Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-10-06
SATURDAY EVENING SESSION,
REMARKS OF MR.. BUTTS.

We MN, DOllOs
Ma. CHAIRMAN Some time ago I heard q Gar
risonian and a Minister talking together. The
Minister said, You are talking against slavery f;
why dou't you 60 20 she SUath, then, where slave
~ ISL The 6SrrtsonfNn replied, You are a min
is,eN sud arc presohiDg against sin why, then.
don't you 90 to he'll, where sin is p The Mi1ister
did &c. eeneloda to 60 jus, then. Aud he need
mot go there TO End sin, for there is enough Sin to
demand all his attention in this world. So there
Is slavery enough without going South, against
which we may direct our labors.
l am a young man and would like 10 ask those OF
my own age, who are before me, one or two ques-
tions. The young man has time to change his course,
If he has been in the wrong-to repent Of sin, if be
has c,mmitted it. Not yet has bis heart been Pc
tri6ed-his better nature destroyed. Is not this,
then, a time to ask ourselves, whittier are we tend
ing What is the nature and theory Of our gov
eminent, and what are our duties concerning it
Shall we have light, or darkness ? Let US use our
faculties, and determine our conduct, in the light
Of principle and duty.
Let me tell you some Of my experience. /
looked around me and saw the condition of the
Church and the Government. l saw few disposed
20 regard principle and duty. l saw the abolition
lists regarded as fanatics, and have taken my
course. We cannOt,i if we would, let slavery alone;
or stand neutral on this great question. IL OBJ
trudes itself upon US, and we cannot dodge it, re-
ligiously, politically or morally, if We would. No
one can escape il. No matter in what ayocation,
we must meet il, au6 are liable TO be without
friends If we take sides with the right. Those
who have trimmed their sails to catch the popular
breeze, can alone be popular. We are going back
30 ancient times worshipping false gods-disre
xardiug the truth, and ignoring true greatness
for what lie true greatness but gooduessi
We are wandering from the right, and should
20 back to the old landmarks, and not 60 on sup,
porting parties and forgetting principle-princi-
Piles, too, which lie at the foundation of all just
governments and laws. Our politicians have for
gotten that all laws, to be binding, must be just
Let Us refer for a moment to some of the defni.
lions Of Ian, as given by Its sagos. Law is defined
by Cicero, to be natural %justice, the element Of
power. We are told that in numbers there is
strength bu. this is not true, unless the numbers
are on the side of truth. The pilgrim fathers came
to the new world, few in number, but strong in
principle, and see what they have worked out
Jurisprudence, says q legal writer, lis the Science
of Justice and Injustice, Hence those who have
made unjust DEGREES, have made anything but
laws, 10 the true sense of the terul. IF any law,
says John Milton, be contrary to the law Of God
it is Of no effect What parliament doetb, shall
be the law if not contrary to the low of nature,
says Lord Coke and Blackstone declares the
principle objects Of the law to be justice and in
justice, and that all laws derive their force and
validity from nature and Justice 4 nd justice itselt
is defined to be, the virtue of rendering every one
his just due.
Now let me ask, in the name Of reason and hui
mainly, do VS. find these great principles embed
led in the political platforms of the present day
Is not this nation carrying out the doctrine that
men are made for their rulers, not rulers for men
This is the error; whence is its origin, what is
vrongf Everything; there is nothing right for O
fatal error runs through all our governmental ar
Engagements. We have adopted the guilty fantasy
that man can hold property in man; have cOnsenr
ted to compromise with crime, and are all polluted
with i%niquity. The best of our great parties, il
the Republican; we have looked to see what tina
party would work out, hopeful that j, might. a
least, carry out the anti-slavery measures it fire.
declared. But i: has not done even that. In 1856
the party declared against the Fugitive Slave Law
slavery in the District Of Columbia, the interstate
slave trade, and the admission Of new slave states
Now; its leaders scarcely speak of these things
In sc it's sails were trimmed, a little, to suit thC
popular breeze; bu. still its advocates talked o.
freedom and the rights of man. No sooner, how.
ever, was the campaign over, than its banner was
trailing in the dust. And now, W orse still, it is
in the mud; and its candidate, Abraham Lincoln,
is ampling it lower, and lower. He has repeat
ed the declaration, thirteen times, that be never
did, nor never would, oppose slavery whore it ex-
ists. And the book containing these, and other
equally disgrAceful declarations, is published and
circulated, throughout the land, as a campaign
document Mr.. Lincoln says he does not, and
never did, stand pledged to repeal the fugitive
slave law, the interstate slave trade, slavery in
the District Of Columbia, or the admission of new
slave states-to euch a position has the best pott
ical party in the land descended. A presidential
candidate should be a man of the highest integri
ty. He should be one among ten thousand, a low
er of truth, of justice, and the inalienable right
Of men. lie should believe in those great prin
ciples Of right, which lie at the foundation of al
good governments, and should have higher idea
OF law than to regard it an engine to send bacl
fugitive slaves. Yet such are the ideas of Law
held by the Republican candidate for the highes
Office in the nation, and the people are willing t
sustain him.
The speaker referred to The progress made il
other countries in behalf of freedom; and arguec
that the Republican party ugOss much farther il
the support of slavery. than even the UniteC
States Constitution requires.
SPEECH OF PARKER PILLSBURY.
N Lt..-. a.. I.,.I NJo..;z