Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1845-06-13
For the Waterman and journal.
THOUGHTS ON SLAVERY.
nv n. DtNsMoRr.
NO. xr.-puTY OF SHAREHOLDERS.

r.
NO. XI.-DUTY OF SHAREHOLDERS.
Our next inquiry is concerning the duty of Slave
holders. And here we design to be brief, PLAIN
and candid. We have no desire to deal IN harsh
epithets or coarse vituperaton, because we very
well know that, however popular such language
may have become, at the present day, 1t is but lily
calculated to answer any beneficial purpose. Truth
was never promoted by their use, nor was ever
transgressor convinced of his errors, or reformed
in his conduct because an accuser had showered
upon his head a plentiful supply of hard Names"
Common sense, the genius of our government
and of Christianity all declare the existence OF Sla-
very to be an evil and wrong. Whenever the
STAKEHOLDER undertakes the ungracious task OF de-
Tending this peculiar institution, we all know that
he is at war with humanity and with right. But
when we canddly and carefully inquire after his
duty, all that can satisfactorily determine Is,
that so long as he voluntarily continues the owner
OF Slaves he either continues to be great sinner
in the sight of his Maker, else must be very hyp-
ocritica in his professions of democracy. We are
by no means prepared to say that Slaveholdng is,
under all circumstances, sin, however often
our LIBERTY CONVENTIONS may resolve it to be
So 1t is the duty of the Shareholder to secure the
best interests of his Slave, by every means in his
power and if immediate emancipation will the best
promote those interests, he can have no valid ex-
cuse for its neglect. But if, in consequence of
heathenish enactmonts or the tone of public opn-
ion, the condition of the Slave would be rendered
less tolerabe in state of freedom than it now is
in state of servitude, it is in vain to talk about
the duty of emancipation. The master who eman-
cipates his slave knowing that the inevitable result
of such a step must be the confinement Of his SER
want in a felons cell to be afterwards sold for his
Jail fees, can never justify his conduct either to his
conscience his God. The enactments of the
Legislature, and the public opinion sustaining those
enactments, may well be objects of our censure,
but those enactments and that opinion both exist,
and he who acts, regardless Of both, is as much
deserving of censure either 1t is certainly right
} to condemn Slavery. Why do not our abolition
lecturers proceed at once to the South, and con-
/, denim Slavery there? The answer may be found
in their pententares, containing the bodies Of a
Torrey, Work, and a Miss Webster. But if it is
our duty to act right, and leave the consequences
with God' in the sense IN which this injunction is
often understood, no apology can be found fol
their conduct.
For one, | cannot believe that Slavery can oil
; will always exist in our Government The annex
alton Of Texas to our Union may be effected, anC
thereby the evil of Slavery may be prolonged, IL
t the same manner that it was prolonged by the ac
2 QUESTION of Louisiana. But the time must come a
9 last when Slavery will be overthrown 1t will ei
Their abolish the South, or they must abolish it,
4 Mans rights cannot be trampled upon for grea
D length of time with impunity. The fearful in
crease of the Slave population, being in ratio ia
greater than that of the whites, tells fact which
i Shareholders may well tremble to think upon
z New England and Virginia, possessing nearly tn
j same extent of territory, and settled at about thu
# same time, (l620,) sufficient to convince eve
II the most skeptical of the banelul influence of Sa
very The advantages of climate and Of positlo
are all on the side Of Virginia. New England ha
yearly poured her emigrants to the West and ye
=, notwithstanding her rugged hills and inhospitabl
climate, in wealth and population she far outstrip
the ancient Dominion According to the censu
:, of 1910, New England numbers 1924, 500, an
'. Virginia 1,239,7S7. To Slavery, and to SLAYER
! alone, can we impute this mighty difference.
" Shareholders should Immediately feel that some
q thing should be done, and done by themselves i
relation to this subject. They should exercise a
their influence to procure the repeal of all unjus
and iniquitous laws, divesting the Slaves of thei
natural rights The master should regard his Slav
i as man, and not brute; as a person. and not hi
i property. He should do all in his power to eevat
y his intellectual and moral character. He shou
f Immediately do right, regardless of all questions
= expense or profit. He should regard himself as
;, RATIONAL accountable being, and his Slave as a el
lowmoral, possessed of natural rights as extcnsiv
- as his own, which he has no right voluntarily t
= rob or destroy. Whether he should release hir
h from subsection servitude depends upon circum
stances which at the North cannot very readil
. determine. 1t should be borne in mind by til
Shareholder that all men are born free and equal,
and that the Slave has right to his freedom, when
ever it is in the power of his master to emancipat
him, without detrment to him or to the public.