Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1847-06-24

MrEDIroR | have been, at times, much in
terested by comments on slavery made upon ac-
tual observation and have wondered, consider
ing the great number of Northern men who are
continually travelling through the South, and en-
gagged in business there, that an Institution so
''pecular' was not more infinitely described, in
all its features and bearings, by correspondents
OF papers which speak for the slave
1t is not my purpose to give any extended de-
tails, but simply state my first impressions on
passing from the land of freedom to that of sla-
very and the suggestions that arose in my mind
thereupon
But will first state my previous opinions on
the subject, that the public may know through
what medium saw. | was practical Anti-Sla-
very man. condcmning slapcry in toto, but much
inclined to make allowances for the s2agch0Her,
on account of the bases of my early education,
&c. held that every one who saw the evil and
injustice of slavery, was bound to art, in spirit
otkindness and forbearance, and use all his NOR
al and political influence to rid our country of a
system SO repugnant to the principles of republic
Canism.
Holding these opinions, but often warned that
| should change them, | started for Kentucky,
where slavery is slid to seen in its mIdest
form,
On the Ohio river was struck with the supe-
rlor degree Of improvement which was all along
noticeable on the Ohio side AT one Of the Ken
lucky landings saw, for the first time in my life,
a slooe acoyk. The impression will 90 with me
till death. Such degree of ingenuity to appear
to be at work. and yet be as long as possible doing
the labor, | never before witnessed, but have
seen the same many times since and | can tell
a slave at work, unless he have task, farther by
his motions than by his color.
Having entered the State, what do see A
country Of surprising beauty and fertility mag
nlhcent tarm-houses, yet situated far from each
ether; villages at remote distances, and those
giving no evidence of improvement. There are
no fourishing manufacturing towns, like those OF
New England, or little agricultural or mechani-
cal villages, which have sprung up as ifby magic,
as in the Northwest Land, am informed, is
no higher than it was ten or twelve years ago
and the population is scarcely increasing at all.
Every thing bears the mark of the whitening
curse which slavery inAicts on the country
When you, who are accustomed to perform your
own labor, or to have it done by hired persons
whom you can trust, think OF the stakeholder
whose business is not such as to require the en-
ployment of an overseer, think not of him as liv-
ing free from care, but as being obliged to super
intend every thing in detail, and to submit to all
sorts Of delays and yeXatlons, on account of de-
pending upon those who have nothing to stimu.
late them to action, and very little intelligence tc
direct them.
When you think of the slave of this portion oil
the country, think not of him as undergoing
physical suffering, or being overworked; for
most of those that have seen look "fat and
sleek" are decently clad, and on the Sabbath
dress as well as the laboring classes of the North,
ern States.
But is there no occasion for pity for the slave
Yes. You often commiserate the condition Of
the deaf, the blind, or the partial idiot, though
he may be ever so well cared for. Think then
of the slave, as one from whose mind every ra,
of light is shut out, whose eye is never lit up BY
the cheering beam of hope who does not feel hi
hands to be his own, and who has lost his identi
ty, that when, on the Sabbath, he gets his idea
elevated by the spirit of whiskey, he brags no
of his own deeds, but of the nobility and grea
deeds of their former masters,