Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-08-12
LETTER FROM MR. REEMEIIN.

The following excellent letter was addressed by
Mr.. Rccmelin, to the Free Democratic Convention
of Defiance County, in reply to an invitation to at
tend aud sneak ut the Convention. We copy 1t
from the Defiance Democrat!
Dryr, May 90, 1851
Mr.. wooLsEr wEltss, Esq, IF The <er. Com.
Of c Free Democracy IF Dcfaacc Co., Ohio.
DIAN SlR,-Yo,rr very kind invitation to attend
a meeting of the Free Democracy Of Defiance Co.,
to be held on the Goth of June. has been received
Il will be impossible for me to attcrd the meeting
in consequence Of p~reyioss business arrangements.
The NebraSl frfdd has passed! 1t is u lie to
the North and n lie 10 thc South. 1t lisa trcachcry
to the rsst and n deception to the future. May
real popular'sovereiguty, aided by right and truth,
yet defeat tie nefariOus designs Of the slavery
propagatorSy our own sovereignty has been tam
pcred with by our servants under the plea of terri
torial sovereignty. May their demagogueism yet
he frustrated, and may freedom yet conquer sla-
very, though it must do it under very disadyan-
tageous circumstances! Let us aid liberty in its
territorial struggles all we can but, as the first
act of Justice, Tot us resolve never to vote for any
man, who, in or out of Congress, sanctioned this
national disgrace. call it u national disgrace, be-
cause the United States is now no longer to be
called the land of liberty. Freedom must now
battle in every territory, and in every nook and
corner Of this land, for what is foolishly taken to be
its birthright. What we supposed to be proclaim
ca ia l77G, established by the revolution, ana
clinchcd by the constitution, is once more at issue,
and the West is the battlefield. Slavery has
thrown down the gauntlct-it has, through It's
slaves in Congress, its toadics for presidential IA
rers and free passes through the Senate IN case OF
appointments, and through bribery and tetlerism,
succeeded in reversing the assertion of every good
man in America for nearly II century, and IL has
made this nation stand up before an intelligent
world with the proclamation in its mOuth-that
.'Sturcyy and Liberty arc Equals Ia rights under the
L. $. CnHitHiOR." The plea of unavoidable
circumstances is discarded, and slavery now
claims full legitimacy. To me it is a very strange
commentary upon our boosted progress, that an
American Con grcss can, in 1854, sit for weeks
upon the question, whether it or the people in the
territories shall decide upon institutions, which, in
fact. have long been decided and settled, or the char
setter we enjoy in the worlds esteem, and which we
have ever assumed for ourselves, is a monstrous
hlsehood. Or are inalienable rights the gifts OF
maiorities, and have we really become so lost to
all correct appreciation of our institutions, that
mljoritics absorb our sovereignty, and that our
liberty, and that Of our children, is no longer a
right existing, but that it has become a right con
ferrcl? Verify, it was proper that a Congress
that could admit, for Il moment, that 1T was a ques'
Giat whether liberty is the law of the land, under
the Constitution, or not, should admit It's own self
abascment, by handing over its power over the ter
ritories to nmnipotent executive dictation. Liberty
is now the Step-Child inalienable rights depend
upon majorities, for whom all unlimited power is
now claimed, and Slavery has crcpt into. the sheep
fold and rules in the garb Of popular soyer
eighty.
What shall be done? You answer, punish thu
traitors. Agreed, but go further; establish lib
crty as the law of this broad land of ours! and "a
not deem this an act of supcrerogatioE because i
the Nebraska question has decided anything, it ha'
decided that liberty is not established in America
What you and | have supposed settled, upon a'
firm II basis rs the foundations of our hills, is not
settled, and We may as well know it, and act ac
cordinglg,
To establish liberty, we must lie united moro
than that, we must be prudent; more than that
we must get clear of self-delusions about our pro
gress, and our safety as a free people; we mus
act upon the inspired advice, discarding all fanat
icism, being cool as the inyigorating breezes of oul
northern chimes "be wise as the serpents anC
gentle as doves
AZ a Democrat, let me beg you, as you wish sue
cess to liberty, not to fall back one inch from thu
landmarks which the Democracy of this State 20
in 1854 and 1852 in their State Conventions. Ad
vance. but advance practically. Do as jefferson
and Madison did in l79S; as jackson did in 1926
rs the Young Men Locofocos in New-York did il
1896 advance cautiously, but steadily, and frs
of all, vote for no man that recognizes property il
human blood! Respectfully yours,
CHAS REEMELIN.