The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1845-05-22

they should be sold, and the money set
led in land for The benefit of those for
whom the trust was created.
Here then is the sole foundation Of
the absurd falsehoods which have been
going the rounds of the American press,
that instead of libcrating my slaves, |
had sold them all to the planters Of Cot
ton | repeat once more, have libcr~
ated all the slaves in the world that +
owned in my own right, being in alI thir
teen; and that l have never at any time
in my lie sold any slave except for crime
or by their oaoa desire. In tins last SC.
we're trial to which, fate has subjected me
have done nothing to wound my self
respect or sense of ri eht and | had
vainly INDUCED the hope that my mis-
fortunes would have shielded me from
the bitterness of party feeling, and saved
me from taunts and leproaches which
are not inflicted even upon the veriest
criminals. am not the man to revenge
upon a whole race the crime of one or
more individuals, and the enemies of hu,
man rights and American liberty are in
formed that | am not fallen from my I'M
compromising war upon the criminal
usurpations Of the Slave Power, and that
the rights of the free 1cAi;e laborers of
this Union are veto be vindicated if not
avenged. They are welcome TO all the
strength which my calamities can give
to falling cause for men of reflection
will not fail to mark, that it was sLaCe,
not the free, that did the deed.
Whilst confess my iniractions oCthe
moral law which call for rotribntion,up-
on this subject my conscience fully ac>
quits me. Can any Of my accusers say
as much? or will not men once more
witness the sorry spectacle oil many now
condcmning me wl.o dare not throw the
first stone?' have not at any time ass
sumed to be Setter than other men, and
whilst | profess to be open to the COM
mon sympathies OF our nature, | have
never set myself up rs a phllanthropIst'
Let those who have honored me for my
cause be consoled with the reflection,
that though should fall by my own acts
or otherwise, my principles shall survive
eternal and invioatc.
G. Nj. CLAY.
Lexington, Ky. May ?. 1915.
HamgIng--MurdcI-- Il ans Riot.
Il has been observed that the eXocu-
ton of criminal, instead OF awning the
turbulent passions of the multitude into
repose, tends to kindIe them into
a blaze. so that crime revels in sight Ct
the gallows The day on which Horn
was hung IN the prison yard of Baltimore
for the murder ofhis wife, was signaliz-
ed by the prevalence Of drunkenness aud
vice. According to the public prints, ii
was day long TO be remembered IN the
annals of crime in that city. The same
is said of The day on which Lechler was
hung in Lancaster, when disorder and
riot broke loose, and when the crime for
which Lechler died was repeated in sight
Of the gibbet.
Whether such is the natural influence
of the legal, formal, deliberate, and pub
licly announced ,nhiction Of the punish
ment of death, it becomes the duty o.
every citizen to inquire. With respect
to the contemplated hanging OF con
demned man, the mind of the populacc
is moved by tao feelings First, the
sentiment Of revenge is gratfied ant
stimulated by what is considered the con
dign punishment Of u guilty. wretch
Second sympathy is avail ened on behal
Of the victim who awaits his awful doom
These feelings, though contrary IN ihei
nature, are most likely to prevail at diff
ierent times in the Same individuals. y
That class of persons in whom the splri
orrcvenge is most easily reused 10 doom
an offender to death, or 10 exult in tn
prospect of his execution, arc apt TO OK
perience revulsion of feeling on the ap
proach Of the critical moment, and t
indulge a sympathy which is shocked {
the consummalion Of the sentence. !
both cases mischielis done, The excite
, ment of revenge docs harm in the on
-, instance, and in the other, the vol tito
of sympathizing humanity, in view I
what is considered an unnecessary sal
rfice ofhuman life. This may explal
: why bad passi ms and vicious habits ar
(omented rather than repressed by tt
gallows; and why the execution of
criminal is jubilee Of crime.
The recent hanging OF Zophon W
not an exception to the general rule
our last paper we made few statemen
on this sub ect The district Of Moyar
ensing, in which the gaIlows pertorm
its barbarous task, instead of being aw
st,uck and solemnzed, was for sever
doys Afterwards converted into pand
=. monium. The spirit of violence a
:, ruffianism was never so rife. Revel
-, and riot assumed unbrlded license.
y The annals of Philadelphia have seldc
" if ever exhibited Sabbath so stain
:. with drunkenness disorder and coniusi
20 20 as tina, following the Friday of the {
~ cculion. 10 the morallst and the Jnr
W the lesson should not be lost. Let II