Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1851-05-29


of Philosophy on the subject, could DO"
81 did not when slave" says he' "unoef-
stand the deep meaning of those rude ana ap-
parently incoherent songs Twas myself wllhlh
the circle so that neither saw nor hearu as
those without might see and hear they tola
a tale of woe, which was then altogether Oeyonu
my feeble comprehension ;-they were tones'
loud, long and deep they breathed the prayer
and complaint of souls boiling over win the
btterest anguish. Every tone was testimony
against slavery, and prayer to God for deliver
ance from chains. The hearing of these wiz
notes always depressed my spirits and filled me
with ineffable sadness. have frequently iound
myself in tears while hearing them. The mere
recurrence to those songs, even now ainlc'S NE
and while am writing these lines, an express
sion of feeling has already found its way down
nv cheeks. To those songs | trace my first
glimmering conception Of the dehumanzlng
character of slavery. can never get rid OF that
conception. These songs still follow me, to-
deepen my hatred of slavery, and quicken my
svmpathies for nv brethren in bonds"
He continues-'sI have been utterly astonlshed,
since came to the North, to find persons who
could speak of the singing among slaves, as ev-
idence of their contenIment and happiness. 1t
is impossible to conceive of greater mistake.
Slaves sing most when they are most unhPpy.
The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of
his heart and he is relieved by them only as an
aching heart is relieved by its tears. AT least
such is my experience. have often sung to
drown my sorrow, but seldom to express my
happiness Crying for joy and singing for Joy
were alike uncommon to me, while in the jaws
of slavery. The singing of a man cast away
upon desolate island, might be as appropriate
ly considered as evidence of contentment, and
hsppiness as the singing of a slave: the songs
OF the one and of the other, are prompted by the
same emotion"
The idea that the slaves are happy, is mod
ern discovery, and belongs to that progressive
democracy" of which Thomas Jefferson had no
conception when he declared
"The whole commerce between Master and
Slave is perpetual exercise of the most bois-
ferrous passions the most unremittig despotism
on the one part and degrading submission on
the other. The parent storms, the child looks
on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the
same airs in the circle Of smaller slaves, gives
loose to his worst passions, and thus nursed, ed
ucated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot
but be stamped by it, with odious peculiarities.
The man must be prodigy, who can retain his
manners and morals undepraved by such circum
stances"
This has been recognized by the whole civil
lied world as an accurate picture of Slavery,
and yet men at this day, will stultfy themselves,
by prating of the happiness which slavery con-
fers upon its victims their freedom from cares
Nothing that can say, can add to the force Of
Jeff4rson's testimony, and yet we are tempted
to quote passage from public address de-
livered in North Carolina, in 1880, before mod
ern abolition 55cleties were heur of, by BENZ.
Swain, Esq, a man of considerable distinction
in that State. He says" Let any man OF
spirit and feeling, for moment cast his thoughts
over this land OF slavery-think of the naked
ness of some, the hungry yearnigs of others, the
flowing tears and heaving signs of parting rela-
tons, the wailings and woes. the bloody cut of
the keen lash, and the frghtful scream that rends
the very skies, and all this to crafty ambition,
lust, pride, avarice, vanity, and other depraved
feelings of the human heart. The vorst IS not
generally knolOn. Were all the miseries, all
the horrors of slavery to burst at once into view,
peal Of seve n-fold thunder could scarce strike
greater ALARM"
The Marysville Intelligencer, Tenn, Oct. 4,
1885, said of Slavery
"Pace yourself in imagination, for moment,
in their condition With heavy calling chains
rvited upon your person, half naked, half starry
ed your back lacerated with the knoted whip
travelling to region where your condition thro'
time will be second only TO that of the wretch
ed creatures in hell. This description is not
visionary. Would to God it was"
| will give one more extract touching the
happiness of the slaves, and then close. 1t shall
be from an official document of the Presbyterian
synod of Kentucky.
"This system of slavery, licences and pro-
duces great cruelty. Manging, Imprisonment,
starvation, every species of torture may be in.
flicted upon the slave, and he has no redress
There are now in our whole land, two millions
of human beings, exposed, defenceless, to every
insult, and every injury, short of manning or
death, which their fellow men may choose to
inflict. They suffer all that can be inflicted, by
wanton caprice, by grasping avarce, by brutal
lust by malignant spite, and by insane anger
Their happiness is the sport of every within,
and the prey of every passion that may occa-
slonally or habitualy infest the masters bosom.
If we calculate tho amount of woe endured by
Ill treated slaves, it would overwhelm every COM
passionate heart-it would move even the obdu-
rate to sympathy"
This is indeed dark picture; but let it be
remembered, it was drawn by Southern men,
who were in favor of the institution. Of course
they would not represent the system of slavery
in more favorable light than it really is. We
can reasonably infer from the situation in which
they are placed that the slaves are in worse
condition than they are represented, Testimony
is ample, diversified and credtable, that the
treatment Of slaves, as general thing, is bad.
And 1t is just as any one acquainted with hue
man nature and the history of mankind would
expect. When men hold beasts as property,
the two species are in their respective sphere,
and there is nothing in the circumstance to per-
vert the soul of the brutes, natural lords. But
when men hold their fellow men as property
there is grevious wrong in this circumstance
/ kIa.Ra