Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-11-07

marble could be animated, so that the god could
rise up and stand erect, the roof would be lifted
from the temple. SO Of men in the Republican
ranks. Let them rise up-stand erect, and they
tear the roof from the party.
So these men do not escape the difficulty or in
consistency they arc invol sed in by ohjecting to
or disproving ,if they could do this-our view Of the
pro-slavery character Of the Constitution. They
only declare the falsity Of the position of their par.
~. and their own Inconsistency and guilt, in re.
naming in it Still the fact that so many resort to
shis argument at all, is evidence of what 1 have
Just said, that whatever Of anti-slavery there is, is
grsvitatins toward the doctrine that there can be no
union between freedom and slavery.
Then with regard to the matter of personal duty.
That We are morally bound to repudiate the union
existing between the North and South, approaches.
also, I think, to the character of a truism. If /
have moral obligations which l cannot escape from,
az it is my duty to be q whole man and not a met
slsd mass. or fragment of something else then
my right to stay in the present union must involve
my right to be q Shareholder. If S~laveryis strong
enough to save itself, it is strong enough to crush
freedom. Have / a right to be a stakeholder? p
We are agreed in the negative. But if | have no
right to be q STAKEHOLDER directly, l cannot right
fully become such indirectly. 1 cannot without
gull, soy to South Caroline, you buy and sell and
scourge the slave. coming his blood, drop by drop
into gold for your Golfers, and | will aid you to
keep your victims in your grasp, or, at least. re-
turn them to you if they escape or if they initiate
tho example Of our revolutionary fathers and at
tempt to resist you, l will stand by you with battle
axe and sabre ready to hew them down.
Yet this is the compact. The Union that is and
has been from the first, is based on the surrender
of fugitive slaves. and the agreement to aid the
rnastsr TO crush his rebelious victim. Give us a
insx Constitution either, by new CONSTR ction or
.othscwise, and you abolish the present union and
tferu another and o different one. If the
sSeutt will accept this new Constitution, that is to
he spki-slsvery, for ono / shall be satisfied for |
prdfw union to separation. 1t is only union with
wrong that l object to. So if you prefer to de-
maHd . new union that shall be true to freedom
end j~sssice. and makelthat your r~allying cry, that
" your affair. 1 think it best to cry mo union with
shareholders" 1 am willing you shall form n new
and perfect Union, but l maintain that you cannot
without wrong remain in the present one. which
pledges the parties to it to the greatest iniquity.
Go to the courts. they tell you the same of the
Union that We tell you, so if the Legislators, and
leading politicians of the land. Many of the Demo-
orats declare it a machine to keep the 'damm'd
~niggers" under the white mans feet, while the Re
publicans regard i. as a pledge to give back the
fugitive slaves, and to permit and protect the sys-
tem in the states where it is, but not to extend its
dominion
The radical abolitionis.s, in opposition to oil the
land beside, claim that the present proslavery
Union IL based upon an intirely false interpreta.
tion Of the Constitution. They admit that this
Interpretation has been given to the instrument
from the very beginning of the Government under
Il. Now l d-aw the conclusion that if the pro-
slavery sentiment Of the Nation was such that it
could ct tho very beginning take an anti slavery
constitution, destroy all its fair proportions and
make il into an instrument for the defence and
support Of tyranny, that sentiment must have been
intensely pro.slavsry. and the Union thus form
ed, vile beyond all comparison.
I do not propose to argue the question, now,
whether tho constitution is pro.slavery or anti
slavery, but l think The fact that the constitution
was put to a pro-slavery use as soon as formed,
and by the men who formed it, is o good reason
for directing to the correctness Of this anti-slavery
interpretation. If o man goes to his anvil and
makes an axe, am 1 to 6e made to believe that he
wants to use this axe in moving the grass in his
meadowsf If he had wanted q scythe he would
probably have made one. So of those who made
tho constitution and applied it to use. They, in
all probability, made what they wanted to use.
They vent to work ~chopping down trees, instead of
moving grass, with the instrum ant they had made.
1t was clearly. then, an axe they wanted and
the inference is unavoidable, that the thing they
wanted and used, is the thing they made. If they
had made an anti-slavery constitution, meaning it
to be SO, they would have used it as such. Their
forming q union based upon it, rs they did. to
strike down liberty, shows, at any rate, what that
union 10 and must be so long rs slavery is a party
tot II.
The union being thus pro-slavery and wicked,
our relation to it involves q question of personal
duty. / have no better right to help another hold
- slave than to hold him myself. l had better,
,~psrhaps. of the two, hold him directly. Suppose
i own q slave, aud somebody rebukes me for it, tell
ling me how wrong it is. Yes, 1 answer, but l am
- practical man I can do this man good by hold
ing him as my property. I can treat him well,
and prevent others from treating him i'll. / can
look to his interests and make him comfortable.
True all this ~sophistry could be made to disappear
in the light of conscience and reason, still these
considerations would appear to be some paliation,
though no justification. But how is it with help,
ing in the holding of slaves by another man,
who may neglect their interests, disregard their
comfort. and treat them with whatever of wanton
cruelty he may choose to infict and that too,
when / have no power tol in ~terfere. even to the
slightest extent. between the overseer and his VIC
timi I compel the slave to remain in his chains
under the power of a man, it may be, devoid of
all humanity. and controlled by every base pas
sion. For such an act what shadow of excuse
could ] ~make-whst pallistion could ! offer?
Am 1 to become, or 10 continue, a STAKEHOLDER
10 preserve the unioni No consideration could
ever justify me in such & course. You would not