The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-09-21
MONTPELIER, VERMONT SEPTEMBER I'll, 1889.


various implements of torture to agonze and dc
grade the body and soul of my fellow man an
; in thousands of instances my very brother an
sister in Christ; it bids with cold apathy, the mo:
contemplate and outrageous, yonder cof1e of re
: tional and accountable beings bare the iro
; manacles that bind them together like the wors
kind OF teons or pirates; TO wind their wa
with patience to the rice swamps of Alabama
and there submit unmurmuringly to pass thro' thei
allotted term of suffering and toll under system
of half starvation and of punishments the mos
vile and cruel the sun ever shone upon, for it il
the law and it must be so. What, has yonder in
active soldier, who wants to take no sides, no in
fuence on the battle that is now raging, and which
is to decide the fate of his country? or, your in
dolent sailor no influence over the fate of his yes
sci when her safety depends on the exertions O.
all hands on board? Away with your silence
away with your neutrality. You are the slaves
decided friend or foe; on you the veal or woe o.
your country mus: depend.
| | maintain again. that in no relation of life can
we avoid influencing the subject before us. Can
parents teach their children q system of sound
morals, whether professedly drawn from the word
of God or not, and not condemn oppression as a
wrong, and nothing but wrong? Can Christian
professors carry their religious principles out into
practice and not pass the sentence of condemna-
ton on the whole mass of slavery? Can minis
tiers of the gospel preach the whole system of di-
vine truth and not find themselves in battle array
with "the peculiar institutions" and enaing on
their heads the wrath of the south? IT'S utterly
impossible. Are not the magistrates of our land
so situated with slavery on the one hand and their
professed principles of universal liberty and right
on the other, even to man, that they must crush
this viper Of our beloved country with one foot or
be exposed to the kissing of every honest mind for
their hypocrisy! Can our very merchants ira
ders, mechanics and farmers conduct their affairs,
participate in the common necessaries of life, pay
their taxes and support the government as it is,
and not feel compelled to bare testimony against
themselves-that they support slavery-that they
must be hyporcites or set their faces like flint a
gainst this body grinding and soul destroying sys-
tenn Alas p! it makes hypocrites of us all. can
never see even the honest yeoman filing his pipe,
or putting on his cotton shirt nor can enter the
chamber of the poor sufferer and see her trying
to gather little nourishment and strength from
the rice of the south than the abhorred system
stands before me, and fancy hear the lash and
the agoniz;ng shrek.
The system is as universal as it is detestable.
1t not only pervades the whole system of govern
ment and is the leading principle in it, but it cross
es every path, and even mixes itself up with the
little comforts of life. We taste it in our RICE sip
it in our tea, Whit it with our tobacco, and wear
it on our backs. This leprous spot of our nation
is so broad and foul-so completely pervades our
in thousands of instances our abolitionists them
selves with all their zeal for the cause and sympa-
thy with the oppressed, must be abolitionized.
Time will allow me to say but little more. II
abhor slavery in general. abhor American sa-
very especially, as monsrous inconsistency with
our political principles, and the foulest blot our
national character can possibly sustain-as tend
ing to the beggary of commerce in the SOUTH and
sitting like an incubus on the cultivation of her
soil, while It's loss of millions Of dollars annual
ly to the intelligent, the enterprisng and CONNER
cal people of New Engand-and as system
the most abhorrent on which the eye of holy
God can rest-and in its instruments of torture,
the unnatural robberes it commits on its Victims
the daring crimes against God and man it engen-
ders, and in the complicated, the unnumbered and
miseries it heaps on the slave pop
ulation--an outrage on humanity that no language
can ever describe.
Oh, slavery, slavery! how horrible is thy char
acter! how cruel is thy benevolence Painters
exceed nature, and go beyond life or
ators make frequent use of hiperbocal express
ions and poets are often madly extravagant-but
imagination abours in vain to pourtray the ma
lignant spirit by which thou art animated A SER
pent whose poison is instant death, lurking I'M
discovered till he has inflicted the fatal wound a