Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-05-19
SPEECH OF ROBERT PURvIs OF PENN.
sYLVARIA,

Al he recent Annireysary Of he American Anfi-
Slassry Society.
Ma. PREsiDENr. As one Of your speakers TO
day, l feel myself embarrasse cd by two opposite
and conflicting feelings one is q painful and dis
tressing sense Of my incapacity for the duty which
you have i'm posed upon me, aud the other is an
irrepressibla desire to do or sag something efec'
tive for a cause which is dearer to me than my
hearts blood. Sir, | need not say here that |
belong TO that class who, at the South, are bought,
cold, leased, m ~ortgnged, and in all respects treat.
ed as absolute property; | belong to the class who,
here at the North, are declared by the highest
tribunal known TO your government to possess mo
rioLfs that a ,Dhite man is bound to respect
L say your governmental is not mine. Thank
God, | have no willing share in a government that
deliberately, before the world, and without a
blush, declares one part Of its people, and that
for no crime or pretext Of crlmo, disfranchised
and outlawod. For such a governmental, as q man,
can have no feeling but of contempt Ioahing, and
uaUterabe aJhorrcnce! And, sir, | venture to
affirm that there is no man ia this audience, that
has a spark Of manhood in him, that has q title OF
genuine selfrespect in bis bosom, that will not
justify me 10 these feelings.
What are the facts in the case2 What is the
attitude OF your b%oastiug ,braggart republic toward
the 600,0 600 free people Of color who swell is pop
~slA,ion and add to its wealth ! l have already
alluded to the dictun Of Judge fancy in the motto.
Iious bred Scott decision. That dictum reveals
che animus of the whole government; it is a fair
example Of the cowardly and malignant spirit
that pervades the entire policy Of the country; the
end Of that policy is. undoubtedly, to destroy the
colored man, as a man, to prevent him from hav-
ing any existence in the land except as n 'chattcl
personal to all intents, constructions aud purposes
Whatsoever With this view, it says q colored
man shall not sue and recover his lawful proper
ty; he shall not bear arms and train in the militia;
he shall not be a commander of q vessel, not even
of the meauest craft that creops along the creeks
and bays of your Southern coast; he shall not
carry a mailbag, or serve as a porter in q post.
Office; and he shall not even put his face in a Uni.
ted States court room for any pnrpose, except by
the suferance of the white man. had occasion
q few days since to go to the United States Court.
room in the city Of Philadelphia. My errand was
q proper one it was to 60 bail for one of the
noble band Of colored men who had so bravoly
risked their lives for the rescue of a brother man
on his way to eternal bondage. AS | was abou
entering the door, | was stopped, and ordered
back; I demanded the reason-1 have my orders,
was the reply. What orders? TO keep out a.
coloted people, Now, sir, who was the man tina
offered me this i~ndignity ? 1t was Deputy-Mar
shal jenkins, the notorious slave-catcher. AM
why did he do it? Because he had his order
from pious, praying, Christian Democrats, VIII
hold aud teach the damnable doctrine that tn
black mao has no rights that the white man i
.-I 5000 l. e Erna thaI Marcia XnsI
to whom 1 indignantly appealed, reversed thi
mans orders and apologized to me, assuring me th'
I could go in and out at my pleasure. But 81
the apology made she matter worse: for, mar
you, it was not me personally that was objecte
TO-, but the race with which l stand identified. GreI
God Who can think Of such outrages, sue
meanness, such dastardly, cowardly cruelty, witt
out burning with Indignation, and choking f
want Of words With which 10 denounce il? Ar
10 the case of the noble little band referred I
the men who generously, heroically risked the
lives to rescue the man who was about being ca
ried back to slavery; look at their case; you kno
che circumstances. We recently had a slave Fri
In Philadel phia-no new thing in the city
'Brotherly Lore A victim of Virginia tyranny,
fugitive from Southern injustice, had made go
his escape from the land Of whips and chains
Pennsylvania, and had taken up his abode ne
the capital of the State. The place of his retire
was discovered; the bloodhounds of the law see
ted him out, and caught him; they put him
chains and brought him before Judge Cadwallad
"a man whose pro slavery antecedents made hi
q fitting instrument for the execution of the n
cursed Fugitive Slave law. The sequel can east
be imagined. Brewster, q leading Democrat!
man who, ike your O'Counor Of this city, has Il
unblushing hardihood to defend the enslaveme
of the black man upon principle-advOcated h
return. Tho man was sent into lifelong bondag
While the trial was going on, Shareholders, Sout
ern students and pro-slavery Market-street sale
men were freely admitted, but the colored peop
che e.ass most Interested we're carefully exclude
Prohibited from entering, they thronged arou
the doors of the Courthouse. At last the pri
ner was brought out, hs1dcuffed aud guarded
his eaptors; be was put iato a carriage, whi
started of 10 the direction of the South. So
ten or twelve brave black men made q rush
che carriage, in hopes Of efec.ing a rescue II
we.e ozerpowered, beaten, put under arrest 6
carried to prison, there to await their trial, BET
this same Judge Cadwallader, for violating
Fugitive Slave law Mark you, they may 60
20 the courtroom as prisoners, but not as spe
forsl They may not have an opportunity Of ht
ing the law expeunded, but they may be punis
If they make themselves chargeable With violat
1T
4i Sir, people talk of the bloody code Of Dra
but / venture to assert, without fear Of %intellig
contradiction, that, all things considered, t
code was mild, that code was a law Of love, c.
pared with the hellish laws and precedents
disgrace the statute-books of this modern De
GRATIS, Christian Republic /! l said that a mar
color might not be a commander Of the humt
craft that sails in your American waters. Tt
~as a man in Philadelphia, thu other day,
stated that he owned and sailed q schooner
tween the city and different ports in the State