The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1843-11-16
BRANDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1e, 1s4a.
the base pirates who congregate in that den
OF inquiry TO smile together.

Known 10 God only is the dreadful amour
OF human agony and suffering which frot
- this Slave Jail has sent its cry, unheard G
20 UNDECIDED of man up TO His ear The moth
:, er weeping for her children = the wife sep
araed from her husband, breaking The nigh
silence with the shrek of broken hearts
4 Now and then an appalling fact sheds ligh
\ upon the secret horrors Of the prison house
. In the winter of 1888, poor colored mar
overcome with horror at being sold 10 the
South, put an end TO his life by cutting his
throat.
y, From The private establishment we next
proceeded to the old City Prison - bull, by
the people of the United States - the com
mon property of The nation. 1t is damp,
dark, loathsome building. We passed be-
tween TWO ranges of small stone cells filled
with blacks. We noticed five or six in a
single cell which seemed scarcely large
enough for solitary tenant. The heat was
suttocatlng. In rainy weather the keeper
told US that the prison was uncomfortable
Wet. In the winter there could be no fire
In these cells. The keeper, with some re-
luctance, admitted that he received slaves
from the traders, and kept them until they
were sold, at 81 cents per day. Men of the
North II was your money which helped
pile the granite of these cells, and forge the
massey iron doors, for the benefit of slave
traders |! is your properly which is thus
perverted!
But to me this prison had painful and
peculiar interest 1t was here that Doctor
Crandall of New Y DIRK was confined for sew
eral months. His health was completely
broken down, and he was released only to !
find grave. Do you ask what was his
crlme2 He had circulated among some
members of his profession at Washington,
copy of pamphlet written by myself, on
The subject of slavery and in favor OF free
dom! Here, in darkness, dampness and
silence, his warm, generous heart died with
in him. And this was in Washington in
the metropolis of our free country - in the
nineteenth century
Scarcely an hour before my visit TO this
prison, had been in the Senate Chamber
Of the Uniled States. had seen the firm
lip, the broad, full brow, and beaming eye
OF Calhoun-the stern repose of face writ
ten over with thought, and irradiated with
the deep, still fires Of genius. had con-
versed with Henry Clay, once the object of
boyish enthusiasm, and encountered the fas-
cination of his smile, and winning voice, as
he playfully reproached me for deserving an
old friend. had there, in spite Of my
knowledge of its gross perverson to the
support of wrong, felt something of tina,
respect and reverence which is always ex-
torted by intellectual power. For the mo-
ment | half,forgot in my appreciation of the
gifts of the genius with which these men
have been so wonderfully endowed, the fact
that they have employed their talents in
unfolding system which brushes and kills
the mind Of millions. But here 10 the loath-
some slave prison, saw them in another
light. The fascination of genius which,
like the silver veil OF the Eastern Prophet,
had covered them, fell off, and left only the
deformity Of tyranny. | looked upon the
one as the High Priest OF Slavery, minister
ing aeits altar, and scowling defiance 10 the
religion and the philanthropy of Christen-
dom--the fitting champion of that Southern
Democracy whose appropriate emblem is
the slave 1chip, with a negro at one end
and an overseer at the other. And as |
looked down that range of dungeons, filled
with Gods immortal children converted
into merchandise, thought of Henry Clay's
declaration: that is property which law
makes property and that two hundred
years Of legislation had sanctioned & sane
lifted slavery l thought of Van Buren's
Veto Pledge-and its reitelalion in General
Harrison's Inaugural Message Of the
TWO great parties thus pledged by their chiefs
10 the support of the system whose bitter
fruits were now visible before ME. saw
the intimate and complete connection be
tween the planter who raises the slave for
market, the dealer who buys him. the legis-
alor who sustains and legalizes the traffic,
aud The Northern freeman 10ho by his Uote
places that legislator in PotOer. In the
silence OF my soul, pledged myself anew
10 Liberty and felt at that moment the
baptism of new lifelong conservation to
the cause. God helping me, the resolution
which | then formed shall be fulfilled TO the
utermost!
l left that prison with mingled feelings of
shame, sorrow, Indignation, Before me was