Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-12-12
Prom the Ashtsbula Sentinel.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE OHIO STATES.
MAN,

sahV yOu respectfully tuNuiFtu my OpluiOui 1Vu
must have been aware that you would get an ex-
piicit answer,
The Union formed by our fathers in lT75 was
characterized by that lofty patriotism, that heroic
devotion to the rights Ut man, which deseryedly
called forth the admiration Of the civilized world.
The founders of that Union were governed ~ no
sOrdid views. They claimed for themselves no par
ticular privileges. They spoke and fought and
bled for those lights which pertain to every human
being declaring life, liberty and happiness TO be
gifts Of COD conferred on all who bear his inn
age. Ihoy declared our Government to be con-
stituted for their protection.
These doctrines gave character to The Union
which was based upun them. 1t was formed not as
an end, but as Il means to sustain these truths
Without those principles the Union itself was oil
40 Importance entIilo0 to no respect, no yeneration
The BarbAry States we're united Tor making war
upon those rights-Uurs to maintain them. And
when our Union is perverted TO the purpose for
that of Algiers aud Tunis was formed, IL becomes
no more honorable, aud is entitled to more respect
than theirs.
But to the Union of 1910 | refer with the most
profound reverence, vii deep emotions Ut graft
tude to Him who endowed thOsc sages win wisdom
to frame, with tirmness TO aVUw, and heroism tosup'
per: those sacred truths, which seem to have des-
cended warm and glowing from the bosom OF uoa'
The Union was long since Abandoned. 1t lives
only upon the pages OF history. Neither you nor
l can support 1t we can only exert cur influence
TO pcrpetua.e the doctrines On which it was based
They are eternal ; they exist while the throne oil
Heaven remains. To those doctrines | cling with
an undyiugg grasp. They embrace all that remains
Of our revolutionary struggle. True they are
abandoned, rcpudlated and trampled upon BY those
now in power, but they cannot be biotted from ex-
istence. Your own heart responds to their divin.
ity, while sustaining II party that makes war upon
them. You feel the instructive conviction that
your life was bestowed upon you by the Omnipo
tent Mind ; THAI 1t is yours that neither despot
nor pirate nor any organization OF man, have the
legitimate power to deprive you OF 1t, while you
observe anu respect the rights {. others. You are
equally conscious that the SANE right pertains 10
every member Of the human family. You are al
so convinced that God and all good men require
you to do unto Others as you would have others do
unto you that our government WAS based upon
this religious truth. | mention these facts for the
reason that you aud | live in an enlightened COM
munity, where no editor or StatesmanEdare stand
forth and frankly avVw that any man or any mum
Der OF men possess the right to enslave and hold in
bondage The h~umblest, the most degraded being
who bears the image Of God. respect these doc
trines as constituting the essential, the important
element of the Union.
When Louisiana and Florida were annexed, it
was done by common consent no man proposed
any change of the doctrines adopted in l776.-
The substance of the original union was retained
its doctrines were adhered to. But Texas was an
nexed for the avowed purpose, the Interior design
VI duduuOIliE 90 N'N6 WI
federal power and influence to the support, tht
eternization of human bondage.
The terms on which our New Union was formed
were offensive to the dignity, to the seif'respect o.
every freeman of our State. By those terms, thu
holder Of one hundred slaves gives to Texas The
same influence in the election Of President, and il
the control Of the Federal Government that sixty
one such men as you and myself add to tina
of Ohio. This placing the freemen of Obi
on the level Of the Texan slaves, 30 far beloy
the shareholders of that State. commands n
respect sroml me. If you love that degradation
| do not.
In March. 1873, I had the bonor to unite wit
that venerable Statesman, John Quincy Adams an
twenty other members Of Congress, in an address
to the people Of the Free States informing them {
the secret plot then maturing for the overthrow
the Union and the abandonment of the ductrine
on which it was based, by annexing Texas an
adopting a system of extending and maintainin
slavery. In May. 1874, | had the honor of &C
dressing the House of Representatives on that sui
ject: and again in January, le45, | gave a turtle
expression to my views in relation to 1t. To thos
speeches | desire to retract nothing. You will fin
them in the Congressional Globe Of those sessions
They were delivered before the old Union wa
abandoned, the new formed. | warned our peopl
of those disasters which have followed. / publicl
stated before the natiGn, my opinion that the PEE
pie of Ohio ought not to be dishonored by eoin
into a union with foreign shareholders upon term
of such disgracelul inequality that my own Sc
respect revulted at the idea of sitting in that ha
beside oligarchs from Texas that my ancestor
had fought for no such degradation Of their OF
spring.
l foretuld the war into which it plunged our nj
ton. Eighty thousand human victims were sa
rificed to extend slavery, within three years aftt
the uniol Of our fathers had been abaudoned.-
The amount OF human suffering cannot be est
mated The pains, the signs, the tears, the brol
en- hearts, cannot be enumerated. The lives an
happiness OF those victims were as dear TO each
yours or mine is 10 US. Your vote and inhuenC
was lent to the commission of those murders: Ii
blood VI those victims is yet dripping from you
hands. Such were the first fruits Of our unio
with Texas. If YOU revere such q union, if 70
love such crimes, or the men,, or the organizatio
that perpetrated them, l do not; before God an
mankind l abhor the crimes, the administrator
and the men Who committed them. l have no tin
TO speak OF the corruption, the open bribery, whiC
taxed the ireemen of Ohio and the other free Sta
thirteen millions OF dollars for Texan debts
sum equal to the whole annual ex penditure of go
eminent pnder Mr.. Apams' administration.
have no time TO speak OF the sad effects which Il
abandonment OF the old union and doctrines, al
the war that followed, had upon thesmorals of OF
nation. | Will only say that when a people or go
crnment or admin lstratiOn lends his or their inf
euce TO give one potion OF mankind power ov
the lives. the liberties, the happines OF Others, tn
cannot be expected to hesitate at the perpetrati
Dt any OtueT u fult nv OlG PiihCipiSo u ~
ern them. The last and the present administr
lion have fully illustrated this proposition.
The next important result of annexing Texl
was the repeal OF the Missouri Compromise, al
the open ayowal that the people OF a territory ma
if tn NV choose. r~ighttuliy ensiave q portion Of o
race. may hold The lie, ;he liberty, the happine
of the slave at the master S disposal. This cons
rr- tuted an unmistakable reputation Of mans lnalit
able rights, expressed in our Declaration Of Int
pendence.
= The military Invasion of Kansas, the ~usurpati
of its government by Missouri rufians, acti
with the consent and approval of the administ
ton, the barbarous laws which those rufians ena
ed for the gosernment Of the people, the enfOr,
ment of those e|nactments by an armed force, t
main,ainance Of a military despotism over 4
Territory, the murders. the civil war which has
long existed there, the recent scoundrelism PR
ticed by the border ruf6an convention and upht
Ly the administration, are the natural consequent
= - Ihn dnc.rInaa uhirh Nara adnnfeh at Tho In