Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1860-01-21

ing slavery upon themF'
Thomas L. Randolph Of Albemarle, a grand
son of Mr. Jefferson, said
"The gentleman has spoken Of the increase
of the female slaves being part of the profit.
1t is admitted but no great evil can be averted
no good attained, without some inconvenience
1t may be questioned how far it is desirable to
foster and encourage this'branch of profit. 1t
is practice-an increasing practice in parts Of
Virginia-to rear slaves for market. How can
an honorable mind, patriot and lover of his
country, bear to see this ancient Dominion, rem
dered illustrious by the noble devotion and pa
triotism of her to the cause Of liberty, con-
verted into one grand menagere, where men
are to be reared for market like oxen in the
shamblesp Is il better, is il not worse than the
slave trade-that which enlisted the labor of
the good and the wise Of every creed and every
cline to abolish itp The gentleman
has appealed to the Christian religion in justif-
cation of slavery. l would ask him upon what
part of those pure doctrines does he rely, to
which of those sublime precepts does he advert,
to sustain his postionP Is it that which teaches
charity, justice and good will to all, or is it that
which teaches that 'Ye do unto others as We
would they should do unto youP'"
Another representative from Jefferson and
Harpers Ferry, Mr. Henry Berry, said:
81 believe that no cancer on the physical body
was ever more certain, steady and fatal in its
progress, than is the cancer on the political
body of the State Of Virginia. 1t is eating in
to her very vitals And shall we admit that
the evil is past remedyP Shall we act the part
of puny patient, suffering under the ravages
of q fatal disease, who would say the remedy is
too painful the dose too nauseous, cannot bear
it who would close his eyes in despair, and
give himself up to deathP No, sir, would
bear the knife and the cautery for the sake of
health"
Mr. Thomas Marshall of Fauquier, in the
same section of Virginia, said
"Wherefore, then, object to slaveryP Be-
cause it is ruinous to the whites---retards i'm
provement, roots out an industrious population
banishes the yeomanry Of the country, deprives
the spinner, the weaver, the smith, the shoe
maker, the carpenter, of employment and sup
port"
Mr. James Mcdowell of Rockbridge, since
Governor of the State and distinguished mem
Der Of Congress, said:
"Sir, you may place the slave where you
please-you may dry up, to your utmost, the
fountains of his feelings, the springs of his
thought-you may close upon his mind every
avenue to knowledge, and cloud it over with ar
tifcial night-you may yoke him to your labor
as an OK which liveth only to work, and work
eth only to live-you may put him under any
process, which, without destroying his value as
a slave, will debase and crush him as rational
being-you may do this and the idea that he
was born to be free will survive all. 1t is allied
to his hope Of immortality-it is the ethereal
part of his nature which oppression cannot
reach-it is a torch lit up in his soul by the
band OF the Deity, and never meant to be ex-
tinguished by the hand of man."
1t would be difficult to find anywhere more
eloquent tribute to the God given rights of man
than this. The same speaker, in another part
Of the speech, gives the following prophetic
warning to the South
"If gentlemen do not see and feel the era OF
sldrery ,chiie thus Federal Union lasts, they ,ciil
see and feel IL tcher, Il is done; they will see and
suffer it then in q magnitude Of desolating pow
er, to which the pestilence that walketh at
MONDAY would be blessing-to which the
malaria which is now threatening extinction to
the eternal city, as the proud one OF the pom
tifs and Caesars is called, would be as refresh
ing and as balmy as the first breath Of spring
to the chamber of disease. Was il
the fear of Nat Turner and his deluded, drunk
en- handful of fellows, which produced, or could
produce such effects? Was it this that induced
distant counties, where the very name Of South
ampton was strange to arm and equip for a
struggle? No, sir it was the suspicion eter-
nally attached to the slave himsef-the suspic-
ion that Nat Turner might be in every family
that the same bloody deed could be acted over
at any time, and in any place; that the mate
rials for it were spread through the land, and
always ready for like explosion"
What Virginia will not at this moment ac-
knowledge the terrible force of these wordsP
Mr. Philip A. Boiling of Rockingham, said
"There is still small voice which speaks to
the heart of man in a tone too clear and distinct
to be disregarded. 1t tells him that every sys-
TEN of slavery is based upon injustice and op.
preston. If gentlemen disregard it nop, ana
luN their consciences to sleep, they may be arous-
ed 10 a sense Of their danger chen 1t is too lat,
TO repair their errors.
"However the employment OF slave labor
might be defended, gentlemen would not, could
not, justify the traffic in human beings
How many broken heart, how many Rache
mourns, because her house is left unto her des
olate The time has come when these feelings
could be suppressed; the day would come wher
they could not be resisted"
Mr. Brodnax of Dinwiddie, said
THAT slavery in Virginia is an evil, it woult
be idle and more than idle for any human beinl
to doubt or deny. 1t is midew which ha
blighted in its course every region it has touch
ed, from the creation of the world"
The Hon. Charles J. Faulkner, who also re
sides in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, made
long, eloquent, and radically abolition speech
We have only room for few brief extracts
1t will be seen that, like all the representative
from that region, he was, perhaps all uncon
sciously prophetic. He said:
"Again, sir, ask, what new light has dawnec
upon the gentleman from Mecklenburg 9TH,
late William o. Goode) that we should be call
ed upon to retrace our course, and to disappoin
the hopes which our first manly decision gave
Does not the same evil existp Is it not increas
! ingP Does not every day give it permanenc!
and forcep Is it not rising like heavy ant
portentous cloud above the horizon, extending
its deep and sable volumes athwart the sky, ant
gathering in its impenetrable folds the activ
materials of elemental WARP And yet, shal
we be requested to close our eyes to the danger
and without an effort without even an inquir,
to yield to the impulses of dark and with
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