The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-04-06


efforts would rather tend to iniure their cause.
A week after he left, DR.. Nelson, formerly OF
Missouri, came here to raise funds Tor his MIS-
sionary College. Before he left, ne delivered
lecture on the subject of slavery Tor when ne
was not paid. He commenced his remarks by
stating, that the black and white races were mix
inc very fast in the slave States. lie mad been
accustomed to hear young men boast so generally
of prohigate connexions with slaves, that when ne
was first told such attachments would be disgrace
| full in the free States, he could not believe it.
The gradual tightening of compilations among
the slaves was strikingly observable even within
and settled in the free States, who had once been
slaves but they were so perfectly white, that
none suspected their origin. He said when he
was surgeon IN the army, during the last war, an
officer who messed with him, one day stepped up
to the ranks, and laying his hands on a soldier,
said, You are my slave" The man dropped his
knapsack and muSket in moment, and cooked for
them during the remainder of the campaign He
was lighter than his master, who happened to
have dark complexion. His astonished comrades
would exclaim, Why Julius, is it possible you
are a slave You used to be a very respectable
and thriving man in Ohio ! To which the chat
tel replied, And | mean to be respectable and
thriving again before die. Honesty and indus
try will help man up in the world When his
master urged that he ought to serve him several
years, in consideration of his kindness, and the
money he had paid for him, Julius answered.
Perhaps | may for little WHILE master but
can't stay long; freedom is too sweet DR.. N.
mentioned having conversed with slave, who
said he had run away in obedience to his masters
orders. My master was always very kind to
me- said he; and when my mistress was first
married, she was very kind ; but as her children
grew up, the neighbors observed they looked just
like me- Then she began to dislike me, and had
me punished often. But the older he grew the
more we looked alike. At last, she said | must
be sold to New Orleans. Then my master told
me to tie up my clothes and run away.
The differences dcduced from these facts were,
that slavery tended to promote rapid amalgama-
ton, while freedom checked it and that if the
admixture of the two races went on in as rapid
ratio as it had done for the last thirty years. it
would soon be impossible for US to judge wheth-
er our citizens were slaves or not, by their com,
pexion.
The speaker next alluded to the strong local at
tachmenS of the colored race. He had frequent
y met emancipated or runaway slaves, who said
| How do long to go back where I lived when
was child The climate suits me better and
more than that, all my friends and relations are
there Oh, if slavery was only abolished, so that
we could all be free there, I'd be back quicker
than | came
This was intended to show that there was no
danger of coored people all foclling TO the North,
in case Of emancipation, and leaving the South
without laborers
DR.. N. expressed surprise that he had been ask
ed to lecture in New England, because he knew
so much ABOUT slavery, why, my dear friends,
said he there are things which the smallest boy
in this room knows just as WE'LL perhaps better
than | can tell him. A dear sister in Christ late
y asked me if did not think the slaves would
cut their masters Threats, if they were freed at
once. Said |, Dear sister, you shall answer that
question yourself, if you please. Suppose you
ter year-told when you might go to bed, and
when you must get up-what you might eat, and
what you might wear-should you think it just
and right? Suppose your master at last became
troubled in conscience, and said, | restore your
freedom. Forgive the wrong have done YOU
Go or stay as you please. Your earnings are
henceforth your own. If you are in trouble, come
to me and will be your friend Do you think
you should feel like cutting that mans throat 3
She eagerly replied, Oh, no, indeed should not
My dear fellow travellers to eternity, these things
must be just as plain to you, as they are to me,
l lived many years without having a suspicion
lndt there was any tHlnS wrong III nOlullg slaves.
Even after had an interest in Christ, there seem
ed to be nothing amiss in it ; just as pious people
went on making and selling rum, without troub,
ling their consciences about it. Oh, that then
could have had faithful christian brethren, to rouse
me with the voice of exhortation and rebuke !
should not then have approached the table of our
Lord with fingers all dripping with the blood of
souls will tell you what first called my atten-
ton to this subject. My wife came to me one day,
and said that Viva Zone of our servants) had told
her we had no right TO hold our felIow-beings in
bondage; she had worked for US six years, and
she thought she had fully paid for herself. gave
some rough answer, and turned away. A few
days after, my wife again remarked that Sylvia
said the holding of slaves could not be justified
by the Bible Don't mind hernonsense,' said l.
Bye and bye, my wife said, Sylvia brings argu-
mens from the Scriptures, which find it hard to
Well, my friends, the end of it was,
that Sylvia made an abolitionist of my wife, and s
my wife made an abolitionist of me.
When my feelings were thus reused on the
subject, was anxious to discover some way by {
which we could benefit the colored race, and best
atone for the wrong we had done them. tho't
discovered this in the Colonization plan and for
seven or eight years labored in that cause with
rs much zeal as | ever felt on anv subiect Tfvou