Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-11-24


70 maintain for that to thc bodies of those VIII,
are ground to powder under its weight
Now, the Republican party is the very best par
" the country has seen, since the Federal party
went out. We mean as to the character Of the
men who have gone into it and the sincerity oi
their moderate Anti-Sloyery aspirations And
yet we hear OF Mr.. Dana, one Of the worthiest OF
them, at n great meeting of the Massachusetts d.
vision of the party in Foneu Hall, pledgng the
party to the support Of the Union 1--WE arc
pledged to its support attached to it by necessity
proud of its rccUlleciuns, full of hore for the fu
ture, and none have more reason than we to ST
port the Constitution and the Union" We do not
know that Franklin Pierce, or Caleb Cushing or
Benjamin T. lIailett, could have said more
. ltis perfectly uuo that the Republicans arc
pledged to this support; that they can't help and
be party. But Of which of its recolections are
they proud Is it Of the National kidnapping OF
Sims, in the gray twilight Of an April morning.
or the triumphal procession with which Slavery
marched Massachusetts in chains down State street
with drums beating and colours flying, at high
noon IN the lealy month Of june? Those are the
genuine glorios Of the Constitution and those like
unto them which have illustrated the streets of
New York, Philadelphia and many border town.
We know Of no other rccollections of which to be
proud, and no other hope Of its, on which to rest
than that what has been will he again. Our wealth
our prosperity, cur intelligence such measure of
virtue and religion as Slavery has not tainted the
degree of protection to person and property we
enjoy, are in spite Of the Union and the ConIt
ton and not because of them. These things we
possess under the protection Of Massachusetts, of
New York and of Ohio. 1t is the Union and the
Constitution that steps between us and our natural
protectors and tears our suppians from our hearth
stones and lorbids the exercise Of the simplest du
ties OF hospitality and humanity, under pain Of
cruel mprisonments and crushing confscations.-
a man or party that desires to hold Office in this
nation or to help lis fuyorite candidates to it, or
! la !, ,1.g .l,,.4x Il. J. II
may be gained 10y action under til. Constitutions
must stand pledged to its support" and agree TO
submit to these things in the last resort but in
God name must they needs be proud Of them
and full Of hope in view Of them
We had hoped that the Republican party would
haye kept itself clear Of this kind of can't which
makes the other parties SO loathsome and nauseous
The massachusetts, platform, reported by Mr.
Dana himself, was snguarly and admirably free
from 1t. Is it inevitable that the idoarous Itany
OF the nations round about must be said by this
peculiar people also? We suppose so-thc more's
the pity We take i! for granted that men like Mr..
Dana, who express this enthusiasm for the Union,
have an ideal image in their minds over the essen
tlal horror of which a veil Of Imagination is thrown
and that it is this transfgured shape which receives
/ their homage. But, strong us are the tricks Of
Imagination they cannot change the inherent ma
ture Of things nor the well-understood and ccner-
ally received use of words There is no harm in
the words Constitution and Union. They are as
harmless MS the word Accommodate was before
1T was ill-sorted," in Bardolph's time. But they
have COM to have a certain fixed and well-ascer-
tai0ed sense attached to them, and men who en-
ploy them must define their terms ur be taken to
use them IN the received acceptation. There is
but one thing that creates any dissatisfaction with
the Union and the Constitution; and that is the
comfort aid and protection they give to Slavery
Consequently there is no need of vnporing about
loyalty to the Union, excepting as far as this occa-
n ItslA ltNr
as wei! understood as if the statement were made
IN words, whenever a writer speaker is swift to
express his te6lty to the Constitution that he means
he is ready to maintain it in the particulars which
havomade it odious to its enemies. If one uses the
words in esoterc sense and not in that usually
conveyed by them as it not the look of an attempt
to get political capital on false pretences' Would it
not have beer thought rather sharp practice in ala
cobie, century ago, to try to blind Hanoverian
company in which he found himself by drinking
the health Of the King, all the while meaning his
King de jure over the water, while thew supposed
he meant the King de .tacto, on the throne.
To be sure, it may be only a matter of taste, az
ter all. But taste is sometimes substance, as we'll
MS words things. These gentlemen are pledged to
do the things required in the Constitutions unques
tionably. We do not imagine that Mr.. Dana or
any considerable number of those who receive his
words with accamations, accept Mr.. Mellen's ex-
position Of the Constitution, which eliminates SlG
very entirely out Of its domain. We apprehend
that he and they believe that the persons held to
service or labor by the laws of any of the States
and who are not to be set FREQ by the laws of any
other OF the States but are to be restored claim
to him to whom such service or labor may be
due, the negro slaves of the Southern States
Swearing to support this Constitution implies the
due execution of all its parts by the juror those
he appoints in his stead, this clause among the
number 1t is very likely that these gentlemen
regard the present Fugitive Slave Law as uncon-
ct Itnf fIf.ftn lpt Il
kind of a law, issuing from source or other.
the Nation or the single State, may be framed
which will be Constitutional and which must be
executed when all its conditions are complied with?
II not, of what use is the clause? In some way
or other this original agreement is to be fulfilled
by those who consent to it. We do not deny this |
But we do think it is necessity to be cOntempla-
ted with shame and sorrow, with ashes the
head and sackloh the loins, and its possible ex
ecution looked forward to with horror and grief, |
and not vaunted alouu as object Of alta hment,
of pride and of hope. Form your party, cast your
ballots, take your oaths, if such appear to you the
line of your duty; but do not try to make it look
if you were doing something else. The COnstitu.
tion which you reconstruct every Electionday still
has its cornerstone on the heart of the Slave
All your fine words cannot alter the fact. The
guillotine was no less the guillotine when it was
painted rosecolour and garlanded with flowers,
To what extent are the Republican party pre-.
pared to go for the maintenance of the COnstitu-
ton and Union they love so much? Their single
purpose is to prevent Slavery from overstepping
its present frontier. Suppose they effect this pur
pose. Let suppose they have done the impos-
sible and kept Slavery ont of Kansas are they
willing to submit to all the indignities and injuries
which have long since grown into prescription {?
Will they submit to the denial Of access to the
Courts of the Nation to try questions of Personal
Liberty, in the Southern States, under penalty of
the penitentiary? Will they allow the slavehold-
ers to hunt their prey through their fields and
over their backgrounds and under the shadow
of their church-spires, forever? When the For
eign Slave Trade is again legitimnted, will they
endure it patiently When. next session. the
Shareholders threaten to secede if Kansas be not
admitted with slavery in its Constitution, will they
think so great an evil as Dissolution ought to be
risked on so slight an occasion Is there no
amount Of outrage that will rouse them to the on.
ly remedy Of Revolution They must come to