Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-08-13

We are about make an announcement which must
sound very strange TO those whose field of observation
is unlike our own The greatest impeachment to tho
success ofthc ansaycry movement in the slave States,
IS the opposition to it Of those who profess to have
been commissioned by high Heaven to 90 abroad and
use their efforts for the mitigation ofhuman misery and
the eXtlrpaton Of human wrong This assertion, which
appears so monstrous will not surprise any one who
lives among Shareholders. Our conviction Of its truth
has been confirmed by extensive observation We
were born under the shadow othe dark wing of slave
ny, and it is still our lot to dwell in its midst and to-
number among our best friends and kindest neghbors
the holders Of slaves. We, therefore, do not speak
without sufficient warrant, when we declare that they
who profess to preach the gospel of truth among men,
are the worst enemies the cause of emancipation in
the slave States has to fear. Far be it from to
illuminate that numerous band Of genuine Christians
who do not desecate the affairs of truth by any mser
able efforts to eXtenuatc the evils Of slavery. We arc
happy to know many ministers of the gospel who do
not give any countenance to a system which bears on
its bold front the mark of Divine condemnation dis
tnct as Gods seal of wrath was on the brow Of the
guilty Cain. There many preachers among us
who do not preach righteousness We honor these
men, and our heart loves them for their devotion and
consistency
1t is lamcnabe fact that such men are to be found
in the pulpit We presume that majority of orr
ders have looked in the books that have Of late years
been written by these men, If SO, we hope there are
but few Of them who were not disguised by these fee
Bile efforts to wed religion to form of human outrage,
and to make the pure and beneficial genius of Chris
tanlty smile on system of oppression which is de-
nounced by the unutored instincts, well as by the
enlightened reason, of man.
We do not intend to usurp the office of the theolo
gian and to shoc from the Bible, that that holy book
does not give It's sanction to American slavery. We
leave this task to filter hands. If American slaveryis
establishment were, of COURSE in consonance with the
Divine Will This is the bold ground taken by ex-
Governor Hammond, Of South Carolina in his letter to
the venerable Thomas Clarkson That worthy OK
unconlry asserted that the reason why the efforts
made by Christian nations for the eXrpation of the
African slave trade had not been successful was to be
found in The fact that that trade protected by the
outsretched arm Of the Almighty. 1t was vain to OPP
pose human efforts Divine efforts, and, the efforts
of Great Britain and the United States were in oppo-
sition to the will Of Heaven they had met with signal
failure
1t is impossible for those who defend slavery on the
ground of the divinity of its origin to reject Governor
tlammonds position. If slavery in the United States
is Divine institution, it follows, matter Of newt
able necessity, that the African slave trade is righteous
because this Divine institution has been planted here
by that traffic, and could not have existed among and
blessed us with its sweet influences Independent of
that traffic. When the Almighty fit to bring up
on this nation the blessings of system of slavery, he
Of course, raised up human agents through whom this
system might be introduced among the people. These
agents were the men engaged in the African slave
trade, and must be confessed that they abored with
unweaylng industry in the good work of planting the
system OF African slavery in the United States.
| This position is clear sound, and logical. If tho
Sovereign Ruler Of the universe is the author of Afr
slavery he is also the author of the African slave
trade as it was necessary to the existence of that spe
ces Of slavery in this country that such trade should
be instituted. Where is the flaw in this logic, oh We
pous and evangelical men, who find in the written rev.
Citations of heaven the proof of the divinity Of African
slavery
1t is clear that if African slavery is a result of the
Divine will all efforts made to curai it where exists
to resist its introduction where it has existed,
are criminal You, my brother, who have got crotch
ct in your head that it is your duty to endeavor to i'm
press the mind of your slavehuldnr neighbour con-
vctlon that he would better obey the dictates ofthe
ligon he processes By manumittng his slaves than by
holding thom in bondage are but few steps removed
from the position ofdownrgh fool to speak most COM
pmentary OF you And you, my simple sister, from
whose eyes | have seen tears gUsh forth coplOusy
when we have together viewed that spectacle graft
flying to Christian heart, OF hundred men, wonen
and children roned and on their way for Nlcksburg
and southern market;-you, say, my fearful sister,
are indeed weak vessel. For slavery being Divine
institution it Is pretty certain that all the neces
sary to its Introduction here and all the efforts resorted
to to make it profitable and thereby to extend it among
us, are scanned by the smile of Divine appreciation,
and should be viewed with delight by all those who are
anxious to correct their hearts by the lights which come
down from heaven
We have children Of our own, and we know many of
these little creatures belonging to other sres but we
have yet to see the child who has pernaclously ois-
ed grieve at the spectacle of slavery in its vicinity
All these silly little creatures shed tears at the oppres
sion which they are forced to see their weak minGS
have never yet assembled to that sublime helgnt Oh DID
lca contemplation from which African slavery appears
adorned with all the attributes OF oVelneSs ana com
pletelv shorn of what to unscrptual Understandings
seemed to be horrors of the most Satanic hue. OF
course this is only one more fact going to prove that
the hearts of children are desperately wicked and that
tbeir sonls. darkemng their perceptions Of truth and
causing them to call the beautiful, deformty, and to-
pronounce the good to be evil