Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-09-25

and il | succeed, ] shall have the proud conscious,
ness in after life of having raised my arm to strike
such a blow rs | was able against the foulest
wrong that has ever tluated down to us on the bos
ON Of the bloody stream of human history.
This question, whether or not American slavery
should be perpetuated, is up up in spite Of all the
efforts of priest and politician to bid it 'down".-
Like the ghost of Banqo. it will not down" at
such bidding and am here to meet ii, to question
it,
"Though hell Itself cape,
And bid me hold my peace,
am to maintain. gentlemen, not that American
Slavery ought to DO limited, restricted, modified
circumsuribed, but that it ought to relax its rufian
grasp from the throat Of every man, woman and
child on this continent, and die. / am not here to
identify myself with schemes for its amolioi alton,
its Limitation it's restriction but in my theory, its
ali.cumprehensive right is the right to a grave 60
deep that it shall never have a resurrection. Ap.
pluuse.
And now, gentlemen, | am happy to he able to
start the first proposition OF my argument agai0st
American slavery on common ground-ground in
which my opponent and myself agree. | shoald
have made an argument here (hud it not been
rendered entirely unnecessarily o prove that Amer.
lean slavery ought to be abolished, because the
slave trad in Which it commenced and from which
i: draws it's life is, Before all Israel ana the SUM-"
a villainous piracy. Having had this most fully
admitted aud argued by my opponent, | need offer
no argument 10 prove Inc IICDllSeS, buL only LEAD
you TO the legitimate, inevitable conclusion from
the premises that he himself has furnished me. Ii
the slave trado was a piracy at its beginning-il
it was yillaiDous in its inception and its carrying
out-then, as it and American slavery drew their
first breath simultaneously, and as American slave.
ry never could have had an existence without the
slave trade, and has drawn from that trade the
new bl cd with which it has covered the soil Of
our own land, l have only to take the premises Of
any opponent to q conclusion which no man can
dodge-that that which necessarily and Legitimate.
ly grew out OF what he joins with John Wesley in
denouncing us "the sum OF all villanies," is itself
also villainous, (Applause), Slavery and the
slave trade rise or iall together. The trade was
the grand trunk artery Of the whole system in lite
beginning, and will be in the continuance of its
existence. | am astonished that a mind so logical
as that OF my or ponent did not strike deeper. and
defend the trade, as the only premises upon which
slavery can plant its foot, outside the Internal re-,
gions, loud applauso.)
The slave trade having been conceded to be lille
gal. and wrong, and villainous, | shall 20 on to the
inference. Slavery having had its birth in that
trade-that trade being its mother and the man
who first invented nd carried out that trade, com.
hitting the rape OF Que continent and centuries Of
prostitution for another, being held up here before
us as u violator of oil law, human and divine, and
as a scourge of his raco--tho children OF that
trade, and the products Vt that trade, aud the re.
suits Of that trade, oil the way up to the ripe
fruit of plantation discipline, all partake of the il.
legitimate character Of The trade itself. Between
the middle passage with all its horror, and the
plantation discipline, there is an iron linked, log
lcal connection, that even the Ajax OF tro'slavery
propagandism will 10 vain attempt to break. Zap
plause).
But 1 go further, gentlemen, than to argue that
American slavery ought to die because it had its
origin in a cOniessedly yillainous trade and in an
outrage ana IA wrong upon humanity. ! say that
III its historical Development from thar day to this,
every progressive step has been equally outrageous
in the eye OF tue law OF nations, the laws ut our
land. aud the laws Of God. Its entire lite from
it's villainous birth to this night, has been in de-
hance oil the just claims OF the hang man and the
halter.
And now | am about to take a bold position
one that will startle Free Soilers and Republicans
--one for which l stand here tonight alone re
sponsible. ] proclaim tho doctrine that. according
to all just notions OF human law, there never was
and never can be q slave legally held on the Amer
lean Continent. Loud applause AS my oppon
e%nt:tells me be is a friend of constitutions anc
government, that he is no enemy Of the laws o
the land--when ! shall have proved to you. as
will, that American Slavery, from beginning tc
end, is a system of lawlessness. then / shall have
him on my side, for he is pledged to the support o.
law and order.
If the trade itself was illegal. why as everybody
knows that slavery was introduced by the trade, i
must be illegal. Will any one tell me where tn,
le gislative enactment is to he found on the statut,
book of any State in this nation, establishing tn,
condition of master and slave. ! ask my friend tC
quote me the state which, during colonial times Of
since the revoistion. has established and mad,
lawful, by enacting that certain men shall N
slaves, the slavery of any man in America ant
when he comes to reply, if such statutes are to b.
found. they will be forthcoming.
But will not stop now TO quote authorities OF
that point, Of which | have q multitude. | will
| plyn Won Onlv ma In the dplata in tho Tpif
ed States Senate on the Fugitive Slave Bill. Sena
tor Mason, OF Virginia. arguing against n jur,
trial said. 'if you allow a jury trial, the jury vii
E have theright to 20 into questions Of law and fac,
e and aNorrhern jury will inquire for the statute un
der which a slave is held; 'and." aided he, $50 fl
as / knOtc, no such statute can be found in ann O
> the Southern States" But even if it had, it woul
, not help the case. For let me tell you that ever
i thing cannot be framed into law. Law has
= character of it's own. Certain elements enter int
it and whatever %enactments lack these element
are no laws at all. They are;not bad law, but the
q are no law--are null aud void, and are of,entime
= conspirneies against law. An enactment to hav
the authority and force Of law, must he founded i
. justice and reason--mpst draw its life principle
from the government of God--must grow out q
the nature OF man-must bear relation to the Diyin
g government and come Into harmony with it. Th
mere votes of a legislature can no moro make
law than they can make a God, unless those vote
q are cast for the development and manifestation
d and revelation of a law!that God Almighty WOW
into the structure of the universe at the beginning
Suppose, gentlemen, this is an abstract argt
mens, but you will see the sweep Of it in a moment
d suppose, il you please, that a company of tie
d thousand natural philosophers should get togethe
and undertake to legislate that water Shout
r cease to run down hill and hereafter should run u
hill suppose they should solemnly vote that tha
should be a law Of nature--that the brooks shout
turn round, that the streams should run up toward
!, their fountain would the streams obey Them 7 @
would they laugh on in their course and disregar
= them?
I, So far as this argument is concerned, then,
a shall as my opponent has declared himself
Ii friend Of law and order and government, aud in fl
u vor Of sustaining the law-cail upon sim to come u
to with me to the support of the Declaration of Am,
re rican ludependence-the basis of Americanlaw;
shall ask his aid in the effort to oarryit out stric
to ly in the country and proclaim, in the ~languag
IN OF the old bell, liberty throughout all the Ian
ID and TO all the inhabitants thereof"
. But another step is necessary in this argumer
Ut against the legal existence of slavery. / take m
n. friend on his own premises. lie is in favor of lii