constituents by throwing their
cherished principles in their faces is game which
two may play at and say to the gentleman from
Georgia. physician, heal thyself." Suppose the
gentleman returns to his own constituents and
tells them that they are wrong and he is right ;"
that slavery is great moral wrong, a curse to
master and slave, and double curse to those that
are neither master or slaves; and that ought not
to exist at all, much less be extended over those
Territories now free. | iattcr myself that shall
be able to convince the gentleman from Georgia
that my proposition is reasonable, in comparison
the returns of the seventh Census. find all classes
of the gentlemar's constituents number ll0GOl
of these, G3, 435 are slaves and SIG free colorel
Now the gentleman would not need to expcnd
much breath, in good faith, to conquer the preiu-
dices against this the largest portion of his con-
stituents. The residr = them, numbering 46 32O,
are free white persons, of whom l0925 are males
above the age of twenty years. About one-tenth
or |, 100, are Shareholders, the balance, $500 arc
poor white folks" II believe they are SO termed
ut the South.
Now, sir am persuaded that gentleman so
full of the red hot lava of eoquence as the gentle
man from Georgia-one so richly endowed with
the gift Of making the better anpenr the better
reason, would have but little trouble in dcmonstrat
ing to those poor constituents Of his that the en-
sayemcnt Of the negro, by degrading labor, had
been the cause of the poor white mans poverty
and degradation and would be forever dead
lock" on the moral and social elevation of them
selves and their posterity. BY these, and other
arguments, which the gentlemans talents and
genius would at once suggest, it seems TO me h1
might, without very serious trouble persuade this
class of his constituents to "cohauer their prciu-
dices" in favor Of "faring sumptuously every day"
on the fruits of labor extcrted from their bondmen
hy the cruel appliances Of tho slave system, do
not know. 1t might, think would be, an ugly
job but by so much would its accomplishment be
the more worthy the gentleman's prowess. But
tough and ugly as the job may be for the gentle
man, it will not compare in difficulty with that
which he commands to of us of the free
States. The 'prejudices" of my constituents, for
instance, in favor of tho golden rule" and the
Declaration of Independence, added to the unyer-
sal instincts of humanity-the teachings of reason
the voice of conscience well as the invincible
biases of Christian education all constitute a
Gibraltar of difficulties, which | confess would be
sufficient even to dampen the chivalry of the veri
est Of the Quxots among the slavery propagandists
Besides, in my case, with the exception of some
two or three hundred Government officials, whose
preiudices" on these subjects not yincible but
vendibe, have of male constituents, of twenty
years old and upward, over twenty thousand capa-
Bile Of reading and writing, together with like
number Of women, equally well instructed, intelli-
gent and, if possible, of still more unconqucrabe
love Of justice, liberty, and Christianity, and
corresponding abhorrence Of slavery. All these,
Mr.. Chairman. constitnie q nhalanx Of anrirn.