The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1861-12-30
Progress of D inion.


look upon slavery in the same light as prior
y the rebellion. The Erening Post has the
following notice Of the advance Of public opin-
ion in our country on this subject:
"No more senseless shift was ever resorted
to by the advocates of dying cause than is
adopted by the abettors of secession, when
they ascribc the existing agitation Of the sla-
very question to the efforts of abolitionists.-
The party so termed, never very numerous
and never a political body at all, has never
been SO inactive as it is now since the begin
ming Of its movements Scarcely meeting
is held by it, scarcely speech delivered
while its newspapers display moderation and
conteDtment for which they have seldom been
remarked.
The reason is that the outbreak of the re-
bellion has taken the subject off their hands.
They have discerned-that is such as have
any sagacity-that the events of the war we're
destined to become more effective workers
against slavery than any oratons or leading
articles which they mig ht utter. They have
discerned that the American mind must SOON
81 VI 'otol pSuCtI0tC " tuc lSul CdUscS vi Ills
odious revolt, and insist, sooner or later, up
on such termination of the dispute as would
put a recurrence Of it beyond the bounds of
possibility forever. They knew that power
which should dare to assail tho integrity Of
the government which should destroy the
peace Of thirty millions of people, arrest the
prosperity Of the world, and demand the sac.
rfce of thousands of noble lives, would be
held to account by the almost universal voice
Of mankind, for the unparalleled caamitcs
which it has caused. They might, therefore,
cont,ntedy remain quiet, awaiting the issues
OF the times
Their reasonings have been confirmed by
facts. A prodigous change has already been
effected in public opinion. The most timid,
tho most conservative, now approach the topic
with exemplary boldness. Journals that once
avoided it with more than scrupuous care,
with what might have been almost called pu.
siIanimity now discuss it with the utmost
freedom. Preachers who deemed even an al
fusion to themes connected with the politics
OF the day dissertation Of the pulpit, now
sea: ccly allow Sunday to pass without stir
ring an'madverslons upon the giant iniquity
which has filed our borders with the clane Of
civil war. A few years ago, Wen Mr.. Put
nam, the publisher, with decision and disin-
tercstcdness which did him great honor, in.
sisted that his magazine, then the leading pc.
rlodical of the country-should freely remark
upon all matters OF public interest, other pub.
locations OF the kind stared aghast at the au-
dacity. But now the Knickerbocker, Brozva-
sons Quarterly, Harper's Weekly, Frank
Leslie's Journal, the Illustrated News, in
short nearly every periodical o! influence, not
excepting tho more cnterprisiug Sunday pa.
pers, openly dcnouncc slavery. 1t is only a
year since we heard one of the most venera.
Bile OF our cIergymen announce, with some
spirit, that be would never in his life refer to
the question, but on Thanksgiving day he, in
common with nearly every clergyman in this
city and Brooklyn, Shot The heaviest bolts of
an Indignant eioquence against the handspring
of treason. MIR. Curtis, who was mobbed In
Philadelphia for touching the delicate ques-
tlon IN lecture, spoke there last week to a
crowded, fashionable and delighted audience. |
The building could not contain those who |
wished to hear Sumner.
Among our conspicuous men the change is
even more remarkable. They no longer con-
zeal or qualify their sentiments on the origin
or nature Of this war. No man OF eminence
among Us has hitherto occupied Il more con.
ervatlve position than the most elegant of
our rhetoririans, Edward Everett, and vet
Mr.. Everett, as VIC ale told, regard, the war
AS the certain doom of slavery. Mr.. Ban.
crol', the historian, is cautious as well as
profound thinker, but Mr.. Bancroft was zeal.
GUS and emphatic in his Cooper Institute
speech In his demands for an a ti.slayery pol
ICY. Gen. Butler, long a distinguished lead.
err OF the Massachusetts democracy, invented
the doctrine OF " contrabands' in its applica-
ton TO fugitive slaves; and Col. Cochrane, of
the same political school, addresses his sol.
dlers in the field on the necessity OF turning
slaves 10 our use, instead Of allowing them to
be used to our injury. We might cite, both
from public and private life, u thousand other
Instances OF the same kind, but we confine
ourselves to these because they are already !
more or less notorious.
Tncsc gentlemen are not abolitionists in
any sense OF the term; they do not ask the
government to engage in what is termed an
anti slavery crusade; they would, doubtless,
be strongly opposed to any decree of emanci.
patton, or to the arning Of slaves, except in
the last necessity; they arc not all Of them.
perhaps actuatcd by philanthropic motives
put they do see, as uyerv man of eo,so ,,,a.