Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-04-13

the Union from destIucton.-NN. Era.
Correspondence of the Green Mountain Freeman.
MAKAwAs, MAUI, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS,
January 18th, 1854.
Mr.. THOMPSON Dear Sir,-Your paper of
Nov. 18th, two months from the press, now lies
on my desk. Glad am I to see another sheet
from my old and much loved State Allow me
to say, " A happy NeD Year." to you and your
readers, one and all. God grant that the year
on which you have now entered may be one of
peace, health and general prosperity within your
borders. May it be one of unusual progress in
every work of reform in which you are engaged.
Hold on, dear friends, to the work of Temper
ance and Anti-Slavery, till you shall see our own
State, and our whole country, free from drunk
enncss and oppression. l long to have our dear
old State take the lead in the work of reform.
[ am greatly mistaken if intelligence is not as
generally difuscd among the good people of
Vermont as in any Safe of the Union, especially
among the laboring classes. Laborng classes
| think of these, my dear sir, with an interest
l can scarcely begin to describe. claim to be-
long to the working class, which should be re-
garded as one, though the individuals which
compose it may be scattered from Vermont to
the Sandwich Islands. Why should we not sym
pathise with the oppressed laborcrs Of our own
and of all other countries Are they not our
brethren! What though they differ from US in
the color of their skin Did not the wise and
benevolent Creator make of 'onc blood all ma
tons of mem" What short of bitter persecu-
ton are those guilty Of who cherish hate to
color! Just as though man is to be held
responsible for being as his Maker formed him
W hat though portion of them are poor and
imbccile! The rich and the poor meet to-
gether; the Lord is the maker of them all" If
So well may the inspired writer add Z" he that
oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker"
Next to open oppression is silent scorn-secret
contempt and akin to this is the refusal Ia.
sympathise with them. No one likes" said
boatswain Morgan, as he ran down the street to
take drunken sailor in tow, ." to sec bis pro-
fession dishonored" Who does not sympathis,
in this feeling. Every one Ought most certainly
to do SO. Nothing more astonnds me than tie
want of sympathy manifested by the majority
Of the working classes with the enslavcd. I say
by the majority; and this cannot retract till
I hon th,f IoLp -, D. :lo..L Il
Chair. Why he is not there to-day, instead of
Franklin Pierce, is owing simply to the guilt or
the apathy of the working classes throughout
the country, nd, alas, in part to the guilt Or
the apathy of Vermont working men.
/ said gull or apathy. Guilt must, in my
opinion, be predicatcd of those who cling to the
old parties-who allow themselves to be duped
by leaders, both Wing and Democratic, who,
standing on the Buffalo Platforms, have sworn
eternal fidelity to Slavery. Friends, if this is
not to be traitorous to Holy Freedom, I see not
what can be So Once the guilt of such course
might have been matter of comparative doubt.
Times of ignorance God has winked at; but
such times, on the subject of human rights and
responsibilities, are gone by. Think of the light
shed on this subject during the last twenty years.
1t has illumed the heavens in its intense blaze.
1t has penetrated every nook of the country. All
that is needed is that men open their eyes and
ears to see the horrors and the shame of Slavery,
to hear the groans and signs of the prisoner
How, then, mon who shut their eyes and stop
their ears to those horrors, and to these groans,
can be guiltess in the sight of God is more
than can see. Indeed, believe no such thing.
God Is not Knocked. He has not given men eyes
and cars that they should close them to the
wounds and groans of His oppressed poor, and
then exclaim, " Behold we knew it not" If any
of my Vermont friends, who acknowledge the
guilt and meanneSs of Slavery, still cling to the
old partics-no matter which of them, for they
are equally guilty, standing GA the shameful
Buffalo Platform, let NE beg of them to turn to
Proverbs "a IL, Il, and confess their guilt to
God, and abandon at once their adhesion to such
parties.
But it may be owing to the apathy of the
working Glasses that franklin Pierce not John
P. Hale-is President of the United States just
now APATHY use this word in the best sense
Of which it is capable. mean a state of mind
bordering on ind!ferenc'--a kind of neutral
state, which cannot be reused sufficiently to send
the man to the bslotbox There used to be
such men in the circle of my acquaintance in
New England. Some professed to be too pous
to vote. Others felt so deep disgust at the
tricks ofdemagoguos and party leaders that they
stood aloof from all participation III the bust
ness of electing rulers, just as though it was not
their duty and their privilege to put down men
of this character. Others could not spend the
time necessary to dcposite their votes, and others
still used to say their single vote could not ma
terially affect The election, and they might as
well stay away as though the full ballot box
was not made up of single votes as truly as the
ocean is made up Of drops Thus it used to be
when was with you. Is it not SO still! And
was not this apathy one cause that Mr.. Hale is
notyour President So think. cannot believe
that the working classes deliberately side with
the oppressor against the oppressed, but rather
that they have been beguiled by the cunning
measures of the party leaders, or have been par
alyzed by the chilling influence of apathy. In
either case, the fountain of sympathy in the
hearts of the working classes ceases to send forth
its gushing waters, and becomes well nigh dry.
Hence my amazement when see the returns of