The voice of freedom. [volume], March 30, 1839, Image 2

About The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848

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THE VOICE OF FREEDOM.
frame, that they cannot be extracted without dis
solving the whole fabric ; that we must endure the
- evil without hope and without complaint. Our
Tery natures must be changed before we can be
brought tamely to submit to this doctrine. The
pvil will be remedied ; and, to use the language
of Jefferson again, 'this people will yet be free.'
The Senator finds consolation, however, in the
midst of this existing evil, in color and caste. The
black race (says he) is the strong ground of slave
ry in this country. Yes, it is color, not right and
justice, tnat is to continue lorever slavery in our
country. It is prejudice against color, which is
rhe strong ground ol the slaveholder's hope. Is
that prejudice founded in nature, or is it the effect
of base and sordid interest? Let the mixed race
which we see here, from black to almost perfect
white, springing from white fathers, answer this
question. Slavery has no just foundation in co
lor; it rests exclusively upon usurpation, tyranny,
oppressive fraud, and force. These were its pa
rents in every age and country of the world.
The Senator says, the next or greatest diflicul-
ty to emancipation, is the amount of property it
would take from the owners. All ideas of right
and wrong are confounded in these words : email
cipate property, emancipate a horse, or an ox,
would not only be an unmeaning, but a ludicrous
expression. To emancipate, is to set free from
slavery. To emancipate, is to set free a man, not
property. The Senator estimates the. number of
slaves men now held in bondage at three mil
lions in the United states. Js this statement made
here by the same voice which was heard in this
Capiiol in favor of the liberties of Greece, and for
the emancipation of our South American brethren
from political thraldom ? It is. And has all its
fervor in favor of liberty been exhausted upon for
eign countries, so as not to leave a single whisper
in favor of three millions of men in our own coun
try, now groaning under the most galling oppres
sion the world ever saw ? No, sir. Sordid inter
est rules the hour. Men are made property, and
paper is made money, and the Senator, no doubt,
sees in these two peculiar institutions a power
which, if united, will be able to accomplish all his
wishes. He informs us that some have computed
the slaves to be worth the average amount of
S500 each. He will estimate within bounds at
$400 each. Making the amount twelve hundred
millions of dollars' worth of slave property. I heard
this statement, Mr. President, with emotions of
the deepest feeling. By what rule of political or
commercial arithmetic does the Senator calculate
the amount of property in human beings? Can
it be fancy or fact, that I hear such calculation,
that the people of the United States own twelve!
hundred millions' (double the amount of all the
specie in the world) worth of property in human
flesh ! And this property is owned, the gentleman
informs us, by all classes of society, forming part
ot all our contracts within our own country and in
Europe. I should hnve been glad, sir, to have
been spared the hearing of a declaration of this
kind, especially from the high ?ource and the place
lrom which it has emanated, hut the assertion
has gone forth that we have twelve hundred mil
lions of slave property at the South ; and can any
man so close his understanding here as not plainly
to perceive, that the power of this vast amount of
property at the South is now uniting itself to the
banking power of the North, in order to govern
the destinies of this country ? Six hundred mil
lions of banking capital is to be brought into this
coalition, and the slave power and the bank power
are thus to unite In order io break down the presr
ent Administration. There can be no mistake, as
I believe, in this matter. The aristocracy of the
North, who, by the power of a corrupt banking
system, and the aristocracy of the South, by the
power of the slave system, both fattening upon
the labor of others, are now about to unite in or
der to make the reign of each perpetual. Is there
an independent American to be found, who will
become the recreant slave to such an unholy com
bination? Is this another compromise to barter
the liberties of the country for personal aggrandise
ment ? 'Resistanco to tyrants is obedience to
God.'
The Senator further insists, 'that what the Jaw
makes property is property.' This is the predi
cate of the gentleman ; he has neither facts nor
reason to prove it ; yet upon this alone docs he
rest the whole cose, that negroes are property.
I deny both the predicate and the argument.
Suppose the Legislature of the Senator's own
State should pass a law declaring his wife, his
children, his friends, indeed, any white citizen ol
Kentucky, property, and should they be sold and
transferred as such, would the gentleman fold his
arms and say, ' Yes, they are property, for the
law has made them such' ? No, sir ; he would
denounce such law with more vehemence than he
now denounces abolitionists, and would deny the
authority of human legislation to accomplish an
object so clearly beyond its power.
Human laws, I contend, cannot make human
brings property, if human force can do it. If it
is competent for our Legislatures to make a black
man property, it is competent for them to make a
white man the same ; and the same objection ex
ists to the power of the people in an organic law
for their own government ; they cannot make
property of each other, and, in the language of
the constitution of Indiana, such an act " can only
originate in usurpation and tyranny." Dreadful,
indeed, would be the condition of this country, if
these principles should not only be carried into
the ballot-box, but into the Presidential chair.
The idea that abolitionists ought to pay for the
slaves if they are set free, and that they ought to
think of diis, is addressed to their fears, and not
to their judgment. There is no principle of mor
ality or justice that should require them or our
citizens generally to do so. To free a slave is to
take from usurpation that which it has made
property and given to another, and bestow it up
on the rightful owner. It is not Inking property
from its true owner for public use. Men can do
with their own as they please, to vary their
peace if they wish, but cannot be compelled to do
so.
The gentleman repeats the assertion that has
been repeated a thousand times : that abolitionists
are retarding the emancimtion of ih slavo nr.A
have thrown it back fifty or a hundred years : that
wiCy jiavo increased the rigors of slavery, and
caused the master to treat his slave with more severity-.
Slavery, then, is to cease at some period;
. ""YV"0 M abolmonists have said to the
slaveholder, ' Now is the accepted 'time,' and be-
? "f n improper interference, and
not having the abolitionists in his power, he in
flicts his vengeance on his unoffending slave.
x ne moral oi mis story-is, the slaveholder will ex
ercise more cruelty, because he is desired to show
mercy. I do not envy the Senator the full benefit
of his argument. It is no doubt a true picture of
the leelings and principles which slavery engen
ders in the breast of the master. It is in perfect
keeping with the threat we almost daily hear :
that if petitioners do not cease their efforts in the
exercise of their constitutional rights, others will
dissolve the Union. These however, ought all to
be esteemed idle assertions and idle threats.
The Senator tells us that the consequences aris
ing from the freedom of slaves, would be to re
duce the wages of the white laborer. He has
furnished us with neither data nor fact upon
which this opinion can rest. He, however,
would draw a line, on one side ol which he
woultf nine the slave labor, and on the other sid
free w hite labor ; and looking over the whole as
a general system, both would appear on a perfec
equality, I have observed, for some years past
that the southern slaveholder has insisted that his
laborers are, in point of integrity, morality, usefu
ness, and comfort, equal to the laboring populatio
oi trie Aorth. J. litis endeavoring to raise tl
r .1 H i mi . . w
slave, in public estimation, to an equality with th
nee wane lauorer oi the iorth ; while, on th
other hand, the Northern aristocrat has, in th
same manner, viz: by comparison, endeavored to
reduce his laborers to the moral and political con
dition of the slaves of the south. It is for free
white American citizens to determine whether
they will permit such degrading comparisons Ion
ger to exist. Already has this spirit broken forth
in denunciation ot the right ol universal suf
frame. Will free white laboring citizens take
warning before it is too late ?
The last, the great, the crying sin of abolition
ists, in the eyesot the senator, is that they are
opposed to colonization, and in favor of amalga'
ination. It is not necessary now to enter into any
ol the benefits and advantages ol colonization
the Senator has pronounced it the noblest scheme
ever devised by man ; he says it is powerful but
harmless. I have no knowledge of any benefits
resulting lrom the scheme to either race. 1 have
not a doubt as to the real object intended by its
founders ; it did not arise from principles of hu
inanity and benevolence towards the colored race
but a desire to remove the free of that race be
yond the United States, in order to perpetuate
and make slavery more secure, J. he Senator lur
ther makes the broad charge, that abolitionists
wish to enforce the unnatural system of amalga
mation. We deny the fact, and call on the Sen
ator lor proof. 1 he citizens ol the free State
the petitioners against slavery, the abolitionists of
the free States, in favor of amalgamation! JNo
sir! II you want evidence ot the tact, and reason
ing in support of amalgamation, you must look
into the slave States ; it is there it spreads and
flourishes from slave mothers, and presents all
possible colors and complexions, from the jet
black African, to the scarcely to be distinguished
white person. Does any one need proof of this
fact ? Let him take but a few turns through the
streets ot your capital, and observe those whom
he shall meet, and he shall be perfectly satisfied.
Amalgamation indeed ! Ihc charge is made
with a very bad grace on the present occasion
No, sir ; it is the negro woman, it is the slave and
and the contaminating influence of slavery, that
is the mother of amalgamation. Does the gen
tleman want facts on this subject ? Let him look
at the colored race in the free States ; it is a rare
occurrence there. A colony of blacks, some three
or lour hundred, were settled, some hlteen or
twenty years since, in the county of Brown, a
few miles distant from my former residence in
Ohio, and I was told by a person living near them,
a country merchant with whom they dealt, when
conversing with him on this very subject, he in
formed me he knew of but one instance of a mu
latto child being born among them for the last fif
teen years ; and I venture the assertion, had this
same colony been settled in a slave State, the cas
es of a like kind would have been far more numer
ous. I repeat again in the words of Dr. Chan
ning, it is a slave country that reeks with licen
tiousness of this kind, and for proof I refer to the
opinions of Judge Harper, of North Corolina, in
his defence of southern slavery.
The Senator, as if fearing that he had made
his charge too broad, and might fail in proof to
sustain it, seems to stop short and make the in
quiry, where is the process of amalgamation to
begin ; he had heard of no instance of the kind
against abolitionists ; they, (the abolitionists,)
would begin it with the laboring class ; and if I
understand the Senator correctly, that abolitionism,
by throwing together the white and the black la
borers would naturally produce this result. Sir
I regret, I deplore, that such a charge should be
made against the laboring class that class which
tills the ground, and in obedience to the decree of
their Maker, cat their bread in the sweat of their
face that class, as Mr. Jefferson says, if God
has a chosen people on earth, they are those who
thus labor. This charge is calculated for effect,
to induce the labouring class to believe that if
emancipation takes place, they will be, in the free
States, reduced to the same condition as the color
ed laborer. The reverse of that is the truth of
the case. It is the slaveholder now, he who
looks upon labor as only fit for a servile race, it is
him and his kindred spirits who live upon the la
bor of others, endeavoring to reduce the white la
borer to the condition of the slave. They do not
yet claim him as property, but they would exclude
him from all participation in the public affairs of
the country. It is further said, that if the negroes
were free, the black would rival the white laborer
in the free States. I cannot believe it, while so
many facts exist to prove the contrary. Negroes,
like the white race, but with stronger feelings, are
attached to the place of their birth, and the house
of their youth ; and the climate of the south is
congenial to their natures, more than that of the
North. If emancipation should take place at the
South, and the negro bs freed from the fear of be
ing made merchandize, they would remove from
the tree States of the INorth and West, immediate
ly return to that country, because it is the home of
their friends and fathers. Already in Ohio, as
far as my knowledge extends, has free white la
bor (emigrants) from foreign countries, engrossed
almost entirely all situations in which male or fe
male labor is found. But, sir, this plea of neces
sity and convenience is the plea of tyrants. Has
not the free blnck person the same right to the
use of his hands as the white person ; the same
right to contract and labor for what price he pleas
es ? Would the gentleman extend the power of
Government to the regulation of the productive in
dustry of the country ? This was his former
theory, but put down effectually by the public
voice. Taking advantage of the prejudice against
labor, the attempt is now being made to begin
this same system, by first operating on the poor
black laborer. For shame ! let us cease from at
tempts of this kind.
The Senator informs us that the question was
asked fifty years ago that is now asked, can the
negro be continued lorever in bondage? Yes
and it will continue to be asked, in still louder
and louder tones. But, says the Senator, we are
yet a prosperous and happy nation. Pray, sir, in
what part of your country do you find this pros
penty and happiness ? In the slave States ? No
no ! There all is weakness, gloom and despair
while in the free States, all is light, business, and
activity. What has created tne astonishing dif
ference between the gentleman's State and mine
between Kentucky and Ohio? Slavery, th
withering curse of slavery is upon Kentucky
while Ohio is free. Iventuckv, Ihe garden of th
West, almost the land of promise, possessing al
the natural advantages, and more than is posses
ed by Ohio, is vastly behind in population and
wealth. Sir, I can see from the windows of my
upper chamber, in the city of Cincinnati, lands in
Kentucky, which, I am told, can be purchased for
from ten to fifty dollars per acre, while lands of
the same quality, under the same improvements
and the same distance from me in Ohio, would
probably sell lrom one to hve hundred dollars per
acre. I was told by a friend a tew days before
left home, who had formerly resided in the county
of Bourbon, Kentucky a most excellent county
of lands, adjoining, I believe, the county in which
the Senator resides that the white population of
that county was more than tour hundred less than
it was hve years since. Will the senator con
tend, after a knowledge of these facts, that slavery
in this country has been the cause ol our pros'
perity and happiness ? No, he cannot. It is be'
cause slavery has been excluded and driven from
a large proportion of our country, that we are a
prosperous and happy people, hut its late at
tempts to force its influence and power into the
free States, and deprive our citizens of their un
questionable rights, has been the moving cause of
all the riots, burnings and murders that have tak
en place on account of abolitionism ; and it has,
in some degree, even m the tree States, caused
mourning, lamentation and woe. Remove slave
ry, and the country, the whole country, will re
cover its natural vigor, and our peace and future
prosperity will be placed on a more extensive, sale
and sure foundation. It is a waste of time to an
swer the allegation, that the emancipation of the
negro race would induce them to make war upon
the white race, livery lact in the history ol eman
cipation proves the reverse ; and he that will not
believe these facts, has darkened his own under
standing, that the light of reason can make no im
pression ; he appeals to interest not to truth
for information on this subject. We do not fear
his errors, while we are left free to combat them.
The Senator implores us to cease all commotion
on this subiect. Are we to surrender au our
rights and privileges, all the official stations of
the country, into the hands ot the slaveholding
power, without a single struggle ? Are we to
cease all exertions for our own safety, and submit
in quiet to the rule of this power ? Is the calm of
despotism to reign over the land, and the voice of
lreemen to be no more heard ? Ihis sacrifice is
required of us, in order to sustain slavery. Free
men, will vou make it ? Will vou shut your ears
and your sympathies, and withhold from the poor,
tarnished slave a morsel ol bread f Can you thus
act and expect the blessings of heaven upon your
country? i beseech you to consider lor yourselves.
Mr. rresident, 1 have been compelled to enter
into this discussion from the course pursued by
the Senate on the resolution 1 submitted a lew-
days since. The cry of Abolitionist has been
raised against me. If those resolutions are Abo-
itionism, then 1 am an abolitionist trom the sole of
my feet to the crown of my head. If to maintain
the rights of the States, the security of the citizen
from violence and outrage, if to preserve the su
premacy of the laws, if insisting on the right of
petition, as a medium through which every person
subject to the laws has an undoubted right to ap
proach the constitutional authorities of the country,
be the doctrine of abolitionists, it finds a response
in every beating pulse in my veins. Neither
power, nor favor, nor want, nor misery, shall de
ter me from its support while the vital current con
tinues to flow. Condemned at home for my op
position to slavery, alone and single handed here,
well may I feel tremor and emotion in bearding
this lion of slavery in his very den, and upon his
own ground. I should shrink, sir, at once from
his fearful and unequal contest, was I not thor
oughly convinced that I am sustained by the pow
er of truth and the best interests of the country.
I listened to the Senator from Kentucky with
ndivided attention. I was disappointed, sadly
isappointed. I had heard of the Senator's tact
n making compromises and agreements on this
oor, and though opposed in principle to all such
proceedings, yet I hoped to hear something on
which we could hang a hope that peace would be
restored to the borders of our own States, and all
future aggression upon our citizens from the slave
States be prevented. Now, sir, he offers us noth-
ng but unconditional submission or political death;
nd not political alone, but absolute death. We
ave counted the cost m this matter, and are de
termined to live and die free. Let the slavehold
er hug his system to his bosom in his own State,
we will not go there to disturb him ; but, sir,
within our own borders we claim to enjoy the
same privileges. Even, sir, in this District, this
ten miles square of common property and com
mon right, the slave power has the assurance to
come into this very Hall, and request that we
es, Mr. President, that my constituents be de-
led tho right of petition on the subject ol slavery
n this District. The most extraordinary petition
gainst the rights of others to petition on the same
ubject of theirs is graciously received and order
ed to be printed ; preans sung to it by the slave
power ; while the petitions 1 oner, trom as hon
orable, free, high-minded and patriotic American
citizens as any in this District, are spit upon, and
turned out of doors as an unclean thing. Genius
f liberty ! how long will you sleep under this
ron power of oppression ? Not content with rui
ng over thpir own slaves, tbey claim the power
to instruct Congress on the question of receiving
petitions; and yet we are tauntingly and sneer-
ngly told that we have nothing to uo wim me ex
istence of slavery in the country a suggestion
as absurd as it is ridiculous. We are called up
on to make laws in favor of slavery in the Dis
trict, but it is denied that we can make laws against
and at ast the right of petition on the sub
ject, by the people of the free States, is complain
ed ot as an improper interterence. l leave it to
the Senator to reconcile all these dirncuities, ab
surdities, claims and requests of the people of this
District, 1o the country at large ; and I venture
the opinion that he will find as much difficulty in
producing the belief that he is correct now, that
he has found in obtaining the same belief that he
was belore correct in his views and pontica
course on the subject of banks, internal improve'
ments, protective tariffs, &c. and the regulation,
by acts of Congress, of the productive industry
of the country, together with all the compromises
and coalitions he has entered into for the attain
ment of those objects. I rejoice, however, that
the senator has made the display he has on this
occasion. It is a powerful shake to. awaken the
sleeping energies of liberty, and his voice, like a
trumpet, will call from their slumbers millions of
freemen to defend their rights ; and the overthrow
of all his tormer grand schemes, by the same
mighty power.
I feel, Mr. President, as if I had wearied your
patience, while I am sure my own bodily powers
admonish me to close ; but I cannot do so without
again reminding my constituents of the greetings
that haye taken place on the consummation and
ratification of the treaty, offensive and defensive;
between the slaveholding and bank powers, in or
der to carry on a war against the liberties of our
country, and to put down the present Administra
tion. Yes, there is no voice heard from New
England now. Boston and Faneuil Hall are si
lent as death. The free day-laborer is, in pros
pect, reduced to the political, if not moral condl
tion of the slaves ; an ideal line is to divide
them in their labor ; yes, the same principle is to
govern on both sides. fcven the farmer, too, will
soon be brought into the same fold. It will be
again said, with regard to the Government of the
country, ' The farmer with his huge paws upon
the statute book, what can he do ?' I have endeav
ored to warn my fellow citizens of the present and
approaching danger, but the dark cloud of slavery
is belore their eyes, and prevents many ol them
from seeing the condition ot things as they are.
That cloud, like the cloud of summer, will soon
pass away, and its thunders cease to be heard.
Slavery will come to an end, and the sunshine of
prosperity warm, invigorate and bless our whole
country.
1 do not know, Mr. President, that my voice
will ever again be heard on this floor. 1 now wil
lingly, yes, gladly return to my . constituents, to
the people ot my own State. 1 have spent my
life amongst them, and -the greater portion of it in
their service, and they have bestowed upon me
their confidence in numerous instances. I feel
perfectly conscious that, in the discharge of every
trust they have committed to me, I have, to the
best of my abilities, acted solely with a view to
the general good, not suffering myself to be influ
enced by any particular or private interest what
ever ; and I now challenge those who think I
have done otherwise, to lay their finger upon any
public act of mine, and prove to the country its
injustice or anti-republican tendency. That I
have often erred in the selection of means to ac
complish important ends, I have no doubt ; but
my belief in the truth ol the doctrines ol the Dec
laration of Independence, the political creed of
'resident Jefferson, remains unshaken and unsub
dued, j, My greatest regret is that I have not been
more zealous, and done more for the cause of in
dividual and political liberty than I have done. 1
hope, on returning to my home and my friends, to
join them again in rekindling the beacon-fires of
liberty upon every hill in our state, until their
broad glare shall enlighten every valley, and the
song ot triumph will soon be heard ; for the hearts
of our people are in the hands of a just and holy
Being, (who cannot look upon oppression but with
abhorrence,) and he can turn them whithersoever
he will, as the rivers of water are turned. Iho
our national sins are many and grievous, yet re
pentance, like that of ancient Nineveh, may di
vert from us that impending danger which seems
to hang over our heads as by a single hair. That
all may be safe, I conclude that the Negro will
yet be Jrce.
Southern Morality.
Our " Northern man with Southern principles"
bids fair to get some knowledge of Southern mo'
rality that will be of use to him. In the lately
published correspondence ol the 1 reasury Depart
ment with certain defaulters in the public Land
Office, in Mississippi, a compliment is paid to the
morals of that region which is quite significant.
A Mr. Harris had retired from ofhee with about
$200,000 of the public money. A Mr. Boyd suc
ceeded, who directly become a detaulter to the
amount of about $60,000. Of this lellow a Mr.
M. Garesche, who seems to be a government
gent, writes to Mr. Secretary Woodbury :
" The man seems really penitent, and I am in
clined to think, in common with his friends, that
he is honest, and has been led away from his duty
by the example of his predecessor, and a certain
LOOSENESS IN THE CODE OF MORALITY which here
does not move in so limited a circle as it does with
us at home. Another receiver would probably
move in the footsteps of the two. You will not,
lierefore, be surprised if 1 recommend his . being
retained, in preference to another appointment ;
for he has his hands full now, and will not be dis
posed to speculate any more."
Truly this "looseness ot morality" at the south
does not, a3 we have often said, move in a very
limited circle. I hey rob there on the large
scale. Let us see. Of the laboring population
under the " peculiar institution," viz: 2,400,000,
we will allow one-half as inoperative. Avera-
ing the labor of the remainder at the low rate of
$6 per mouth we have the value of the whole for
one year $S6,400,000. Now, according to the
various estimates which we have seen ot the
planters themselves, as well as from the nature of
the case, it is not probable mat more than 1U a
head is annually expended for the support of this
pecies of population, r or this deduct $24,000,0UU
nd we have left $62,600,000 of clear robbery or
defalcation per annum, at the South. Say it was
alf as much J0 years ago, and we may recuon
the amount for the last 30 years throwing away
the interest, to be about $1,400,000,000. This
would buy up a pretty large part of the South. It
would buy up all the slaves at nearly $600 a head.
.'lie South had better emancipate men. ... vu,
nd if th rhnnrprv nf heaven will cancel this bond,
hinkjthemselves well compensated.
Wlm A n.ir lionpst-hearted, hard-handed de
mocracy at the North think of these things?
What is likely to be got by selling ourselves to
such wholesale defaulters 1 Human Rights.
T ; nn means improbable, that Englund as a
nation opposed to slavery, will, within a very short
time, prohibit the importation of cotton from Amer
ica into that country. Let this be done, and Amer
ican slavery must die in her own den. Morning
Star.
THE VOICE OF FREEDOM.
MONTPELIER, SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1839.
Notwithstanding the constant discussion of the
slavery question, for the last seven years, in every
arena of debate, from the school district club up to
the Senate chamber of the United States, there are
still among us not a few who contrive to keep
themselves in profound ignorance as to the foun
dation principles of the anti-slavery reformation.
As it was in the primitive age of Christianity, so
now men are ever learning and never coming to
the knowledge of the truth. And many, who
have become so far enlightened as to ' see men as
trees walking,' are yet too timid to take an atti
tude implying a change of views. Here is a man
who has for years been identified with the scheme
of colonization. He has joined in the discussions
of public meetings made his speech at a popular
anniversary, and almost satisfied himself that
transportation to a foreign coast is the only ration
al and christian method of relief or improvement
of the colored race. He must have seen, that, for
the last few years, the grand effort of colonization
has been to array itself before the country as the
antagonist of emancipation. He is well assured,
too, that the entire class for whose benefit the
scheme was professedly originated, are becoming
m,ore and more distrustful of its aims, and beg to
be saved from its transporting benevolence. But
how can such a man brook the idea of confessing
his error ? How can he run the moral gauntlet
in sight of that long line of titled and honorable
men, who have ranged themselves under the col
onization banner ?
Another, who would yield to no one in his ha
tred of slavery, in the abstract, in the plenitude of
his good will to slaveholders has taken up with
that peculiar interpretation of the constitution
which deeds away and forever quit-claims the
heaven-descended rights of as many people as oc
cupied the soil in 1776. His humanity and reli
gion are unhappily under a heavy mortgage to
slavery. The cry of a fellow creature can meet
with no effectual response from him. His rule of
faith and practice is an alleged ' compact,' by which
oppression, robbery and lraud were made the
great paramount interests of a free and equal peo
ple. He has almost persuaded himself that slave
ry is a national pet, always to be guarded with a
jealous care always to be caressed with sleepless
anxiety under the sheltering wing of our noble
eagle. In his chatechism, the first duty of man is
declared to be to fear Slavery, and love and serve
him forever.
Another, forgetting the world-wide distinction
between a man and a thing, talks with all the vol
ubility of a merchant on 'Change of the rights of
property meaning, always, the rights of one class
only, and that the minority. Seized of theJnsane
conceit, ' that that is property which the law de
clares to be property,' he can talk of entailment of
slaves through a long line of ancestry, with the
fluency of the wise men of Old Virginia. The
antiquated notions of rights and duties drawn from
the New Testament, together with the old-fashioned
dogmas of Blackstone and Mansfield, are
cast aside as quite unsuited to the state of advance
ment in which we find ourselves in the nineteenth
century.
Another fancies that slavery must needs exist
' in many varieties' from the good gospel slavery
of Dr. Ely, who became the legal owner of Am
brose for Ambrose's good, down to that of the un
christian dog of the Old Dominion who markets
his own children, like poultry, by the pound
whereas, the slaves of the Doctor and those of the
Virginian are held by the same kind of tenure.
The painful inconsistencies of which the above
are specimens, will, it is believed, find a remedy
only in the continued exhibition of truth to the
mind of the community. Men must be put upon
their consciences, and pointed back to the elemen
tary principles of moral and political philosophy
the supreme demands of justice and the universal
equality and supremacy of natural rights.
County Meeting postponed.
The quarterly meeting of Washington County
Anti-Slavery Society will be held at the Congre
gational meetinghouse in Waterbury, on Thurs
day, April 4, at 10 o'clock, A..M., not on Tuesday
the 2d, as heretofore announced. The postpone
ment is made for the purpose of accommodating
several individuals who are expected to take part
in the meeting, but who could not well attend on
Tuesday.
Fast Day Evening.
A special meeting of the Montpelier Anti-SIave-
ry Society will be held at the Free Church, on
Friday Evening, April 5, commencing at 1-2 past
6. Rev. Mr. Seely, General Agent of the State
Anti-Slavery Society, and others, may be expect
ed to give addresses, and an invitation to attend
the meeting is extended to the inhabitants of the
village and vicinity generally.
ET'We have received, too late for insertion this
week, a lengthy but valuable article from the pen
of Rev. Chester Wright, addressed " to the en-
emies of American Slaveholding,"
i i i i
The border troubles. The accounts from
Maine and New'Brunswick are more and more pa
cific. The Legislature of Maine has adjourned a
fact of itself decidedly indicative of continued peace,