Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-08-18
From the Ashtabula Sentinel.
a LETTER TO WENDELL PHILLIPS.
WEHDELL PHILLIPS ESQ


a LETTER TO WENDELL PHILLIPS.
WEYDELL PHILLIPS ESQ:
DEAR Sir, l read your
animadversion upon Mr.. Lincoln, with some in,
terest. The idea which you tacitly advance, that
members of Congress hold to, and desire the adop-
ton of all the measures contained in bills which
they present, involves the reputation of oil who
have served in Congress. l do not answer you on
behalf Of Mr.. hncoin. / speak for the truth of
history
You state your charge as follows:
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, TIE SLAvE-IIoUND OF ILL
Nols. We gibbet another hound to day, side by
side with the infamous Mason os Virginia. Ma
sons slave bill is based on that clause Of the Uni.
ted States Constitution which provides for the sur
render of slaves escaping from one Stale into
another State Of the Union.
TIE Supreme Court of the United States has
decided that the District of Columbia is not a
State within tho meaning pf the Constitution. See
Hepburn u.s. Ellzev, 2 Cranch, AIS. The District
of Columbia is not therefore, included in the
terms Of the Fugitive Slave clause. Whoever tlies
to extend the dominion of that clause over the
District Of Columbia exhibits only his voluntary
bOseness, can have no pretence of constitutional
obligation, out Masons Mason, aud stamps himself
a hound of speeaI alacrity'
This deed, Abraham Lincoln, Republican candi-
date for President has done Here are the
facts
|. Extract from bill suggested by Hon. Abraham
Lincoln, to the u s. House of Representatives
January 10, l849. (See Congressional Globe, ap.
rendix % Session, 30th Congress, p. 2l2)
Section s. That the municipal authorities of
Washington and Georgetown, within their respec.
tive jurisdictional limits, are hereby empowered
and REQUIRED to provide active and efficient means
10 arrest and delirer up 10 their owners ALL FU-
IGITIvE SLAVES escaping into said Dist icL'
Observe his proposition 1t provides no safe
guards, jury trial. takes no care to prevent free
men from being carried off as slaves. In these
respects, it is worse than even Mason's BILL The
municipal authorities are to provide ACTIVE and
EFFICIENT meahs.'
You speak Of Abraham Lincoln, as the cant-
date of the Republican party, for President He
holds that honor in consequence Of having avowed
his convictions, that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their creator with certain
inalienabe rights that among these are life, iber-
ty, and the pursuit of happiness that to secure
those rights governments are instituted among
men, deriving their just po'sers from the consent
OF the governed l presume you admit him to
be honest, that when in power he will maintain
this doctrine to the extent Of his official authority.
With this profession Of moral and political faith,
be stands before the public You sS back twelve
years, find that he then proposed 80 Introduce
bill containing clause to which you object, and
represent that clause as expressing his opinion,
not merely at that time but at the present day,
in direct contradiction of his own solemn avowal
| need not be told that you intended no misrep.
resontatiOn. know you we're dictated by d de;
sire to promote the cause Of liberty and Justice;
that in your zeal you overlooked important histor-
ica facts, and adopted course of argument un.
just to Mr.. Lincoln and to the public.
This remark is fully illustrated by the fa,t that
you speak of the fugitive law of that day as being
the one now in force. But you could not have
designed to charge Mr.. Lincoln with an intention
to extend to the District of Columbia, the provs-
ions of law which was not passed until sixteen
months after he ceased to be q member of Con-
gress.
Again, know that you and every intelligent
man will admit that if Mr.. Lincoln now holds
the doctrines proclaimed by the Republican party,
he should be judged by those dootripes, Whatever
may have been bis previous views. Paul was an
apostle at Corinth, and at Rome, although he
had been prosecutor at Damascus. The con-
sciousness of every man compels him to Judge
those around him by their present opinions, and
not by those whl,h they have discarded.
But you have brought before the public an item
Of history which should be understood by the peo-
ple 1t is due to truth that those who have labor
ed in the cause of humanity. should understand
the part which Mr.. Lincoln performed in that clos
ing session of the Both Congress. To appreciate
his notion We must take into view some of .hose
surrounding circumstances and facts which give
character to his doings.
The Mexican war had closed by our obtaining
from Mexico vast territory, over which the Ad-
m'nis.rstion was seeking to extend the curse OF
htrnan bondage. The free soil organisation had
been the means of defeating the election of Gen.
Cass, and the Democratic party stood humbed
before the country, but apparently more devoted
to the cause of oppression than it had previously
been. The Wing party, though tacftly pledged
against the extension of slavery, was not relied
upon. Experienced members we'll understood that
when the contest should become serious and slave
holders should threaten, the conservative portion
of that party would obey the beh est of their
Southern masters. Mr.. Adamsso long relied up,
on by the lovers of liberty had passed to his re-
ward, and no man of his experience was left to
guide their councils. Democrats and Wings unit.
cd in thOir efforts to suppress discussion in regard