Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1861-02-09

f0Q0X, 'FeWOte DelOIe EbllAt ~ Ah'biN ho
higher christian life that the State, whether Nor
srchical or Republican, allows.
Az the Review" puts "slarehoIding' in the
catalogue Of virtues. let us see what, in its estima-
ton, constitutes "%criue." I'VE admit" says the
Review, "tbat the obligation to restore fugitive
slaves is a constitutional and moral obligation,
and consequently that any la% designed to prevent
such restoration is unconstitutional and criminal.
y y We regard, therefore, all opposition to
the restoration Of fugitive slaves, whether by leg
i~slatures, or by Individuals, or by mobs, as moral
ly a crime. deserving legal penalties and the con-
domination Of all good meu. II therefore, any
State has passed laws to prevent tho foil and eff
'ciOnt operation Of that provision Of the Constitu-
tiUr, we hold that they are bound by their ale
glance to God, as we'll as to the country, at once
70 repeal them"
"Another grievance Justly complained Of is the
interference Of Northern Abolitionists with the
slaves Of the South. This is done by the attempt
ed distribution of abolition publications through
the Southern States. \ = = We admit that
such tam pering with tao slaves is q great crime"
,Thousauds of the people of France disaPproye Of
the act of Louis Napoleon in assuming imperial
power, but it would be a crime to resist his author
lfGs D6OGSolOH lE "a blNbNh VI ihaAh' ~ - N'
ally a crime, as much as the secession of a rcgi-
ment. from a battlefield would bc,"
These quotations, when compared with the dec
~laratiou that "SlareholdiRg is not a crime" are
amply sufficient to prove that the pious Editor OF
the Princeton Review, utterly repudiates not only
the sublime doctrines Of the Declaration Of Amer
loan Independence, but also the laws Of nature, or
eternaljustice, which underlic, according to Judge
Blackstone, all human Legislation.
Judge Blackstone says: This Jaw of nature, be-
ing coeval with mankind, aud dictated by God
himself, is of course, superior in obligation to any
other. It is binding over all the globe, 10 all coun-
tries, and at all timesj no human laws are Of any
validity, if contrary to this; and such OF them as
are valid derive all their force, and all their au-
thority, mediately or Immediately, from this origi-
nal. y y y"
t'Upon these two foundations, tho law Of nature
and the law Of revelation, depend all human laws.
For instance in the case Of murder; this is express
ly forbidden by the divine, and demonstrably by
the natural law; and from these prohibitions, arises
che true unlawfulnees OF this crime. Those hu-
man laws that annex a punishment to it do not at
all increase its moral guilt, or superadd any fresh
ob,ipation, in the form Of conscience, TO abstain
from its perpetration. Nay, if any human law
should allow or enj Din us to commit it, We are
bound to transgress that human law, or else we
must offend both the natural and the divine"
This logical argument Of Judge Blackstone is
lust as applicable to tho violation of mans inaiien-
able right to liberty, as it IS, or can be, to his in
alienable right to life. Practically. both rights
stand or fall together. In Great Britain, the laws,
except for tho punishment Of crime, defend both Of
these rights, as equally necessary to the happiness
of the subject. In this Confederacy the laws, 50
far as the African is concerned, maintain the
right Of the ABglo-Saxun to violate, with i'm
punity, both Of these inaIieuable' rights of the
citizen. "SlavcholIing" is a greater crime" than
murder, because to maintain it. against the slave,
necessarily adds to It's other enorrn!uee that OF
murder.
Although the Editor Of the Review, regards
all opposition to the restoration of fugitive slaves
as morally a crime" and thus ignores the express
command, "Thou shalt not deliver unto his master
the servant which has escaped from his master un-
10 thee" unwittingly asserts that "the duty is from
its nature a distaSfefui one" But how, my dear
cir, can that be "a dis.asteful duty" which you,
Indirectly, assert the States ARE bound by their
allegiance to God as well as to the country" at
once 20 perform2 You cay, 1--WE would like to
see Senator Chestnut, or tho Hon. Vim. Rhett,
called to Join in the pursuit Of n fugitive slave"
i would be very sorry to see either them, or you,
called to perform the service of bloodhounds, for
if you refused it would only provo your inconsis-
.tency; if you obeyed the toh!SHe Of the Sportsman,
in chase of humanity, | should be forced to Gull
you by your right names, Ring, lockwood and
Jowler."
"If," says the Review, "the people Of any State
cannot conscientiously submit to the Constitution,
there are only two courses open to them; they
should either enleayor, in G. peaceable and orderly
way, to have the Constitution altered, or they
should move out Of the county," The first chance
which the Review offers to the conscientious peo-
pie Of a sovereign State, they cannot accomplish.
because it requires two thirds oil the States to al
ter the Constitution. The second, to "naoce out Of
che country" is a sheer aud contemplate insult.
The Federal Constitution, as now and heretofore
administered, is "a covenant with death, and an
agreement with he'll" if there can be such a cove
nant and such an agreement. Whenever, there.
fore, the people of Massachusetts become convin-
ced of this fact, it is their right and their duty,
in the language of the Review, with :he "becom-
ing dignity Of Z sovereign State" instead of 'mov-
ing out of the country" to "move" the State out
of the Union, and thus acquit themselves OF oil
completely with the shame, disgrace and sin Of
slavery.
The mock morality and pious cant Of the Re-
view, is only equaled by the utter recklessness of
its political ~blunders, as will be shown in my next
number.
B. G. WRIGuT.
RURAL, ILLINOIS, Jan. p, 1861.
MARRIED