The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-05-02

Hot youi hIo uSlS uboAS VAIN PStSo"N'
friend, and relative, should be irresisIlbly
tempted to vote for him, is fact, having
no application to MISUNDERSTANDING no
application 10 persons in circumstances so
totally unlike your own.
Nevertheless, little harm will mingle
with the great good Of your letter. We
have a class Of aboilionlsls who are cali
ed, 1.-The justthis once men," They
generally vote the an.i-savery ticket but,
occasionally, the intoxicating expedIenls
Of the pro-slavery parties prevail over
their too easy principles, and they beg the
privilege Of voting. lust this once" with
those parties of bowling down again,
''lust this once in the House of Rim
mon" Ii is true, that many Of the causes
Of your voting for Henry Clay are TO be
found in your peculiar circumstances,
and are, therefore, without any bearing
on the persons of whom l speak. Not
wilhstandng, when they read your letter,
and see, that you reserve 10 yourself the
privilege Of going, "jusl this once" in op-
position.to the principles OF anli.sIa 1ery
voting, they will be but too apt TO feel,
that they now have the authority of an
eminenlly wise and upright man to jusIl-
fy the departure from it, Of which they
are themselves occasionally guilty. In
vain, will it be for US to remind them,
that your opposition to this principle is
TO be bu, for once and that theirs has al
ready been repeated. They will reply,
that, The first time they violated this prin-
ciple, they were as sure, that they should
not violate it again, as Cassius NJ Clay
now is, that his adherence to it will never
relax, after the next election.
observe your two excuses for casting
o pro-slavery vote, at the coming election.
Oae is, that darkness prevails, in respec!
TO the character and crminaIity of slave.
~; and that light will not take the place
Of this darkness, until after the election is
passed. Be it so, Notwithstanding to-
tally fail 10 understand it, that the
next election will prove to be the di-
viding line between darkness and Ii ght on
this subject how will this
give you, in whom mhe darkness is past,
and The true light now shineth," the right
to cast pro-slavery vote at that election ?
lfall other men are, your letter shows
tina. you are not ignorant, that ii is wrong
TO make a Shareholder a civil ruler
And il in their ignorance, all other men
vote for STAKEHOLDER, | know not wha,
right you have to vote in their darkness,
rather than in your own light; and to
make their ignorance. rather than your
own knowledge, the standard your con.
duct. If, in the providence Of God, your
mind has been singled for ILLUMINATION by
His truth, are you at liberty 10 defer to
benighted majority, and to act as it acts
/ am aware, that Judge l. of Missouri de-
MES the right to call In question the con-
duct of the majority; but | arm also
aware, that higher authority than Judge
L. says: Thou shalt not follow multi
tude 10 do evil So far from your being
at liberty to act, in the supposed case, as
the majority acts you are to regard the
revelation Of truth 10 your mind as your
commission and obligation to employ this
truth for the enlightenment Of that ma
jority.
From The doctrine Of your letter, that
good men can. through ignorance, live
even in great sins, few abolhlonists will
be found to dissent. But you will pardon
me for not being able 10 perceive, that Ell
ther this doctrine, or your quotation from
Macauly, which, l cheerfulIy admit,
serves to justify it, has any pertinence
whatever to the question before us---has
any bearing whatever on the point OF vot-
ing. find no fault with you for init
mating, that Henry Clay is ignorant of
the moral nature Of Iaveholding. fad |
no fault with your numbering him, as you
implicitly do, with religious, great, good
and patriotic men, But what | contend
for is, that you have no more right to vote
for him, under the supposiLion,th that he does
not know the sinfulness of slavery-n0
more right to vote for him under The sup
position, that he is great and good, than
under the supposition, that he is little
and bad man--no more right to vote for
him, under the supposltion, that he is a
Christian, than under the supposition,
that he is an inidel. And, in this con-
nection, | would say, that the leading
OF the aboitionis! in his vote
is extensively Inexperienced. Tens of
of persons suppose, that the ub'
olitionist, in his bigo.ry and narrowness,
votes for his candidate, because he thinks
him sinless; and whhholds his vote from
rival candidates, because he thinks them
sinners But, they are mistaken. The
abolitionst passes by prosavery tickets,
not because the names on them are the
names of sinners, but because they are
the names of men. who, whether saints
or sinners, will. if elected, refuse to WELD
their official power for the overthrow OF
slavery. He prefers the auti-slavery tick
Ct, not because its names are those of sim
less men, but because they are the names
of men, who, however imperfect their