The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-04-13
THE VOICE OF FREEDOM,
MONTPELIER, SATURDAY, April. 10, 1889.
Rev. Chester Wright,s Address.
lCONCLUDED.l


gainst the sin of saveholdng, we say and do as
we would that you and your brother shareholders
should do to US if you find occasion. If you send
missionaries however, to reason with US against
what you deem wicked institutions, it were better
not to send duellists who apologize for fashionable
murder by the plea that it is a subject on which
we cannot reason tho we should. From the lips
of those intoxicating such morality, it is to be fear
ed we should be 10th 10 take lessons
For reply to Mr. Clay's statement of the a.
mount of slave property at the south as one of the
insuperable obstacles in the way of abolition, he
and his friends are referred to the structures of
brother K Bayley, in a late number of the Voice
Of Freedom. The position taken by Mr.. Clay on
this point brings to mind a rich man, who under
the influence Of an awakened conscience, made an
estimate of the sum it would require to restore his
i'll gotten gans,-and finding it would require a
large portion Of his estate, mustered resolution to
say, avjH not make this sacrifice. Whether his
decision was wise one the day of final retrbu-
ton will show. In regard to the frightful images
and blood and carnage which would follow gen.
eral emancipation of the slaves in their future
struggle for power, it is enough to say, let him
apply to the case the passage Of holy writ he has
quoted for the unholy purpose of guarding us a.
gainst concern for the consequences of the contin-
uance of slavery in ages to come" Sufficient to
the day is the evil thereof" And surely it would
require a wiser casuist than he to make out that
greater evil is likely to result, in days to come
from the re7ooal of most cruel and wicked sys-
tenn of oppression than from its continuance. Ac-
cording to his doctrine, we are not to think the
present slavery of three millions, with all their
ignorance, degradation, wretchedness, heathenism
and promscuous concubinage, and all the concom-
liant horrors of the accused traffic in human flesh
-sevcring, as it often Does all the tender ties that
bind heart to heart, and soften to endurance even
the rigor of negro bondage,-as any serious evil.
This horrible condition of three millions of i'm
mortal beings, viewed in connexion with the gen.
eral prosperity of the country, Mr.. Clay would
have us regard as no serious eUiZ, and even sup
poses it will be no serious evil fifty hundred
years to come. When the slaves have increased
to from fifty to an hundred millions, the question
will be asked, as it was more than fifty years ago,
are they ever to remain in bondage? The pros
perity of fifty past years, he says has been but lit
tie chequered by slavery. If he values so low the
freedom and happiness of three millions of people
because they are black, no man on earth, not even
the slave that has heart of sensbility need envy
him. He says, with the blessing of Providence,
we have hitherto taken care of ourselves But
what care have we taken of the black man? Pos
terity WILL he says, find the means of its own pres
ervation and prosperity. 1t may be So But in
which way are they most likely to find this By
maintaining slavery, or by abolshingit it? By fra-u
ming and practising iniquity by law, and uphold
ing a system of the most grinding and cruel OPP
preston, or by dealing equal rights and justice to
all?
Does righteousness eXalt nation? And will D
any man, at this late day, reply, what is right 3
What does God riqure in the premises God re 4
quires man, that we undo the heavy burdens, and
lel llc oppressed 90 Tree, ana tndt we break eVeryW
yoke. But the consequences! At the prospec
Of these the great statesman tremblcs, and think
even abolitioniss would shrink back at the sight
with horror and dismay. Nay, Mr. Clay, {" suf-
icicnt to the day is the evil thereof" Abolition
lists look at the evil of the present day, They
think the present mass of guilt and pollution, and
wretchedness, connected with the slavery of three
millions at the south, an evil sufficiently appalling
for the present day, and calling for the putting
forth of all their energies to bring about its reno
val in peaceable and constitutional way, without
troubling themselves with the ,frightful pictures
which shareholders are SO busy in drawing of the
consequences of their measures. AS American
citizens, they understand their rights, and feel in
some measure, their responsibilities. And Mr.
Clay should know that they do not con6ne their
sympahies nor their efforts to their suffering
countrymen, tho they believe a large share is due
to them. They remember that of one blood God
hath made all nations of men. Their wishes,
t,0ir to