The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-01-05


tirely at variance with the Holy Scrip
lures, but it made obedience to the
Government of the country gross and
objectionable sin. 1t is hardly neces-
sary to repeat that famous sentence
which Garrison inscribed at the head
of "The Li6eTdtor,' as its motto, and
which was the watch-word Of the orig
inal Abolitionists for quarter of CEN
tury-" "The Constitution of the United
States is q Cocena7at ,cith Death and an
agreement Wjkt Herr
At the earliest period of their exist
ence, before they had even attained
sufficient Importance to be cOurted by
demagogues for their vote, they mani
tested by the expression of this and
kindred sentiments, that disregard for
| the decencies and humanities of life,
that contempt for the feelings and the
Judgment of others, which has charac-
terized them eversince. They ignored
the possibility of the existence Of an
honest opinion opposed to any scheme
or dogma Of theirs. Theyshocked the
religious feelings of piOus people who
had been trained to respect the Gospel,
the name and teachings OF Christ, by
the most awful blaspheny. Theyhoot-
ed at the clergy and denounced them as
a pack of crafty wolves, preying on
their ti0cks and gathering an easy sub
sistence by playing on the fears and the
superstitions of mankind. Theodore
Parker, their ablest writer. could not
conceal his scOrn for the popular faith
in the Redeemer. He spoke of Christ
as man Of considerable talents and
fair character, personally unpopular
| because somewhat in advance of his
age. He sneered at the Lords Supper
in so many words, as "a mere eating o.
! 6aker's bread and drinking Of grocer'S
lgjae." Abby Kelley took somewhat
different ground, and by way Of recon
Cling her brethren to the plan of saliva,
ton. roundly asserted that Jesus Chris
lcGS q negro. Their newspapers, theil
tracts, their anniversary addresses, the
stump speeches with which under the
name of sermons they profaned the
Sabbath, were stuffed with such senti,
ments as these. | think, however, that
their blasphemy eliminated in the Gel
ebrateddeclaratiOn of HenryC. Wright
published in "Ihe Li6erdt0r:" "If Goo
Almighty has the polCer to abolish sla.
very, and does not do so iHllnedidteLy
He Is \ VERY GREAT sCOUNDRELr =
If we believe that this Abolition ex.
citement vas tbs tbs sEo. Eg"r'' pr God, as we
of the pulpits of the North, ITlitne9; W. II, ,,s5
| believe that God confided His chosen
work to a generation of infidels who
! exhausted their mother tongue in re-
wiling Him as a "scoundrel," in de-
nOuncing His Sacred Supper as amere
! drd1kng-bO3H and His revealed will as
a lie.
OF the Literature of the AbOlitiOnists
up to the time when they grew to be a
political force, little need be said. IT
consisted chiefly of newspaper articles,
abusing everybody but themselves, ser
mons by divines who got their texts
out of the "higher law" tracts written
| by meddlesome old WOmenin England,
biographies of runaway negroes man.
ufactured by long-haired, hungry scrib-
blers in Boston, and ballads Of the pre-
else pattern of Greeley's "Ode to the
Americda F20g''-
Tear down the Haunting lie,
| Halfmast the starry flag
Insult no sunny sky
With hates polluted rag etc.
Contempt for Government, was the
great distinguishing featured of their ear
ly writings; but whetherthey despised
the Government of God, or that of the
Constitution, the Scriptures, or the flag,
the most, it is extremely difficult to de-
eide.
They gradually grew into numerical
importance. Theartistic exaggeration
and pathetic painting of JncIc TOMS
cabin; worked on thousands of weak
heads and soft hearts and gave the par
ty an impetus greater than that derived
from the combined written and spoken
falsehOOds Of the twenty years previ-
Gus. Politicians began to court an al
lance with these despisedpeople, whom
they had steadily denounced as fanat-
les, and with whom any correspondence
had, hitherto, been considered as fatal
to the prospects of public man. You
all know theresult. The Republican"
party adopted the doctrines of the Abb
olitionists and swallowed up the orig
inal Society, leaders and all, in its over
whelming ranks. Demagogues who
had spent the bestpart of their lives in
warning the public against the "atro-
cious designs" of Garrison, Phillips and
Parker, strove to out-strip each other
in devotion to the emancipation of the
negro, and in contempt for any consti-
tuition, or law, which stood in the way
of it. They gained power, they be-
came masters of the Government, and
they have been ruling us since 1860, if
not in accordance with the provisions
of the "higher law, "most certainly ac-
cording to some kind of law not writ
ten in the common statute-book and al