The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-08-15
ADDR ESS,
To the Freemen of the First Con-
gressiOnaI District in Vermont.

FELLOW C%1T1zENs:-
Being deputed by the friends Of
Liberty, attheir District Convention hold
en- at Manchester, TO address you, we de-
sire on this occasion, briefly TO invite your
attention 10 some of the prominent ques-
tons you are TO decide at the approaching
State and Presidential elections,
He who does not perceive in the crisis
now rapidly fastening to its consumma-
ton principles involved which are elevat-
ed far above the mercenary conflicts of in
terested partisans bitterly contending mere
" to supplant each other &obtain that place
and power, which each accuses the other
with seeking-principles as widely sepa-
rated from those as right is from wrong,
as good is from evil-principles coeval
| with mans creation on which the founda-
ton OF our republican edifice rests and
reaching forward in their results to the
latest posIerity, is not even an ordinary,
much less a close, observer of the times in
which we live. In a few short weeks,
under the obligations of an oath, we are
to perform a solemn duty having a direct
bearing either for or against not onl those
vital principles on which every free gov
| eminent is based but also those of morality,
honesty, and virtue.
While the Liberty party would seek to
promote and sustain the true financial ECO
nomical and industrial Interests Of the
aohole country, and extend their benefits TO
| every individual under the influence of her
laws, yet hey canno be blind or insensi.
bic 10 the fact that so desirable an object
can never be attained without first recog-
nizing and respecting the natural and in
aIenable rights Of each and all of her indI-
yidual members. The righttoenjoy is a con-
dition precedent to actual enjoyment;for all
experience teaches that so long as the for
mer emainsunacknowle ged The latterwill
be withheld. While therefore, we would
by no means neglect these interests yet the
real advocates of liberty make the repeal
of cruel, oppressive and unequal laws-lhe
abolition of that giant monopoly which
appropriales 10 itself the bodies and souls
of millions of our fellow men-in short the
abolition Of slarery and slaveholding in
all It's numerous notifications an object
PARAMOUNT to any mere partial or selfish
scheme of party or individual aggrandize-
ment dignifed by their friends with the
name of measures bat never deserving
the appelIation Of principles.
Let US now contemplate for a moment
the issue presented by the TWO parties in
this country calling themselves, by way of
distinction, Wing and Democratic. The
people at the North have been induced to
believe that the question at issue was
whether a National bank or a Sub.treasu-
ry should constitute and become the regu.
lator Of the currency-whether a Tariff
for protection or one for revenue with mere
incidental protection should be established
whether Executive power and patronage
together with the veto should or should
not be restrained &c. The changes are
constantly rung on these questions in the
free STATES while the true issue is kept out
of sight and artlully concealed, for the ex-
ceeding good reason that if generally
known and understood by northern free
men it would instantly in one section of
the Union, like the fatal Sirocco of the de-
sert, forever blast the political prospects
of both parties. These parties stand alike
a: the extreme verge of this precipice-
they hear the rumbling of the volcanic
fires ofli5erty beneath and around them,
ready 10 burst, as it will erelong, with re-
s~istless power-whiIe neither dare accuse
the other, for both are equally guilty.
| What is a bank or sub.treasury, a tariff or
distribution but the mere incidental ques,
tons from which each party is striving to
manufacture political capital a 1.-THE expense
ofthe other? while SLAVERY. its extension
and perpetualion, with ul its dark and hor-
rible features, is the paramount Object
the oil absorbing question which governs
the movements of both. Like a frightful
and relentless monster iron shod and pan.
oplied with boots and spurs and scourge
it sits astride both the leading parties and
will ere long precipitate their ruin unless
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