The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1846-08-20

down upon us Inc remuneration anu rclFODd-
ton Of civilized man, every where. l take
no pleasure in it as a national dishonor but
something is to be expected from it as q ma
tional remedy.
These discussions have done yet more
They have brought the LITERATURE OF the
world to bear upon the institution OF Amerl-
can Slavery.
The instruments of human power are great
" changed, Armies, forts, arsenals, and ships
of war have ceased to be the main engines OF
influence among mRn. Government itself is
secondary agency in human affairs. Inc
little column OF mysterious characters, which
so puzzled and yeXed our childhood, has come
to have more weight, inn the history OF the
world, than all the bayonets and cabinets OF
Europe. The press is the predominant ele-
ment Of our civilization Society is more dl-
rected and moulded by it than by ali other
causes. And the press, in all its departments
from the great productions OF Genius down to
the daily illusions oftugitive thought in Mag
azlnes and news papers, is substantially free
in its tone. No work OF original mind, no
creation Of a lofty philoSophic or poetic in
SEPARATION, ever breathes slavlSh spirit; such
spirit is at war with the sentiments OF true
genius in all ages. 1t has nothing IN 1t con-
genial with the generous views, the liberal
feelings, the humane, philanthropic enthusi-
asm Of profound and permanent Litcra-
ture.
The spirit of Literature, more especially
christian literature, is free and friendly to
freedom. And now that the eye of the mas
ter is opened, and his sensibihty quickened
by public discussion of the system Of Ameri-
can slavery, he cannot study a work Of mind,
he cannot read volume Of Poetry, cannot
run over a romance or a novel of the day,
without meeting a contradiction Of his philos
ophy of life, or encountering a rebuke for his
inhumanity to man. He cannot admire the
pictures of our common nature In Shakes
peare he cannot be elevated by the grand
eur Of our destiny and the wonders of our re-
demption, in Milton; he cannot inhale the
sweet breath Of love from Cowper without
being impressed with respect for human ma
ture in its lowest estate, and detCs at.on of hui
man slavery in its mldest forms
Were there no book but the Bible, it were
itself enough to stifc the institution OF slavery.
/ do not care, if Abraham had servants born
to him in his own house, if Moses recognised
slavery in his civil code, if our blessed Lord
uttered not word of condemnation of it, if
st Paul sent back servant to his master with
an epistle of commentator; still there is in
the Bible deep seated essential hostility to
every form and degree Of human servitude.-
It's fundamental doctrines OF the original e.
quality of all men before God, Of common
redemption by the same blood, of a practical
experience Of the same grace, and a common
inheritance of glory in the same Heaven
these living and glorious truths Of the Cos
pei, are all so many arguments and so many
instruments Of universal freedom. They that
sit down together at the communion Of the
hOr1, o,,,ll, oFt Whist md to
gether, Us strangers upon earth, fellow trav-
elers to the New Jerusalem in which their
common hopes all centre, and to which their
weary and anxious feet are pressing with a
common zeal, cannot be master and slave,
they be all brethren.
But where is all this agitation to end p
Why, sir, just where all discussion ends, in a
clearer conviction Of truth and a deeper feel
ing Of duty-in the progress OF liberty and
the elevation of man--in the advancement of
the happy day, when not a son Of God shall
wear chain upon his limbs or feel the iron
heel of oppression in his soul,
1t will require efforts, earnest efforts sac
riGces of treasure, and, it may be Of blood.
No great enterprise for humanity is ever ac-
complishcd without them. But look to see
men arise equal to the crisis, superior to all
dangers, and endowed by God for their mis-
sion. The WickliHes and Luthers, the Clark
sons and Wilbertorces have not all lived yet.
In a great cause great men arise and en- JOY a
charmed life. A Providence protects them;
q cloud of Divine Love is a shield all over
them. The scales will fall off from mems
eyes, the veil will be rent from their hearts.
And when once this point is reached, when
slavery is seen in its true light, as an offence
TO Heaven and an outrage upon man as the
curse alike Of the oppressed and the oppress-
Or there will be no great difficulty in getting
rid of it. The herds Of human cattle that
tlarken the plains of the South, will melt
away as the llocks that whiten our hills do,
when we have no longer any interest in null
tiplying them.
Mr. Speaker, sincerely rejoice, that New
Hampshire is speaking out upon this subject.
The time has gone by, when her silence is to
be accounted consent to the extension, or the
continuance, of negro slavery in these states.
speak not as Wing, nor as a Democrat,
but as citizen ola free State, as minister
of the Religion Of Liberty. | congratulate
the people of the Safe and Of the whole coun-
try, that the day has come, when a son of New
Hampshire cannot stand up in the National
Legislature, and, sustained by the Voice Of
Freedom, in the free north, renounce the
doctrine of our Fathers, that all men are born
equal or subscribe to the policy, which seeks
to strengthen the foundations and enlarge the
dominion of tyranny, in comparison with
which the oppression of the American Colo
MES was independence. If it were in my
power / would congratulate the poor victim
ofthis oppression himself | would whisper
in his ear the cheering and sustaining mes
sage, that in our prisons, his woes and his
wasted hopes are at length remembered. 1t
would console him under the weight of his
weary bondage to know that he has new
friends among the friends of humanity-new
brethren in the free States, who " remember
them that are in bonds as bound with them"