Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-06-04
J, M. PITCHES REMARKS.

GENTLEMEN tt cannot think the mu,titudes
who compose this assemblage. are prompted by
that curiosity which they feel. when visiting a men,
agerie. and yet confess thy feelings, while ex-
%hibiting myself to you, remind me of those l had
as 1 stood in the Geological Gardens of London
last fall,
But no, yoa arc sotosted BY nob1er motives
than the qualification Of curiosity. Gentlemen, !
cannot make o speech to you on such an occasion.
The very presence Of these thousands Of earnest
souls is the grandest speech that can be uttered.
You see us the inmates of jail, and not ashamed.
Still it is a serious thing to be shut within prison
walls, citizens of the free State of Ohio, who are
incapable of q crime. 1t is a serious thing when
the little children whom we have taught morals
and religion in cur Sabbath schools, inquire, with
wondering eyes. the meaning, when their teachers,
are shut within a Gail. Upon what times are we
fallen, when our little children must call after US
as they stand weeping upon the threshold of our
dwellings, and say as mine did, Come back Pa,
as soon az you can get out Of jail. l shall wan. to
see you" And are we, then, criminals. Are we
justly a~rraigned for a violation of the laws Of the
land 2 Can that be law which contravenes every
- ibheJ "bONhSh VI T0Nchltu .
Can a few graceloss men who may meet at Wash
ington, and by trickery and management secure
the passage of an act like that, which we to-day
denounce, bear it upon our conscience By calling
IL a lao.
l read the answer in the earnest faces before
me. 1t is a great comfort to US while enduring
this slight Inconvenience, to know that when we
who are now incarcerated, have been sufficiently
ground between the upper and neither milestone
Of Fedora! power, that there are hundreds of
thousands more of just such in our noble State,
who are ready to enter the hopper as future grists.
No, gentlemen, we have violated no law. Ours is
not the status of felons, and till we die. we will
not admit it, in any degree, by giving a cent of
bail. While there is anything left Of Us we shall
be found resisting. Why, gentlemen, my feelings
lead me to remember the farmers pugnacious ani-
NAL which was so determined to push for the
right that it was thought necessary to furnish him
disciplinary exercise for his butting propensities.
AS the farmer assures US, this animal of his reso-
lutely fought a beech maui suspended from a limb
till nothing was left of him but the tip end of bis
tail +; but This tip was so surcharged with the same
determined resistance, that at every rebound Of
the maui, Mr.. Tail pitched into it. Even go, if
possible, do we feel like resisting the Fugitive
Slave Law against all odds, and while q particle
Of our proper selves remains. We have trampled
on this infamous enactment many q time in our
day, and never wtile God shall spare US, will we
yield obedience to Its wicked demands. Pot-house
politicians may utter the law, and prc-slavery
Courts may try and sentence us ii they please.
but it shall be enough for US to know that the
great Master saith of all those who feed the hun
CRY, clothe the naked, and help the poor:
"Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least Of
these my brethren ye did it unto me-"