Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-01-29
Hear Garrison,

A very Rev. parsonage, of the n1me OF John
Mitchell, formerly Of Northampton, Mass. has
lately issued a volume Of travels in Europe, in
which he r%eiterates the stupid flIacy that the
laboring poor in England is worse than that of
the slaves in this country; whereupon Judge
Jay and VIM. Lloyd Garrison have taken the
Rev. gentleman to task about it, and they make
him "slng small, >" no miStake.-We extract the
following from Mr.. Garrison's remlrks:
Thank God, the poor of England are not Sc
enslayed that they may not freely rehearse their
woes in the ear of the nation, and associate to-
gether to influence the action of Parliament
They can exercise the right of petition; they
can lift up their voices together, they can make
use of the press; they can demand Justice, and
be respectfully heard. Then, their personal
liberties are safe, there is one law for rich aud
poor, their tircsides are sacred from Invasion,
the husband may not see his wife insuIted by
the proudest peer of the land, p1rents aud chill
dren are not treated like marketable commod-
tiles, there is no law making it a penal act to
acquire knowledge, they may learn to read, aud
read whit they please, they work for wages,
however inadequate, on their own contract, and
have a right TO %starve, if they do not choose to
labor. Is it so, Mr.. Mitchell, with our own slave
population!
May they recount their sufrcrings aIoudl-
May they associate together for redress? De-
they enjoy the right Of petition? Can they
make use Of the press! They have voices
but when have they dared to speak? Persona
liberty they have none; they have no legal pro.
lection, because they are not allowed to testify
against those who do them an injury; in Virginia
they are capable Of committing more than seven
ty capital offences, while the white people car
commit only two or three; homes and frcside.
they do not possess; wives they must see polluted
and s~courged without a murmur, their childre,
are sold in the shanbles, with cattle and swine
they may not acquire a knowledge of the alpha
bet, except at the peril of their lives; and the,
are driven to their daily tasks under the lash Of
fends, called overseers and drivers.
Most truly did John Wesley brand Slavery a,
the sum of all viIIanies.' Justly did William
Pitt declare-'SIavery is a systc of incurable
injustice, the complication Of every species Of
lniqulty, the greatest practical evil that has ever
afflicted the human race, and the severest and
most extensive calamity recorded in the history
of the world Undeniable is the assertion o
Wilberforce-'SIavery is the full measure Of
pure, %unmlxed, unsophisticatcd wickedness; ant
scOrMing all competition or comparison, it stand.
Withom a rjoat in the secure, undisputcd poss
ession of its dctcstadh prc-cmincncc.' Bold,
did Rowland Hill asscrt-'SIagery is made up o
every crime that treachery, cruelty and murder
can invent. If the slaves think Of our genera
character, they must suppose that Christians are
devils, and that Christianity was forged in hell.
Shall we call ourselves Christians or devils!-
Can a race of devils plot against US worse than
we do against them!
Therefore it is that we can never allow politi
cal oppression to be, either in form or fact, at all
comparable to chattel Slavery; aud therefore We
respond to the appeal of the great O'ConncII
when he exclaims, in the spirit of rightcou,
ndlgnation-'Join with me, friends of freedom,
friends of humanity, in consecrating to eternal
lulamy the owners Of slaves in the republic o
North America. Base wretches! should VIZ
shout in chorus-base wretches, how dare yol
profane the temple Of national freedom, the
sacred fame Of republican rites, with the pres
ence and the suiTe rings of human beings il
CHAINS and Slavery