The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-09-05
w. G. BROWN, ASSOCIATE EDITOR.


viz that The Liberty Party are partic-
ularIy accessible by truth and argument.
Mr.. B. as the prominent theme of his
letter, presents the destinies Of our nation
as suspended Oh the presidential election
Or as pending between Mr.. Clay and
Mr.. Polk. He says, "What then is the
issue 10 be decided by the contest q To
my mind it is clearly and Individually This:
Whether Texas as she is, with her slave
ny and her debts is 10 be Immediately an
nexed 10 this Union, or not" And
again "Here then l repeat is the issue be-
fore the American people: Polk, Texas,
War, and perpetual slavery Or Henry
Clay, no Texas, no war and slavery lat
the worst) left as it is"-And yet again
he says-lf one succeed we are to have a
slaveholding nation whose inhabitants re-
belled from their rightful government and
conquered a free country and cursed its
virgin soil by planting upon it the .%foulest
system ofoppression on which the sun ev-
er shone, yoked in the car Of our destiny /;
by which act we shall plunge into a bloody
war, saddled with a debt of unnumbered
millions the organic law of our glori.
Gus constitution destroyed, the political re-
lations between the north and the south
changed, the demon Of slavery placed up.
on a throne high and lifted up, where he
can laugh to scorn our puny efforts to de-
throne him-and our country made a his
sing and a byword through the civilized
world" &c. eff the other succeed, then
all the evils we have enumerated will be
! averted:''
Did Mr.. B. alone, entertain these views
he might enjoy them and the evil would
be comparatively unimportant. But, as
ifby simultaneous impulse, it would seem
multitudes have taken up the ca mt, and
adopted it as a settled maxim. Thus "If
you vote for Birney, then Polk gets it,
and you will have Texas hitched on TO
you and slavery forever" That's GER
tain And can this be so? If so, fare
we'll 10 American liberty We need not
wait the result of the approaching election.
Our Republic as an experiment has prov
ed an utter failure and as a ~lifeless corpse
may as we'll be unceremoniously buried in
oblivion.
But before we proceed to this extremity
let US stop for a few moments-Iay aside
this picture from our miads,and endeavor
to compose ourselves 10 take another, a
review OF our republic. And here it be-
comes US to advance with cautious tread
as on disputed ground.
The first ruling principle which should
govern and give character 10 all the so.
cial intercourse of man with man,is brief
ly comprehended in this saying: Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyseli.'-
This rule, so far as it applies to political
use, we have paraphrased in our Declare
ton of Independence and made it the ba-
sis of Jour disunion from monarchy, and
our establishment as a republic thus
"We hold these truths to be self evident,
that all men are created equal that they
are endowed by .heir creator with inal-
ienable rights, among which are the rights
of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
70 secure these rights, and for this pur-
pose alone, governments in their appro-
pirate design are instituted among men,
Consequently Governments derive all
their just powers alone from the consent
of the governed. AS security against
governments transcending such delegated
limi,s,is the rule established that the legls-
Iative, Judiciary and executive, should be
ever maintained distinc! departments
These principles entered into the original
design and formation of our government.
The legislative department was made de-
pendent and the judiciary independent,
as far as might well be of the popular
will; while the executive was made the
organ or instrument OF them both that
by this means the popular sense of right
become the law, and at the same time in
dividuaI Justice be secure. The executive
being ever kept the subordinate branch,
under an organization thus formed, it was
believed that civil and religious liberty