Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-03-22

the shareholders, was one constant feature OF his
plan that this consideration dictated Virginia
and Harper's Ferry as the first field Of operation,
rather than a more Southern region; that the
delay in the Arsenal which led to his capture
was occasioned by special precautions for the
comfort of his Slaveholding prisoners and their
families and that his main purpose, so far
from including the spreading of fire brands and
death, was not even the excitement of insurrec-
ton against the shareholders, but only the
establishment Of one or more :" cities of
refuge" strong holds in the mountains of
Virginia Ito be extended in case of success, to
other States) to which the slaves might flee,
taking with them such of their property as
could be transported thither, and arms with
which to defend their I" inaHenabte right to
liberty - in case of assault. The whole of John
Browns plao, supposing it to have been COM
pletly successful, contemplated only the ex-
tension OF this method Of operation from one
slave State to another, until the shareholders
throughout the country should give up their
wicked system Of living in luxury upon the en-
forced and unpaid labor of Others, and should
concede to their countrymen those rights which
the Declaration Of Independence assumes to be
the property of all men, and " inalienable" for
all.
The charge, then, of murderous intentions
against the shareholders and their families, on
the part of the Liberators at Harper's Ferry,
is utterly calumnious; and the political
organization established by John Brown, so far
from being an attempt to subvert the govern
ment, either Of Virginia or the United States,
was merely judcious and indispensable
provision to keep the free men within the limits
of his benefcient purpose, and prevent that
exercise of private revenge which the past cruel
excite
It seems to me that this idea of John Brown
is correct and ncontrovertible namely, that
in any siaveholding country, as general rule,
the movable property found in the possession of
shareholders rightfully belongs to their slaves,
and may properly be used as such.
When Judge Red6eld says that we at the
North know next to nothing of the real state Of
things at the South, he perhaps expresses sad
truth in regard to the condition of himself and
his Episcopal friends, who aOiN not read the full
and abundant descriptions of slavery in all it's
parts, which have written by aboitionists from
the testimony of shareholders themselves. But
those who have chosen to inquire, and been
willing to learn, in the North, for twenty-five
years past, do know, most accurately, the guilt
of the Shareholders and the wrongs Of the slaves.
Moreover, since the publication of Helpers
" Impending Crisis of the South, we know
with still greater accuracy than before the
wrongs, privations, insults, disabilities and
manifold degradation which slavery imposes
upon the white now-slaveholders of the South.
And as to Judge Redfeld's statement that abuse
of shareholders is found in the Northern press,
this is an inexcusable misstatement, since, even
if it proceeds from ignorance Gas suggested
above) that ignorance is wilful, needless and un-
justifable. Neither the Northern press nor the
abolitionists have ever abused shareholders. The
speaking Of unwelcome truth is not abuse. The
worst that any of us have said of the system of
slavery is that it is the " sum of all villanies y"
and this-at first said by one of the most pious,
intelligent and accurate of men, John Wesley,
the illustrious founder of Methodsm-is prOUed
by abundant and overwhelming evidence, even
if we use only the testimony Of Southern men
and women. No, the facts of slavery are 80
horrible, that its defenders seek to hide them
from the light, and cry against the accurate
detail of them as abuse
The portion of Judge Redfeld's article in
which he undertakes to make display OF candor
is not little amusing Speaking of the ideas
entertained by Northern men of the slaves, he
literally admits that they "come naturally
enough to the conclusion, that there is great
discomfort, and great want Of moral and
religious culture among them as a class. And
there is naturally enough associated with this
idea the belief and expectation that their social
condition would probably be very much i'm
proved, at once, by becoming free. And after
having arrived at this conclusion, it is natural
enough to adopt what seems but necessary
corollary, that the slaves will hail with delight
the first offer Of freedom. ~.
These ideas are not only natural enough"
but thoroughly just and well-founded. It is
certain that cow-hide, applied at pleasure by
the hands of a strong and angry overseer, ac-
tually hurts the object of his anger a good
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