Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-02-28
TIL ANTI-SLAVERY BUGLE.

very ana deeply convinced thousands that in some
way or other it must be brought to an end. ]
hold the views of the Constitutions, entertained by
Gerrit Smith. / believe that if the rublic senti.
ment would demand and sustain the decision, the
supreme Court of the United States is competent
to declare slavery illegal and void. Lord Mans
held's decision in the Somerset case erased all for
mer decisions in the English Courts, and made
slavery a legal impossibility on British Soil. A
similar decree might 60 forth from our national
judgment scat. The men who hold those views
are bent on the abolition of Slavery by lar instead
OF its alternative, but | am warranted in saying
that without exception all would say, let US exter.
inmate the evil at all events; by law, il possible,
but If not, by Disunion. But Disunion can only
be brought about by the people of the North be.
coming 30 enlightened and so conscientious on the
subject, and so unanimous, as to sever the tie.-
Give us the public sentiment that would be willing
for such an event, and we have the political power
to abolish slavery as a nuisance by an Act of Con.
gress; for political power is nothing but public
sentiment expressing itself by statute.
But the main object of this present writing is
to say that it is high time for all anti. Slavery men
TO calculate the value of the Federal Union, and
to enquire whether or not il costs more than it
comes to. l have examined the catalogue OF Books
and Tracts for sale in your department of the anti
slavery movement, and am unable to find the title
of such a tract as / think ought to be written-a
tract setting forth LIST, The Disadvantages of the
Union. Cd. The Practicability of Dissolving it,
and the best method. Sd, The Advantages that
would result to the Slave and to us by the Disso.
luton. Wendell PHILIPPE Speech as the late Wor.
cester Convention contains more sound and plau.
siblc argument on this subject than l ever met
with before. l wondered asI read it the third
time, that the considerations and rcasonings ad-
duced had not been put into shape and published
as a standard Tract, Judging from the benefit l
have received, it ought to he waited on the wings
of every wind into every mans halitation.
Any disunion sentiment that may have been Ia
tent in my bosom. has been made perceptible by
an occurrence which recently took place, and which
is worth mentioning. Some twelve years ago ]
procured a colored child at the Orphans Asylum
at Philadelphia, as an indentured apprentice to
learn the art and mystery of farming. AS he
grew up towards manhood he evinced no liking
for agricultural pursuits bus rather the contrary,
and by the advice of the late Alexander Wright. a
man remarkable for good sense and integrity, l
transferred him to q gentleman who took my place
in the indentures and agreed to train him up to q
business for which he had more taste. A few days
ago, on laying down the New York Tribune con-
tanning the account of the redemption of Anthony
Adams, a citizen of New York, who had been kid
mapped in North Carolina, l received q letter from
tI;s o,, mn ,lotad Nar 0r1oono ;ncnruinr mr.
that be had been confined in the prison of that
city on suspicion of being n runaway slave, for
three months, he being unable to prove his free.
dom. Contrary to my oftrepeated warnings, he
had gone down into a slave State, fallen among
thieves, and now finds time to repent of his folly
within tho walls Of a prison. / have opened a
correspondence with . Law frm in Now Orleans,
which I hope may end in his liberation from the
hell Of slavery. But my plans may all be defeat
ed. The young man is about twenty-four years OF
age, very stout and active, and would bring in the
market, from the way slaves are now selling, a
thousand or fifteen hundred dollars. When An.
thony Burns ran off from Slavery to Freedom, the
National Government paid thousands OF dollars,
and ofe red the Army and Navy to catch and re-
enslave him. When Anthony Adams, a citizen of
New York was thrown into a North Carolina pris-
on, not q copper would the General Government
give towards restoring him to the rights of citizen.
ship, although the Constitution expressly guaran-
tees that the citizens of one State shall have all
the rights of citizens in every other State. Even
the Governor of New York felt hampered in tax
ents! Is it possible that we stand so connected
with a community of pirates, that citizens of the
North cannot be rescued when they fall into their
hands? 1t is mot so nominated in the bond" !
confess that when ! read the letter from the young
man who for years was a member of my household,
and then the account of the v~exatious delays that
marked the recent history of Anthony Adams lib
Grafton, l Involuntary exclaimed--if this is to be
the natural workings of our federal union in a mat
ter which concerns the liberty Of q citizen, mo,e
precious to him than. his life, let it go to the Devil
where it belongs! The sacred writ Of habeas
corpus' goes upon the conceded principle that
every human being is free until it is proved that
he has forfeited his liberty by crime. This is one
of the guarantees Of the Constitution. And yet
Observation-Disclosures trample all under their feet
and make a man prore his freedom or sell him as
a slave. to pay his Jail expensesl Till this en-
croachment upon my own household as it were, l
never before felt the tyranny of that incarnation
of diabolism which we call the Slave Power
What may be in the womb of futuriey no mortal
can tell. But it does seem. and | tremble when !
say it, that the Ruler Of the Universe is not going
to change the order of His providential dispense
ton in favor of this nation, but will wipe out it's
expressions with the blood of it's inhabitants. For
if the Slave Power persists in it's present despotism
and the execution of its plans for the future, and
if the North chafes much longer under the yoke
which now gals her, it does not require a prophets
eye to see that blood must flow in the settlement of
the quarrel.i b.
NEW CASTLE, Pa, Feb. Is, 1857.
REPLY TO MR.. C0WLES.
No person. held TO service or labbr. in ono State,