Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-12-09
WHOLE NO. 479..


out abridgement and without compromise. Let
Justice be done though it drags down the pillars
Of the sky" Thus spoke the Chief Justice Of
England. Braced by this principle, the next siege
was logically easy. lie declared thut, tracing
slavery TO material principles, it can never be sap
ported that slavery cannot stand on any reason.
moral political but only by virtue of positire iar
and that in rihtter so odous the evidence and
and authority Of the law must be take STRICTLY.
No such law could be shown in England. And
aher asserting thst rights could not depend on
any discrimination Of color, lie concluded, anu
therefore. let the negro be discharged"
From Westminster Hull, where he had so long
been held in painful suspense, the happy feed
man, with the glad tidirgs Of his delivernnge no"
hurried to his guardian protector, Granville Sharp.
who, though organizing and sustaining these pic-
ccedings, had been re, trained by unObirusiye mod
esty, from all appearance of attendance in court,
that he light in wise irrltate the Judge, unf0r-
tunately preposscssct ugaina, his endeavor. And
thus closed the most remarkable constitutional
battle iu English history, fought by simple clerk,
once apprentice to Il linen draper, against the mer-
chants Of London, backed 10y the authority Of grent
names in law, and by the most exalted magistrais
Of the age Even like the stripping David, he had
gone forth TO the contest with only sling and
lew smooth stones from the brook; and Goliah tell
PROSTATE at his feet Not merely an indlyiduaf
slave was emancpatel, Tut upwards of $4,000 hut
man beings--hve TIMES as many rs were held IN
all New England 1T the adoption OF the Federal
Cons itution--were discharged from their bonds;
siave-hunt made impossible in the streets
Of London; great principle set up which
will stand forever Landmark OF Freedom.
This triumph, which, at the time, was haiied by
the friends of human happiness with exuitatiou
and delight, has been comluemorated by poetry anu
eluqucnce. 1t prompted Cowper, in his Flask, t0
these touching verses:
Slaves cannot breathe in Ergland; if their lungs
Receive our mir. that moment they free.
They touch our country and their shaekles fall.
That's noble, and bespeaks nation proud
And jealous Of the blessing. Spread it then,
And let it circulate through every vein
OF all your Empire, that where Brtans power
Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too !'
1t inspired Curran to a burst Of eoquence which
can never be forgotten
Il speak in the spirit of British law which
makes liberty commensurate with and iEscparable
from British soil; which proclams even 10 the
stranger and the sQjourner, the moment he sets his
foot upon British EARTH that the ground which
he eads is holy and consecrated 10y the geniss Ct
Universal Emancipation No matter in what Ian
guage his doom may have been pronounced no
matter what complexion, incompatible with free
don an Indian African may have burnt
upon him, no matter in what disastrous battle his
liberty may have been cloven down; nor with
what solemnities he may have been devoted upon
the altar Of slavery; the moment he touches the
sacred soil Of Britain, the altar and the god sink
together in the DUST his soul walks abroad in her
own majesty aud he stands redeemed, regener-
ated and disenthraled by the irresistible genius Of
Universal Emancipation"
1t was this triumph which lifted Brongham, in
our own day, to one Of those vivid utterances by
which truth is flashed upon the most unwilling
souls: Tell me not of rghts-tak not of the
property Of the Planter in his slaves. | denv the
right acknowledge not the property. The
principles, the feelings OF our common nature rise
IN rebellion against II. Be the appeal msde TO
the understanding or to the heart, the sentence 10
the same that rejects it. In vain you tell me Of
laws which sanction such 6 claim! There is Il
law above AL the enactment of human codes-the
same throughout the world the same in all times;
It is the law written by the finger of God on the
heart Of man; and by that law, interchangeable and
eternal, while men despise fraud, and lOathe rapne
and abhor blood, they will reject with indignato,t
the wild and guilty phantasy that man can hold
property.in man."
Granville Sharp did not now rest foom his Ia
bours. The Humanities not solitary; where
one is found there will others be aso The advo-
cate Of the slave in London was naturally the al-
yocae tor liberty for all every Nlere. IN this spirit
he signalized himself against the scandal OF the
English law, the hateful system Of impressment, in
the course Of which he encountered no less a per-
son than DIR johnson also against the claims of
England IN her controversy with her American
colonies, zeGUusly maintaining our cause in pub
licaton, OF which it is said seven thousand copies
were printed in Boston; also in establishing n
colony Of liberated slaves at Sierra Leone, on thu
coast vt Africa, the predecessor of more sue
cessiul Liberia and finally as a leader. not only
against the Slave Trade bat also against slavery
in the colonies that ho was placed at the head
Of the Committee which conducted this move
meat and was reverentially hailed as father Of
the cause in Englard." Other things. too, might
mention, but am admoniShed that l must draw
to close. Pardon me If ! touch yet other
shining point in his career, worthy Of perpetual
example.
The news Of the battle Of Bunker Ill., which
reached London at The end OF July, l795, foura
him Mt his desk, still clerk in the OrdiS+sncer
Office and obliged, by his position, to parisipats
in the military preparations required. But
he was unwilling TO be concerned, even thus dis
family, in what he regarded rs ''that unnatural
business, and though close attendance On his
Office for eighteen years. 10 the neglect OF all other
means Of subsistence, had made it important to
him as livelihood, yet he resolved to sacrifice it.
Iout of regard to his great worth and the respect
he had won, lie first INDUCED with n lsaye
If absence; but when hostilititics in the Colonies
had advanced beyond any prospect oi SPEEDY acs
commOdation, then he vacated his office. This
man of charity, who had lived for Others was now
left without support, But he happy in the
testimony he had borne in his principles; vas
he alone. Lord bingham and the oldest son Of
Lord Chairman threw up their commits ssioas in the
army rather than serve the side Of injustice.
Ana they were all clearly flGht. III Is vain 10
suppose that any human ordinance whether from
King Parliament or Judicial Tribunal, can vary
our moral responsibilities or release US from obc-
dience to God. And since no man can stand
between us and God it belongs to each cohscisnc.
for itsefto determine its final obligations, and.
where pressed to an unriShicous act-as if 10 say,
or what is equally bad, to eRslaye felsow-ms +.
charged with no crme--then at every peril tp
disobcy it. The lofty examples of Granville
Sharp on this occasion is not the least among tho
large egacies of wisdom and fidelity which hs
has left to mankind.
Mr.. President-I have striyen to keep witbhl
the open field of history and phanthrophy. ON
neutral ground but you would not forgive mo
if on this occasion, ! forbear to adduce the most