State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1831-1836, 1836-10-04

To ALL THE FRIENDS OF RATToNAL LIE
EETY, OF EVERY NAME.

To ALL THE FRrENps OF RATIONAL LIB
EETY, OF EVERY NAME.
Fcliop Cai.cnS,--Our Pilgrim Fathers
left the land of their fathers sepulchures,
and came into this New World, that they
might enjoy their civil and religious liberty.
TO preserve their inaienabIe rights, our
Warrcns aud Ilancocks, and Washington,
and fifty thousand heroes dared to resist
the tyranny Of Great Britain; and thousands
persisted upon the high places of the field
And to secure and perpctuate our inalen-
able rights our wise men framed our Ma
tional Constitution. But now this Consti-
tuition is made an engine to destroy our
liberties, or is trampIed in the dust by furi-
Gus ond hwlcss mobs The Shareholders
Of the South, and the aristocra,s of the
North and West are boldly violating the
sacred rights Of their fellow citizens, excl
ting mobs to deadly deeds, and by violence
cndcavoring TO shut the mouths, and para
lie the efforts Of the friends of liberty and
humanity in our land. And again the.
momentOus question is to be settled, wheth-
err this shall he a land of slavery, Or land
of civil and religious liberty 49, whether
few lordly arislocrats shall rule by the power
of mobs, or the supremacy Of the laws
shall be sustained, and the rights of every
man he secured by the arm Of law. Tho
awful question is now at issue, whether tic
constitution shall he preserved, or sacrificed;
justice shall triumph in this distracted land.
Fellow Citizens You are deeply inte-
rested in the fearful struggle. Aud let it
be remembered, that no man can long re-
main neutral in this contest. The mob may
serve your purpose to-day and burn up
your habtation tomorrow be tool
in the hands of ari.:ocrats to-day, aud to-
morrow may demolish their splendid pal
aces and lead them to the guillotine. In
the revolution Of France, those who are
now pleased with the mad exploits ef tho
moh may see what their final resuhs will
he. Once organized, aud lho mob will de-
mand political power, and the SPoils OF
ricto'y Then our civli rulers and men Of
property, who now foster the serpent, viii
have to eat the fruit of their own doings
and be filled with their own devices. Surely
"they shat hare Judgment aoahom mercy ieho
hare Shoped no mercy" And they will richly
deserve it.
But viii the hardy sons of our Greer
Mountains become tho dupes or the tools
of Shareholders and their abctors--lenp
into the yawning gulph to please Office
seekers and aristocrats-s sacrifice their own
inalienable rights and dig the last grave of
civil liberty to uphold a system of oppres-
sion and crime, Which none but demons
could have devised? Must mobocracy be
enthroncd in our free States, and our very
sanctuares invaded, to sustain the system
Of man stealing which disgraccs the South?
No, never! Far better let one member
perish, than have the whole body destroyed.
had rather fall under the power of one
despot, than be exposed to the fury Of five
hundred dcspots. When the law quails
before the mob, and the civil arm is pow
eress, and the multitude can slumbcr on,
we may be sure that righteous God will
leave them to the infatuated counsels Of
men, who will wind their chains about
them, rivet their letters upon them. And
when they awake they viii find that the
strength Of Sampson will not be sufficient
to break their chains, and recover their lost
liberty. AN OLD MAN.