The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-09-05

chapter 5, were men always TaIlohai
they would terminate contests by the arm
of reason only And yet in view of lh
acknowledged fact he points out the na
merous rules of war as rendered expe'
dent, necessary, right, by the sanction o
custom. Take again in proof state
men: of Henry Clay. He says i owe
to the community, to say, that whatever
heretofore | may have dore, or by newt
able circumstances may be forced to do
no man holds in deeper adherence than
do the pernicious practice of dueling.-
Condemned as it must be by the judgment
and philosophy, 10 say nothing of the re-
lgion, of every thinking man, it is an al
fair Of feeling about which we cannot
though we would, reason, The true cor
receive will be found, when all shall
unite, as all ought to unite in its unquali.
fled prescription See appendix to biog'
raphy of Clay page,292, Here then we
have practice held by this eminent man
in deep adherence practice that must
be condemned by the judgment & philos-
ophy of every thinking man; a practice
which may be, and ought to be corrected
by the united prescription Of all, and yet
he acknowledges that by inevitable cir>
cumstances he may be forced TO engage
in the practice as he has heretofore done.
Such is the reasoning of Mr. Clay about
duelling, and is not the reasoning of Mr.
B, about voting, essentially the same ?
The dictates of reason, justice, Humanity
and Religion require that he should vote
against slavery and dueling. The con-
stitution guarantees to him the privilege,
and circumstances impose on him the du-
~ of exercising the right of franchise
freely, and conscientously, without fear
or favor Of any man. Yet he feels him
self compelled by inevitable necessity i'm
posed on him by the law of popular par
ty operations to patronze by his vote, a
man and party that palliale, defend, sus-
tain, all these wrongs. But Mr.. B. has
arrived at his conclusion by mature re-
Election ! So has Mr.. Clay,-so has
Vattell, with much labor, invest cation,
but after all, the compulson, and the ne
cessity, all grow out of the perverse law
Of custom or precedent And is it not
" this system of induction Mr.. B. has
1pprehended such imminent hazard of
Immediate annexation? Has the constitu.
ion of the U. States placed US under
such liability, or left us thus exposed to
annexation with its tram of evils Let
us examine. inlrod uction to that in
srumen. reads thus We the people
of the United States What then is the
essential constituent of our natiou2 MOI
the land we occupy-Not the instrument
we have adopted as our organic law bu
We, the people constitute the body poll.
tic. Our organic law may be altered or
amended by proper process-our terrific
tory may be extended and new settlements
made, and new states created by us =
j )reigners may be naturalized and so be-
rome fellow freemen with us. But what
} the true limit of the phrase, THE u
iteG States ? The declaration of indie
'endence may furnish the original mean
ng and the original states, together with
heir legitimate offspring form the entire
,amily specified by this name. The We
ry name originated with the confederate
dlsunion of colonies from another ma
ton. How then can this confederacv be
construed to bind the states, or any one
state to another nation. La the formation
OF the constitution no state was bound by
that instrument, though agreed to by its
delegates in convention until it was rati-
fed by the states, nor then, until nine of
the states had concurred in ratifying it,
And the same instrument also for the
purpose of securing the independence Of
the states in their individual capacity and
the Liberties of the people, expressly says ;
The power not delegated to the United
States by the constitution nor prohibited
by it 10 the states, are reserved 10 The
states respectively, or to the people,
With care were the rights and liberties
ofthe people respected,and guarded in the
original formation of the constitution