Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-09-20

synonym FOR fanaticsm and extravag agance,is proved
to be literally, moderately true within the limits
of the most sober speech. We may fairly pre-.
sumo that members of Congress ore favorable
specimens Of Southern men but if this is the
way they deal with gentlemen, who does not shud-
der to think Of the way they may treat their
slaves Who does not shudder to think OF such
men. as intrusted with irresponsible power2 That
slavery rests upon brute fnrce and to brute force
makes Its daily and confident appeal that its
spirit is essentially domineerine and inurderous !;
that il has respect for the decencies of civilized
life that it has no reverence Tor intellectual or
moral greatness; that it is never conscious of an
elevated sentiment and never dreams OF n Chris
tian principle that it has no sense OF shame ;
hat it exults in dishonor, and makes boast of
deceit must be now apparent for all these charac
teristcs we're displayed in the recent outrage at
Washington.
We zee now what deadly influence this institu.
tion exerts, how penetrating and pervasve it is.
We see how it has corrupted the moral sense of
communities. Opinions at Washington are. am
told, about equally divided upon the recent
rences there. Northern and women hold
their peace Southern ladies emulous Of the
| privilege Of possessing fragment of the broken
staff, a holy relic. We find it no CHASTITY dream,
but q more CHASTITY reality, that slavery has gut
possession Of the government in all its depart.
ments that it has put its Interpretation upun the
Constitution of the country and upon tie State
laws. 1t is nnta Southern institution any longer,
limited local. peculiar. 1t is an idea,a sentiment,
n principle. OF course it cannot be kept within
State lines. Its presence is in every Granny and
corner of the land. 1t is everywhere. 1t is in
Washington, seated in the President chair, ruling
in the council chamber, Judging the bench of
the Supreme Court, moving to and fro armed
among senators and representatives. 1t is in New
York and Boston. 1t is in every merchants count
room, and every lawyers Office and every prench
er's pulpit and every scholars library. 1t is in
Iant al md rin
1t is in the streets it is at hearihstones and
tables My friends, it is here at this moment. 1t
stands behind me, looking my page, bidding
me beware how speak the Christian can not
help speaking when his God is basphemed and
his Christ is trodden under foot. 1t is in your
pews, warning you not to listen to sedtious words,
and begettng in your hearts q secret uneasness
under the treatment of this question. Nay,
brethren it has its witness and advocate In oil
hearts, urging there the plea of safety, ease pros
perity, deprecatiDg the excesses of moyal en-
ihusiasn, and the disturbance OF animal content.
In a crisis like this, my friends the question is
not so much, 'What is to be doneH" as, "What is
not to be done 2" Every mea sure is timely. Every
demonstration is fitting Mans vehement protest,
wonan's earnest remonstrance, the fiery utterance
of boys and girls, arguments, complaints appeals.
every form of speech, every moduaton OF ssnti
ment, is needed. Nothing that is done heartily
can be done amiss. Public meetings good. and
private conversations, addresses resolutions, man
ifestoes, gatherings pam phlets, sermons, all
do their work. These things, however, being
called forth by special exigency, are apt
to lose their interest with the hour, and too
often merely to keep up an excitement which is
transient and superficial Again and again have
such demonstrations been repeated. Again and
again have they died away, leaving undisturbed the
deeper purposes Of the soul We must not be
satisfied with just discerning the sign. We must
not trust to the emotions Of the hour.
Again political action is good. The ballot box
is power. If these recent aggressions might
beget unity of purpose in OF all parties, abol
shing old distinctions, putting aside old questions
ST policy, and rallying the vast majority OF North
ern people to one almighty. concentrated effort to
redeem Kansas, set boundary forever to the terri
torial domain Of slavery, and secure the preponder
atng strength of the government to the cause o:
freedom, that would be much. And yet votes do
not send their moral influence very far. If new
free States are to be more independent and
brave than she old one, little will be gained by n
republican election. 1t is possible for States to be
free in name and yet virtually ensaved; free in
laws and institutions, enslaved in prejudice. We
must not forget that slavery is sustained by the
low moral sentiment of the free States that
through the concessions of freedom it has attained
its growth that through the material and moral
support Of freemen it still exists. Our whole North
ern land is deeply tainted by the contempt for the
African, the contempt for man aud woman which
whole Northern population is possessed by the pas
sion for wealth II degree that makes men indif-
erent to others injustice and insensible even to
the wrongs of foreign race. We not, there
fore, be too sanguine of the results of any polit
ical Efforts Let US make them, but let us not rest
in them. Institutions are nothing without men
behind them and without the powerful pressure
of equitable and righteous souls. what are laws?
Oh no. my friends, we must go deeper than
this. We must gu To the moral root of the matter
We must keep our mind fixed upon the original,
radical cause of all our evils, which is slavery
itself. We must study this, till we have mastered
its principles. and fnthomed its iniquity, and un-
ravelled all its complicated and knotty injustice
and taken to pieces its monstrods anatomy, and
traced to its issues every one of its forth-reachng
fbres. Let US say no more about the benehcent
for the blacks the "Christianizng" of
the negro the necessary dependence of the weaker
upon tho stonger. Let us havs no more South
Side" Views. Let us not any more believe that
the stakeholder is a saint by virtue of his office
Let us hencefurth be assured that the slave is n
man, seeing that his master dues not hesitate to
treat white men ms if they were slaves. Let us
hush forever now, our rebukes Of Northern agita-
tion, our angry trades against the abolitionsts,
Let us tear the veil at once from our faces. Let
us brush away the delusons that have haunted our
brains Let us Danish entirely the sophisries that
have confused our reason, blinded our conscience.
and hampcred our will. Let us dream no longer
ct compromise; but let us cOnvin;e ourselves Mt
least of this that slavery cannot be trusted any,
where that there is no room for it on this broad
continent; that single seed of it is fatal to all
true prosperity. Let us wage against the institu-
ton, against the principles it embodies. against
each and all its influences. an open and unrelent-
ing war. Not warfare Of violence. That even
in this last extremity, must be deplored. War
fare of that sort is unchrstian, and therefore, as
am persuaded, unwse. 1t may come it may be
necessary, as being the only mode OF resistance
that we have retained but good and right be.
lieve it cannot De. If in past emergencies we had
been true to our moral convictions, loyal to the
bidding OF our better reason, we should hear
nothing now Of armed men. If at this very
moment we would summon all the powers of our
educated will to the rescue OF freedom, not blow
need be struck. Strong persuasions of truth,
Christian greatness of mind, loftiness Of purpose,
and conservation of heart. these the weapons
we ought to use for the suppression of evil these
sre the only weapons that can accomplish its final
defeat. Without these, swords arc worthless; with