Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-01-28

First, as to the character Of Slavery,
their judgment was ono Of litter condemnation ;
they denounced IL rs ian atrocious debasement Of
human nature" and declared that until America
came into measure for its abolition, cher prayers l
to Heaven would be impous." They tremblcd for
their country when they remembered that God was
just and that his Justice could not sleep forever, I
and that, in an attempt by the slaves TO recover
their freedom, "the Almighty had no attribute that
could take part with us in such q contest"
They held that the Statesman should be loaded \
with ExECRATiON"-such is the expression of JET.
fcrson hmscf-"whO permitting one half of the
people to trample the other, converts these into
despots and those into enemies and they fondly
trusted that the younger generation, filed with the
spirit Of liberty, rising above the suggestions OF
avarice would sympathse with the unfortunate
race which their ancestors had classed with horses
and cattle, and hasten the houro their emancira-
tion.
In regard to the means which we may properly
to accomplish that end they left their prac-
teal example. They united in associations with
determined principles, fixed rules OF action, and
proper machinery for efficient effect. These assoei-
atons in the several States were affiliated and unit
ed in National Abolition Conventions for the bettor
concentration Of their moral force, and they aimed
to purify and humanize public opinion by the
publication Of Anti-Slayery Essays and Sermons,
whose stern denunciations OF the sin and the mean
ness OF oppression render tame and weak by COM
parsou the most ardent invectivcs of modern
Abolitionists. They did not confne their efforts
to their own borders but their broad philanthropy;
overlapping territorial bounds, addressed, with
manly trankness, the Executive of n sister State,
invoking, not unsucccsslully, her Legislative in
terpositions AGAINST outrage and expressions and
they enforced the appeal by reference TO English
pamphlets which they asked might be distributed
among the members Of her Assembly, THUS dis
tinctly showing that they did not regard such an
interference with the domestic affairs Of other
States as at all inconsistent with the Federal COM
pact. They encouraged the discussion Of Slavery.
MS q crime against God and against our country,
not only through the Press and from the Pulpit.
but in the Colleges Of the land, that the youthful
scholarship Of America, cmancipacd, in its inlan-
/ cy, from preiudiccs Of a cowardly despotism, and
the degrading influence of an aristocracy of color,
and inspirited with the true idea Of the common
| humanity and equal rights Of man proclaimed by
this country to the world, might bring its classic
culture, and historic lore and chastened eloquence
TO aid in the extension of universal freedom, and
to strengthen the liberties Of the people, by con-
frning "the conviction that those liberties were
from Cod" They did not disdan in this catholic
work, to hail with thanL:Llness foreign sympathy
and ma erial aid They accepted from generous
Englishman his frank beneiaction of British Gold
They established fraternal relations and mutual
correspondence with Ant-Slayery Societies in Eng
land and France, and cordially welcomed and ai-
sisted travelling propagandist of freedom from
Europe whose mission to America had avowed re-
ference to the Abolition of Slavery. In their home
efforts. they did not confine themselves to personal
appeals to shareholders in favor of Emancipation,
but they endedroured 10 render The traffic IA stdres
odiOus and di6ieult and property IN sldres precari-
oUs. They decline to patronize auctioneers who
dehased their license by selling slaves even though
the law permitted it and they exerted themselves
to deprive Shareholders of the facilities afforded
for rccapturing fugtives by advertisements in the
public prints.
or the constitutional right of petition they promip-
tly and earnestly availed themselves, and the tone
Of their petitions, dignifed respectful and firm,
was such as beited intelligent and earnest citizens
addressing the representatives OF their choice under
n constitution based upon the principle that all
rightiul power emanates from the people Their
petitions to Congress exhibited their exact unGcr-
standing of the constitutional question connected
with the subject: they show careful recognition
of the constitutional rights Of the Slave States and
/ the expressed and implied powers of Congress,
and an equally clear determination to maintain the
proper sovereignty Of the several States and the
reserved rights Of the people The claims that
have since been advanced by the Slave States, and
50 largely admitted in the Legislation ofCongress
for the protection, encouragement and extension OF
Slavery, were then not merely unacknowledged
but unknown.
: While the absence Of all power on the part Of
/ the General Government to interfere with Slavery
!, in the States was unhesitatingly recognised, the
y principle that Freedom is national, and Slavery
sectional, was the cardinal principle that Freedom
. Revolution who framed the Constitution, and knew
+ its meaning Adams and Hamilton, Jefferson anc
q Franklin, and many OF their associates from Tho
\ Southern States while they deplored the limits tha
. had been set to the authority of Congress on th'
il subject of Slavery and the slave trade, were wei
!. agreed upon the line of its duty.
. The statesmen ofthat day demanded Of Congress
,g IN the last words of Franklin, that yOu TW stel
r. TO THE VERY VERGE OF THE POWER VESTED IN YoI
for diseoagi"g eee'y species Of tg6fc IN the person
-four .feli0WmeR." And that is the demand whcl
should reiteratc, until reverDerating in tones
thunder from the Atlantic to tue Pacific, from tn
"A homes Of men who live by their own honest toll
- and not upon the hard earnings extorted by Vo
lence from the poor, the ignorant and the helpless
it shall penetrate the Halls Of the Capitol an'
u compel the Congress that has so long legslated
IS the bidding Of Southern Arisocracy to stay the
o fostering Of oppression, and recognise the voice
r Just people, reafhrmng md enforcing the laws o
u God Lot Congress step to the verge OF its powe
1e for the abolition Of this great evil, and the Amer
OF can Slave Trade, with its cargoes of despair
\, freighted beneath our national banner. will b
ie declared the piracy that indeed Isl and Slavery
that has so rapidly grown to a monsterous height
in and cast so deep shadow over our land, like tn
le gourd of Jonah, will presently wther and die
rs The of District Columbia, the Capital of our Re
is public, bearing the great name OF Washington
y will become truer remembrancer Of his fame q
O. the chains fall from the manacled limbs and eae
O. slave stands forth q freeman. At the accomplish
ment Of this first great step, which has already bee
Dr. petitoned for by the inhabitants of the Distreon
to by hundreds of thousands throughout tho Uniol
of what true-hearted American who egards the hont
10 Of his native land would not heartily rejoice? IT
of slave marts which lately polluted soil that shOu
Of be forever sacred TO freedom have been swept
W way and if compensation be necessary cond
D. ton to tho emancipation of the few slaves that
nr main in the District 10 what nobler purpose coul
o. the surplus revenues that now fll our nation
I'd Golfers and hold forth Inducements to proaiga
spaculation-to what nobler, better purpose eoul
n they be appropriated than in comforting the prime
A. less boon of liberty upon those who, beneath u
N shadow of our Capitol and under the exclusi'
al- aptnorY Q, our congress, arc now r9'shee az
he our national Legislature in ignorance and SLAYER,
he Mrs. DOUGLASS is now in prison in Norfolk, VI
for teaching children IN raad Where else Is schc