Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-06-06
SPEECH OF MR.. FOSS.

| 1t has been said by two OF the speakers On thl
occasion Mr.. Phillips and Mr. Garrison) that WI
are in the midst of a revolution. Many year.
ago it was announced by Henry Clay, in th'
United Seates Senate, that this country was in thu
midst of a revolution, and | suppose it was true,
But his was revolution of a very different char
ac,er from the present. 1t made very little dit
ference whether that revolution went on or tei
through, because it was a revolution OF hnancia
character. We have had number of revolutions
they date back as early as lII6; and each ont
was deemed important in its day. But deem
the present revolution as of more Importance thai
them all. In Mr. Clay's revolution nothing wal
involved but dollars and cents, and in the revolu
| ton of l776 only the question of national indie
pendence was involved in this revolution thu
rights of man as not in his associated, but IL
his individual capacity, are involved; therefore
this Is the greatest revolution the world evel
called to witness.
This revolution is the legitimate fruit of the
government which our fathers made. know it Is
treading on dangerous ground to criticisc the
fathers, because they generally believed to
have been perfect men, but consider that our
fathers did very wrong and wicked work, and
therefore | deem it my duty to say so 1t a
father desires the respect and appreciation OF his
son, he must do what is respectable and right; re-
spect is due to no man unless hctdeserves it. de
not mean to say that fathers not entitled to
our respect for their good acts, but simply that
they are not to be approved for their wrong acts
| Now, in making this government they did very
wrong act and we, their children, are reaplng the
fruits Of their doings. Every man OF them knew
it was wrong to enter into a compact with slavery
but they deemed it safer to do wrong than right
and the American people have followed their ex
ample ever since. We talk about Jesuits; there
never was such nation of Jesuits as the Amer
lean people; they have always acted upon the
lJesuitical maxim that the end sancthes the means
and that it is better to do wrong than right under
~ thn IAn.
stituton acted upon this maxim. They
did very wicked thing when they stipulated tor
the rendition of fugitive slaves. Wond 1t have
been any more wrong for George the Third to have
hunted and caught George Washington and put
chains on his limbs than for Washington to eaten
7 fugitive slaves and put chains on their llmos
! And vet that is what Gen. Washington did when
he signed his name to the Fugitive Slave law o
1898. | am proud of all the good he did, but
am mortified and ashamed of that act, and hope
he repented of it. "
Our fathers believed that slavery would in few
years come to an end, but in this they were ms
taken. 1t was all in vain, for the government
" hich they formed could produce no other result
than that which is produced. They cast the seed
of slavery into the soil, and it was in vain toi
them to expect to reap liberty. Our Republicans
think that if they could get the government BACK
again to what it was in the days OF washington
and Jefferson, they could make the machine pro
of that? When they undertook to run the machine
there were only half million Of slaves; now
there are four millions Then the public senh
ment and the religious sentiment were not DC
bauched as they now are. And if they could mol
keep slavery sectional when it was already
so, how can you expect to make it sectional when
/ 1t has become natonal2
But the truth is, the government is not out O.
order; it is running as it was made to run i
could not possibly Iun differently. A man who
builds mil and puts the wheel below the level O
the water cannot expect that the water will dis
obey natures law of gravitation. What would
you think of man doing such foolish thing auC
then getting an act of Congress passed declaring
that hereafter water shall up hill, in order t.
make the wheel go, and then getting the Presiden
to sign it, and then the Supreme Court to pro
nounoe it constitutional Qaughter). and then thu
clergy to say there is no higher law (renewec
laughter and applause)?
1t is in vain to attempt to 60 against tho laws o.
Jehovah; if you want to be successful, you mus
put yourselves in true relation to His laws. Youl
compromises are in vain what God has separated
you cannot unite. There has been no peace mol