Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-10-07
From the Libcrator.
WHY NOT VOTE.
PARKER PILLSBURY.

In q complimentary letter, on our last page,
from a subscriber Is. J. W. IT, at Shelburne Falls
in this State, he says he is convinced that the
s~peediest and most ~effectual way to crush the by
dra Slavery is to SC parate the free from the slave
States : yet, 'as that cannot be done at present,
he asks, If political organization is to be eschewed,
how is slavery to be pnt down, and how is dissolu-|
ton to he brought about?' We know not how to
make the position we occupy more obvious than
we have already done, as pertaining to political
action under the U. s.. Constitution. 1t is a ques-
ton of personal integrity, deep conscientiousness,
and moral consistency, How the dissolution of
the Union is to be effected by voting for its perpc-
tuity, as every political organization must do while
standing within it, puzzles us just as much as our
friend Tabor seems to be in regard to our non-vot-
ing. In stigmatizing the U. s. Constitution, in
consequence of its slaveholding guarantees, as "A
covenant with death, and an agreement with hell
how can we vote to uphold it, without being con-
out of our own mouth 1t is no answer
to say, that that instrument cannot be amended,
unless by voting. Granted but can we honestly
swear 10 abide by it, until it be amended Ger
tainly not. Secession, not correction, is what is
wanted, not only as the s~peediest and most effec-
tual way to crush the hydra Slavery but as an
act of the highest religious duty, to keep our
hands and our consciences clean for though we
could emancipate every slave now in bondage by
perpctrating the smallest wrong. or at all compro-
missing the principle of eternal right, we should
be criminal if we did it. 1t is immoral to do evil.
that good may come, or to say that the end sancti-
fes the means, besides being foolish. A just God
never lays upon the human soul such q response
bility, nor gives to it such a license. The best
thing we can do for the slave is to do right. Be-
yond that, he may not ask us to go a hairs breadth
even to secure his liberation. The duty of the
free States is unmistakable, if they do not mean to
be involved in the guilt of the slave States: it is to
separate, and re-organixe. Let the South perpetu-
ate slavery, if she can, left to herself, and depriv-
ed of all the means Of protection now guaranteed
to her by the North. She cannot do it; but if she
could, be the guilt, the shame, and the retribution,
all her own. If the work to be done is revolution
airy, then we are not to affect to be in alliance with
the enemy. So our fathers thought and acted,
when endurance had passed its bounds, and the
day for Cancellation had gone by. A 1.-THE of their
frmness, heroism, selfsacrifce, ON the part of the
people of the North, would soon settle this ques
ton for ever. We must not blow hot and colo
with the same breath. We must not be seducet
from our course by the cry of political expe
diency. 1t is very desirable to prevent the exten
sion of slavery it is more desirable to abolish it
Abolition is our INSTRUMENTATION is but an in
cident, the natural fruit of the tree. To leave tn,
tree untouched, to nourish and protect it as i
stands, and at the same time to protest against it
bitter fruits, is to be given over to a fatal delusion
Let the axe be laid at the root of the tree, anC
every man WELD it with lusty vigor, until it be Gu
down and given TO the consuming fire.
As for our non-resistance views, they have moth
ing TO do with our views Of anti-slavery duty unde
a pro- slavery Constitution. For the sake O
impartial liberty, We are disfranchised jus
as We are for the sake of universal peace
Believing all war to be sinful, we shall neye
vote that Congress shall have power to de
clare war, and TO provide for an army AM
navy &c. &c. Believing all slaveholding to b.
criminal, we shall never vote to allow a slav,
representation in Congress. nor to suppress a slav,
instruction, nor to make the whole country slav,
hunting ground. Is this to throw away the stall
of accomplishment, or to WELD it with moral pc
tencyi
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