Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-10-02
WHY I HAVE NOT GONE TO THE
SOUTH.

BosrOs, Sept. l6. 1858.
To the Editor Of the Liberator:
My DEAR SIR: | have been frequently asked,
by the apologists and defenders of The slave sys.
ten, in tins country.-'lla,e you been to the
South ?" why don't you 70 20 the South ~
Sec the institution as il exists, before you con.
denim it,. &c. As the request seems u plausible
enc, | now wish to state my reasons why a journey
to the South, to see the state OF the slave popula
t,on there must he worse than useless. for its pro.
posed END end why, humanity speaking, it could
lead to nothing but Dystifcation and deception
Tho slave owner and his apologists seem to mag.
inc, that the only conceivable evil Of slavery con.
sists in the lash Of the overseer excessive and
wasting labor prLkation OF food, and the non.al.
lownnce of time Tor occasional recreation.
Now, l would most cheerfully.-if only the
issue Ut the question Of the righteuusness Of slave.
holding could he raised before some just tribunal,
whose decision should Le held binding in the case.
give the slave owner the benefit of admission
that no slave ever was lashed, Or had his life
shortened one minute, by labor and privatiun Of
any kind and that his life was one of continued
Ijollity from the cradle to the grave and | tell him
that the issue would not he one whit less doubtful.
No man can lie a slave owner without believing
or practicing IL lie. and no man can be a slave
without injury to his whole nature-intellectual
moral and sp!ritual-and these together constitute
the damnable 1u of slavery in the first degree.
Now. no man journeying through the South
could, by 80 doing, zee more clearly This lie which
the slave owner cherishes in his heart of hearts,
and lives by as a divine truth nor would such
journey reveal. more clearly, the moral degreda
tion OF the slave, than the tact that lie is 30 bruti
fed a. to submit to a bondage which, il his soul
Was only a few degrees higher and purer than it
Is. would end in open rebellion war to the knife,
and death TO every stakeholder and every abettor
Of slavery where the bondage existed. These
things are as clear as the noon day sun. And
lashes more or less bloody. labor more or less
wasting, and pork more or less doled out, are mat
ters OF 30 comparative email concern, that how
could il ever enter into mems heads 10 place the
tissue Of this great question upon such facts only
is to me utterly inexplicatle. The only apparent
reason is. that slaveholding has dementsd the mas
ter at the same time that il brauti6es bis yic,im. -
ST. Paul describes the last state Ct Reproduction OF
the Gentle world as one in which God had given
them up TO strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. who had pleasure in uErighteousness".
What truth can he clearer. than that the man who
accumulates his wealth by taking forcibly or fraud
ulently from Others the daily produce Of their la
Dor, and only gives them, in return, such food and
shelter az be gives his horses aud cattle, and for
the same motive that they may work more efficient
ly for his gain-I ask, what truth can be clearer,
than that such a man is a thief and robber in the
sight of God? II he is not a thief, who is?-
Bring the black hired slave into court II earned
FIVE dollars last week. and this white man took
three and left me two to provide TODD and lodging
anu cluIt65 " myFtI. " U ntiO
justiGes this theft and it Is their crime and theiI
shame that they do 50 but their doug so cannot
alter the everlasting principles Of right and truth
or make the armed power which ~sustains the white
thief in his crime. other than one of brute force
and oppression. Such national crime does all i,
can do to pervert and pollute the national con
science. The American nation makes physical
strength the arbiter and judge of all moral princi
pie. and by so doing, dethrones God and becomes
an agent Of hell.
But il ia a comparatively small matter that The
slave owner ia a thief. If this was bis only crime
he might still De a being of comparative pu rity
and holiness. He is a murderer of the souls
AZ we'll as the bodies of men. He declares the
slave is not fit for freedom. And yet he bred him,
kept him from infancy TO manhood, but took special
care that no faculty should be developed that did
not serve his lust for gain Laws are passed,
making it a crime to teach him to read. The intel.
lect that God has given, and by the gift revealed
The duty of cultivation. is stultifed by enforced
neglect The spirit that was made for progress is
enfeebled and chained down, and kept in the
swaddling bands of infancy and all that he can
do TO destroy the ever living soul of his brother
man he does, to crafty his lust for gain And /
fore. ] condemn il! And il / go, they will try to
show me a man SO bruti6ed that he shall rejoice
before me in his degradation And because they
have succeeded in making him a non'rebeHtous
slave. | am to join them 10 exulting over the NOR
al ruin! And because they still have doubts Of
their own ability To keep them in chains by their
own power. ! am to help them in adding mine TO
gives them the aid they need. and covers it up.
all over, with the Bible And l am to 70 into the
South specially to ace whether ! cannot be brought
over to their sidet am not TO go to teach tie
black man his rights and duties before God, bu,
10 become the ~suxiisry OF the slave owner; for II