Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1836-06-17
anime. and deliver documents pronounced

anime, and deliver documents pronounceu
to be inccnd airy, the Bill proposes 10 pun
ish him by fine and imprisonment, -,
And then the limitations of the Blll. its
provisions extends 10 all papers, wr'tten or
nyjnied. touching The subject Of SldUery'-
And who is to decide in the first instances
how far such a document touches the SUD
,ect Of Slavery? p Why the Postmaslers
Clerks, and the boys, who mail aud dIstri'
butte the papers. Any thing which escapes
their ~v,ni!ant supervision, is 10 expose
their employer to fine and imprisonment
Is there common justice or common sense
in such an enactment as this ANA on
wha, data are these Post Office Censors TO
predicate their judgment To what ex-
lent will it be necessary for a paper TO
touch the subject, in order to render 1t OBJ
noxious to the law! Must the word STD
pery be stricken from our vocabularies p
Must the Declaration Of Independence be
n dead lclter-a prohibited pamphlet-in
any state which chooses to prescribe 1t,
because it pronounces all men born with
the unalienable right of LIBERTY? Is not
that touching the subject Of Slavery and
would Congress be justified in passing any
law which should sustain q State in making
it Penal for a Postmaster to mail or deliver
the Declaration Of Independence?
Congress can make no law directly
abridging the freedom Of speech or the
press and the papers and effects Of the
people are secured by The Constitution from
unreasonable seizure or search. Now what
more right have Congress to permit the
postmasters, deputies and clerks TO seize
and search papers passing through the mail,
,la. tI1, bo,,a 10 nrlhnrtun n hnP rfG nnFS
to search their houses for similar objection
able documents? Is not the liberty OF the
press abridged, as effectually by q Post
Office Censorship, as by any other: What
matters it whether you abrldge hat liberty
by forbidding to prin: certain documents.or
by making it penal to circulate them p
And il Congress have no right to forbid
the printing of any documents touching the
subject of slavery-as such an act would
be an obvious a%brijgment of the freedom
of the press-what right has il to subject
officers of the United States to punishment
for not preventing their circulation?
No law based upon a Post Office censor
ship-no law which even countenances
such a searth Of the mail as is supposed by
the bill of Mr. Calhoun, can be otherwise
than odious to the people Of the U States
1t authorizes a seizure and q search of pa
pers and effects, forbidden by our Consti'
tuition. 1t directly bridges the liberty OF
the press, guaranteed 10 US by the same
sacred character. 1t imposes duty on Post
Masters which the Constitution does not
warrant, and q responsibility to which they
cannot be Justly exposed. 1t erec,s in every
village of the Slaveholding States a petty
Tnquisi,ion, whose officer may be at once Q
dependent and a spy Of the General Gov
eminent. 1t increases ten fold the power
and Importance of these Department fec
officials, and while it renders them doubly
obnoxious and dangerous to the people
may make them doubly useful as instru'
ments Of the Executive.
That the southern Senators should have
generally voted for this law, we are not Sc
much surprised and we would by no means
lmpugn their motives in 80 doing. Urget
on by the rash ana reckless course of thu
Abolitionionists; irritated, exasperated, b,
their abusive attacks and inflammatory ap
peals; feeling deeply that this interference
with their domestic Institutions is unwar
2 rantable, unconstitutional, and unjust
, knowing that, if persisted in, it must inev
itably result in a civil and ~scrvilc war, "
eau UuIu'y WOnuS tiIdl tItl' ChC'Cu iCCi
lngs should lead them to the adoption Q
stronger measures than would be approve
by their more deliberate Judgment. Blu
q we must confess that we were not prepar
ed for the humlliating spectacle that ha
u been presented. We were not prepered t
o see a northern man., occupying the secon
place in the government, and candidate 70
the first, bartering The constitutional righl
of The american people for the con,ingen
votes of couple Of slaveholding states
Talk of Sedition Laws and Gag Laws
there is no law which ever more disgrace
the statute book of a people living under
Constitution, than this Incendiary Publica
: ton Bill; and this law which has been en-
crossed for its final passage in the Sena,
BY THE CASTING VOTE OF MARTIN Va
buren,.
- We have been uniformly and strongl
opposed to the movements of the Abol
~tionists. We believe them to be in the las
degree injudlcious, unjust, uncohsli,utiona
. and not merely unavailing, but absolutel
prejudicial to the cause of emancipation
: We believe firmly that if it had not bee
:, for these northern agltations, slavery woul
: have been abolished both in Maryland an
. Virginia within ten years. Other State
, would have followed her example bu
now The prospect is more remote than evel
, The spirit at the south favorable to tn
cause has been paralyzed, struck dumb, b
the wild and reckless fanaticism of tn
: immediate Abolitionists. 1t has been STRIP
, ped of power; if not driven by commo
= interests, sympathies and dangers to a firm
. er alliance with the STAKEHOLDER. But Will
. we defend the constitutional rights Of tn
= south, we must not overlook those const
+, %tutional rights which are common to ever
- section of the country. While we woul
protect the STAKEHOLDER to the last title
!, all the rights which the charter of our VI
I ION secures to him-we cannot consent I
ID the slightest infringement on the GENERA
LIBERTY secured by the same sacred il
ie strument. We can never consent to subm
o. our guaranteed freedom Of The Press, ar