State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1831-1836, 1836-05-24

Wv l'S oNCl WHICH, l6tl DCtl SCWu DIOdt
cast over tho free states in the previou.
winter. The second annual report, ader
! with thrilling accounts of past progress anC
future plans, seems to have commenced nj
Q the south the great work Of tearing off the
= mask under which Shareholders have Sc
, long shielded their attrocious piracy upor
human rights. The greatest and the best
: indeed the great majority of them, have
always been understood to regard slavery
| as mn euij, and in the abstract n sin, but
eXcusable under the pressure of present
= circumstances they have been understood
to he CoEscientiously DESTROYS of liberatinp
their slaves, as soon MS it could he done
safely and for the good of all partics.-
L. llence the indclicacy of any moral inter-
ference. Under the broad shield of this
deIusion, they were not only holding their
vassals in peace, but steathiy propogating
The doctrines, feelings, spirit of slavehold-
ing throughout the whole republic. But
they begun to perceive that two hundred
affiliated bands of Immediate dboHtionisfs.
welding the press, and making nm open
and well arranged effort to change the
public sentiment of the land, was likely to
bring their sort of abolitionsm to n test it
would not be able TO stand. The appear
ance of the publications themselves, IT'S,
700 Of which were disseminated in the
month of July, brought them to the neces.
sity of an exposure of their real views and
feelings. Those who doubt the policy of
acting directly by such publications. on the
leading Influences of southern society,
greatly undcrvalue the advantage of I'M
masking hypocrisy, aud drawing the enc
mics of human hature into the open field.
The publications. did their work. They
prohed the deep and gangrtnous wound,
while the old system Of emollients had
been ever healing slightly They brought
TO light the true feeling Of the great body
of slavchoderS,as expressed by the Charles
ton Courier of Nov. 18th.
'We of the south have been hitherto
much 10 blame, in allowing such notions to
gain ground at the north, rs that we regard
slavery as an evil, and are anxious to get
rid of it. 1t is but lately that we have
begun TO make the northern people under
stand that we hold slavery to be NEITHER
A SIN NOR A CURSE, but an ordinance of
Providence and PRAC lICAL BLESS
Ing
The result has showed, that the strong
est bulwarks of our national liberties arc
but cob-houscs before the tyranny of slave
ry. The United States post office was rob-
bed in the city of Charleston on the Both of
July-virtualy by the city itself! The whole
south was thrown into frenzy. In all her
cities, towns and villages, her white popu-
lation Assem- bled in ant-aboitlon meetings.
demanding, in the language of violent pas
sion and menace, that the abol tionists |
should be punished, and their associations |
and publications suppressed by the states to |
which they belonged. Threatening instant !
aud ignominious death to every one who
should set his foot in q slave state; offer
ing rewards for the abduction Of the Off
GERS and agents of this society, and avow-
ing their determination to visit the sins of
the aboIitionists upon their unoficnding
bondmen, 10y binding them in still tighter
and heavier chains! individuals travelling
or residing AT the south, were arrested 10y
riotous mobs, and brutalIy logged, on the
mere suspicion of their being abotionsts.
The whole south resolved itself into Wig
lance committee, whip in hand, dirks and
pistols in the pockets, to watch with Argus
eyes, the appearance of the least spark of
the doctrine, that 'ALL men are born, fj'ee,'
that an immediate auto da tc might be per-
formed over it In this wild camor, the
voices Of all were mingled, and those in
deed were The loudest, the sancuty of
whose professions, or the dignity of whose
offices, naturally led their fellow citizens to
suspect them of tendency to discounte-
nance oppression, or uphold law and order.
The magistrate tucked up his robes, and
hurled brickbats with the mob. The
preacher of the gospel opened the Bible to
Justify exacting labor Without wages, and
10 invest the buyers aud sellers of men
with the sanctity of patrarchs. In proof
of this appalling charge, we quote the Z
language of some of the southern ministers
of the gospel. A clergyman IF Virginia
closes published letter TO the Sessions of
the Presbyterian Congregations, within the
bounds OF the West Hanover Prcsbytery,'
thus:
If there be any stray goat Of a minister
among us tainted with the blood hound
principles of abolitionisrn, let him be fer
rcted out, sienced, eXconmunicated, and
left to the public to dispose of him in 9th
er respects.
Your aiiectionate brother in the Lord,
ROBERT N. ANDERSON
Even the head of the post Office depart
ment, the sworn guardian of the most sa-
cred treasure that heaven can bestow upon
4 free country, was driven TO betry his high
rust, under the false and fatal plea, that we
1we a higher obligation to the community
than TO tie idtOSi
What was the response of the north TO ..
his clamor Of unmasked tyranny? 1t is
instructive, and worthy of much study.
1t was made in three parts. Two parts
nave beer given, and the third is yet to
come.
LIST. The merchants, and all through
whose hands the gain of slavery passes,
were much alarmed. They felt that some
hing must be done, yet they knew not .
what. They were ready enough to do
the interference of the abolitionists,
md they might have been ready to punish
m interference with "! ut slavery had been
to he, but it would not do TO pun &