Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-11-13
THE FREE N IAN
"Pliant as reeds where FREEDoM's waters glide
Firm as the hills to stem OPPREssroS's tide!" =
MONTPELIER, THURSDAY, NOE 10, 1845
Now is the Time

There is in the history of every nation a period when
its destiny seems to hang upon the action of a moment
That period in the history of our nation is the present
time. We have SO long closed our ears to the vail
ings of the enslaved millions of our countrymen, dis
regarded the outrages and depredations of the slave
power, and joined in the general cry of peace, that it
is now life or death for our rights and liberties. The
crisis has at length come and the question is fairly to be
met, whether we will let slavery enlarge her borders,
strengthen her stakes, trample on our boosted consti-
tuition and cherished rights, enter the temple of Free
dom and quench the last spark of liberty that burns on
her consecrated altar, tear down those walls that were
reared by our fathers hands and cemented with a ma
TONS blood, and without a struggle yield ourselves up
as bond slaves to her relentless will?-or whether with
a freeman's might, armed with the omnipotence of
truth we will, in the name of God, in behalf of our own
rights, and the liberty of the suffering slave, strike for
Freedom, compel slavery to lay down her arms, demol-
ish her bloody throne, and drive her back to her own
dark home.
Has not the slave suffered long enough to be entitled
to your sympathy and help? Have we not paid money
enough, voted long enough to sustain the system, to
become satisfied that there is no good in it? Has not
our nation been sufficiently controlled, its interests sa-
criiced, and the very fountain of Freedom poisoned
long enough by her deadly influence, to convince every
enlightened man that slavery and Liberty cannot long
exist together? We have waited too long for the evil
to cure itself, and is it not time to take hold of the
work in earnest, and to do what we have left undone.
While we have deprecated the system and protested
great love for the slave, we have helped to keep par
ties in power that have fettered his limbs, enacted laws
to heathenize him, to crush him still lower in the dust,
and by our silence, if not by our actions, in supporting
o~ppressols to rule over us, we have sanctioned the evil
until it has assumed a frightful aspect, and well nigh
defes our combined efforts to crush it. But thanks to
God a door has been opened, a way has been provided,
by which all who are disposed can strike an %eectual
blow at slavery and set every slave free.
The Liberty party was organized in the midst of the
most destructive political tornado that ever swept over
the land-at a time when the people were, with a few
noble exceptions prcstrating themselves before the
slave power and suffering it to take entire control OF
the heart of the nation. At the very time when it was
necessary to look slavery in the face, and settle the
question whether we shall have a free country or a ma
ton of slaves. The work has been steadily going on
since that time, public opinion has been aroused and
enlightened; light has been pouring in from every quar-
ter, and the time has now come when honest men in
the old parties must meet this question and decide
either for slavery or Freedom. There is no longer
any middle course. To vote for the master or with
parties pledged to slavery, is to turn our back on the
slave and leave him to perish in his degradation and
want. Now IS the time for those who have any
regard for the rights of humanity, who have hitherto
acted with the old parties to show their attachment to
Liberty by increasing the number and encouraging the
hearts of the few who have boldly commended for the
right, and are as fearless in protecting Freedom as the
south are slavery. We ask the honest men in those
parties to look at this question fairly and honestly.