Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1864-01-19
The Cruelty of Slavery


pleasure 10 cruelty seem sometimes to be ili
natural wicked inclination Of the human hea! 4
The iact that we characterize cruelty, either To
man or the inferior animals, as savage aud bar
oarous, only shows that in the most uncuivated
conditions Of society, men by nature cruel vii
out the restraints of education or christianity,
more controlled by passionate tempers, and q
light 10 intlcting torture and torment upon OH
ers, than under better and more humane a1J
Christian influences The fierce passions and tho
violent temper which nstigated and accom- 9lish1i
the first murder, have had dominion more a
less extended in every age and race. Love, mer-
cy and kindness are Christian, and not natural
graces the mild and natural dispositions cu;-
waited by the pious heart Thou shalt love thy
neghbor as thyself," Love your enemies, bees
them that curse YOU do good to them that hate
you, pray for them which despiteiully use and
persecute YOU are divine commands, infinitely
higher and more perfect in their absolute right
eousness than any mere worldly wisdom. In say
age life crue, dispositions exhibit themselves ID
the coarser and more brutal forms Of violence,
WINE IN some communities, calling Themselves
civilized and educated, it acquires a skill, a refine
ment and Ginning in the art of torture almost
incredible. It has borne fruit among sayages IN
haylng their victims alive, and among civilized
people in the torments Of the Iniqdisiton and the
horrors Of martyrdom. Scarcely century 10
relics Of cruel barbarity were found even on the
statute books, in the laws which legalized tlog.
gng, and made branding and manning justfable.
Gradually, however, among the most civilized and
Christian nations of late years both laws and puo-
lie opinion have agreed in denouncing cruelty as
crime, and have by mercfu enactments even at
tempted to protect dumb beasts from the infar.-
ated passions Of the human race.
Bot while generally, under the good influences
OF religion and education, the criminal cruedss
which have dIsfgured go many pages of history
have been abandoned, il has been left for African
slavery in the United States, almost alone among
the institutions Of this or any land, to perpet
uate the hideous crimes which have rendered the
lnquiston infamous, and to shock the civilization
OF the 18th century With crueties which would
hardly have been tolerated three hundred years
ago. To be hunted ike foxes upon the noun
tains, to be shot or torn in pieces by boodhounds,
to be burned at tho stake, to be whipped until
the flesh falls in strips from the acerated and
bleeding flesh, to be branded with red hot irons,
are only some Of the fendsh torrents to which
slavery doons its victims, some of the necessary
evils of system which gives the master unlm.
tied control over the bodies aud services Of help /
less and downtrodden race, which gives loose
rein to every passion aud lust, and puts no re- /
straint upon. violent or vindciive tempers. That
such system should at ength have called down
the judgment of Just God upon thenation that
sheltered and protected it, scourging it with the
lesol tons Of war, and bathing a thousand bat
Ile-heds in the blood of contending armies, is
not surprising to those who have found in history
he sublime and awful movements Of Him who
buried Pharosh in the Red Sea, and upturned
he foundations of Jerusalem, and deuged its
treets in the blood of its sons but that in the
midst Of this terrible storm Of retribuiye JUS
ice, the people should have so slowly leaned ia
ause and meaning, is indeed amazing, Even
low, after three years of wasting conflict not
sw refuse 70 see the evidence Of the divine pur-
lose in the strife 20 strike the chains from the
Iayes, but blindly grope about for some other
ray Of escape from the visitation Of war. Those
owever, whose fortune it has been to carry the
I'D flag into the heart of the land Of op-
ression and have seen, face to face, the terrible
ruelties which are but the natural growth Of the
yslem of African slavery, have been the first to
ee that such gigantic and national crime must
ave provoked the wrath Of divine Justice, and
allied down upon thu land the storm Of divine
ispleasure.
We have been Influenced to write these para
raphs by reading the letter which we print be.
Nv, and which, asa simple and touching recital
{ but one instance of the thousands which have J
roved the gigantic wrong of the system of sla /
cry, possesses tragic interest. The writer is $
nown to us, and is Christian gentleman. a
those character is an abundant guarantee for {
he absolute uuthfulness of the narrative. The a
blowing is his letter. b
BARRANcAs Fla, Dec. Sth, 1863 :
EDITOR OF THE FREEMAN: | tell the following t