Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-02-14
THE GREAT DIsCoURAGEMENT OF OUR
ENTERPRISE.

iaborer are neither few nor small. Perhaps it is
best not to stop to look at ther,, but rather grapple
with them with the unceaslng resolution to tri-
umph. Yet there is one phase Of difficulty which
well nigh induces despair in spite Of faith and
philosophy. 1t is far more dishear,ning than per-
s%ecutions, lynchings, Nebraska Bills, or any other
of the Internal expedients of the slaveholding pow.
er which rules this nation. We nllude to tho
practical denial of all fixed principles of moral
law by the benevolent friends Of reform. 1t is the
spirit and practice in The anti-slapery party, of the
Same philosophy, which induces Petit and Toombs
and Mason, in Congress to scout the idea of a law
paramount in obligation to the onactments of that
body. Into this habit and philosophy our people
have been educated through three quarters of a
century of compromise, concession. and union
with shareholders, until il has become the faith by
which our churches are edited, and the policy
which constitutes craftsmanship in the nation
Divines teach policy for principle; and practice it,
by e~xpelling abolitionists faom the church for the
sake of its enlargement by a union with slave
holders. As the fruit of this religious teaching,
the most %reformatory of politicians, Old Liberty
Party men and Free Democrats did not r~epudiate
slavery, but sought only to make it sectional,
NbifO lluCdl ucsVonulltst tHo ItcpuUilCtuS,
grant special permit for its existence in the States,
by the avowal of their highest standard of practi-
cal morality M Slarery OUTSIDE the Slave
States" A standard, nowhat differing in prin-
ciple, from that of dead w~Liggery or ruling democ-
racy. Thus right and wrong, as established prin.
ciples, are repudiated. There is no fixed moral
law. Slavery is a virtue or a crime, according to
its locality or its circumstances. 1t is a crime to
be resisted now unto deatb,-then to be fostered
as a virtue. 1t is worthy of the fercest denuncia,
ton and scverest penalties in Kansas. but to be
cherished by the choicest care Of Church and State
on either side, in Missouri and Arkansas. 1t is
against the Law of God and that higher law the
Constitution, to vote it into Kansas by the Doug.
lass Nebraska Bill. but is Transmitted into a right
eous and constitutional act when Republicans vote
for it in the same territory, when it is brought for
ward in "Dunns' Bill" The vote by Wings and
Democrats in 1850, for the fugitive slave law, was
an outrage against justice, which no language
could adequately describe or denounce, but is a
Republican aud Christian virtue when given by
Republicans in 1856 to secure the restoration OF
the Missouri Compromise. This is Statesmanship,
in this nation; and this the consistency and moral
pfiiClpic, VI iuou WIZ ART lhlIpuuleu ~ pcToVSu-
ted for their avowed faith in a "higher law" than
that of Congress or the Constitution. Manif estly
"it is a faith withou, works; and is dead. being
alone"
All this we admit is the best that the purest and
noblest of our political reformers and pages can
do, under Il government which admits slavery, that
hoary villainy of ages, to equal protection and
privileges with the holy principle of liberty. And
the great source Of encouragement to the practical
enemy Of all slavery, is, that after our woeful ex.
perience of the effect of this policy of compromise,
men-wise men. and %reformers,- still scout every
other expedient, than the vain repetition Of thi,
fatal and disgraceful policy. They learn no wis
dom by experience, seek no truer positions; bu'
their consciences, scared by completely with crime
and their moral vision distorted by a false position
they become infatuated; and plunge madly on in
course which leads to inevitable national ruin.
We write thus, while the impression of a meet
ing we recently attended is still pressing our hear
with sorrow. and almost despair of all salvation
by truth and love; awakening in US fearful appre
hension Of an inevitable retribution of blood fol-
our guilty land.
The meeting alluded to, was held in & communi
/ y, piecuiihcut " ile hocTdilty, " lo uuSOuI pTO
missing abolitionism. In applying the elementar,
principles of morals which lie Mt the foundation o
our movement, to national and individual conduct
we we're met with opposition from numerou
friends, long known as stern, faithful. abolition
lists. Their motto used 20 DO, without conceal
ment, without compromise" and such their prac
tice. But in their impotence for success. the,
had practically abandoned their principle and wer,
now openly and aboveboard, the advocates Of com
promise, affirming that it was right to enslave new
born infants in Kansas, that tho territory nigh
subsequently be free. That ut might be q dut,
= to enslave their own offspring" for the purpose o
securing liberty or other blessings to others. Sucl
revolving absurdities from the mouths of the Cal
houns, McDufie's and Wises of the South, or from
i, the solemn lips of southern Doctors of Divinity
4 would only awaken ridicule, or at most, DISCUS,
But coming from old abolitiOnists, we'll reputed o
for their principles and sacrifices in times past,
, fills US with sorro Hful, almost despairing emo
:. lions, especially when we remember, what are tn
a controlling influences which everywhere are edu
n eating and holding the people in the fatal prac
q tice of these moral absurdities. All the pecpl
, are being thus educated. For all the people ar
4 politicians, and the cardinal. ever present princi
pie Of American politics, national and State, /,
, and must ever be, under our union with slave
holders, one of compromise; q continual succession
> of bargain and sale of right and justice for imae
ined success and temporary good. Thus it seem
that the evil must continually trench upon tn
| good, right upon wrong, till the end shall como i
the bloody avenging of the oppressor and his d,
a luded accomplices.
: This is to us almost the only discouraging vie
I we can take Of the field of anti.slavery conflict
f But even in this view We need not despair; fc
o though success may now seem afar of, still th
r truths the abolitionists tell, ard the influence
IS thoir non-conformatory practice and their contil
ually pealiug testimony against the iniquity
this Union, is silently educating the people, eve
A more than we see in the dust Of the conflict, eyel
tually to assert the right, when the vutrages of Ell
very shall bring the people back to the nraet;c