Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-12-18
Written for the Green VI untain Freeman
How Long shall we Sus ain
Slavery

this defeat is d glorious or an in lorous one de-
peads, very much, if not altogether on what
ground the war was waged IF the war was
waged on pare pundple, the defeat was glori
Gus one ~ delea, on principle always is, no
mntter by now many opposed, Or by how few
sustained
ii, indeed the mighty host which have arrayed
themselves proiessedly on the side of Freedom
that have boastirglyand calamity thrown to
the breeze their significant and impressive motto
- Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Men and FIRE.
mont arc really and radically opposed to Sla-
very from princi ple-that thev have cooAy and
deliberately nailed their flag to the mast head
and inscribed urlon it the sublime doctrine Of
the Declaration of Independence, Gan men
are created equal, and have waged an eternal
war with whatever conflicts with that principle,
whether IL the shape of Books, Constitutions,
Compacts or Compromises, the the defeat would
he indeed n glorious one, and victory in the end
he sure, for truth is mighty and will prevail
the question being Only one of time.
Bat, alas alas what are the facts in the
case why so far from waging war with Slavery
wherever found they bow with submission to
its damna BILE behests-they make haste to do
ts bidding. What says Mr.. Banks, the man
whose election to the speakership caused such
rejoicing at the North =" This is not a question
OF Slavery; it is not even whether Slavery
shall 90 into the Territories or not. The ques-
ton is. simply, whether the Compromise Of 1850
shall be restored or not - that Compromise by,
which the whole North was consecrated as
hunting ground for Southern Blood hounds,
with Northern .treemen joining in the chase -
That is the question, according to Mr.. Banks.
A mighty Issue surely In such severity nine
contest. defeat is better than victory Let the
North be defeated as they surely will be till
they learn 10 raise higher standard. What
says Henry Ward Beecher g South Carolina
must and shall be protected in her Constitutional
rights = meaning, of course, her right to hold
slaves. What says Henry Wilson g l would
moi for my life interfere with Slavery in the
States where it exists"
How is it with the Northern States, as States
Massachuse- is has indeed passed her Personal
Liberty Bill, though vetoed by Republican
Governor and Vermont has passed her Habens
Corpus Act and law forbddng the use Of its
prisons or the confinement of Fugityes; but
after all not u single State has dared to call in
question their right to come among the green
hills of the North, and with their bloodhounds
chase dcwn their bleeding victims, shaeklo
them and drag them in.o inrerminablo bondage,
No State ms ever cared to nscribe on its ban
ner, ." Freedom to all " and guarantee nrotec-
ton to all, guilty Of no crime, whetae, lack o.
white. Do they not, then, sustain Slavery
Does it not derive its chief support from the
prolesstlly free and ant.slayery North Is not
SlayoW gnawing like a vampire at the very VI
tails OF Freedom at the North Is itany won
der, then. that in every contest Slavery is vic
torious ! The North has never yet raised the
trne star9ard--has never yet taken issue on the
5aain question.
How long, in the name of bleeding humanity,
| ask, how long is the North to sustain Slavery
Let the North take the Garisonian position
- Nc union with Slaveholtlers," or Gerrit
Smiths position" No Law for Slavery and
tho power would begin to be felt-their, shots
would begin to tell, rejoced to hear Friend
Thompson say year ago, that to one or the
ether Of these positions we must come, sooner
/ OF later.
! What said Henry Wilson, in speech at
Barrs, in the illlo 1855 :" Slavery could not
sand ten days were it not for the Union" Who
! sben, sustains Slavery
/ But " the Union-tho Union the priceless
Onion must be preserved !" Not at the ex
penso Of human rights All men are created
eqaal, and endowed with certain naienahle
| rights" says the Declaration. II the Union
sacrifices these-'ntenhonol2y, deaenediy sacri-
fees thcse-in the case Of one single individual,
whether high or low, rich or poor black or
white, it forieits its claim to respect from any
! "hu C'VIy iiuNiuu"i III IL Ill i"Cu ploIcClo the
rights OF none, at least from principl A gov
eminent that sacrifices, or refuses to protect the
rights of Sims, or an Anthony Burns, might
and would refuse to protect the rights of Gov.
Gardiner or of Grrrit Smith, under certain cir
cnnstances.
Suppose, then, we should call few witnesses
to testify as to the valne of this matches Union
and its ability and readiness to protect the rights
of its subjects. Call up from their graves a
Lovejoy, Torrcy Dow Il Barber and hosts
OF Others all sacrificed on the altar of this blood
stained Union call, if you please, a Fairbanks,
Walker, a Dayton, Sears, Garrison. Dra-
per. a Work, Thompson, a Williamson, a
Miss Webster, II Miss Crandal and hundreds
more, some Of whom have dragged out long dreary
days. and weeks, and months, and years, in d rk
loathsome prisons OF whipped on the bare back
till the quivcring flesh was lacerated and the
blood trickled to the ground Others confined
in the piiory, and pelted with rotten eggs
and all Tor obeyng the golden rule, and the
best and tonderest instincts of humanity Bring
forward The houseless, starving. freezing hordcs
FROM the sacked cities and desolate plains ol
bleeding Kansas; summons the ghosts of the
thousands Of murdered Indians from the dismal
swalups of Florida 5ring in the lrightlul list
of murdered victims rom Monterey and Cerro
Gordo go to devoted and bleeding (liea, and
call the weeping fathers, the wretched widows,
tho distracted mothers, and Shaving orphan
children, made by the accursed Slave Trade
bring up in long aud frightfal array, the ghosts
of the thousands who have persisted and been
thrown overheard in the horrors of the middle
passage, during the twenty years Of slave trade
leensed by this glorinns uninn. aud olnndns.