Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1844-04-20
MONrpELrER, VERMONT SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1914

the act of acquiring territory and in the provision
made for the permanency of slavery; a third of
kindred complexion with the last, may be added.
instead OF connIng the operation of the treaties
to the cases Of the resident Shareholders of Louis
lana and Florida; the only ones provided for; the
Shareholders Of the States were allowed, without
restraint, TO introduce their slaves into those terri
tories. From the first, this was permitted under
our saveholdng Executives, and il has been per-
sisted IN so long without being interrupted or even
questioned, that Louisiana and Florida slavery, as
parts OF the whole system, are now considered to
be as firmly established; aye, and as lawfully too
-as is the slavery Of Georgia or of South Carroll
ma, under their respective black codes.
The unauthorized purchase of Louisiana must
be regarded as, in its consequences, the most dis
astrous event for our country, to be found in its
political history. In saying this, neither forget nor
underrate the advantages Of the acquisition, in
mere territorial point of view. But might not
those advantages have been as certainly secured
without bringing ourselves the odium of the
ills which we are now suffering, from having ex-
| tended and strengthened the empire of Slavery?
Would not the people, on being properly appeal
ed to, have so amended the Constitution as to have
dUt5ori@ed the acquisition, whilst they carefully
guarded against the countenance and diffusion of
Slavery III the.yast region, out of which three
Slave States have already been carved.
Next to the purchase Of Louisiana, in calamit-
Gus consequences to the country, was the admis-
sion Of Mssogri into the Union, as a Slave State
into this Struggle the slave power entered with
ferreness that did not seem to characterize it in
former times! But it did not forget--t never
d0es-to eke cut the lions skin with the foxs tail
That struggle, in which, too, treachery in the
North, did ltspart but too WE'LL issued in the COM
pletet9iun1ph Of the enemies of the Constitution
EltaftieiEdR ganquished, betrayed, retired dscour
tagged fE0Hl the field. From that time till the pres
4 eht, the government has been sWayed by men who
shpty, in the bnslavement of their fellow men, how
heartily jtheE3despise the truths of the Declaration
nf,iDdept by men whose lives are but the
I. e1pissspon DEthe coarse, barbarian contempt with
4 Y cry Claim of humanity, and which every
( primo pie; 5ust and equitable government may be
1 spufled and tranped on in the face of God and
4 fhaH.% their power, too, has been exercised in
1thesahie inseeht spirit of overseershipthat marks
rqtal rule al hqule over the ragged starVelngs of
Fthelr:f apaeitY}aId avarce. The free States send
.lthelf members ofsCongress to Washington to be
:Eoyel'awed, corrupted and despised. The venal
I0tators and declaners of Athens, who sold them
selves and their country to Philip, were not look
ed on with supremer contempt by their supercill-
ions purchaser, than are the hetrayers Oft the North
by their slaveholding overseers when driving them
to their daily task of official meanness and scrviIi-
ty.
Such is the condition of our affairs now--onc
for Which we have been prepared, mainly by the
two anneXations that have already taken place and
Iby he admission Of Missouri into the Union. II
is a sad condition-but not devoid of hope.-For
again are the friends of the Constitution and OF
universal liberty ralying, and fast swelling the ranks
ola party in whose success lies as firmly believe
the only reasonable ground of hope for the rescue
of the Repabc from its most iusldious foe. AL
ready it is evident, that the consancy, and energy
and activity of the Liberty party are not without
some of their proper fruits. The sagacous begin
to discover, that the slave-power has met with al
adversary more formidable than any it has had tt
cope wth-that confusion and dependency are
showing themselves among the leaders Of the bat
talia; that the rescue of the government fomtha
, dark power, and the growing blessing of our holy
Struggle lis utter and everlasting orerthroc, shall
at no very distant period, cause the song of praise
and thanksgiving to ascend from all the borders o
the land to Him in whose might we have fought
= and who has given us the victory. At such tim
+ in such a crisis, to receive Texas as u slave terri
tory would be a grievouS event to he added to tn
i already unhappy catalogue of events of a kindred
character that have all been used to establish in
justice in the land, and to perpetuac the evils o
e the most abomnahle Tyranny that man has eve
usurped over his feIlow-man.
i am, gentlemen,
i very respectfully,
y Your obedient serv't,
c JAMES G. BIRNEY.
= To Messrs. William E. Austin, David Shields
= James Clarke Committee