Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1861-03-16
THE NECESSITY OF CONTINUED LABOR.

leel SO well Sail6ntu wv thO piOoOu' NhNi'O VI
things, and the shape the future is assuming, as
10 be o ntent to rest from their labors. and stand
still to see the salvation Of the slave. 1.-THE South
is doing the work better than we car" says one.
Every thing is working for us, and what is the
use of our continued labor?" asks another. Such
feeling, and tho action resulting from it-or want
of action, rather-would, if greatly prevalent, be
highly detrimental to the prosperity of the anti
slavery cause.
1t is true that the South in her madness is doing
a work which makes less arduous the labors OF ab-
olitionists, but this 10 no-wise obviates the necessl-
ty OF continued, energetic action on their part
The course which the South has pursued, simply
weakens the defences of slavery, makes the citadel
of OPPRESSION less impregnable to the assailants;
but this fact renders it even more desirable that all
the available forces of freedom should be engaged
in the onset. The weakness Of an enemy is of no
advantage to the opposing forces unless it is made
80 by a vigorous assault that shall carry the post,
If Disunion was simply the end sought to be at
taiped by a6olitionists, they might we'll think their
triumph even here, and all need for labor cure
ly past. But inasmuch as they advocate Disunion
only as a meaus to an end, and that end the aboli-
ton Of slavery not only as q form of labor, but as q
principle Of action; in the North as we'll as in the
South; in the churches Of New York as we'll as on
the plantations of Carolina; Secession, or Disunion
is not to be regarded as the fulfllment Of their
mission, and still less 50 when that secession comes
from the South, and is born of the mad spirit Of
slavery domination.
Aboliionists have labored INCREASINGLY for
years to induce the people Of the free States to dis
solve their religious and political connection with
Ola - Tho rrOnnA khaf NhrtstionI
principle and Democratic doctrine alike demanded
that they should hold "No union with slavehold-
ers." Faithfully and perseveringly as they have
1abored, they have found the Northern conscience
less awake to the requirements of freedom, than
was-the policy of the South to the demands of
slavery. What the North would not do for free.
dom religiously or politically, the South has done
for slavery religiously and politically.
The Southern branch of the NJ. Z. Church-or
a portion Of it-seceded from the North. Here
was secession religiously, as there is now eeces-
sion politically. But what was gained Not the
.anti-slavery publication of oven a single branch
in s~ectarian ChristendOm. 1t is true, the sect had
q less pro-slGvery weight to carry than before; yet
we very much question whether it is to-day Gny
more ready to reduce to practice the gospel Of
anti-slavery, than it would have been had it re-
tanned all its former slaveholding members. And
we doubt it for these reasons; it did not willingly
part with a single man-stealer who left it's commu-
MON, and it clings to-day with a tenacious grasp
to all such whom it yet possesses, The secession
of a portion of lite southern membership did not
convert it to anti-slavery; but had the secession
been in the other section Of the body, and for an
opposite reason, there would be one leading de-
nomination in the North of which Wesley himself
need not be ashamed.
The political secession is Of the same charac-
ter. The North begs and entreats tho slavehold-
ing States to remain with her; is willing, on the
one hand, to make almost any compromise to re-
tain them, and if that fails, is as ready, on the
other, to offer chastisement if they refase to stay.
This is not the DisuniOn which is the best politi-
cal means for the overthrow Of slavery. True, it
is a secession that weakens the system; but how
much better 10 anti-slavery principle does it leave
the North than if it had never occurredl We
fear not one particle. She can gyoo better more
nsadily, for a great weight is removed. But III
abolitionists are to cease their matchmaking eff
forts, if they are to leave the regulating of anti
slavery matters wholly to compromising politi-
clans, and to remove the landmarks that have SER
we'd even such for a guide, how much better, thiuk
you, would the North be ten years hence, than
she v as before the Unien was dissolved, even i'll
she should be free from all the border slave States
now clinging to her skirts We should expect a
treaty with the South for the return of fugitive
slaves; nor would it be a matter for surprise to
find, that in exchange for certain commercial ad-
vantRges she had consented to permit members of
the Southern Confederacy to bring their slaves
north. We should have her present hatred of the
negro intensified, and laws of Punishment enacted,
or those which would render his condition but lit
tie better than that of the Southern slave. Nor
do we think we are unjust to the North to antici-
pate such a state of things, for in the present, her
legislation, with all the restraints which the partial
prevalence Of anti-slavery sentiments throws
around it, /, a disgrace to the bar5arism of Tunis
or Algiers.
The South is not ding our work, whatever 9th
or work she may be doing; and If it be true-as it
undoubtedly is-that in a certain sense every
thing is working for US, it is simply so, BY presen-
ting to US opportunities for labor we never before
had; opening new channels for Communicates
and indicating new fields upon which to spend our
strength. And instead of feeling an inclination
to abate one effort. to omit one hour of toll, we
should rather wish that the good God would endow
US with a tenfold power, SO that we might meet the
increased needs for labor, and so firmly and so
grandly plant the standard of consistent %anti-sla-
very. that it should be the guide of the nation, aud
the harbinger of deliverance to the ensloved.
RATHER s~TEEP.-''The following item from the
Republican and oarontgpe may perhaps seem a
little exaggerated to chose who are inclined to doubt
whether "the voice of God" as we'll as the voice Of
the Electoral College called Abraham Lincoln to
the Presidency, and who have not yet had suAdci-