Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-05-30
AMERICAN ANTI SLAVERY SOCIETY
REPORTS OF SPEECHES.
SPEECH OF ROBERT pURvIs.

Mr.. CHAIRMAN: In allowing my name to be
published as one of the speakers for this morning
which / haveIconsented to do.a the earnest request
of the Committee. it is due to myself to say that
] have acted with great reluctance. Not that
am not deeply Interested In this cause, nor that l
have not clear convictions and strong feelings on
the subject. On the contrary, my interest is too
intense for expression, and my convictions and
feelings are so vivid and overpowering that l can
not trust myself in attempting to give them utter
nnce. Sir, | envy those who, with cooler blood or
more mental sclfcommand, can rise before an
audience like this, and deliberately choose their
words and speak their thoughts in calm, measur.
ed phrase. This is a task, sir, to which | am not
adequate. / must either say too much or too lit
tie. IL | let my heart play freely, and speak out
what / think and feel, | am extravaganza, as peo-
pie call it, If | put q curb on my feelings, and
try to initiate the cool and unimpasiOned manner
or others, | cannot speak at all. Sir, bow can
any man with blood in his veins, and a heart pull
eating in his bosom, and especially how can any
olored man, think of the oppression Of this coun
try and the wrongs of his race, and then express
himself with calmness and without psssionH Gap
piause0
MIR. Chairman, look a. the facts-here. in a
country with a sublimity Of impudence that knows
no parallel. setting itself up before tho world as a
free country, = land Of liberty the land Of the
free, and the home Of the jrGre tie Jieest country
IN all The rorid ! Graci Gus God aud here are
millions of mon and womon groauing under n
bon lage the like of which the world has never
seen-bought and sold, whipped, manacled, killed
all the day long. Yet this is a free country The
people have the assurance to talk of their free an
nitahoas. How can | speak Of such a country
and use language Of moderation ? How can |,
who, every day, feel the grinding bOof this des-
potism, and who am myself identified with it's vic
tims Sir, let others, who can, speak cody on
this subject; l cannot, and will not. Gap
plause.)
Mr.. Chairman. that / may make sure of express
ing the precise sentiment which / wish to present
20 the meeting, | will offer n resolution. 1t is one
which | had the honor of presenting at n meeting
lately held in the city Of Philadelphia, but to
which | did not speak as could have desired, for
the reasons already stated. The resolution is as
follows
Resolved, That to attempt, as some do. to
prove that there is no support given to slavery In
the Constitution and essential structure of the
American Government, is to argue against reason
and common sense, to ignore history, and shut our
eyes against palpaSle facts; and while it may suit
white men, who DO not feel the iron heel, to please
themselves With such theories, ii i'll becomes the
man Of color, whose daily experience refntes the
nbsurdity, to indulge III any such idle lancies.'
Mr.. Chairman, this resolution expresses Just
what | think and feel about this new.fangled doc
trine of the anti.slavery character of the AReri-
can Constitution. Sir, with all due respect to
the Hon. Gerrit Smith, who is noble and a good
man, and one whom, from my s5ul, | honor with
oil due respect-I say to the noble minded, large
hearted Gerritt Smith. l must say. that the doc
trine of the anti.sldyery character of the Ameri-
can Constitution seems TO me one OF the most alb
surd and preposterous that ever was broached.-
1t is so contrary to history and common sense, so
opposite to what we and every man, and especial
w every colored man, feel and know to be the fact
that | have not patience to argue about it. | know
IL is said that the word slave or slavery Is not
TO be found in the document. Neither are these
words to he found in the Fugitive Slave Law
But will any man pretend, on this account, that
that infamous statute is an anti-slavery statute, or
that it is not one of the most a'rocious
and damnable laws that ever d~isgraced the
annals of despotism? tApplause.) l know. sir,
there are some fine phrases in the Preamble about
Establishing Justice and securing to US and our
posterity the blessings of liberty But what does
that prove? Does it prove that the Constitution
of the United States is an anti-ssavery document !
Then Mr.. Buchanan's late message was an anti
slavery document, and Mr.. Buchanan himself a
great ablolitionist. Then were all the messages
of your contemplate President Pierce anti-sla-
very documents, and your contemplate President
Pierce was not contemplate, but u much misun-
derstood and misrepresented abolitioIist. III
these fine phrases make the Constitution anti-slq-
very, then all the Fourth of July Orations, deiiv-
cred by pro-siavery doughfaces at the North, and
Democratic slave,breeders at the South, all these
ore nnti-slavery documents. Sir, this talk about
the Consultation being anti-slayery seems to me SO
utterly at Variance with common sense and what
we know to be facts, that, as l have already init
mated. | have no patience with it. l have no par
ticular objection, Mr.. Chairman, to white men,
who have little to feel on this subject, to amuse
themselves with such theories but must say,
that when | see them initiated by colored men, /
nm disguised. Sir, have we no self-respect? Are
VT to clank the chains which have been made for
us, and praise the men who did the deed d? Are
we to be kicked and secuted, trampled upon, and
iudiciously declared to hare no rights Which 1Chitt
men are bound to respect and then turn round and
glorify and magnify the laws under which all this
is doneY Are we such base, soulless, spiritless
sycophants as all this ? Sir. let others do as they
may, | will never stulify or disgrace myself by
eulogizing a government which tramples me, and
oil that are dear to me-. in the dust. Applause
Sir, l treat as an absurdity, an idle fantasy, the
idea of Of the idea of the Constitution Of this
American Union being anti-slavery on the con-
trary, | assert that the Constitution is fitting and
BETTING those who made it-slayeholders and their
abettors-and | am free to declare, without any
fears Of successful contradiction, that the Govern
ment Of the United States, in its formation and es.
sential structure ms as well as in practice, is one
of the basast, meanest, most atrocious despotisms
that ever saw the face of the sun. applause
And | rejoice, Sir, that there is u prospect VI this
atrocious government being overthrow, and a bet
one built up in its place. l rejoice IN the reVolu'
tion which is now going on. l honor,trom the bot
,or Of my soul, | honor this glorious Society for
the part, the leading part, it has taken is this no
bic work. My heart overiows with gratitude to
the selfsacriicing men and women OF this Society
who have been pioneers in this cause-men and
women who, from the beginning tall this time, IN
storm and whatever of sunshine they have had
through evil report and good report have
stood by the side Of the slave unialter
ineIy maintained the rights of free men of col
or. Sir, / cannot sufficiently express, the Englisl
language has not words strong enough TO express
nv admiration of the AbUlitionists of this coun
try, and ms gratitude to them for what they hay''
done for the confessedly oppressed colored peopl'
in it. And in saying this, | believe | utter thu
sentiments of all the true colored men in the coun
try. know, sir, there are colored men, some o
them occupying prominent places before the pub
lie, who lose no opportunity OF ,traducing an'
misrepre enting the character and course of thu
Garrisonian Abolltionists but, sir, these are mel
without principle, men who are actuated by tn
basest selfshness, and in whose hearts there is no
a spark of genuine love for the cause of freedom
They value auti-slavery not for what it is in itself o