Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-10-18

end ii 1T be not now or speedily arrested? Imme-
date consequences are distinctly in view. The
admission OF Kansas into the Union as n Slave
state, the subsequent introduction Of slavery by
means equally fragrant into Nebaska. and the nd
mission OF Utah, with the twin patriarchal insti.
%tutions OF l~egalized adultery and slavery, and
these three achievements crowned with the ineor-
poration of Cuba into the Republic. Beyond these
visible consequences lies a region Of fearful specu-
lation-the restoration of the African slave trade,
/ and the desecration Of all Mexico and Genital
p America by the infiction upon the halEc.vivilized
O. Spanish and Indian races dwelling there by our
5 hands of u curse from which, inferior rs they are
: to oul selves, they have had the virtue once to re-
c deem themselves. Beyond this field last surveyed
$ lies that of civil and servilc wars, national decline
and-ruin,
n tear to open up these distant views, because |
f know that you will attribute my approximations to
: II morbid condition Of mind. But combining my
p self to the immediate future which is so ieariully
! visible, | ask you in all candor, first, whether |
have ever before exaggerated any of the slave
holding class? Secondly, whether the movement
that | now fOrebode is really more improbable
than the evils once seemed which are now a start
ling reality?
How are these Immediate evils, and whatever of
greater evils that are behind them. to be prevent
ed? DO you expect that those who have hereto.
lore connscled compromise, acquiescence and sub
mission, will change their course, aud come to the
rescue OF Llperty2 Even If this were n reasona-
BILE hope, are CaSs, and Douglas, and Buchanan
greater or better then the statesmen who have
opened the way OF compromise and led them into
it? And if they indeed are so much greater and
SO much better, do you expect them to live fol-
ever?
Perhaps you expect the slavotolding class will
: abate its pretensions and practice voluntarily the
moderation which you wish but dare not demand
at its hands. How long and with what success
have you waited already for that reformation ?
Did any property class ever so reform itself? Did
] .hn ,a..,n,n-, - 4 nar.A IL ,al1or, - Al
clergy in France2 The land holders in Ireland =?
The landed aristocracy in England ? Does the
slaveholding class even seek 20 beguile you with
: such a hope? Has it not become rapacious, AFRO
giant, defiant? Is it not waging civil war against
Freedom wherever it encounters real resist ance ?
No! no! you have let the lion and the spotted
leopard into the sheepfuld. They certainly will
n not die ct hunger there, nor retire from disgust
g with safety. They will remain there so long as
n renewed appetite shall find multiplied prey. Be
not selt-deceived. Whenever a property class of
d any kind is invited by society to Cypress, it will
continue to Cypress. Whenever a slaveholding
Ii class finds the non-slaveholding classes yielding,
5 it will continue its work of subjugation.
People of Michigan, l know full we'll that it
e seems ungracious in me to dwell on this painful
theme. 1t is not such an acknowledgment of your
e manifold inequalities as you expected. 1t is hard
for the weary mariner to look steadily on the new
n ly. revealed rocks toward which he has too long
&c been carelessly drifting. 1t is not easy for the
prodigal 10 look with contentment on the rags and
e husks which meet him as he retires from the house
e of his harlotry. Nevertheless, there is no way Of
escaping any imminent danger without first calm
y and steadily looking it full in the face, and as
certained its real nature and magnitude.
Here, again, you will deny the justice of my
y parallels; you will claim to be merely innocent and
l unfortunate, and will upbraid the slaveholding
class as the builders of this impending ruin. But
i you cannot escape so. The fault is not at all with
I that class, but with yourselves. The Shareholders
only act according to their constitutions, education
e and training. 1t is the non-slaveholding classes
y in the Free States who are recreant to their Own
i constitutions, and false to their own instincts and
impulses, and even to their own true interests
Who taught the slaveholding class that Freedom,
which could not he wholly conquered at once. could
be yielded in successive halves by successive COM
promises? Who taught the slaveholding class
the specious theories of non intervention and pop.
ular sovereignty, and the absolute obligation OF
!. tyrannical laws enacted by armed usurpation p
Your own Cass, and Douglas, and Pierce, and Blu
2 chanan. Who established Cass, Douglas, Pierce
and Buchanan at Washington, and gave them the
,r power to march their slavehOlding armies into
e Kansas? The non-slavehoIding society in the
,e Free States; and no portion Of that society more
willingly and more recklessly than you, the people
of Michigan.
v You admit all this, and you ask how are these
It great evils TO be corrected, these great dangers to
be avoided? ! answer, it is to be done. not as
% some of you have supposed, by heated debates sus-
e tanned by rifles or reyolvers at Washington. Nor
q yet by sending armies with supplies and Sharp's
i rifles into Kansas. ] condemn no necessary exer.
p else Of the right of selEdefence. anywhere. Pub
f lie safety is necessary to the practice of tn e real
duties of champions CT Freedom. But this is a
/. contest in which the race is not to the physically
p swift, nor the battle to those who have most mus.
I, cular strength. Least of all is it to be won by re.
: taliation and revenge. The victory will be to those
+, who shall practice the highest moral courage Y it'll
simple fidelity to the principles of humanity and
h justice. Notwithstanding all the heroism of you.
q champions in Washington and in Kansas, the con-
t test will be ~fearfully endangered if the slavehold.
ing class shall win the President and the Congress
in this great national canvass. Even although
+ every one of these champions should perish in
o his proper field, yet the Rights Of Man will be
d saved and the tide Of oppression will be rolled
$ back from our Northern plains, If a President and
q aCongress shall be chosen who are true to Freedom
~ The People, and the People only, are sovereign
e and irresistible, whether they will the ascendency
of Slavery or the triumph of Liberty.
Harsh as my words may have seemed | do my
Al kinsmen and brethren of the Free States no such
injustice as to deny that great allowances are to
be made for the Generalization | have described.
4. We inherited completely with the slaveholdine
Of class, and with it prejudice of caste. We inherit
At ed confidence and affections toward our Southern
Y brethren. and with these our political organizations
= and profound reverence for political authorities al
adverse to the needful discussion of Slavery
Above all, we inherited n fear of the dissolution
# of the Union, which can only be unwholesomt
d when it ceases equally to affect the conduct of al
n the great parties to that sacred compact. All thes,
/ inheritances have created influences upon our pc
litical conduct which are rather to he deploreC
than condemned. | trust that at last these infu
ences are about to cease. l trust SO because, i
we have inherited the decentralization Of Slavery
Is we have always attained the virtue required fol
emancipation. If we have inherited prejudices o
caste, We have also risen to the knowled !e that pc
litical safety is dependent on the rendering 0
!, equal and exact justice to all men. And If w
# have suffered our love for the Union to be abused
ii SO as to make us tolerate the evils that, more thar
all others, endenger it, we have discerned thar
No great error at last. If we shout sc a citizen WHIT
had erected a noble ediice sit down inactively in
its halls, avoiding all duty and enterprise, lest h
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