Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-10-13

II the people OF any European government
which pretends to have a Constitution, are as igno-
rant Of the provisions Of that document, the obi
cations it imposes. and the restrictions it provides,
as are the people Of this country of the Federal
Constitution, they are greatly to be pitied unless
in their case ignorance is bliss and wisdom folly.
Every body talks about the Constitution, and
our constitutional rights and they so far rever-
ence the instrument as to regard it with the vene-
ration due to a god, Their ideas of its character,
however, are as indefinite as the general ideas OF
the divinity which the people worship. Even many
who claim to be well informed, receive without
examination the incorrect opinions in regard to its
provisions which have been so extensively adopted
as to become popular fallacies.
In conversing with Thaddeus Hayatt in his
Washington priOon last spring we naturally spoke
of the uncOnstitutionality of his imprisonment, and
in tie course of his remarks he informed US he
had rot read the Constitution since he was \ school
boy, until his imprisonment, when he found il
necessary to consult the document 10 ascertain
whether ne was legally or Illegally q captive
And there are many in the same condition that
MIR. Hyatt was, with whom the reading OF the
Constitution was a school boy exer, Use, and never
prac:iced since school boy days. A thorough study
of the document will reduce a mans reverence for
it to zero, for his mind will become disabused Of
the popular fallacies concerning it, and he will
learn that even its best parts are not so good 30
they are generally represented, and its bad parts
are truly q covenant with death, and an agreemsnt
with hell.
In a recent letter in the Liberator from Daniel
E. Somes to Gerrit Smith, the writer says,
If Mr.. Garrison desires to publish an anti slave
ry paper in Richmond, the President is bound by
his oath of Office to defend him against mobs or
State laws. Should Wendell Phillips take it into
his head to stump the South, he must be protected
if necessary, by the army and navy
All that Mr.. Somes has to base this assertion
upon is the following clause of the Constitutions,
Congress shall make no law respecting an es-
adjustment of religion, or prohibiting the FREQ
exercise thereof; or abridging she freedom Of
speech or of the press; or the RICH. of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the govern
ment for q redress of grievances
This he quotes in proof of his position, and he
is not alone in entertaining the mistaken idea that
the Constitution guarantees freedom Of speech and
Of the press, and yet no other evidence than the
I above can be extracted from that document to con.
firm the idea.
u Suppose Mr.. Garrison attempts to publish an
] anti-slavery paper in Richmond. By 30 doing he
violates no United States law, for Congress has
passed no law "abridging the freedom of the
press" but Virginia has, and he violates the State
law which expressly prohibits the publication Of
incendiary documents upon her territory. Now
; what does tho United States Constitution guaran.
D tee Mr.. Garrison, aud what must the President
protect him in the enjoyment of by the employ.
ment Of the army and navy if necessary? Simply
the freedom of the press so far as the Legislation Of
Congress is concerned. And until it can be shown
that the Constitution prohibits State Legislatures
as we'll as Congress a~bridging the freedom OF the
press, all talk about such freedom being guaran-
, teed upon State territory, is worse than childish
3 folly, for it is the culpable ignorance of manhood,
And all the Constitutional right which Wendell
Phillips has "to stump the South" is to be found
in the same clause, which simply prohibits Con-
gress from doing upon territory over which that
? body has legislative jurisdiction, that, which the
States in the formation of the Federal Constitution
reserved to themselves the right to do, each upon
it's own territory. The States tied the hands Of
' the General government so that it could not strike
t down free speech and a free press, but under that
Il CONSTITUTION 1hey lell themselves at IlUeTly W give
. as much or as little freedom of speech and Of the
press as they chose, as witness the following
e article:-
"The powers not delegated 10 the United Statea
= by the Constitu On, nor prohibited by it to the
+ States, are reserved to the States respectively, or
: to the people"
So every State in the Union has a right by the
Federal Constitution to prohibit tho circulation Of
s snti-slavsry papers within its limits-or any other
kind-and to declare what doctrine shall Lot DO
taught by the lips of the living speaker.
RESULT or ELECTION RETURNS. -Republicans on
a broad grin, and Democrats sad as q funeral pre-.
cession.