The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-04-04

IN. Is.
| From the Herkimer Journal.
TO THE PUBLIC.
"OUR FELLOW CoUNrRYMEN IN CHAINS!
| Slaves in land otLight and Law;
| SLaveS, crouchlng on the very plains
Where rolled The storm Vi Freedoms War!
| What! mothers from their children riven!
What! Gods own image bought and sold
| AMERICANS to market driven,
| And barlered as the brute for gold"
|
Pursuant to an intimation given las
week the connexion of the undersigned
| with the Office and publication of this pa
per ceases with the present number
The Office passes into the hands of the
Wing Central Committee, who are max
ing arrangements for the regular conllnu-
ance of the paper.
In taking leave of the friends whom l
have endeavored, according to my capaci-
lv, to serve through these columns for
nearly six years past, | won ID say that
nv withdrawal from the establishment at
this time owing mainly to my inability,
upon full and mature reflection, to sup
port the claims of HENRY CLAY, the un-
doubted Wing candidate for the Pres
idency. need scarcely add, that my OBJ
lection 10 Mr.. Clay is grounded on the
fact of his Identification with the System
of American Slavery.
1t must be apparent to most of our cit-
zens that within the last few years a wide
and increasing interest has been aroused
among US in favor of the Immediate A bo-
lilion Of Slavery; that many able and in
fluenlial persons, both in the political and
religious organizations of the land, have
felt themselves constrained 10 take ground
openly and strong y against system
fraughl with such fragrant and unceasing
injuries to the whole country that the
National and Stale Legislatures have
been to some extent impelled to take ac-
ton in reference 10 it; and that the press
and the pulpit, as well as many minor
channels of influence throug hout the land
have become more or less imbued with
strong An,i-Slavery sentiment.
With This feeling OF hostility to sys-
tenn which l regard as eminently Anti. Re-
publican, Anli-Chris.an and criminal,
have more or less deeply sympathized
since the summer OF 1884, when my mind
was first drawn 10 a consideration of the
subject by the atrocious mob outrages per
pe,rated against the abolitionists aud the
unoffending colored people in the city o!
N. York where | was then residing. | had
previously regarded both the Anli-Save-
nv movement and those concerned in ii,
with little favor; but | now saw lha,
while contending agains; the wrongs of
the slave, the aboIitionst was in fact prov
ing himself the devoted friend and cham
pon of the dearest rights of freemen for
if the liberty of Speech and of the Press
could be successfully wrested from the
aboiilionist, it might soon come 10 be de-
MED 10 any other mainland when free
speech is gone, all is lost.
| have been strongly attached to Wing
principles from my youth up'-having
cast my first vote for The Adams, Presi-
dental Electors, 10 my native Stale, (Ver
MONTY in Nov. 1928. Nor with the dis
tinctive measures of party policy contend
ed for by the Wings of the North, have !
now any quarrel. l could still battle for
hem In all sincerity, did it no! involve, in |
my judgment, nnder existing circumstan-
;es, an objectionable compromise of my !
own sense of Truth and Duty, and of the
claims OF Humanity. The right of an
honest man to the avails of his own labor
IF mother 10 her babe the ''inaienable |
rights Of life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit OF
are denied, lrampled on, ami.
Inflated by Slavery; and though the 81 ave.
holders have had the reins and controlled
he action of the Federal Government for
more than forty years out of The fify.6ve
hat have elapsed since its organization,
hey have the brazen impudence to de-
nand the election of another Of their
number 10 the Presidency; and the dem
,gogue plea of "Justiee TO Henry Clay,"
5 10 be the pretexl by which Wings and
reeme1 are 10 be again drawn in 10 sup
oorl the abborred system.
My political preferences have been per-
laps HOL ieso dluCHt' S|'t"luIy ho' 1893
sincere, than those Of my neighbors. l
lave been most reluctant to separate from
ny Wing friends even on this question Of
he Presidency; and for some Time | sat-
SIZED myself with the reasoning Of Gov.
Maltocks of Vermont, viz. that as a
: choice of evils" an Anti. Slavery Wing
night consistently vote for Wing Slave
holder. This doctrine seemed the more
reasonable from the consideration that
rag. law is one of the strongest defenses of
INV system Of tyranny, and that the
Wings of the North had been the uncom-
promising foes OF gag-law in Congress
or the last eight years; while, whatever
night be his views in other respects, ii
1ad not been even charged that Mr..