Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-02-07

ence, members of the Convention that framed the
Constitution, and of the State Conventions which
adopted it.
Such were the men who gave us the Constitution.
II its spirit is the spirit of Liberty. whence did it
derive i'll 1t was formed by men the best of whom
were either owners of sluvos, or the defenders of
such ownership, who declared negroes to be prop
erty, treated them as such-framed treaty stipula-
tions based upon the doctrine that by the law of
nations there can be property in man, and in 1914
obtained from Great Britain by their importantly
an apparent recognition Of this infamous doctrine.
These were not, we submit, the men to form a
constitution that should be "the safeguard of the
rights Of ALL"
But the source was a fitting one from which to
derive q Constitution such as dishonors and curses
the nation to-day, q constitution that gives sol.
emn guarantees to slavery-that secures to the ty-
rant property in his human victim wherever he
may fee, unless the master by permitting his de.
parture shall voluntarily relinquish his claim
and that protected the African Slave Trade, with
ISL its horrors, for a generation. Truly did Cover
neur Morris declare in the Federal Convention,
''Slavery is the most prominent feature in the
aristocratic eountenance Of the proposed constitu-
tion." Justly did Madison pronounce the slave
trade clause q deep dishonor to the nation; truly
did be affirm that "the Constitution. like the slave
codes, regards the slaves in tho mixed character of
persons and property.
Judge Story was doubtless right in declaring
the object of the Constitution to be to secure to the
Shareholders "the complete right and title of own
ership in their slaves as property in every State
of the Union into which they might escape" &c.
Chief Justice fancy was correct in his decision
that by virtue of the constitution the master has a
right to take possession of his slave without any
warrant; and that any law opposing such action
Is null and void. True some of the amendments
to tho Constitution would seem to be irreconcila-
BILE with such decisions, if slaves are regarded as
members of the Government; but Chief Justice
Parker declares and such has been the decision
of the nation at large, as it was of those who cs-
tablished the government-that "the slaves are not
parties to the constitution, and the amendment
Occurring the people against unreasonable seiz-
urss, &C. has relation to the parties"
The spirit Of the Constitution then is not tho
spirit of liberty. So far as The slaves are con-
osrned it is the spirit of oppression and outrage
and nothing we think will be gained to freedom
by attempting to cover up its true character.
The Republican party, to which Mr.. Bingham
belongs. processes only, as the Philadelphia Plat
form declares, to bring back the Government to
the principles of Washington and Jefferson. We
have seen what these principles were. These men
assisted in forming the Constitution, and recog-
mixed both before and after its adoption the right
of property in man even under the law Of nations.
They regarded the Constitution as sanctioning
human chattelism, otherwise Washington could
not have signed the bill accepting the Mississippi
territory on condition that Slavery should curse it
forever, nor could Jefferson have sanctioned the
purchase of the Louisiana territory with its DO, 900
Slaves. To give Kansas-a part of this Louisiana
purchase-to Slavery, would be far more conso-
nant to the practice, it not to the principles of these
men and their compeers, than to secure it to
freedom.
We know it ia n custom with anti-slavery politi-
clans to attempt to conceal the real character Of
those who established the Government. 1t is
thought best to represent the nation as having
been pure and just in its beginning. But the
truth is what we want. There is probably in this
age more regard for liberty and justice than ex.
istsa in the early days of the Government. 1t is
on this belief that we rest our hope that a part of
the country may yet be saved to freedom, If the
fathers of the Republic were saints, and the Gov
eminent they left US SO perfect that the highest as.
piration of the best political party is merely to re-
store it to its original condition, what hope have
We for the futuref If from a good and perfect
beginning we have grown to what we are to-day,
what is to be the character of the future that has
for its beginning the administration Of Franklin
Pisrcef
The truth is. that with such a beginning as was
ours, it need discourage no one that it is impos.
sible to- day to protect freedom, especially when it
is remembered that even ~professed friends of truth
and justice have all along taught the people to
revere the characters and deeds Of those who
committed the error and tho crime of establishing
and strengthening in the land the vilegt form Of
Slavery the world has ever seen. With a better
beginning America might indeed have been the
asylum Of the oppressed and in view of this
truth there is hope that the people of the North
will repudiata the guilty covenant that involves
them in guilt and crime, and begin anew upon the
principles which their fathers protested, perverted
and betrayed. j. B.