Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-10-27
THE LESSON OF A BRIEF PARAGRAPH.

THE LESSON OF a BhlEE fhhAuhnFu'
In a recen. Cincinnati yapsr there appeared On
der tho heading of Law Reports tho following
unobtrusive item.
PRopArE CouRr--EMANciPATIoN.-Le Jones,
a mulatto woman, aged AZ years, Mary Jones, her
daughter, aged 81 years, and Eliza Jones, q young
woman Of light complexion; late the property Of
Edward and Starkie Jones, deceased, of Dallas
county, Alabama, and manumitted by will had o
record made Of their emancipation. They were
brought 10 this city by W. NJ. Byron executor Of
the will.
w. Chalon attended to the procedure.
We may learn from this that even way down in
Alabama the region Of whips and chains, Of
slavery and slave hunts, and where to assert the
negro's right to freedom would bring down upon
the head of the rash fanatic a visitation Of Lynch
law; that even there, Gods truth is not left with
out Witnesses. And although, as in the case OF
Edward and Starkie Jones, the influence Of early
education, the force of public opinion, and per-
chance other circumstances prevented their testi-
mouy being placed upon record uutil their dying
hour, yet death-bed testimony 10 generally consid-
cred as less open to impeachment than any other,
and likely to be the expression of an honest con-
yictiop, and especially so when it conflicts with the
general opinion of the surrounding community.
Aud in this testimony we have q practical recogni-
sion Of the justice of oil that abolitienists demand,
and an emphatic denial from two Of their former
selves, of the miserable Qualifications by which
Shareholders seek to bolster up their system. It is
no compromise between the demands Of an ava
kened conscience, and a dee p-root0d prejudice
against the negro; no attempt to drive a good bar
gain with God by an offer of emancipation coupled
with expatriation to Liberia. No it is an honest
and just recognition Of the doctrine that man has
a right to freedom; declaration that Lettuce, and
Mary, and Eliza should be legally m%anumitted
and placed upon Ohio soil, where, if the people of
the State oppressed them, Ohio was responsible
for that oppression, and not the %testators.
Who believes that Edward and Starkie Jones so
hated Lettuce, and Mary, and Eliza that with
their dying breath they sought to make their con-
dition more miserable by placing them in freedom
where they would not be able to take care Of them
s%elves, and consequently be infinitely worse off
than if in slaverS2 Did :heir n~eighbors regard the
will of emancipation in this lightf Probably not;
and yet unless they did, what becomes of the mar
ket value Of those declarations that the slave is bet
ter of than the free negroH
Some one sent us last week d copy OF the TuSke-
zee Democrat containing an account of o mob
burning a negro who was charged with the murder
of his master; and the article declared there is a
class of scoundrels lurking through the country
hatdeserves the rope for tbeir m~eddling with the
negroes And in order that we might fully COM
prehend the character and extent OF Alabama phi
1anthropy, under this item-which was headed
Negro burning'-was written This is the way we
serve the abolition devils
In view of the facts connected with the emanci-
patton of the three Alabama slaves, would it not
be we'll for the people of that State to exhume and
KibLes, and afterward burn the bodies of Edward
and Stsrkie Jones for that lie a case of practi-
cal abolitoniSm, not by northern fanatics; but by
their own citizens. Will not the fact tina. Lettuce,
and Mary and Eliza have beou emaucipated, kin
die anew the desire for liberty in the souls of those
who are left in bondage Is there no danger that
some will leave their kind masters and tread by
night, and alone, the path to Ohio which their
mere fortunate companions trod by day, and in
company with the executor of their masters will ?
Until Alabama can prevent practical death
bed testimony in favor of Immediate Emancipa.
ton being spread upon the records Of her courts
and incorporated with her legal proceedings; until
she oaG crush out and prevent the convictions of
the siufulness of slavery growing up in the very
midst Of the system, and compelling the slave.
holder to release his hold and grant the captive
all the abolitiOnists have ever demanded, she need
and fanatics from abroad.