Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1844-10-11
POLITICAL.
SPEECH or THE HON. CAssIUs NJ.
CLAY.

Inc borrowing 10 the adnllraOle, eloquent, ana
highly effective speech delivered by the Hon. Cas-
sius NJ. Clay, of kentucky at the fremont Temple
on the evening of the 10Th ult after the adjourn
ment of the great Convention on the Boston Com
mon -
1t would be ungratoful in me TO affect TO be in
sensible to the respect and enthusiasm with which
| have been received here, as elsewhere, in the
whole North, y At my qualification is diminished by
the reflection that cannot point to any achieve
ment of my ANY great public service which
deserves so muck Distinction yUu are pleased to
bestow upon me- Stir II i,xedness of purpose, an
ardent love of country, and fearless advocacy of
truth are worthy of consideration, ! trust may
prove not altogether undeserving your generous
confidence. | stand here under very peculiar cir
cumstancos. Having been ever true to the Wing
cause, from my earliest manhood down to the pres
ent hour, find myself denounced by leading Wings
as ultra in my opinions | owe the Wings moth
ing-once having possessed their confidence and
support, because | would not submit my conscience
and my reason to their will, have been by them
or at least portion Of them, joined by the Demo
cratic party, prescribed forever. 1t is unnecessary
to say that from the Democratic party | meet with
no favor. | myself am then, only responsible for
myself know to well that AIN denounced at the
South as an enemy my country, know also who
they are that pursue me with memorable malice
which neither time nor distance, nor any thing
short of utter ruin Of my name and person. can ev-
er satiatc. To the pro-slavery party of the South
| owe nothing--no-not my life; once more now,
as heretofore, l scorn their wrath and defy their
power. | appeal from the 81 ,195 slave holders to
the 100000 free white laborers of my own loved
State. Yes to Kentucky, place Of my nativity,
home of my boyhood, the early and fond associa-
tons of childhood, and more mature age, owe my
first and lasting allegiance-there shall ever live
and there shall repose in death, To my country,
to poserity, to God look for slow coming Justice
and ultimate judgment.
Shall repeat that the present crisis is the most
evcntful in the annals of our history. II is the same
great struggle, which from time lmmenorai down
to the present hour, has never ceased between lber
ty and slavery In the language of Mr.. Choate
the question is not how shall be governed only,
but who shall govern lis the same issue which
the colonies Of America in l77G, made with the ty-
ranical parliament of Britain, except that now we
are called upon not only to yindcate the right that
taxation and representation should be equal and in
separable but to stand by or forever lose, many oil
those great safeguards Of liberty which we enjoyed
under British rule. Mr. Webster has asked to-day
.swhere, out of America, save in England exist tri-
al by Jury a free PRESS public assemblies, the right
of free discussion and the habeas corpus act"
ask you where but in England do they exist dc
thew exist here ?-no you know too well that they
do not These great bulYarFs of human liberty
! founded OIL the blood and unspeakabe woe Of the
great and rood, who have for long ages fallen
sacrifice to the vindicaon of the eternal principles
of right and TRUTH are now tramped under foot BY
the despotlc pro-slavery party OF this republic.
! Yes, it is to slavery and TO the temporslng poll
cy of our fathers, owing that the Of '76 was in
complete, and that we are now called upon in 1884,
once more to fight the battle ofliberty. | will no
reproach our illusrious sres, detract from thei
! glorious fame; they did more, by the American rev
| outon and the constitution OF the United States, t
establish the cause of human freedom, than an.
! other men whose deeds illustrate the annals o
the world still sad experience has too wei
| proved to u.s. that they left much undone, and tn
permission of slavery in the United States govern
! ment has well nigh left us nothing of our origina
franchises Let us look the evil boldly in the face
and if it be not already to-late, retrace our steps
! and be vet saved from ruin. 1t cannot be denie
! that the whole people of the Union were participe
! crimnes in the establishment Of slavery -who
! they allowed the importation of slaves up to 1903
when the North agreed to return slaves to the sou
and allowed three votes for every five slaves il
the federal representation. Yes, If they did no
use the word Stare they meant it-they meant wla
! they said-if they did not say ALL they meant. d
the other hand, deny now and forever, that Their
: was any sacred and inyiolabe compromise betwee
: slavery and liberty. Adams and Sherman an
Morris, and others of the North, and Madison an
Il, Jefferson and the immortal Washington, and 9th
ers of the South--yes all, with few exceptions, c
the ustrous founders Of the constitution, were OF
posed TO slavery all-nll, every one that vote
'+N'~
slavery. SO far as expressed in the three clause
named, the only ones in the constitution on thc
subject should cease whenever three fourths OF tn
| Suites should aoiu its fall. The only compromis
in the constitution is that every State, small we
as large shall forever have two senators all otht
clauses ofthe constitution but this may be change
= in accordance with the express permission OF til
: instrument itself And since the object OF the Ur
t ion in its preamble was to establish justice an
perpetuate libertythen, it is not only the right BIT
the memorable duty of this great republic to pure
the constitution ofthese clauses, which blot its ia
escutcheon, and make its great fabric indeed Il
temple of the free. The National Government HI
Il no power over slavery in the slave states, becau
e none was given it by these then Independent SOW
Y reantes. Let each State act on its own respons
Is bty-lookng to its own interests, to conscienc
C and to God. stand by The ConStltuiion-yeS, loi
e ma life lcW defend it, But as the General Go
l. ernment has no power to abolish slavery, so 1t h
no power to make slavery the admission
y slave States into this Union declare to be unco
e sttutonal-and the permission Of slavery is its c
ID Enlistment. Within the District Of Columbia al
Il in the Territories of the Union, slavery does II
= constitutionaly exist. For the 9Th article Of Il
amendments says expressly that "no person sht
a be deprived of life liberty property without d
Il process of law"-which means without some crir
e committed, and ascertained, and punished by la
81 Then if Congress cannot make slave, she cam
ne allow a new State TO do it-she cannot transfer
lie others more power than she has hersef--the age
- cannot do more than the pricipal-then she cam
r permit slavery in States or Territories or any OF
re er place where she has sovereign and uncontroll
m power Nor can the miserable pretence be set
h. that blacks are not "persons" Tor slaves are call
to persons" in every clause where they are alluded
lgl in the Constitution. And if a, and C, CALI
themselves States, or Congress itself, can make,
in allow to be made, black man slave, then !, a
tb the best man in Massachusetts, may be reduced
IN slavery, and there is no power in the CONSTITUTE
lie to restore us to liberty. The States of Louisia
CHI and Missouri and Arkansas, which have been
constitutionally admitted slave States have n
s. been by us, the Union, admitted to be sovEREI
n and entitled to all the privileges of the other Stat
.s. would not, i'll could, now interfere with slay
3, there. Experience teaches us that stability in