Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-02-14
Tbe Anti 5lapcrp Buolc.
SPEECH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS, ESQ
Afhe Disunion Cdnrention held in the city Hall,
Worcesfer, January Is, 1857.
Mr.. PREsIpEST;

We are assembled to consider the eXpedlency OF
seeking dissolution of the Union For my part, |
am for the dissolution Of the Union, and seek it
as an Abolitonst. seek it, first and primarily Y.
20 protect the slave. NV second motive is. to
protect the white race. Primarily, it is an Anti.
Slavery measure. | object to the letter of Mr..
WILSON, and to all that argument of which his
letter is n type that it is treason to the Anti
Slavery movement-to the philosophy of it. No
man deserves the name of an Abolitionist who,
in arguing the slave question, sets out with the
assumption that any human institution is to be
saved at all hazards. come what may Of the slave
The gist of Mr.. Wilson'S letter is, that in no pos
sible contingency, for possible purpose. will he
allow the Union to be touched. He is not fit
leader of the Anti Slavery enterprise, if lie lays
down any such principle. | do not know where
my opposition to slavery will lead me; but l know
this, that wherever il leads me | will go, until
reach the slave. loud appJause) The Aboli.
tionist gives pledge to his fellow, except this
that he will make his way over every obstacle, in
order to reach the slave. In MIR. Wilson's letter,
and in that whole tone of argument of which it is
the representative, the Union is a foregone con.
elusion. That is anchored No matter how much
you may prove against it,-no matter how much
tho course of events may open your eyes to new
interests and duties,-no matter what form the
question may take,-you must pledge yourself
mot to touch the Union. How absurd the pretence
cf argument with who has made that pledge
at the outset he is not fit to argue. On mo-
mentous a question, We have no right to consi Ter
anything but truth and justice settlsd---all
mere institutions afoa. We are launching n
great argument; sounding on and On in the soy-
age Of craftsmanship, with nothing but despair
behind. We do not know where vessel will
take u.s. Common sense requires that should
keep every door open, free to 60 wherever the
issue leads Slavery is go mOmentOus an evil,
that in its presence all others pale away. No
thous htful man deem any sacrifice too great
to secure its abolition. The safety of the people
.l.-L - I,,. l. a 4
clear field and the of every honorable weapon,
Even the monuments of our fathers longer
sacred, if the enemy concealed benin them.
This Mr.. President, is my first claim upon every
man who has an Anti.SiaNery purpose One of
the greatest, if not the greatest question of the
age, is that of free labor. / do not know
man prophecy, what sacrifices it will demand
no human ,agaci5y divine what rhape it will &C.
quirs i'm the Kaleidoscope of the future Nobody
can foresee the combinations that will be neces-
ssry in order to secure liberty and turn law into
justice The pledge make TO each other, as
Abolitionists, is. that to this slave question. EN-,
bodying rs it does the highest justice and the
most perfect liberty, synonymous AS it is with
Right Manhood. Justice with pure Religion, n
free Press, an impartial Judiciary, and true
Civilization, we will sacrifice everything. If any
mau dissents, he is not, in any just sense, an
Abolitionist. If he has not studied the question
enough to know, that it binds mp in itself all
alterations OF government, then he IL not worthy
of being called an Abolitonist. The fate Of four
millions of slaves, linked as il is with the wei
fare of the white race, with the purity of religion,
with freedom Of conscience and thought, with
civil liberty with an impartial judiciary, with
personal character, with all civil rights. is ques-
ton deserving of every sacrifice. Then, when you
come to the Union--what is it? This momentuus
something to which every Plsslble Importance Of
the slave question is to be sacrifccd-wblt is it?
What has the Union duue? Where its
merits? Who Knows them? Who has stated
them? know Of but one: it has preserved peace
between Ihirtyone States that is all its virtue!
Mrs. ABDY KELLEY FOSTER (nterrup;:ng lis
that merit?
Mr. PnlLLIrs--Tbey who look on peace as a
necessary condition of all progress civilization
would doubtless So regard it. For my own part, |
do not think ttat peace between SIM and servility
masquerading as virtue, is benefit Loud ap-
pnuse think, when Massachusetts undertook
to be the bloodhound Of South Carolina, in order
that there mil ght be peace between the two States,
it was an exceedingly doubtful benefit. But what
else has the Union ever done? Some claim that
she is the mother of commerce. l doubt 1t.
question whether the genius and energy of the
Yankee race are not the parent of commerce and
the fountain of wealth much more than the Union.
That race, in Holland. first created country, and
then, standing on piles, called modern commerce
into being. That race, 10 England, with territory
just wide enough to keep its eastern and western
harbors aIart mOnopolized for centuries the trade
of the world, ard annexed continents only as
treasuie e.houses wherein to garner its wealth.
Who shall say that the same blood, with only New
England for its anchorage, could dag the wealth
of the West into its harbors2 Who shall say that
the fertile lands Of Virginia and the Mississippi
enriched her because they willed to do so, and not
because they were compelled? AS long New
England is made of granite and the nerves of her
sons of steel, she will be, she always has been,
the brain of North America, united or dlsunited :,
h., al
to her car of conquest, she will double the worth
of every prairie acre by her skill, cover ocean
with her canvas, and gather tho wealth of the
Western hemisphere into her harbors.
dispute, then, the value of the Union do
not believe in it. Grant all it claims the parent
of wealth. it has not produced MEN. Daniel Web
said that the virtue of the colonial institutions
was, that they produced WAsnINGToN The sin
of the Union is, that it manufactured WEBSTER,
daughter and applause.) Carlyle says. the test
of governments is the they make. Where are
our menF The colonies produced the Revolution
AIRY men; in the full tide of successful exper.
iment,' we have resulted in Caleb Cushing and
Franklin Pierce, and the knaves Of the present
day That is the full bloom Of the Union
The highest test of government is school, 1t
noble men that prove noble governments,
Where are they? The education OF the nation
political and civil,-that is the government. What
mas It amounted to? do not consider that ricket-
W machne ut W Washington the government
The government is in the elements which produce
the national character, and these elements the
Union, so far as it has had any power, has in.
huenced to the result of producing such a people
as now covers these thirty'one States. The Union
Why. il has so chilled the heart Of Massachusetts,
that, like whipped spaniel. she skuked among
her hills when her Senator was beaten almost to
death in the national capitol. The Union 1t has
brought thirty States to the level, that they see
crowded in the brief history of Kansas, every des-
potic aggression which chased the Stuarts out of
England. and changed her government; and 70;
these same States vote the same policy into office,
after such an exhibition! The Union, to which
Mr.. WILSON undertakes to sacrifice every possi'