Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-04-26
THE POPULAR VIEW OF THE CONSTR.
TUITION.

We find in one of the recent numbers Of the 81.
Louis Democrat, the Bontonian view of the Con-
%stitution. 1t says; The Federal Constitution takes
scr'pulouS cog,izance Of Slarery-H ercepts the A.
rican race from the univeySal rights Of civit liberty.
and defines that ii may erist in bondage under State
lac." This though it may be rather a straining
of the Constitution is nevertheless not only the
Missouri view of it but it is and has been the pop
ular view Of the North. Surely such q c%onstitu.
ton can be nothing else than "a. covenant with
death and an agreement with He'll" And yet tho
P~ittsburg Dispatch, by no means enc of the most
hunkerish of Republican papers copies this in its
connection endorses it as Republicanism, and in
vites the writer at once to join theRepublican ranks.
We copy the whole article from the Dispatch.that
wesmay do it no injustice: 1t says;
Mr.. Bcnton's Organ, the St. Louis Democrat oc-
cupies an entirely anomalous position on the sla-
very question. We have frequently read its arti-
cles with the hope of discovering, however imper-
iectly, what It aims at-but in vain; save that it is
our conviction that its editor is opposed to tho fur
Their extension of slavery, and would rather that it
did not exist in Missouri but we could make out
nothing else. The following paragraph in an arti-
Gle in the Democrat of April i0.h, which VIC sup
pose to be from the pen of Mr.. Benton bimselN
comes nearer to an ineligible expression than
anything we have yet seen in the paper:
I'VE ma the country at the present time absorb
ed in the discussion of the slavery issue. Inas-
much as this issue must continue to agitate the
popular mind until a fixed verdict shall be reached
it is unnecessary to ~analyze its history and discov-
err tho stage at which it has al rived. The Federal
constitution takes scrupulous cognizance of slave
ry--it excerpts the African race from the universal
rights of civil liberty, and defines that it may exist
in bondage under State law.
"Tbis issue first appeared in the political strifes
of the country in 1920, on the Missouri question,
and was temporarily hushed by the Missouri Com
promise.' 1t is essential to tho permanence and
safety Of slavery, that it be withdrawn from among
the issues that are National, and that it rests with
in the States in the vested quiet guaranteed by
the federal constitution. Unless this necessity is
whole people, and be inevitably brought, like all
we have a sufficient foretaste."
Says the Dispatch:
AS we read this, the writer means to inculcate
that slavery should rest content with its present
limits, and seek no further extent of Territory.
This, if the true reading, is the Republican
platform in toto, and the Democrat and Mr..
Benton might as we'll get upon that platform at
once.
To us it reads very differently. It mems that
the vested quiet guaranteed by the constitution"
must be secured by the suppress sion of all agita-
ton, by a careful submission, while our masters
extend slavery at their pleasure. Republicans
need find little difficulty in getting votes or candi-
dates if such vouchers as the above paragraphs
are deemed ample.