Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-10-17

Mr.. Douglass has, we think, quite MS good rea-
son, on bis own principles, to feel unutterable
contempt for himself as for the Standard and Lib
orator, as he too, in effect, calls Mr.. Smith an
unfaithful abolitionist, When anti.slavory men
abandon their former healthy hatred of slave
holders ;'-when their adherence of the tyrant
and his system gives way to n ''sickly pity for tho
Stakeholder" certainly they can he regarded as
nothing better than "upfaithfuI nbolitionists.D
And we understand Mr.. Douglass to refer TO Mr..
Smith, with others, in his use of the above Ian
guage. AS to the charge that Mr.. Smith is Gan
unprincipled man" we are not aware that either
the Standard or Libcrator has made IL.
But it seems Mr. Douglass does not mean-thouph
his language i'm plies ito charge, Mr.. ESmith
with unfaithfulness, but wishes to be understood
as commencing him, and his course, MS everything
that is noble and christian and consistent. If SO.
we think he has far better ground for indulging in
feelings of contempt for himself, than in tho other
case. The apologies made by. Mr.. Smith for tho
Shareholders are by no means new. Lying poll
ticians, who dare not wholly ignore the ~auti.sla.
very feeling at the North. and cowardly ,priests
who dare not call their souls their own, have all
along practiced the charitable and gentle policy
that he has lately discovered to be the only course
allowable in an abolitionist or n christian.
But this course on the part of these men has
not we believe increased Mr.. Douglass ,,respectl,for
them as it seems to do in the case of Mr.. Smith
We do not say that Mr., Smiths motives are no bet
better than those governing the men We have re-
ferred to. lie is q man of lar~goi'sympathies and
great bcnevolence but why is it, in view of tho
outrages inflicted by three hundred thousand ty.
rantg unOn TOur millinns IF ui,I;r,, 1l,o4 L. haiti
feel that these tyrants''are incomparably more to be
piticd than the slaves? True, shareholders are
the victims of their crimes, but what criminals
are not' And to whom can we ever apply words oe
condemnation and rebuke if all are to be shielded
and petted who are '';he victims of their own
crimes? What, sin is there, that is a source of
real gain to its perpetrator?
There are tens of thousands of criminals in the
land, besides the Shareholders. Our penitentiaries
and prisons are filled with them, and still more run
at large. If Mr.. Smith were to talk of throwing
about these "the bonds of love and friendshin.U
and would offer them money to enable them to re-
form and live virtuous lives, we might reconcile
this with his character for charity. benevolence
and generosity for these men and women are
driven from society and shut out to a great extent
from love and sympathy. They are in Iced and in a
fearful sense. 1.-THE victims of their own crimes".
Nor is there any danger that they viii 20 urebuked
in any quarter. Not go with the greatest of all Grim
inals- the stakeholder. All political and social
honors are heaped upon him.. With a public senti-
ment, even at the North, ready to cover up his
crimes.the church inviting him to her communion,
and the Bible and Tract Societies, at his feet; with
Doctors of Divinity thick around him, declaring to
him and the world-what he knows in his heart il
a lie-that he is q christian, and fit for Heaven -
he needs to have some one tell him that he is a vii
lain, and there is nobody but the Abolitionists to
speak this truth, And in view of all this, we
don't just comprehend why Frederick Douglass
should find his respect for Mr.. Smiths character,
as a christian and a man, becoming more profound
on account of his present policy and position.