Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1839-06-28


of the stakeholder impressed2 With what
feelings are your hearts impressed towards
the stakeholder DO men gather grapes
of thorns or figs OF thstles 2 You appeal,
with exuation, 10 what you consider, per-
haps prematurely, the successful result of the
immediate emancipation OF slaves in the
British Colonies; and yet you cavil the
conditions you reject all idea of indmnity
TO the man-stealer as you style HIM, at the
very time when you are petltioning his rep
resentative to liberate his slaves, Ii one
hundred millions of dollars have been cheer
fully, magnanimously paid by the People of
Great Britain for the liberation of 100000
slaves, four times that sum at least, would be
required of the People ofthis Union to liber-
ate the slaves held in bondage here, at the
same rate OF indemnity. But, at the present
market price OF slaves, that would not amt.
to onethird part of indemnify for the value
lost And how was the emancipation of
slaves in the British Colonies accomplished
By act of Porliament--an assembly in which
the colonists had no representation. In d.
Iect contradiction is the principle upon which
our Revolution was founded Ii the ques-
ton had been submitted to the decision of
the Legislative Assemblies of the Colonies
themselves. do you imagine that any such
emancipation would have been effected, even
for twice or thrice the amount of the indem-
nifty allowed by Parliament
One OF the petitions transmitted 10 me al
the late session of Congress 10 be presented
90 the House OF Representatives signed by
John Jay and 43 citizens Of New York,
prayed that Congress would propose an
amendment to the Constitution of the United
.,l,o &C, H., Il
State into the Union. The petition did not
specify the mode of amendment desired, but
have long been of opinion, that, il the OBJ
jects ever to be attained peaceaby, and with
the consent Of the shareholders. of which
have but very faint hope, i must be by
that process, and never will be accomplished
by any other and took the occasion, when
asking leave of the House 10 present the pc
tition 10 include in the request the permits.
sion also to present three resolutions oil
amendment 10 the Constitution l. Provid-
ing that after given day, all children born
in the United States should be free 2.
That. with the exception of Florida, no State,
the Constitution Of which would sanction the
institution Of slavery should ever be admit
ted into the Union and, Sd. That after o
given day there should be neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude unless in punish
menl Tor crime, at the Seat of Government
ofthe Union. The House refused me the
permission to present either the petition or
The resolutions The petition was afterwards
admitted, with many hundreds more, TO the
Clerks table, by the general order of the
House Of the 18th of February. but the res
oluions were never received and if they
had been. must have been laid on the table
by the gag resolution of the 18th Of Decem-
Der, 1888.
have not been surprised 10 find in the
Emancipator notice that my resolutions
were not satisfactory to the petitioners at
whose suggestion | had prepared them for
presentation. They are in no wise and not
in the remotest degfee responsible for them.
| had no expectation that my resolution
would be received by the House | knew
they would not be discussed. | presented
them rather 10 the petitioners, as comprising
the only mode in which believe the aboli-
ton Of slavery could possibly be effected
without violence and without injustice
lament the temper mutually rambling be-
tween the Shareholders and the abolitonists,
and am convinced that so long as it exists in
this Union, or even in the District of Colum-
bia. is as far beyond the regions OF possbili-
~, as any project Of the philosophers of La
puta. The multiplication OF Anti Slavery
Societies within the last three years has APP
peared to me rather to weaken than to pro-
mote their cause, or at least, their prospects
OF Immediate or early success. With the
increase oftheir numbers new and collateral
questions, always controvertibe and perplex
ing. like parasite suckers from the main stem
oil the tree, have sprung up TO divide their
counsels. and introduce discussions among
themselves The captious dispuations of
moral and political casustry. about non-re-
sislance, defensive war, the rights of wo-
men. political action, no Government, the
social condition of the colored race, the en-
enlargement given 10 the slaves to escape
from their masters, and exaggerated repre-
sentalions Of the miseries of the condition,
have eminently concurred not only 10 coun-
teract their influence upon the main object
oitheir association, butto make them unpop-
nlar and even odious, moi only ia the South,
but in all parts of the Union. Their annoy
ance Of candidates for popular election, by
putting searching questions to them as tests,
importing at once promise and threat,
has not propitiated TO them the goodwill of
any party, and has made them obnoxious 10
all The purity OF the principle of these
formal interrogatories, for answers TO be fol.
lowed by suffrages is very questionable, with
reference to the freedom of elections The
expedient itself has seldom if ever been sue.
cessfu to accomplish its object. II has in
almost every instance disclosed the weak.