Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-06-23

. oihpy SOHVSi VI "N'
out wages II the ofense Of Slavery were less
extended II it were confined to come narrow re-
giou IL it had less Of grandeur in its proportions;
if its victims were counted by tens and hundreds,
instead Of millions, the 6ve-headed enormity would
dnd little indulgence. All would raise against it,
while religion and civilization would lavish their
choicest efforts in the general warfare. But what
is wrong when done 10 one man cannot be right
when dono to many, If it is wrong thus to de-
grade q single soul it is wrong thus to degrade
you, Mr.. President-it cannot be right TO degrade
a whole race. And yet this is denied by the bar
oarous logic of slavery, which, taking advantage
Of its own wrong, claims Immunity because its
usur pation has assumed O front Of sudacity that
cannot 10 safely attacked. Unhappily. there is
barbarism elsewhere in the world bus American
Slavery, as defined by existing Law, stands forth Os
the greatest organised barburism on which the
sun now shines. 1t is without a single peer. lts
author, after making it, broke tho die.
If curiosity corries US to the origin Of this law
and here | approach a topic often considered in
this Chamber-we shall confess again its barbar.
ism. 1t is not derived from the common law, that
fortune of liberty for this law, while unhuppily
recognizing q system Of seryitude. known as viii
lenage secured to the bondman privileges unknown
70 the American slave protected his person
against mayhem ; protected his wife against rape;
gave to his marriage equal validity with the mar
riage Of bis master, and surrounded his offspring
with generous Prescriptions of freedom, unlike
that rule of yours by which the servitude of the
mother is necessarily stamped upon the child. L,
is not derived from the Roman law, that fountain
Of ron Eor N-0 oneAnr Gee booouaa th,o
law, in its better days, when its early rigors were
s%pent-like the common law i~tself-secured to the
bondman privileges unknown to the American
slave-in certain cases Of cruelty rescued him
froui his master-prevented the separation OF par
ents and children, also Of broth ers and sisters-and
even protected him in the marriage relation and
secondly, because the thirteen colonies were not de.
rived from any Of those countries which recognize
ed the Roman law, while this law, even before
the discovery Of this continent had lost all living
efficacy. /, is not derived from the Mohamedan
law for under the mild injunctions Of the Koran,
a benignant servitude, unlike yours, has prevailed
where the lash is not allowed to lacerate the
back Of a female where no knife or branding
iron is employed upon any human being to mark
him as the property of his fellow man whore
| u nddlCA IL CAplSScJ JOAhN W S'SA W Wv
desires Of his slave for emancipation and where
the blood Of the master, m~ingling with his bond
woman, takes from her the transferable character
of a chattel, and confers complete freedom upon
their offspring. 1t is not derived from the Spanish
, law for this law contains humane elements, uu-
, known to your system, borrowed perhaps, from
| the Mohamedan Moors who so long occupied
| Spain and, besides, our thirteen colonies had
no umbilical connection with Spain. Nor is 1t de-
q rived from English statutes or American statutes
. for we have the positive and repeated averment Of
g the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Mason) and alsc
| other Senators tba in not q single State Of tbt
o Union can any such statutes authorizing Slavery
h be found. From none OF these does it come. No
r Sir, not from any land of civilization is this bar
barism derived. l, comes from Africa, ancien'
E nurse of monsters from. Guinea. Dahomey, anc
3 Congo. There is its origin and fountain.
LMr. S. then proceeds to show by an over
whelming array Of statistical facts, the results o
slavery as an institution which blasts commerce
t restricts internal improvements, cirou nscribes ed
ucation, and dwarfe the intellect.
0 Unerring and passioniess figures thus far hav
been our witnesses. But their testimony will b
t enhanced by a single glance at the geographicu
e character of the Slave States and here there is
l. singular and instructive parallel. Jefferson DEF
cribes Virginia as fast sinking to be the Barbar
n of the Misunderstanding, of course, the Barbar
s of his day, which had not yet turned against Sls
very. In this allusion he was wiser than b
knew. The Slave States of our Union are th
e 3arbary States of North America. Though o
Is different sides of the Atlantic. ard on diferer
E. continents, our Slave States and the original Bal
is barry States occupy nearly the same parallels
r. l~atitude-occupy nearly the same extent Of lor
D. gitude-embrace nearly the same number Of squar
e miles, enjoy kindred advantages of climate. oein
lie equally removed from the cold Of the North an
Is the burning heat Of the tropics and also EMO
or kindred boundaries Of land and water, with kline
&c red ad vantages Of ocean and sea-wiih this diffe
b. ence, that the boundaries of the two regions al
Sc precisely reversed, SO that where is land in IL
re case is water in the other while in both cas-,
there is the same extent of ocean and the same e.
tent Of sea. Nor is this all. Alg;er
for o long time the most obnoxio,
place liz the BarbaIy States of Africa-ont
branded by az Indignant chronicler as the wall
{ the Barbarian worlds situated near the parall
of $50 30N North latitude, being the lin, of II
' Missouri Compromise, which once marked Il
wall of Slavery in our country west Of the Mi
%sissippi, while Morocco, the chief present seat
7 Slavery in the African Barbary, is on the pa
" allel Of Oh ~lrleston. There is no two spaces /
81" the surface of the globe, equal in extent-and
examination of the map will verify what / q
about to state present so many distincti'
" features of resemblance whether We consider Il
common parallels of latitude on which they Ii
of the common nature of their boundaries. their cor
~ mon productions. their common climate, or ii
D. common barbarism which sought shelf
d. in both. | do not stop to inquire wi
ng Slavery, banished at last from Europe-ba
ng ished also from that part of this hemisphere viii
se corresponds in latitude to Europe. should have Q
ry trenched itself in both hemispheres between h
es same parallels Of latitude. SO that Virginia. Car