Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-07-28
FREE SPEECH IN KENTUCKY-CAss1Us
M. CLAY.

be heard on the slavery question or his tongue
shall be silenccd in death. Rev. John G. Fee was
some time since forcibly carried by n mob from one
of his meetings. Mr.. Clay and other heroic Ken
tuckians, have resolved that Mr.. Fee shall be heard
on the very place where he was silenced. The
government Of Kentucky gives no protection to
free speech, and Mr.. Clay has gone armed FOR the
unequal contest, with the weapons OF DEATH
The following letter to the Cincinnati Gazette, of
the 23d inst, was written on the eve of lis depar-
ture. Doubtful, he evidently was of the result to
himself personally, yet dauntleso.
LIBERTY OR DESpoTISM.
July 10, 1855.
EDS, GAZETTE Tomorrow l go to the field of
contest, to determine whether the liberty of speech
and religious freedom is longer possible in a slave
State In this unequal struggle, as the result
cannot be forescen, | deem it due my own charac-
ter and the great issues pending, to say a parting
word through a press where suppression is impos-
sible. Born and bred in q slave State, every hour
of my experience compcls me to avow that the
world has not yet begun to conceive the consistent
Jesuitism and unfathomablc a%trocity of the slave
propaganda! They who stand at the cradle, igno-
ring tho holy sentiments which consecrate the
pledges of devoted and mutual love, to ~cattelizc
Gods noblest work. and to stiac the immortal as
pirations of q human soul, are not the men to show
magnanimity, or indulge in the weakness Of JUS
tice, mercy and truth
1t is their vocation to dominate over the human
mind, and to subject brute power to the superior
force of intellect. Gentle, polished, and winning;
stern, bullying and remorselessly cruel-appealing
ut one time to the sentiments, now to the passions,
and then to the fears Of men-thcy must be cum
ming in fence" indeed, who can stand up under
such odds. No wonder then that they have taken
possession of the press, the pulpit, and the Govern
ment, and that the boosted liberties of the Ameri-
can people lie crushed and bleeding under their
iron heel But d~espotism is, under whatever
name, everywhere the same; and its chief and last
resort is force. To that has the slave power now
come. Its organs threaten to drive out the new
Congress with arms-renewed violence swells on
westward, and cannon and the rifle, and the bow
ieknife, overthrow the civil power; and despotism
rules supreme in places of vaunted popular SOW
c~rcignty," in the great prairies so often s%olemnly
pledged to Liberty, to Civilization and to Christi
anity.
When Governor Reeder is threatened with q
halt er, and assaulted with intent to kill, the rep
resentative Of the American sovereignty and Frank
lin Pierce, who was very manly in summoning the
nations power to the re-capture of a poor tremb-
ling fugitive from slavery, repudiatcs his own gov
ernmcnt and plungos the sword of justice into the
heart of his own standard bearer, it cannot be ex-
pected that l should advance, unopposed the van
guard of the "Republican" army in tho midst of
its enemies. l see now-I have long seen the
meshes gathering around me. Let no man, there
fore, too harshly reprove me if the instincts Of
self-preservation have caused me to cry out too
wildly, for the composed ears of n self-deluding
nation, against the ever onward march Of Despo-
| tism! When Douglas and Co. repealed the Mis-
souri, Compromise, how could l refrain from de-
rouncing them as worthy of death? Not from me
comes the imprecation. / and mine will be forgot
ten in the greater issues of this crime, and my
voice will be silenced amid the tears-the blood
the woe which follow in its wake, and the lam
e~ntations of the widows and the orphans, which it
I will have made! No, to all America the time has
comc-Liberty or despotism!
The Courier of Louisville found us quietly at
our work-it called upon its myrmidonc to initiate
t the deeds of Atchison and Douglas and String
fellow: ready with pistol and bowie knife, they ST.
[ ielCe cOih ~ ECU, III icullCoo, HdllJl oIlll v
=. our party, in Religion. If q lie had not fol
lowed fast in the footsteps of this execution, this
, had not been the land of slavery lie is falsely
v accused of distributing tracts to Slaves, and ex
r citing instruction Mr.. Fee sends his denial tt
the Courier with the programme of his action, laiC
: down in the annual report of the American Mis-
J sionary Society. Did he retract his calumny p
V did he publish its refutation No, that would no
have been like the mercenary tool Of d~espotism
Q Unheard he is condemned and silenced
e come to the rescue of my friend, the defendel
: of my causc-Now once more against me, also, un
d heard he published a libellous letter, and Jesuit
# cally invokes bloodshed Tho Resolutions passet
at the Jessamine meeting and published in tn,
Z Cincinnati Gazette, were read at the assemblies a
Brushcreek and Scaffold Cave, that there might b'
no question about our motives aud actions. | know
too we'll the scoundrcli SIN Of that party to trus
y myself to their magnanimity. | latter mysel
that my name is placed beyond tho sphere of ca
!" lumny, and all my past history gives assurance
that my friends may have cause to mourn my fate
} but never my principles.
10 / call your attention once more to my letter t
the New York Tribune, after the Nebraska crime
" | ask of you the favor of its republication. / al
!" cheered that l find myself in sympathy with til
= great minds and heroic hearts of the Nation
" Thank God for his ~foretaste of "the good tim
coming" All hail, Ohio al hail, the North
u all hail, the Republican Party!
Go on; then, with the sentiments Of the 18th
July inscribed on your banncrs-July the 4th, an
July the 18th; may they both be eras to bo ever II
= membered among men !-When the aspirations
v, the great Jefferson shall be fulfilled, and the rev
to luton begun in '76 shall commence being compl
ted in '55l
IL But wo shall not have a peaceful triumph. Deit
vindicates and expiates the violation of Ills etc
nal laws. Blood eonsecrates ever the remorse
pit great wrong. Standing here under the acknow
edged responsibilities of home and country, whic
20 no man can at will put OF, l calmly look destin,
I'd whatever it be, in the face, but living or dying