The voice of freedom. [volume], August 03, 1839, Image 1

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

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THE
ALLEN &. POLAND, Publishers.
Published under the sanction of the Vermont Anti-Slavery Society:
CHAUNCEY L. KNAPP,
VOIiUME I.
fl O i T P K Ij I E I VEKMOH'T, AUGUST , 1S30.
IV t M EI E II J,
Prof. Benedict vs. Slavery.
Extract of an Adrde&g delivered at Burlington on the 4th
of July, 1826, by Professor G. W. Benedict, of the Uni
vorsity of Vermon t.
There is however, one evil, of such terrific mag
nitude, which is so glaringly inconsistent with
the general principles of our government, and has
such a pernicious influence and tendency, that
we cannot pass it unnoticed. Humbling as the
fact is, it is but too true that our constitutions,
having for their basis the memorable declaration :
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable rights
that among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness," do in direct contravention of these
fundamental principles, authorize the bondage of
human beings guilty of no crime; and place their i
happiness, their liberty, and their lives in the
power of those who may coerce them at will, with
scarcely more restraint on their conduct towards
them than towards the beasts of the field. Who
is there whose warm blood does not gush tumul
tuously through his bosom, as he this day thinks
ot his country s prosperity, and in imagination
Jistens to the acclaim of nine millions of freemen?
Does it not ebb coldly back to his heart, when he
calls to mind that their feet are on the necks of
eighteen hundred thousands of their fellow be
yigs ? Nay, if on this day consecrated to freed
om, they are not driven to the field, it is because
the petty tyrants who are hired to exact their ser
vice, have laid aside what are alike the instru
ments of torture and the ensigns of their authori
ty, to join in shouts and anthems to liberty.
We need not recount the steps by which slave
ry was brought upon our hemisphere. It would
however seem incredible to one not familiar with
the fact, were he informed that in the most en
lightened age of the world such an evil took root,
and spread so widely, an evil, if we consider all
its attendant aggravations, unparralleled since
human society began to exist. A child scarcely
needs to be informed that the slavery known a
mong the Jew?, resembled that of our own times
only in name. The Hebrew slaves were protect
ed from abuse to their persons no disgrace was
attached to their condition they were treated as
children and could, and often did, intermarry with
the children of their owners and even with their
owners themselves ; nor could their servitude ex
ceed six years in duration. This, instead of be
ing slavery as we know it, was little but an hon
orable apprenticeship. But let us go to the
Greeks and Romans, who both, and especially the
latter, considered all men but themselves as bar
barians, and made slaves of all whom they could
conquer. Even with them the situation of the
slave might be enviable compared with our own.
The owner might indeed torture and put to
death his servant with impunity yet a sore was
no more protected. The freed man, instead of for
ever bearing the untarnished badge of his former;
degradation, was often chosen to places of high
trust and honor ; and even the slave himself, be
cause of his learning and wit, often received from
the wise and noble, an attention and regard which
were not bestowed upon his -rude and uncultiva
ted master. Degrading to Christian nations as
these comparisons may seem to be, a more degra
ding one can yet be made. Let us turn our eyes
to those piratical nations, so long the objects of
dread, hatred and abhorrence to the whole of Eu
Tope and America, the Barbary states. They too
enslave their captives, and buy and sell human be
ings as christians do, and treat them with a sever
ity which they manifest not to the dogs whose
name they so often apply to them. Yet let the
most miserable wretch that wears an Algerine fet
ter, confess a faith in Mohammed, and his master
talks not of his right to retain what he bought.
No matter how great the price lie" paid for him,
he cheerfully knocks off his chains, clothes him
as his son and receives him as an equal. We
know that slavery in our country is an evil of so
long continuance, that our feelijigs of horror are
less intense than they would be, were it of recent
introduction. Palliatives of this enormity, and
excuses for its continuance are sought for; but in
vain. They are all absurd or deceptive. He
that supports slavery on a plea of self-interest is
unworthy of the name of a man ; and he who as
serts the condition of a slave to be not inferior to
that of many who are free, knows not the value of
liberty. We know indeed that some are found
who assert that they whorn we hold in bondage
are in abetter condition, than freedom and eqality
could confer on them. This, though heard from
the lips of freemen, is the genuine language of
Tyrants, and is as false in sentiment as it is odi
ous in sound. Let him who believes that our
slaves are happier than they could be, if relieved
from their servitude and degradation, go then to
the one, who, when driven with his manacled
companions past the door of the Capitol, lifted his
fettered hands to the representatives of the nation,
who unconcerned looked on, and with sublime iro
ny raised the patriot's song; "'Hail Columbia,
happy land" : Let him go even to them, whose
vacant laugh at night fall has furnished him with
an argument for his preposterous opinion, and of
fer th em their liberty, and to remove them to a
land, where no degradation is attached to the col
or which their Maker pleased to give them, and
see if they reject his kindness. But if he thinks
that inexperience might dictate an erroneous
choice, let him go to Sierra Leone, and visit a
flourishing City, its places of worship, its schools
and its halls of justice, remembering that it was
peopled with the ignorant and the squalid from
various hostile tribes, who were taken, maimed and
emaciated from the holds of slave snips. Let
him visit Liberia, our own happy colony, and see
a flourishing traffic in the productions of the coun
try where formerly the slave-merchant received his
victims; let him see cultivated fiolds luxuriant
from the labor of freemen where once the thickets
concealed the man stealer, fellest of savage beasts,
lurking for his prey ; let him behold the house
of God, where stood the cabin dedicated to the
worship of Devils; and if he be still incredulous,
and attributes nil to the wisdom and assistance of
white men, let him visit that land not far from
our own shores, where the people, whom nature
is said to have stamped with an imbecility incom
patible with freedom, by one mighty efibrt burs1
their chains, and wrote in characters of blood and
fire, their claims to the rights of men. Let him
notice their progress for twenty-three years, from
extreme degradation to respectability, their igno
ranee yielding to the gradual diffusion of knowl
edge, their rapid advancement under the great
est discouragements to importance in the scale of
nations; let bun then oiler to all these their lor
mer badges, and promise them the highest load of
slavery that was ever borne, and listen to their
scornful and indignant reply. The truth is, there
is nothing to be said in favor of slavery. Mingle
with it what you will, it is still the bitterest
draught, that man ever held to the lips of his fel
low.
Authorised as it is by our laws, and existing
to such a degree in our country, it affixes guilt to
the nation, and unless removed, will bring upon
us the vengeance of a benevolent God. The ex
perience of six thousand years confirms the truth
of that memorable sentiment of the father of his
country, a sentiment that should stand in letters of
gold in the halls of national legislation ; "The
smiles of heaven can never be expected on any
nation that disregards the eternal rules of order
and right, which heaven itself has ordained." It
avails us not to throw back the blame of slavery
in our land upon those who first introduced it,
That was their crime, the voluntary continuance
of it is ours. That a part of the union cannot act
alone for its abolition, is the very reason why the
feelings of all should be interested in it. " If it
be said that the subject is beset with difficulties,
we grant it; yet they arc not insuperable. The
disease strikes so directly at the life, that no rem
edy can be named which is not preferable to let
ting it take its course. Better that even the na
tional treasury should pay the appreciated value
of every slave in the union, and transport them to
the land ot their lathers, than that this foul stain
should continue on our national character. The
lover of his country cannot look at the continuance
of slavery, unanxious ; for he sees it in the al
ready sprouting seeds of commotion and blood
shed, which nothing but their complete eradica
tion can prevent from ripening to maturity. We
live too late in the world for the present state of
things to continue-long. 1 he spirit which has
freed a continerrt'jidjich has broken the massy
yoke of Spanisftjsjjperkition and cruelty is not
quelled, nor wilPnTsuffer them whose necks were
first liberated from the chains of unjust control, to
retain in their hands the far heavier ones of des
potism. We must free our slaves, or the time is
not distant when they will free themselves. It is
idle to say that such an event is impossible to
speak of their want of means, their ignorance and
inability to act in concert ; and of our precaution,
our munitions of war and our strength. A God
of justice can give wisdom and strength to the fee
blejand palsy the arm of the strong. . It is in vain
that a selfish policy of a few prevents us from re
cognizing the Independence of Haiti a nation
that has been for years as free as we are. It is
in vain that the same wicked policy has extended
the evil through the fertile plains of Missouri.
It is in vain that arguments are still adduced even
from Scripture to support it, which would equally
well prevent the destruction of the Roman Inqui
sition. All such obstacles are but the accumula
ted materials over an ignited magazine, serving
only to increase the horrdr and ruin of the explo
sion. He then who has influence, and will not
exert it in the cause of liberty and humanity,
he that has a voice and a vote in the legislative
councils of the nation and lends them to the cause
of slavery, must see to it lest the curse of posteri
ty rest on his name.
OCT" We call the attention of our readers to the
following article, as highly important. Let these
questions be as soon as possible and thoroughly
answered. This is our concern. Who shall
blame us for inquiring what i3 done in our own
native towns to oppress the enslaved millions ?
Mass. Ab.
From the Emancipator.
To the Abolitionists of the United States.
Some months since, the Executive Committee
of the American Anti-Slavery Society sent out a
circular to abolitionists in various parts of the
free States, propounding in substance the follow
ing interrogatories.
1. How many persons, natives of your town,
now reside in slave states ? How many of them
are slaveholders ? How many may have married
slaveholders? If any of them are ministers of the
gospel, or editors of papers, or instructors in liter
ary, or professional seminaries, or lawyers, or
physicians, or in any public office; please give
their names and residences ; state also the iuflu
ence of their visits and correspondence.
2. How many persons residing in your town
are slaveholders ? How many are natives of slave
states ? Did such hold slaves ? If so, what dis
position did they make of them? How many of
your citizens have relatives in slave states ? How
many of them have property invested in mercan
tile houses, or manufactories, or other business es
tablishments in the slave states? How many of
your citizens hold mortgages or their legal equiv
alent, in southern property, and to what amount?
What proportion of the mechanical labor of your
town is for the southern market? What propor
tion of your mercantile trade is with southern cus
tomers ? Are any whips, handcuffs, fetters, brand
ing irons, coffle chains, thumb screws, &c, n.an
ufactured by your mechanics for the use of slave
holders ? flow many of your young men went
South last fall as ' teachers, agents, mechanics,
clerks, pedlars, &c? Are slaveholding ministers
and professors of religion admitted to your pul
pits and communion tables of your churches ? Are
slaveholding visitors received by your citizens
generally as honest and honorable men and wo
men, or are they faithfully dealt with as the per
petrators of foul crimes ?
To the preceding interrogatories the Committee
earnestly solicit an early reply. Their object, was
to procure a mass of facus from all part3 of the free
states, fully revealing their relations to slavery
showing how churches, ministers, merchants, me
chanics, and manufacturers, colleges and profess
ional seminaries, benevolent societies, editors of
newspapers, civil and judicial officers, and other
classes of persons in the free stales are palsied by
the slaveholding influence ol the fcioutli that pat
ronage, the interests of trade, denominated svm
fbathies, and struggles for power, political partial
alities and. strife, aristocratical arlinities, matnmo
nial connections and innumerable ties of social re
lationship with slaveholders, have perverted the
public sentiment of the free states on the subject
of slavery, either bribing it to silence, or stimula
tins it to defend the system and assail the doc
trines and measures of abolitionists.
The information thus procured, they designed
to publish in a pamphlet, 'exhibiting in detail the
relation of the free states to slavery. The prep
aration of the pamphlet was in a state of for
wardness some months since, but its publication
has been delayed because the returns expected
from the circulars were indispensable, not only to
the completion ol the work, but to its highest use
fulness.
The Committee are sorry to add, that they have
been lorced to suspend the publication of the pam
phlet in consequence of receiving few returns to
these circulars. This they exceedingly regiet
believing such a work to be of great importance at
the present moment. But they are not discoura
ged ; they believe that there ; -.are in all parts of
the country, abolitionists who rejoice to work for
the slave, not merely to luxuriate in the excite
mentof public meetings, but to work out of sight
in the humble pains-taking capacity ot jact-gath
crers. Upon such men and women, in every city
town, village, hamlet, and neighborhood, the Com
mittee call for facts. In the name of the slave
we ask you for answers to the preceding questions,
Do not wait'for your anti-slavery societies to move
in the matter ' Do not say that A. B. or C. can
do it better than you, we ask YOU to 'see that it is
done. Begin NOW. Look over the preceding list
ot questions, and write down on the snot a 1 the
facts in reply, that you can think of, then sally out
aud get others, and write them down, then get
otners, ana keep on till you have got all that are
to be had, then sign your name to them and for
ward them without delay by mail. If your town
is so large that you will need help in procuring
the facts, get it, and as much as you need ;
you set about the work in earnest, you will find
help enough, and of the right sort. When you
lave written down all the facts concerning your
own village, township, or city, add as many others
as you can get, put down the names of all the
ministers, lawyers, doctors, college professors, ed
itors, ccc, natives ot any of the tree states who
now live in the South, of whom you have person
al knowledge or information from the testimony
01 responsible persons.
AH clergymen have peculiar facilities for furn
ishing the pro-slavery statistics of their own de
nomination. To those of them who are abolition
ists we confidently look for such details. Shall
we look in vain. .
Students of colleges and theolocrical seminaries
might, with little eflort, make out a list of those
graduates ot their respective institutions, natives
of the North, who live, in the slave slates, or have
become slaveholders. Are there not ten abolition
ists in every couege anu tneoiogitr.il seminary 111
the free stales who will resolve to furnish "the
Committee with such a list of the graduates of
their respective institutions, anilfilfd their resolu
tiont 11 ten cannot lie lound to undertake it,
surely lice can be, and if of these five there be but
one that will take hold of the work, with only a
fraction of the zeal that propelled Clarkson through
the lanes and garrets, cellars, dockyards, and mer
chantmen ot the three kingdoms for facts flyth
which to kill the slave trade, the work will be
done.
The Committee ofler their grateful acknowl
edgements to those abolitionists who have furn
ished returns to their circulars for the most am
ple returns yet received they are indebted to the
energy ot anti-slavery women they are also great
ly indebted to a slaveholder in the extreme South
for the names and residences of a large number of
rresbytenan ministers, natives ol the North, who
have become slaveholders in Georgia, Alabama, S
Carolina and Florida.
Finally, to every man and woman who sees iim
every slave a brother or sister, the Committee
make their appeal for FACTS, What thy hand
findeth to do, do it with thy might, & do it NOW.
Communications may be directed to Theodore
D. Weld, 142 Nassau street, New York. Will
the editors of anti-slavery papers please give the
above an insertion I
P. S. Persons forwarding communications,
will please subscribe their names to them : this is
necessary to secure the Committee from imposi
tion. The names of those who give the informa
tion will not be published without their consent,
and in most cases will not be necessary. The ut
most care should be taken to ensure strict accura
cy in the statement of facts.
Political action against Slavery.
What do ice mean by political action against
slavery ?
. Slavery is established by law. The laws are
framed by State and national legislatures. The
abolition of slavery is nothing more nor less than
the repeal of these slave laws. If they are ever
repealed, the work must be done by the members
of these legislatures. Members of the legislatures
who are opposed to the abolition of slavery will
not. abolish it. It will only be done by those who
are in favor of the measure. This is so plain that
it seems strange there should be any necessity for
stating it.
There are relics of slavery still left in the state
of New York. Our laws authorize the holding
of slaves for nine months at a time, and then nine
months again, Persons seized on pretence that
they are slaves, are taken away into slavery with
out trial by jury. In this way, many freemen
are kidnapped into slavery. Other things of the
kind might be mentioned.
The Congress of the United States have enac
ted the slave laws of the District of Columbia, by
special provision that the old slave laws of Mary
land and Virginia shall continue in force. .They,
have added enactments, giving facilities for the
domestic slave-trade in the District which did not,
and do not, exist under the laws of Maryland and
Virginia. The Congress of the United States are
clothed with the power of abolishing slavery mell,
the territories, and also of abolishing the internal
slave-trade between the States.' We may safely
affirm that these statements do not cover an inch
of what can fairly be considered as controverted
ground. We have southern admissions, and pro
slavery admissions, in abundance, of the truth of
all this; and it would be ridiculous for any one
take the opposite ground.
What we want, then, is to have "the members
of the national and State legislatures in furor of
the abolition of slavery. Wherever they are, the
abolition of slavery will take place, and not before,
unless God permits it to be terminated in a Red
Sea of human blood.
What shall be dne to accomplish, tin's obiect?
In the first place, the most simple and respectful
process is to ask our national and State legisla
tures to do this.' This has already been again and
again done and the process must again and a-
gam, 11 need be be repeated. ; "
But what next? ' We have petitioned year af
ter year, and the work is not done. Even in our
own State legislature it is not done. " And by our
own representatives in Congress our right of pe
tition, is virtually cloven down. Shall wo fold
our hand's and do nothing more ?
hi 1.. - j 1 1 .1 1 .
vv no aewe 5 jvnu wnat is tne relation we
sustuin to our rulers? What arc the responsibil
ities growing out ot the relation f
Are we the cringing slaves of self-created des
pots? "Are we the mere subjects of a government
we had no hand in creating ? which we 'do not
administer ?"whose officers we neither choose nor
reject at our pleasure? Are we so many Egyp
tians, under the rod of a Pharaoh f with little
more power over the opposers of our brethren,
than the brethren themselves possess ?
JNo. W e are a portion of the so cereisn people
mi 1 e.i 1
ine ruicrs 01 tne state anu nation are our repre
sentatives our agents our servants : These
are titles by which they are proud to call them-
elves ! We created the offices they fill. We de
fined the powers with which these offices should
be invested. We select the occupants of those of
fices. Their acknowledged duty is to do our bu
siness. And as a matter 0 Jact, they have done
and AKE JJUlJNu, what we in conjunction with
our equal compeers) have directed them to do
1 ney vv iuu uo wnat tne people (01 which we
form a part) require and instruct them to do.
They will act our pleasure or else we shall show
by our votes against them, that we are displeased
with their actions.
Our petitions to our representative rulers have
been accompanied with petitions to the Great Ru-
cr of the nations, that lie would give us wise and
good men to rule over us, who would rule in his
(ear, and break 'the rod of oppressien.
If we have been sincere 111 our petitions, what
shall we next do ? Every intelligent being in the
universe instinctively anticipates the reply.
We shall not vote in lavor ot the legislators
who will vote against the slave ! We Isull not
vote for the men who will vote against our own
wishes. We shall not make men our agents who
will do the very reverse of what we instruct and
desire them to do ! Every child knows this.
There is no mystery in the statement there can
be no evasion.
If you hire a man to hoe your com, arid he has
been nt work all day, digging it up by the roo'.s,
ou will not send him into yuur field to-morrow.
You will not send a man in his place who, vou
have reason to believe, will do the same thing.
At any rate, if you do this, you will not make any
id ol twelve years old, who has common sense,
believe that you really wish to have your corn pro
perly hoed, and are very much opposed to having
it dug up. Such a lad would laugh at you, if he
should sec you writing polite petitions to your
laborer the next day, and asking him to be so good
as not to dig un your corn ! If a farmer in Onei-
1 county should mnnago in this manner, his
neighbors would say he was deranged, and the
oper authorities would lake measures for mana
ging his estate for hiin.
Be not deceived ! God is not mocked ! The
lusbandnjan who cultivates his moral vineyard
.and wields his political power in this manner will
soon find that his vineyard is taken from him, and
his power blasted by the omnipotent Giver.
On whom rests the guilt of slaveholding, if not
on the man who under any pretence give3 his
vote for the legislator who will virtually vote for
lavery, by not voting against it!
You are an abolitionist. You charge the guilt
on the slaveholder. He charges it on the laws.
hough you do not excuse him you still 10m
with him in condemning the laws. You contin
ue to fix the blame on him, BECAUSE HE HAS
NOT VOTED AGAINST THE LAWS. Well
then ! Have YOU voted against the laws ? You
iave not, if you have given your vote for a legis-
itor who will not vote against the slave laws!
Which is most guilty the benighted blinded--
prejudiced interested ignorant timid lynch-
bound slavery-trained slaveholder, who really
lioves that Abraham and Moses patronized
aveholding or you a professed abolitionist
teacher of babes ! a guide of the blind ! n resto
rer of truth who 'dost the same things !' 011
isten guilt upon the slaveholder, because ho gives
his consent to the slave laws. But you, an auoh-
lionist, (?) whenever you vote for n man who will
not vote ngainst shivery, give YOUR consent to
the slave laws !
Thou thatsayesl another should not steal, dost
thou steal ? Thou that savest another, should not
frame mischief by a law, dost thou frame mischief
a law ?
But you thinl. there are other subjects, as well
as emancipation, to be secured. V ou must vote
for a national bank or for a sub-treasury. .lust
so
thinks the half-repenting slaveholder.
His
single vote against slavery lwifl do no good.
If
his
fovorite candidate (his agent)
does
s not timu
1 1
the slave, somcoodv else will.
And so he votes
You follow in his
an enemy of emancipation.
footsteps, and expect to escape his condemnation.
Why ? Because vou are nn abolitionist ! Take
care, lest your knowledge of the truth should sink
you in the deeper condemnation. . our nuoii
tionism is worth no more than that of the slave
holder, who believes that shivery is wrong, but
11 not vote against the slave laws, U m. Uood-
Oiia.lull. editor nf iho Frian,! nf :T., V.
, . . ' ....i4 v, ...tail, ji.v
addressed a very lengthy letter to the Hon, J. Q
Adam, reviewing thoroughly the letter of the lat
ter. The following is an extract.
Political Action.
Our mode of political action would perhaps
cease to excite your surprise, if you should reflect
that your own letter teaches us the folly of regard
ing any other political question now before this
nation, as possessing the weight of a feather, in
comparison with the great question of the nai'on's
enslavement or freedom. To rally the- people
slowly porhaps.Jjut surely-we account a better
and more hopeful policy; than to labor to propi
tiate the good of party leaders. You tell us, and
perhaps truly, that Mr. Van Buren and his party
are irrevocably pledged against us. Wo know,
very well, thai the President is pledged against
abolition in the District and yodr letter shows plain
ly that you will not be surprised nor offended that
we consider the circumstance a good reason for
not giving him our votes. !! We remember in
deed the time when, as a member ' of the. New
York legislature, he could vote in fayor of a reso
lution of instructions' to our Representatives in
Congress, calling on them to act ngainst the exten
sion of slavery in the new states. But this does
not satisfy us. He will not go for abolition in the
District. We are grieved to find John Quincy
Adams taking the same stand, and for very simi
lar reasons. W e do not find the party' that sup
ports the present chief magistrate to be the only
one that disregards the rights of the slave, & that
stands ready to purchase power by adegrading bar
gain with the South. At this moment we see the
opponents of Mr. Van Buren at the North, appar
ently ready to obey the dictates of their southern
companions, and bind themselves to the car of the
Kentucky senator, who by your own showing, has
violated the constitution, in his eagerness to sac
rifice the interests of the free states and lay them
"prostrate at the feet of peculiar institutions," and
whose late speech in the senate has convinced Mr
Calhoun of his readiness to do it again. What
then could the petitioners gain by a course which
should "propitiate to them the good will of" eith
er 'party1 as such. ? What less can they do, as
honest men, than to vote, irrespective of party,
for those only who will vole for abolition ? In
what way shall we know who they are without
questioning them ? And how docs this practico
become questionable in respect to purity of nrin-
Wherein does it differ, except in form.
from the universal practice of the country? Who
votes for a legislator without knowing his views
on the great subjects he deems of primary import
ance? Who obtains a nomination, unpledged to
the policy approved by his supporters ? Nobody !
Without an organized party, a boJitiomsts arrive at
and communicate the same information by anoth
er method. Can they do better? Would you
advise them to form a new party and make their
own nominations ? I think you would not.
And why, let me ask, should candidates regard
it an 'annoyance' to be asked their opinion respect
ing abolition, any more than in respect to a na
tional bank ? And how do abolition questions in
terfere with 'freedom of elections' any more than
bank questions ? The great question of a nation's
enslavement or freedom, as addressed to a candi
date, one would have supposed, would not have
been considered a question of impertinent "annoy
ance' or of "questionable'' propriety, by a states
man who so clearly sees and so vividly exhibits
the present condition of the country as docs John
Quincy Adams ! Can it be possible sir, that when
you see the ship of the nation's security about to
be wrecked on the reef of slavery, you can retain
any interest in the paltry chess games, that the
deluded officers are plaving with each other in
the cabin ? What is it to you, sir or to me. or to
my freeman, who values the liberties God and
nature have given him, whether the barque of
our freedom founders with Martin Van Buror. or
Henry Clay, or John C. Calhoun at the helm ? Is
it a tune to avoid carefully the "annoyance" of
the fuichlcss pilots, or to cringe and "propitiate
their good will." What can they do for us?
What will they do ? No ! Let us talk and act
like freemen, while we may. And if we must
sink let it be in the erect posture of men, and like
faithful mariners, with our hands glued to the
shrouds, whilst the officers perish, if a must, in
their brawls and their revels. A timely pull, with
God's blessing, may paradventure steer the ship
clear of the reefs, and save them, and ourselves.
If our "searching questions" can rouse them in
time, to their duty, they will thank us for the "an
noyance," when the fume of their cups shall have
passed from their brains. If not, their blood bo
upon their own heads! Our skirts will be clean.
From the Philanthropist.
Abolition in the South.
About two weeks since, we had the pleasure of
seeing in Cincinnati, twenty-one slaves, just lib
erated by their masters, who, until recently, were
citizens of North Carolina; fruits, fruits of abo
lition excitemunt, This is the way the abolition
ists are riveting the chains of the slave.
There were two families of them, one number
ing twelve, the other, nine members, held by' two
persons, and valued at $7000.
The owner of the larger family was a poor
man, now the proprietor ot a smail larm 111 India
na, where by hard labor he manages to support a
wife, with nine children. He is a native of North
Carolina, and a graduate of Chapel Hill College,
in that State. Born a slaveholder, and continuing
one until middle life, still his conscience was''nev
er at peace. He wished to emancipate hisStjives
but w;is greatly perplexed. The first thing that
made his way plain beforo him, and confirmed
him iii his intention of doing justice to those who
called him master, . was, Biknev's Letters o
Colonization to T. A. Mills.
It was a long time before he could cfl'ecH his
purpose.
lis applied first lo the Manumission Society of
Friends in North Carolina, but it declined havj.ig
any thing to do in the matter.
lie next made an effort in Illinois, but found
that he would have to incur more expense thus
than he could by any means bear.
Missouri was then tried, but he learned that
though the state allowed its own citizens to man
umit their slaves, it would nut suffer citizens pf
Wr