The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-05-04

age, and spirit 1t is unnatural and inconsist
ent with the design of his creation, with his fire.
r agency, and accountability Every slave in tn
United States is stolen person, stolen from him
self or herself, the only rghtful owner How dit
slavery originate here? Was it not by stealing AT
} ricans And was not this wanton violation o
all right and justice Did it not rob them of theil
aW2 Yea of country home, friends, wives anc
children and indeed of their descendants as Ions
as slavery curses the earth? Those who are borr
in slavery are as really wronged as were their an
cestors who were stolen from Africa. They arc
stolen PROPERTY and those who keep them arc
manstealers Shareholders k7aoaO that their slave:
and their ancestors were stolen. By retaining
them in bondage they consent unto the origina
theft. As your fathers did, so do you.'
Much has been said of our want of charity tc
the Shareholder That they ought not TO be blam-
ed for the system, which was introduced by theiI
ancestors and entailed upon Them &c. In an
swer to this, we merely point to Matthew %: 80
30 "Wo unto you scrbes and Pharisees Hypo-
critics because We build the tombs of the proph-
cts, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
and say If aoe had been IN the days Of our fathers
we would not have been partakers with them in
the blood of the prophets" &c.
A thief by retaining stolen property any length
of time never becomes legally, or morally entitled
to it. On the contrary, the true owner thereof
has right to take it wherever he can find it, and
has just claim for damages, and the punish
ment of the offender. That person who retains
by force, property, or the product of property,
which he knows to be stolen, and knows who is
the owner thereof; whether he actually commit
ted the theft or not, is an accomplice. And is not
the accomplice as bad as the thief? Yea, is he not
very thief and a robber?
Tho toll tLo oh
and not content with this, takes his children! and
his wife and the poor slave himself! He takes
all this by force, with no other right, but might
and poOer, and compels the poor slave through fear
of the torturing lash, and through fear of death
even, to labor unrequited Do you doubt it? What
would be the effect if the slaves should utterly re-
fuse to work Whips, chains, tortures, mprison-
ment, and death, would be put in requisition to
compel them. Remember that in some states, if
the slave dies by moderate correction the MUIR
deler goes unpublished by law! And, also, if a
slave strikes white man. no matter what the prov
ocation, the punishment is death And these laws
are not dead letters they are put in force This
is legalzing robbery and murder with VEN
geance! But go further. A refusal to labor on
the part of the slaves as body would be deemed
an Instruction, and straightway the United States
troops must be called out to restore order. Blood
llluoI necessarily HOW ana Tue Ill SeGVllc
war would darken the land unless, like the VIC
tim of midnight robbery, the slaves. through fear
of death, and to save life, part with their rights,
and submit to degrading servitude. WE are con-
stutionally bound to assist in this diaboica rob-
berry, and Who, Of as would be willimg to shoulder
a musket and march to the SOUTH and imbrue our
hands in the blood of slaves struggling for liberty
and compel them tamelv to submit to the nameleSS
horrors of slavery. No wonder the south breads
the spread Of abolition sentiments, as much as she
wishes to continue the system. for one must con-
sumo the other.
In case any this human property should take
legs and run away, law compels US to become AMI
and give it up-not TO its owner but to
the man who 'can prove that he has actually rob-
bed or stolen it from its owner! How contrary
is this to justice, or to the word of Cod
" Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the SER
want who is escaped from his master unto thee
He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that
place which he shall choose. in one of thy gates
where it keth him best Thou shalt not Cypress
him." Who will not clear himself from all par
ticipaon in this complicated, legalized, man-rob-
blng, and God-dishonoring system of wickedness?
But to return. Having thus shown as trust sat-
that the system of slavery is system
of manstealing, a crime of that deep crimson
which is denounced by the Bible as worthy the
punishment of deah-and that ne are involved in
its support, and that in using these terms, we do
not exceed the bounds of truth 1t remains ques-
ton as said before, whether the use is erpedien
Some things are lawful that are not expedient.'
We believe duty is the guide to expectancy, and
the commands of God, obligatory as rules of duty.
The Bible affords us ample condemnation of sa-
very, and safe example; and in using its lam
guage; or obeying its precepts, by endeavoring to
break every yoke, and loose every band ofoppres-
sion, as we would wish, if we were bound with
those in bonds,' that others would do unto us u
we transgress no rules of expediency, and are do
ing no more than we are bound to do, by the pre-
cept-' Thou shalt love thy neighbor as myself
Believing this, need we go about to invent set
of terms that will sound soft in the ears of the
guilty, and be as pillows or rotten rags I'M
der the armholes' of his conscience, to keep the
cords of truth from CALLING as we draw him out of
the deepp of slavery? May we not be satisfied
to use those terms which God himself has used,
even though they chafe and cut to the quick Or
shall we daub with untempered mortar?
What reason can be assigned why we should
not tell the world in what light we view slavery,
so plainly, as to leave no doubt of our sentiments
and adherence?
We have been taught and accustomed to look
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