Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1854-02-17
tTrmm the Independent, Feb. IL
RcpIy to John Mitchell.

[Trom the independent, Feb. 81
Reply to John Michel.
You address v.rv long letter to me. in the
CiH,H of Jan. Is, 1854, in defence of your
self and of American slavery. lTat You s"-
lcct me from among all who rcprohIted your
arostacy from the gospel OF human liberty,
arises, | presume, from reasons "i rnnN"ni-
encc to yourself rather t'nu al compliment to
me. ana clergyman and it might Sr"n to
the unwarv very natural thing to address
to such an ON" an argument upon Hhr""
slavery. It is douhtlcss more agreeable for
vou to stumble over the records Of rud. soci
ETY. four thousand years ago, and to tllk about
Moses and tlr patlHrcls than t, ponder what
John Mitchr--tlr Irish patriot-siad but the
other day about AH,.rioaW slavery. shall
not suffer that new issue to he made.
In the article which has excited such sur
prise. YOU expressed no u,iinuu about Abra-
/ ham: YOU said nothing OF what ypu would have
thuuhgt it right To- do. ii born tour thousand
year. ago. on thaldcan plains or if you had
been jew. 1t was American slavery that
You spoke of: Hebrew slavery admitted that
"A slave was man with all appropriate human
responsibilities, and made ample provision
for his religious and ci-il instruction. Amer
lean slavery stands upon the fundamental
|
it makes the teaching him to read pcniten-
tiary offence; an offence for which Mrs. Doug
lass now lies in Virginia prison. 1h,s
! slavery, that destroys manhood by its first
touch, YOU not only justified ahstractly, but
| longed to practice it, in Alabama and that
no doubt might remain of your intention you
volunteered your belief in ilogging, and other
means Of coercing unwilling slaves to their
hated tasks.
| Your letter is very poor argument ON
very bad'si But the poverty of its reason
ing is the best part of it. No man in your
circumstances could make good argument
for voluntary slavehoding, without more
time for practice. Corruption does not work
50 quickly. 1t takes time to round up and
ripen II treason to moral principles.
Under the circumstances, | marvel that
you have done 50 well. Your engagements in
/. Ireland, for many years, would not he apt to
turn your Investigations in the direction Of
arguments for Slavery.
Neither was it to he expected that you
would spend your leisure in penal colony
where you cXpiated the crime of t.naticism
! for liberty, in searching out arguments to
prove the right of one set of men to own and
| oppress another.
After your arrival in America, You were
SO hnsy in receiving republican congratula-
| tions upon the restoration of your Own liber-
! tv, that YOU had little time to hcstow upon
reasons for taking away other mems liberty.
Ii to these considerations be added some
happiness natural to new work, some
| awkwardnesS in the discussion of Scriptural
topics, and that dizziness which one must be
expected to feel after somerset, | think
every one will regard your performance rs far
| beyond anything that could have been ex
| pccted.
| hope it will not he accounted vanity for me
to say that could have helped you to frame II
far better argument in favor of Hebrew
! slavery. 1t is new question to YOU il is Il
| very old one to us. | have hears of trash in
my library that you might have added to your
rubbish. | have within reach enough clay
and straw on that matter, to have buided
| you argument huge as an Egyptian pyr-
amid.
If you d, sire to defend monarchy from
| Scripture, | have by me writers that do that
/ The Bible has been regarded Il bulwark of
oppression by all oppressors. 1t has opened
| its doors like vast magazine, in which every
man who wanted to wrong hs fellow could
iud precedent or reason sword to slly the
| innocent, and II shield to cover the guilty.-
And polcmcll irecboutcrS there have been to
defend, from Scr1 pture, every wrong that the
sun ever shoue upon and their tracts and
| books are thick as the locnsts and frogs of
Egypt, aud rs loathsomr. .\ld vet in spite
Of an sermons and tNrlnnouS interpretations
wherever a free Bible is read, it inspires q,
free heart and strikes the root of liberty
down into mems boSums with ineradicahle
| grasp.
II, therefore, your argument BE- regarded
not in the light o, your past personal history,
but in the comparison Of what has been done
to make the Bible lie, and what could be
done again, you have been bur poor work
man, You have been angling in petty ditch
among pintish and wrigsling vrrmin. You
should have struck right out into those CULTS
and bays where prolific oppression has for
ages spawned and Matched unnumbcrcd mon-
stcrs that disport themselves upon the sur
face, or nuzzle III the slime, or hang poised in
silent vigilance for the unwary, like tropical
sharks in the warm bays OF equatorial waters
If it is your purpose to 60 on in your new
vocation, you will find deep waters and pom
derous prey all ready for your sport
But what has turned YOU to such waters at
ALI Ilad-you been born in Alabama. had
you sucked in ReTuhlicanism from th" breasts
of Southern gospel, had your conscience
been cultivated like II cotton-pllnt, and your
principles spun from it fine as thread, and as
easily wound around any spool that interest
might choose to whirl in political spinning
cnncS, we should have been less surprised !;
tor we have learned t. be- SURF r~cd at Moth
ing in moral and political lcgrrlemain. But
to see honest, riotOus John Mitchel-uudu-
cious and icrocious John Mitchel-whon the
world has admired as CqUr de- Lion thun-
dcring with his battlr-axc at the postern of
the castle of Torquilstone, till his blows rung
above the shout of the battle to see this
Hercules, now sitting with his distntl and
patiently spiNning out hne threads for the
meshes of the worst system of slavery that the
world has ever known, this is moral marvel
At last we are surprised again. The long
lost luxury of that feeling has returned.
The question between You and the public
is not whether Hebrew slavery WAS right
Nor whether Roman slavery was right Nor
even whether American slavery is right.
The question is simply this Can John
Mitchell be an american sidrohoId,r, Wthouf
apoSiacV trom Nh, grounds lrhich he took
against ihC EHeHSh GOrraHcut That is a
question about which Mr.. Mitchell will find
little light either in the Greek or Hebrew
That has to he discussed in plain Saxon
English.
q What was the liberty which YOU asserted
for Ireland Was II q hberfy found,d upon
tie mah,adbic right Of 0cry human hang Ia
We, liberty, and hdppiHcss' or was it a hhrr-
~ founded on hc righ of Hc strong 10 oppreS,
hic trodki That is the question which Amer
lean newspapers are just now discussing, and
to which, as soon MS he has leisure from Moses
and the patriarchs, We recommend Mr.. Nit
chel' : attention.
Who cares, Just now, whether Ahrahan
might hold slaves, or Moses We wish t,
know how braggadocio for liberty, who ha,
filled the whole world with uproar about hu'
man rights, can reconcile libuty and slave
holding.
The patriarchs are the least part of You,
task. John Mitchell is the man whom John
Mitchell must make his peace with John
Mitchell ten years ago for universal liberty
and John Mitchell now wishing he were Al
Alahamian slave-owncr john Mitchell il
lN4S, asserting the liberty of man agains