The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1859-06-09


the procurement of proper country for
this purpose Last winter BLAIR, of
Missouri,a democrat in everything else
but being a free labor man. proposed to
Congress that instead Of voting 10000
600 of dollars as first instalment for
the purchase of more slave territory, they
negotiate for the purchase of a part Of
Central America whereon to colonize our
emancipated slaves. Did any democrat
in Congress say word in furtherance of
the scheme !? Did colonization demo
Gratis at the north say a word in its favor
Has Mr.. HEDGES and his friends ever ex-
pressed Willingness to support this or
any movement to the same end We
think not. And why, if they believe
this proper condition of emancipation.
and earnestly favor that result ? Let
them answer. ff.l;lt-, eo+f r,.fe "A
There are some other points in the ed
TORS rejoinder, that we should like to
present, but we perceive that our article
is already too long. There is one ex-
preston, however, that we cannot let go
by without expressing a brief but EN-.
phatic dissent TO. He says "liberty is
not necessarily blessing, nor slavery a
curse. F" We think differently. Slavery
deprives men of their natural rights. and
whatever does this, degrades and curses
them. Liberty assures to men the right
to life, to manhood, to the product of
their labor, to the pursuit of happiness.
This right is the greatest of blessings.
and cannot be otherwise. No sum can
purchase it from him who possesses it,
without-it he is but brute. au lHa
We cannot forbear to append friend
HEDGEs' view of Higher Law, which is
more distinctly enunciated in this than
in his former article The natural i'm
pulses of the heart, he thinks, are in con-
fiict with the teachings of the bible. The
aspiration and efforts of the slave for
freedom, contravenes, in his view, the
commands of God, who requires of the
slave patience under his bonds, faithful
ness and obedience to the commands Of
his MASTER AS we discussed this point
in our previous article, we shall not
lengthen out our present one by further
observations upon it. We simply re-
mark that this view Of higher law and
of bible requirements, places both in an
tagonism to all efforts for physical and
mental freedom. The editor says:
The point that we aimed to make was
this, that those who claim to be acting
according to the higher law, show by
their actions that the law which they act
uaily followed, is no higher than the law
Of retaliation and recrimination. The
law that these men call the higher law
is that which teaches an eye for an eye
and a tooth for tooth and not that
which teaches the turning of the other
cheek.
We have always been taught to be-
lieve that the higher law was one oflove,
forbearance and forgiveness, patience un-
der oppression, and faithfulness to our
duties in any sphere in which providence
has placed us. We do not say that we
should always act by this law, but Christ
did, and we know of no higher example !
or authority. We are ready to confess
that we fall so far short Of this higher
law, that we would not let any one strike
us on the one cheek if we could help
it, much less give him a second chance,
but we should never think Of pleading
the higher law for our conduct. eJaal u6j
&c.. too, We know that we should be
more inclined to help the niger run
away than to help his master catch him,
but we say it is simply ridiculous to JUS
tify this conduct by the higher law
Natural impulses are not the higher law.
but on the contrary, the lower law, many
of these impulses may be right, but they
always need to be controlled by refec-
ton and sound judgment. Following
out this view of the higher law, we said
that men really guided by such law,
would look first and rather to the moral I
condition of the slave, than at his phys
ical condition, they would feel that it
mattered comparatively lttle whether a
man was bound or free, provided he had
a true sense of his relations and duties
to his maker, in other words, what we
would call higher law men would think
more of emancipating the soul more than
the body. If the Bible is any authority,
(Which we observe our neighbor quest
ions very much, a man, can serve his
maker just as well and reach heaven just
as surely in a condition of bondage, as
in one of freedom 70 sum up the whole
Of the question that we argued in our
former article and repeat now. Those
men who claim to be higher law men,
DO not take their higher law from the BIZ
Bile, but from the natural impulses Of
heir own hearts, which are in direct con-
iict with the teachings of'the Bible,
While We insist that the higher law is
contained in the teachings of Christ and
lis apostles and inculcaies no such doc
rine as these men call higher law" =