Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-09-01

ANSWER TO MR.. GIDDIEGs.

LAW ue Sues tnht MT, 0'uCOlu > pueliOh III AS'"1
needs explanation, and he frankly Offers 1t. With
such a man, discussion is u pleasure.
I beg him to believe, that | do not forget the
necessity every statesman is under of waving, at
any given time, one-half his wishes in order to Oh
tain the other half. COMPROMISED are not bad
thinge in themselves they are often necessary
that does not prevent some compromises from
being infamous. Tho Scotch compromise with
England, which sold Charles I. to the English for
so many thousand pounds, was surely base. We
do not despise Claudio for wishing to save his life
but for being willing to purchase it by sacrif
cling his sister to Lord Angelo. IL Las Cdsas saw
ed the Spaniardo from enslaVing Indians 10y i'm
porting negro slaves instead, | do not call it hu-
manity. 1t is not because Lincoln compromised
ia 1919 that | blame him; it is tho nature Of the
compromise with which l find fault. Compromise
Is only trading We give so much for SO much
No honest man will trade in %iu:amy; will consent
to buy what seems progress by abolishing mar
rage, stealing mems property, or granting to one
man the right to hold or hunt others. No kuave
having traded in such infamy is to be allowed to
shelter himself by calling it practical statesman
ship The life, liberty and happiness Of ourselves
or OF others, are never to be compromised away
for any seeming good. No man has anywhere, or
at any time, TIE right to consent to such compro-
mise. Some things are too sacred to be made
counters Of, to DO traded in or compromised away.
My charge is, that 10 1S40 Mr.. Lincoln did not
know that slave hunting was one Of these. Our
Fathers hal no right to make o slave-hunting
compromise in 1889. Mr.. Lincoln had q thousand
times less to make one in lS49.
Language tolls in vain to describe the disgust
aud loathing which every true man feels for slave
hunting. Remembering that Law is at once the
sign and the cause of q wicked teoplej that it
moulds, as well as expresses, the moral sense Of a
nation; l lack words to utter my l~oathing for the
man who, in ibis century, consents, for any reason,
to ask the American people to institute slave hun
ting, aud legalize it where it does not legally exist.
Yet this, Mr.. Lincoln's friends confess he did; aud
their defence is, that he did it in order to purchase
certain advantages. Had no offered to sell his wife
or his daughter for the Same purpose, be would
have been NO moro infamous or dishonored in my
view.
End. Mr.. Giddings says | do not sufficiently
consider the circumstances Of lS49. Those
considered, Mr.. Giddings thinks Lincolu's part in
that movcmont heroic'-one of high moral
excellence and one calculated to give the lovers
Of liberty confidence in him. If it be go, how
came it that Greeley and Mann, Wentworth and
Wilmot. Palfrey and G~IDDTNcs. voted against this
very proposition Of Mr.. Lincoln On the spot,
at the time, amid the circumstances they all
voted, in solid column, against this heroic
excellent and worthy persons wishes!
But Mr.. Giddings thinks l do Mr.. Lincoln
injustice because noe, lately, he has 'avowel his
conviction that all men are created equal'' &C.,
and processes his belief in the Declaration Of indie
pendence. Mr.. Edward Everett aVows the same,
Does that lead MIR. Giddings to trust him ? l
suppose Mr.. Lincoln believed that Declaration in
l849. Such belief did not then prevent his con-
sentipg to allow and establish slave-hunting where
the Constitution does not carry it. Why will il
prevent him now? Mr.. Giddings thinks Mr.
Lincoln honest and is quite sure he will, wher
In power maintain the doctrine (of the Declaration
TO the extent of his official authority NJ doub
of 1t. lie will maintain the doctrines Of tina
Declaration, as Edward Everett will, ia the sens
in which he understands them. Wishing to fnC
out what that sense would be, and learning frou
she New York Tribune that Mr.. Lincoln stood 'or
h!s record ! scrsh. c.. Tia: record, aud fouu,
that in lS40 he was a volunteer slavehound; sue
q one as I distrust, loathe and deSpise. Is tina
one Of his doctrine Of the Declaration Of Inde
pendence!
But Mr.. Giddings says that when I reBresen
that clause as expressing his (Lincoln's) opinio.
at tho present day, l DO so in direct contradictiol
of his own solemn avowal.' Wien and wAere wa
any such 'avowal' made: When and where ha
Mr.. Lincoln disavowed this clause in the act
lSi9! When and wherc has be avowed any sue
principles as necessarily amount to q disavowal c
that clause? | shall be glad TO haze these auei
tioDs answered. All | know is, that in 1858, II
plying to Mr.. Douglas. he said he would not no,
ngitate for any modification of the Fugitive Slay
Bill, and asked no changes that would lessen il
efficiency Is this Mr.. Giddings's solemn avov
RlP Under The Constitution, ! know every homes
man is bound to allow an efficient Slave Law
and in that mir. Lincoln is consistent. But thos
who support the Constitution, and accept ofic
under it, must not 20 whining about the country
begging US not to think them base men, olthou 9
they do base things, Observation-Disclosures
and whereas-the Constitution requires it!
they take the honors ~ they must consen: thr
We outsiders shall call things by their right namc
call q Republican President who. for any rea
ons, consents to slave bunting, a Hound. l. b
friends prefer. | will try always to call him
Constitutional Hound. But he who in person. {
by deputy, hunts slaves, is a hound. no matte
what his motive be. whether to save his party, e
an Office. or preserve the Uoiou. Good motive
do not change evil acts-unless my friend GiC
dipgs thinks one should do evil that good ma
c0me'-a class which 81. Paul, whom he quote,
doea not recommend FIR Rishona oP pras;Jont
but is Of opinion that their damnation is JUST
When Knapp hhed Crowninsbield to murie
White. Crowninsbield was still a murderer
though he did it for a Consideration When thi
nation hires Washington, Adams or Lincoln Il
hunt slaves by the bride of the Presidency, eac
ono Is a slavehound, no matter how tempting tb
ps'oe no" speeioas the motive, or bow gorgeou
the collar. And | consider Northerners yery Of