Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-10-23
ANNUAL REPORT OF TIE EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE OF TIE WESTERN ANIL
90 ,xr,n~ CnnIIVN

Whoever will take the trouble to refer to the re-
ports of this Society for the last few years will dis
cover, running through them all, a general COMPLAINT
of embarrassment for the want Of means to carry
forward its operations.
As a Society, you meet annually, and appoint
officers to execute your plans. You expect them to
publish IL paper, to hire a printer, sustain an editor
employ agents to look after the interests of the
cause in the fields already cultivated, to break ny
new soil, to disseminate your principles and plant
Your banner in quarters hitherto occupied by the
enemy alone.
Would that we could now report tn at the work
you assigned us for the last year has been accom-
plished. Would that we could point to brilliant
campaigns, to victories commensurate with the
magnitude of the object we seek. But like our
predecessors, in view of the great work to be DONE
we can make hut a meagre exhibition OF the results
partly because Of being crippled in resources ana
partly because of untoward circumstances winch
are not so readily understood.
Thete has been much field labor in Ohio and the
West during the last season. The Parent Society
has sent its agents here who have worked with
their accustomed zeal and fidelity. Immediately
after the last Anniversary, Mr.. Pillsbury went to
Michigan where he continued to labor till the lat
ter part of October. Mr.. and Mrs. Foster, Mr..
Jones Mrs. Coleman, Mr.. Remond and sister, and
Mr.. Foss, oil agents Of the Am. Society and Dr.
Brooke, agent for the Western Society, found con-
slant occupation in Ohio and Western .Pennsylva'
mia, up to the period of the National Disunion
Convention in Cleveland, which, from causes IN
necessary here to meution was not of that aid to
humanity which the just ex pectations Of the friends
in the West had led them to anticipate. Miss An
thony, Mr.. Powell, and Mr., Brown also agents OF
the American Society, spent a short time prior, as
well as subsequent to that convention in Ohio and
Pennsylvania. After the convention, MIR. F1ss,
Mr.. Remoud and sister, and Mrs, Coleman contin'
ued their field labors for some time, aud MIR. and
Mrs. Jones and Mr.. Rowland were engaged in
field service until near the middle of March.
In any ordinary season, such an expenditure OF
labor would have greatly increased the subscription
list of the Bugle, and brought funds into the treas
ury for future operations. But the financial panic
added to other Obstacles rendered all effort for these
objects nearly unavailing, and the harvest, ii such
there be, is yet to be gathered. 1t cannot he that
SO spirited a campaign as this referred to, where a
respectful hearing is nearly every where obtained,
should be SO barren Of results as would appear
from the above. A. truth once spoken never re-
turns void, we feel assured that the faithful testi
menies then delivered are by no means lost, but
affect to a greater or less extent the hearts and con
sciences of the people.
Disunionists are often obliged to walk by faith
and not by sight. So uncompromising is our pol
lev, that of those who hear the word gladly, few
obtain q firm footing upon our platform. Many
have yielded an assent to our doctrine because their
.-.rn,, ~ copntInps ii Yer very MANY oil
these have been educated in q school which has no
faith ia anything but large and visible results, and
20 obtain these they are practically taught that the
end sanctifies the means. Such converts are oil
little worth. They are unwilling 70 invest their phi
lanthropy in any enterprise that does not bring a
large percentage in advance, consequently they
rush into sectarian REVEALS, which break no letters
or into political parties where loaves and fishes
are the prize.
We have those in our ranks who are apparently
with US, but who are Of scarcely any practical val
ne to the cause. We say this not only in kindness
but with christian tenderr ess. Would you know
who thew are? Examine the list of unpaid pledg-
es and you will find ONE of their names. The Elk
ecutive Committee. that they appointed to do their
work, had faith In their fidelity, bat their prom
Uses have not been redeemed. Examine the sub
~soription list of the Bugle and you will find some OF
their names among those who have been stricken of
for non payment. A. owes three dollars b, five,
c., eight d., ten and so on, to the end of the
alpahbet. These not only contribute nothing to the
funds of the society but actually abstract means
from it, not perhaps in so reprehensible away as
man often takes from his fellow man, yet prac'
tically producing the same pecuniary result. And
r. .looo 80, ,pnrAo in hahalf
of Justice and right, and that is truly acceptable
service, but if works should harmonize with faith
then the cause would not so ~languish for support
The politicians ~rallying cry of Free Kansas, Sc
dueed many feeble ones from our cause, and induced
them to forego the building up of a principle, uni
,yersal in its application and descend to u labor
that looked only to d result which secures partial
freedom to a class.
In this trying emergency, with all these discour-
agements in view, with our eye upon an empty
treasury and q greatly diminished subscription list
the question may well be asked what had better
be done? We doubt not the query will arise in
the minds of some, why struggle for the maintain
ance of a society, and for the existence of a paper
when there are such odds against us? You might
ns we'll have asked the heroes of ancient time why
they resisted the opposing hosts. You might have
asked your revolutionary fathers in the hour OF
their greatest extremity. why they did not lay
down their arms and surrender to the foe. The
contest is not between ourselves and our neighbors,
not between us aud any church, not between us
and any political party, but between liberty
and slavery. Hostilities commenced in the first
family Of man, and all earth has witnessed the
fercest and most bloody conflicts. In Cur own
country liberty gained signal t~riumphs some eighty
years ago, but since that, who shall recount the
various results of the seiges and the battles be.
tween these two opposing powers?
We claim, as a Society, to be on the side of liberty
and if this be true, then those who are not with
us. however good their hearts may be. are practic.