Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-06-27
TESTIMONIALS OF THE PENNSYLVA.
MA PROGRESSIVE FRIENDS
|. SLAVERY.

liccntiousnpss, unparalleled cruelty, brutal degra-
datiOn, wholesale robbery, and every other c6ncciy
able crime and sin which is fifty symbolized by
the lash, the %fettor, the thumb-screw, the bowie
knife, the blood hound which requires for its
support the denial of all the principles of justice
and humanity, the destruction Of all human rights
the overthrow OF all the commandment Of God (;
which cannot tolerate or dissent, nor bear cxami-
ton, nor endure the light, nor permit freedom of
speech or Of the press which infames every pas.
sion, disorders every intellect, corrupts every heart
brought un Ter its influence which like a volcano
contains within itself the elements of ruin, and is
continually uischarging its fiery lava in every di-
rcction. dciacing all that is fair and beautiful,
and spreading destruction in is track which
admits Of no defence, no ralliation, no modilca-
ton and which, therefore, should be Immediately
and forever abolished.
In view of its growth aud character, its alarm.
ing stridc8 and astounding developments, its impi-
ETY. toward God and inhumaniiy to man, we feel
constrained to affirm, that whatever religious body
is found in communion and fellowship with slave
holding with morality and true pioty, or which
regards with aversion or indifference the struggle
now going on in the land for the utter extinction
Of slavery, G~orfcits all claim to respect and conf
dercc, and especially to Christian character, in
the primitive meaning of the term Christianity.
The history Of our country shows that slavery
has attained to its present colossal dimensions
through the spirit Of compromise in Church and
State, In an evil hour, in order TO elect n common
union, q vital stab was given to liberty in the for
nation of the American Constitution, wherein pro.
vision was made for a slave oligarchy in Congress
for the prosecution of the foreign slave trade for
twenty years, for the pursuit and recovery of the
fugitive slave in every part of the land, and for
the suppression OF domestic instruction thus
involving the whole nation in the awful criminali-
ty of the slave system, making the government its
bulwark and defence, and giving to it stability,
character, boundless resources, and absolute SUI
rremacy.
The natural retrijution has followed this spirit
of compromise, in flooding the land with political
proiligacy land religious hypocricy-in the bold
denial Of the self evident truths of the Declaration
of independence. and Of the Golden Rule-in the
multiplication Of six into fifteen slavoholding
States, of halle million into four millions Of slaves
in the peridious repeal of the Missouri Com
promise, for the purpose of wrestling from free
dom q vast territorial empire-in the bloody invns-
ion and conquest of Kansas by armed bandits from
the South, countenanced by the government of the
United States-in the recent decision of the Su-
preme Court declaring that colored people have no
rights that white men are bound to respect, virtu-
ally legalizing the holding of slaves in every part
of the. land, and removing all the ancient land
marks-in the murderOus assault upon Charles
Sumner upon the floor of the American Senate
the numerous lynchings of Northern citizens. at the
South, suspected of the crime of being hostile to
the slave institution, the outlawry Of every uncom-
promising friend of freedom in all the slave do
minions in the wicked invasion, conquest, and
ann exation Of a large portion of Mexico, solely to
extend and perpetuate SLAYER in fhbustering eX-
c~ursions in Central America, and restless ~plottings
to secure the acquisition Of Cuba-and in the gem
eral loss of all manhood, self-respect, courage,
independence, and reverence for the higher law
of God,' on the part of the North.
Hencoforth, the duty of the North in plain. 1t
is at once to repent of its iniquity, and to with
draw from its present alliance with the South-an
T. - f.-.fl oaaA sc 4aR1,.,
of character, of civil and religious liberty, of all
that is worth living and dying for. 1t is to pro-
claim the American Union a wild and guilty exper-
iment, made up of eternally anita genistic elements
rendering discord and woe, papdering to all the
demands and necessities Of the Slave Power, and
sure, if not abolished, to bring destruction upon
the whole land.
To this end, we earnestly submit to the under
standing and conscience of every protested friend
of impartial liberty, whether he can consistently
help to sus tain a Government so organized, n Con-
stitution marked by such compromises, o Union
SO directly at war with Justice, Humanity and
Right and whether it is not his duty to stand in
his lot, apart from such "a covenant with death,
dis lranchised alike for conscience and the slaves
sake, calmly relying upon the Divine arm for
strength and guidance, and actively endeavoring
to persuade the whole body of the people to take
the same sublime position alike as a measure OF
= self preservation and doliverance from blood,
!. ! SullliiNoSi anu ~ CIV % SuN w hihS Ghhh vi
all yillanies,' American slavery.
II. WAR.
Believing in the inherent sinfulness of war, and
of all prepar atoms for warm the duty of abol
ishing the army, and navy, and militia, and every
national flag, as the sources Of corruption. mis-
rule, pride, and lust of dominion-we entreat the
friends of peace to see to it that their practice ii
consistent with their profession that they give
no countenance to q government which is based
upon violence and sustained by the sword; tina
they fill no Office, and vote for no others to fill an
Office, which requires an oath or affirmation on the
part Of its incumbent to uphold the Constitution 0
? the United States because of the warlike provision
S contained in that instrument and that they re
/ double their exertions to hasten the day whel
nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation
e and men shall learn war no more.
III, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
j We maintain the sanctity of human life, unde
all circumstances and therefore deny the right o
: any people, by legislative enactment or in an,
other manner, to infict capital punishment, Of
! any pretext whatsoever. Hence, we call for tn
abolition of the gallows as q barbarous relic of tn
> dark ages as melting to the perpetuation, ratho
= than leading to the suppression Of crime as in
defensible on the ground of expediency as it i
opposed to the spirit of Christianity as cheaper
ing that very life which it ostensibly seeks to ren
der inviolate as an act of retaliation and ven
: geance which hardens the heart and infames tn
= passions, condemned alike by the highest dictate
Of reason and the purest instincts of humanity
and as setting an example in the exercise of dis
cretionary power, equally unlawful and porni
cious.
". TEMPERANCE.
In the progress and triumph Of the benihcent
cause of temperance, we take a deep and lively in.
terest-regarding total abstinence from the use Of
all intoxicating drink as the only safeguard against
the evils and horrors of drunkenness, and placing
alcohol in the category of medical and mechani-
cal instrumantalities, to be used in sickness with
as much scrupulousness as belladonna, arsenic,
or any other poison and we earnestly urge upon
all heads of families in special, the dnty which
they owe to their children to inculcate and exem.
plify this saving doctrine-and also upon all en-
ployers and laborers of every grade, the obliga-
ton to refuse to give or take the maddening drink,
the habitual use of which is the fruitful source of
pauperism, RIGHTEOUSNESS, violence and crime, tC
: an unlimited extent.
i V. TOBACCO.