Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-01-31
PHOTOGRAPHIC REPORT by Mr.. YERRlNToN.
SPEECH OF REV. t. W. HIGGINsoN.

SPEECH Ot REV. L. w.
Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen--
have been among you Non-Resistants before,
a. d know if you get sight at even the ghost of
u minister, or less than the ghost of military
man, you must have q Shot at him. 1t
runs in you blood, sir. What you say reminds me
of flash that will answer your flash, for it came
out Of the same Quincy granite. remember sir,
on one occasion, that your brother Josiah, who is
as ready to overwhelm an innocent man with his
wit as you are, presided at political entertain.
naent occupying the same position that you do here
tonight 1t was about the time that Gen. Cass and
Gen. Taylor were running neck and neck for the
Presidency, and it was necessary to toast not only
the President that was, but the man who was to
be the future President and it was somewhat
difficult to know how to do it. But the President
Of the evening was perfectly up to delicate
matter like that, and he gave for his toast-The
Nea Pesident-Since the two great parties of
the land both deal in Generals, it is useless to
descend to particulars" (laughter) So, l shall
not descend to particulars that subject tonight,
rejoicing, for the sake of being here, in one re-
Election, at least that If have trinq in Worces-
ter, have not had dying in Kansas (applause).
You, sir, have spoken of Kansas, and honor me
BY giving me an opportunity of referring to that
present battle-ground of Freedom. The day l
entered Kansas, there were no such tables as are
spread here tonight The time of open markets
and wel-fled larders was beginning to dawn once
that unhappy Territory, there was a very simple
bill of fare The people breakfasted squash
and green corn; they dined green corn and
squash and for supper, they took them both.
We smile at it, and they can, too, now that it is
over but it, in the festivals of the Pilgrim Society
at Plymouth, they always spread the table with
all the luxuries that Massachusetts supply but
place beside each plate six grains Of pArched corn,
in memory of the first banquet of th,ss Winter
wanderers we can place the grains Of corn of
Kansas, if not upon plates ,at least in mem
ories tonight (cheers)
/ found a great deal in Kansas sir ] found
beautiful climate, fertile soil, stone coal, timber
enough to lay underground railroad, and. in
fact all the necessaries of life But did no. go
out there even to see an underground railroad for
/ had seen them in Massachusetts. l wanted to
see something above the ground All my life
had been a citizen of a Republic where | had seen
my fellowciiizens retreating, and retrcating, and
retreating, before the Slave Power, and l heard
that away off, thousand miles west, there was
one town where men had made their stand, and
said to Slavery, "Tbus far, and no farther"
went the thousand miles to see it, and saw it.
saw there the American Revolution, and every
great Revolution of bygone days, in still living
progress. was tired of reading of Leonidas
wanted to see him. l tired of eading of
Lafayette; | wanted to see him. | saw in Kansas
the history of the past clothed in living flesh
before me. | saw in CHARLES ROBINSON the
Puritan soldier--the llampden Of CromwelPs
days so simple, so modest, SO moderate, so cheer
full, so absolutely noble (appause). | saw in LANE
Napoleons Marshals; 50 brilliant, SO daring. so
gifted with heart to inspire enthusiasm un-
scrupuious minor points, eg0tistica vain
Frenchmen all over And if wanted genuine
warrior of the Revolution, where could find him
better than in the old Nermouter, Capt. JOuN
Brown, the defender of little log fort, with
twenty-seven men, against two hundred, sending
nway eighty.two of the Two hundred killed and
wounded, with only the loss of one man Of his
own (applaLse) "Old Captain Brown, "the Ethan
Allen, the Israel Putnam of to-day who has
PRAYERS every morning, and then saes forth with
seven stawar sons wherever duty or danger calls
who swallows Mssourian whole and says grace
after the meat daughter and appause).
/ saw these men of Kansas for went to see
them. Was so ignorant as to imagine that there
alone the fight Of liberty was being fought? that
there its picked soldiers would be found? that
Kansas was the great heroic soil, and that there
no heroism, no greatness in Massachusetts !
should have stood in vain upon the Anti.Savery
platform, l should have stood in vain beneath such
teachings, if | had had so idle a dream. We
admire the men and women Of Kansas, and well
we may but girls and boys go to Kansas, and
are ennobled into heroes by the great they
sustain. You make thousand soldiers for
Kansas in Boston tomorrow; but Massachusetts
and New England have been silted for twenty five
years to make as many AbolitOnists as could be
gathered upon this platform tonight. 1t is no
great matter to be a Free State man in Kansas
to be Massachusetts, Abolitonist is a thing to
thank God for, all the rest of time and eternity
Qoud cheers). To my mind, among all the
eloauence of this evening, the one best word that
has been uttered was that simple sentence out of
the manly heart Of OLIVER JoHNsoN--a sentence
which every one of us who is worthy to speak it
can echo-"The cause owes me nothing, but owe
everything to the cause" (applause)
Mr.. President, we meet here tonight for one
glance backward and then to step forward Il re.
nharr raadinu vhara fbato nj oh in tha
British Parliament Gladstone, the great Demarara
stakeholder, taunted the advocates of emancipa-
tion, that they had labored for forty years, and
done absolutely nothing, That night, the bill of
emancipation passed (Cheers.) There are
many who think, even now, that you have done
nothing after all your long years of conflict, except
to make the cause more hopeless, ! do not see it
Yet where are we to look for the signs Of hope
! do not see them where most persons do do
not see them in the progress of public opinion at
the South. Ten years ago, there was one anti
slavery newspaper IN the South there is one now.
j asked Cassius Clay the reason Of the slow pro-
gress of antislayery there, and he solved it in a
sentence. Said he, "The moment we convert any
man in the Slave States to Anti-Slavery, what is
his first impulse? To move out of the State.
And 30 we never seem to make any progress"
do not expect Mr.. President, l do not dream, of
any progress in public opinion in the Slave States
for years to come unless this year should be
crammsd with instructions. Are we to look for
~ In the courtsr The Supreme Court has Just
given decision which is the consummaton of its
wickedness-which scarcely future w,ckedness
can exceed-A decree legalizing slavery to all in.
tents and purposes every free State at the North
do not look for its progress in Congress, even.
AL the power Of this Republican House of Rep,
resentatives, what has it done, compared with the
simple courage of the Congress which, in ls4S,
passed Colts resolution abolishing slavery in the
District Of Columbia and gave seventy nine votes
TO Giddngs' amendment, giving the slaves in the
Territories the right TO vote on the question OF
admission. Are we to look for il even in politics
Many who are here do 50. Mr. President, have