Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-02-14

vice or labor in one State, under the laws thereof,
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any
law therein. be discharged from such service or
labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim Of the
party to whom such service or labor may he doc"
The plain English is; no legislature. of any
State shall pass any law to protect the liberty OF
a runaway slave. As much as to bind ourselves
under a most awful curse, that W. will trample
under foot the highest and the greatest obligation,
Of all governments, to protect mankind in their IN
alienable, God given right to liberty, which is n
crime more damnablc in itself, and in its nature
and influences and consequences, than murders;
and the northern States, stand today before God,
Angels and men, guilty of murder actually, in the
case Of Margaret Garner, who killed her child in
Cincinnati. They stand guilty of all the slavery
in this nation, for if they had given liberty to every
slave as soon ms he set foot on our soil, they
would have been all free long ago. Any govern
ment that will not do that, is not worthy the name
of government, and is to be denounced as the
most %despotic, Of tyranical, usurpers, and land pi-
rates that ever were on earth.
So far as principle is concerned it is equally
criminal to enslave ono person, as ono million. A
man would as soon be hung for numbering one
man as one thousand, and when you had once hung
him, you could not punish him any more. Now
do not say that the Fathers of the Revolution and
those who formed and those who adopted the Con
stitution are chiefly guilty in this matter. We are
far more guilty, who having nearly seventy years
experience, of the Lhghting, cursing, damning in
nuences, which slavery has caused in this nation,
together with that ocean of blood, misery and woe,
which await US in the future, still cling to the
guilty compact. Neither say that the South are
sinners above all mankind. Nay verify, unless
We at the north repent and do works meet for re.
pentancc, we must all likewise perish; for we have
sinned against far greater light than our brethren
at the South have done, and our crimes are in pro-
portion to the light in which they have been COM
mitted. Let US first east the beam out Of our own
eye, then shall we see clearly to pull he mote out
of our brothers eye; and not foolishly follow the
old Adamic practice. of casting the blame on to
Eve, and she on to the Serpent. and the Serpent
ON to God; but having a deep conviction of our
guilt, let us adopt the language of the sons of Old
Jacob and say, I'VE are verify guilty concerning
our brother; in that we saw the anguish Of his
soul, when he ~besought us, and we would not hear;
therefore is this distress cume upon US" The
very first thing necessary to salvation is convic-
ton Of sin, the next thing is conversion, that is,
turning from sin. But how shall we convict poll.
ticians of guilt. as they have little or no con-
GcienceY their consciences having already become
scared as with n hot iron. I know Of no better
way, than to continually apply the sledge-hammer
Of truth, as Nathan did to David, saying thou art
the man." and lot the strokes fall heavier and
thicker, day by day.
Perhaps some one is ready to ask, how shall we
get rid of that wicked compact? how shall we al
ter the constitution? The constitution cannot be
altered. 1t is like the laws of the Modes and Per-
SLAMS which cannot be altered. But where there
is a will there is a way. Let this, or something
better be printed in q tract, n sufficient number to
supply every family in the State of Ohio in their
own language, let them be distributed in each FAM
lily; let that be followed by another, and that by
another, suitable ones. and these by a lecturer, in
each county in the State, and in all probability.
before another Presidential campaign, a majority
of the voters in the State, would say emphatically
to their brethren at the South, you must let US off
from that wicked compact, for it is q matter of
conscience with US. therefore, we must and we will
be clear from it. Now emancipate your slaves, or
We will break our union with you, for we will make
a law that will give liberty, and protect every hu-
man being in all his natural rights. Let one
northern State Pioneer this work, and the rest will
soon follow, and what greater honor can Ohio ever
achieve, than to be that Pioneer.
A. COWLES.
GENEVA, Jan. %, 1857.