The Woodstock age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1844-1845, 1844-10-03
P0LKS SLAVES
Branded and driven in Manacles.

/ OLh ~ DiIi Nv
Branded and driven in Manacles,
For the benefit ofour loco-foco friends,
who have been so lavish with their cen
sure upon Mr. CLAY for being a slave
holder, we publish the following extract
from 'Roorback g, tour through the West,
ern and Southern States in 1886" We
most sincerely hope these Philanthroplc
lovers of human liberty will read it care
fully, and in future direct small share
of their labors in the alienation of human
misery, to another quarter, They will
fad ample scope for their benevolent OPP
erations in striving To correct the 0ar6@'-
tiles of one JAMES k, Polk.
''Just as we reached the Duck river in
the early gray of the morning, we came
up with singular spectacle, the most
striking one of the kind have ever wit
messed. 1t was camp Of negro slave
drivers, just packing up to stmt.-They
had about three hundred slaves with
them, who had bivouacked the preceding
night in chains in the woods; these they
were conducting to Natchez, on the Mis-
sippi river, to work upon the sugar plan
tations i'll Louisiana. 1t rcscmblcd one
of the colllcs of slaves. spoken of by Mum
60 Park, except that they had a caravan
OF nine wagons and single horse carria-
ges for the purpose Of conducting the
white people, and any Of the blacks that
should fall lame, to which they were now
putting the horses TO pursue their march
The female slaves were, some Of them,
sitting on logs of wood, whilst others
were standing, and u great many little
black children were warming themselves
bv the fire of the bivouac. In front of
them all, and prepared for the march,
stood in double files about two hundred
male slaves, manacled and chainedto each
othr. ! had never seen so revolving a
sight before! Black men in letters, torn
from the lands where they were born,
from the ties they had formed, and from
the comparatively easy coalition which
agricultural labor affords, and driven by
white men, with liberty and equality in
their mouths, to distant and unhealthy
country, to perish in the Sugar mills OF
Louisiana, where the duration Of life fol
sugar mill slave does not exceed seven
wears. FORTY THREE OF THESE
| UNFORTUNATE b FL NGS II Al
BEEN PURCHASED, | w AS IN
FORMED, OF TIE HON, J. X. POLK
THE RESENT SPEAKER OF TIE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,;
THE MARK OF The BRANDING
IRON WITH II T. INITIALS OF
HIS NAME ON THEIR SHOULDERS
DISTINGUISHED THEM FROM
TIE RESI-"
And arc the American people to wit.
ness so degrading spectacle as that o
Il man elevated to the presidency, who
thus trafiics in human beings, nth hi'
name branded IN Mdr flesh? viii the on
Iy sovereign people upon the face of the
Globe suffer the reproach of cccting &c
the highest Office within their gift, de
mon in human shape, who deliberately
imprnts his infamous name with the
'BRANpIYG-moS" deep upon the should
ers OF lorty-thrcc unfortunate creature;
of Gods own image; and suffers them tc
be driven in manaclcs "io perish in In
.Sagar mills Of Louisiana"
Let it be remembered that this same
JAMES X. Polk, who cruelty stamps witt
a hot iron, his name in the flesh of hi
slaves, was put in nomination for tho
Presidency for the purpose of extending
the territory and pcrpctnating the eSls
tcnce Of Slavery! Texas with all it.
wars and debt is to be admitted into "ou
glorious union, the paramount objcc
of which, is 10 furnish slave marke
whose limits are scarcely circumscribcd
FREEMEN or VERMONT! ponder this sub
iect we bescech you, before in your rash
ness you give your vote in favor Of th
rulnous measure.
There! if that isn't thunder VIC shoul'
like to know what you call it. 1t grieve
us to the heart to Polk over this beauti
full Clubhouse of cur amiabc little neigh
Dor, but we must do it.
The article which is SO vauntingl
ilourishcd in the face of the people mad
its appearance in the Albany Coon Jour
nal of the 10th ut., to which the Alban
Argus replied on the 3lst as follows:
Another Bold and Infamous Forgery
FROM THE EVENING JOURNAL MINT.
The Albany Evening Journal of Mon
day published in its editorial columns, "a
article headed in capitals:
JAMES Il. pOLK's SLAVES SOLD AM
, DEiEES ~ MASACLES."
And beginning thus
"Thc following is an extract fror
RoonBAcK's tour through the Southern
= and Western States in 1886"
. Then followed an extract, purportin,
to be from this tour of Mr. Roorback il
l83G-in the course Of which the write
vouches for the fact of his having inc
during his tour, gang of slaves unde
the charge of slave drivers, on their wa
to the sugar plantations of Louisiana