Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1844-03-30

time, the other great party is lahoring to ele-
vate to the first office in the nation a man living
daily in the commission Of a crime, the aiding
and abetting'' in which, would, under the whole
some code of this State, ronsign any one to the
penitentiary,
But let us look a little farther at the doings of
this same Legislature, find in the published
laws of the last session the following Resolve, viz.
ReSolDcd, BY the Senate and House of Repre-
s;entatives, That we protest against any attempt
for the annexation Of Texas to this Union, as I'M
constitutional and dangerous to the stability of the
Union itself.
This. resolution, PROFESSIONALLY speaks the SEN
timents of a vast majority of the 'freemen of. Yer
mont; and We might certeialy expect to see tie
gentleman composing that Legislature, aud their
constituents, laboring to carry it out by placing in
our national councils men who are open and I'M
compromising opponents of annexation. But how
is the fact? We see one party e%xerting every en-
ergy to raise to the Presidency a western man
monger who, years ago, attempted to introduce
this same Texas into the Union, while it was a
province of Mexico; and we have yet to learn that
his views have undergone any change since that
time. The other party sustain a candidate who is
wholly uncommiHed on this vital question; and
whose political life, thus far, furnishes no guaran-
tee that the interests of freedom will be regarded
in any contest where slavery is concerned.
But again. The following resolve of tine last
session, is often referred to as evidence that our
legislature is sound to the core on the subject of
slavery.
Resolved, That we regard the abolition of slav-
cry in the District of Columbia and Territory of
Florida as within the province and constitutional
powers of Congress, and that we urge upon that
body the propriety of its speedy abolition in that
District and Territory.
Here, again, is good doctrine-precisely the
voice of Vermont on this subject. But who are
the chosen instruments to accomplish this great
reform?-Henry Clay and Martin Van Buren,,
both pledged in advance to veto every bill having
that object in view. The election of either would
oppose an insuperable barrier to emancipation for
at least the next four years.
The course of our Legislature, for the last six
years, reminds one very forcibIy of the system of
military tactics adopted by Peter Stuyvesant, one
of the early Dutch Governors of New York, in
his ware with tho Yankee, aud oIner border enc
mics. Instead of employing Paixbam guns, Con-
greve rockets, and the thousand other murderous
implements of war, he hurled at his enemies fam
ing PrOclamationS, interlarded with tall words and
big Dutch oaths. The Legislature and people of
this State, in their contest with slavery, seem to
have adopted the gallant Peter as a model. The
poet hits off the matter tolerably in the following
lines:-
"Not always actions show the man; we find
Who does a kindness is not therefore kind;
Perhaps prosperity becalmed his breast;
Perhaps the wind just shifted from the East.
Who Combats bravely is not therefore brave;
He breads a death-bed like the meanest slave;
Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise;
His pride in reasoning not in acting lies"
In closing this chapter upon consistency, -
permit me to refer to a law of this State of long
standing. (See R. S. chap. 81, sec. ~ 1t was
not got up to meet any present emergency, and
may, | believe, he considered sustained by the
public sentiment of the State. 1t seems, at this
conjunctureF to be of peculiar interest to our good
friends the Wings:
"Every person, who shall engage in a duel witt
any deadly weapon, although no homicide ensue
or shall challenge another to fight such duel, Of
shall send or deliver any written or verbal mes
sage, purporting or intending to be such challenge
although no duel ensue, shall be punished by i'm
prisonment in the State prison, not more than tel
years, or by fine, not exceeding one thousand dol.
lars, and shall also be forever incapable Of holding
or of being elected or appointed to any place o
honor, profit or trust, under the Constitution o
laws of this State, or of enjoying the privileges o
a freeman within this State"
Henry Clay, the Wing candidate for the Presi
dency, according to his own biographer, Geo. d
Prentiss,) in 1903, challenged Mr.. Marshall ant
exchanged three shots with him. Again, in 1926
t he challenged John Randolph, for words spoke
A in debate in the Senate, deliberately attempted hi
} life, while Mr.. R. discharged his pistol in the air
q In 1941, a duel was projected between Mr.. Cha
S and Senator King, and both were bound up in fv
= thousand dollars to keep the peace. Had MI
\ Clay been a citizen of this State he would hav
= been employed in the making of rifles and pistol
Y in the penitentiary at Windsor, instead of usin
them in affairs of honor. Where is the great dit
ference between selecting our Presidential candid
: ate from the %convicts of the penitentiary, or TAX
y ing a man who Ourselves being the judges de
serves to be there' So far as the morality of tn
IS thing is concerned, | see very little difference.
a lfit has indeed come to this, that we must su:
" tain, for the highest possible trusts, men who's
hands are red with murder,-and all of who's
80, whole xvaa1th L,z Io-. L-.--I