Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-07-30
How Long?

How long, we imporingly ask of the sovereign PEG
pie Of this nationto which sovereignty each ndividu
al holds distinct and responsible relaton,shal hui
man slavery be cherished as the corner stone of our
republican edfcc? How long shall it be true of us
that in the midst Of our loud mouthngs of universal
liberty and equality, every sixth man, and child
in the land are held in the vIest system of thradom
that now curses the world are held as chattes,
posed to all the vicssitudes ofproperty, and subject in
all respects to the will of their ma sters? How long
shall three millions of our countrymen be forbidden by
waters of savaon or even to sake their burning thirst
at the fountains of learning? How long shall the
gloomy walls of slave-pr sons rear their dismal
heads beside the nations proud CAPITOL while, in the
former human beings are herded together like beasts
in the STALL to be sold at the highest bidder, for no
crime but that their mothers were slaves before them;
and in the latter the fippant tongue of the hearess
statesman is weary with boastings of universal freedom
and equality? How long shall the president of the
United States as he sways the scepre the "reest
republic on the face of the EARTH" hold scores of his
fellow beings property, and riot upon the fruits of
the unrcqutcd toll to which they arc driven by cruel
overseer from the cradle to the grave? How long
shall four-ffths of our cabinet officers, foreign minis
tiers, and those in favor and power with our govern
ment boast of their ocnerSldp Of their fellow men?
How long shall we be compelled to witness the chained
coile-gang driven out from the savepens ofWashng-
ton Of Baltimore or Richmond, for the rice swamps Of
the SOUTH and as we behold their scalding tears and
hcartrendng anguish at the remembrance of home and
kindred lost to them forever realize that no ray Of
hope will gimmer across their pathway but in the
Get liberty of the grave? How long will men, call
ing themselves lreemen and christians, traverse one
section of the country to purchase droves of their fell
low-beings to supply the demand for human flesh in
another section? How long shall husbands and wives
parents and Children brothers and SISTERS be violently
separated forever to subserve the interest, crafty
the lust the caprice, revenge of unfeelng yrants
How long shall the tender babe be torn from the breas
Of the fond MOTHER and sold to cruel strangers to NEE
the expense of luxury and prodigaity, and even tC
procure offering for the treasury of the Lord? How
long shall it remain legazed and systematized bust
ness in our land to buy up those mothers sisters ant
daughters, whom kind providence has blessed witt
fair features and winning smiles, and sell them at al
enormous price to crafty the usttu desires of the
vilest of the vile? Yes and how long will those moth
and sisters and daughters, who bask in the merd
an brightness of their sacredy protected virtue
anG domestic happiness, turn deaf car to the impor
ing cries of the thousands of sisters in our lane
to whom the words Chastity, Home, and Kindred, have
no meaning? How long shall it be made CRIME
punishable with death, to obey the plain commands o
Jehovah, "Bewray not him that VANDERBILT; deliver the
opprcssed preach deverance to the captive, and the
opening of the prison doors to them that bound"
How long shall the terrors of the prison walls and
heavy fine, be held over the heads of such Throughout
the nomnaly free States give shelter to the breath
less fugitive while fleeing before the bayng blood
hound, clohe his nakedness, Or give him the crumbs
that fall from our tables?
How long, we again ask the christian people Of thi
nation, shall these things be? "Ho,O long, On LORD
ho,C long"