Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-11-13
From the Tribune.
Letter From CaSsinS M. Clay.
Lexington, (Ky.) OctObr 25, lS45.

HtAe"StU"' OttV"'' 49, '
Gentlemen Your very interesting and fiat
tering letter, inclosing the resolutions of the
friends of Free Discussion in Philadelphia" has
been received.
l have read the resolutions with care, and
conceive that you ere strictly within your line
of constitutional and moral duty, in thus giving
u~tterance to the sentiments of treeborn men.
The question has been again and again asked,
"Whn has the free North to do with Slavery =
The slave States added to the Union; the uncon-
stitutional establishment of Slavery in the Dis
trict of Columbia its lawful sufferance in the
territories, on the high sens, aud IN places of
national exclusive jurisdiction, answer! The
North is as guilty of this crime against mans
supremacy and Immortality as The South; more so,
because she is derelect in duty, with far less
temptation. But, as no offence goes unpunlsh-
cd, she lis r%eaping the fruit of her sorry policy,
by the unjust and disgracetul wars in which she
has been compelled to engage-by taxes which
have cen imposed upon her, by the immense
capital which has been swallowed up in Southern
baNkruptcy-by the hanging of citizens, without
trial by jury, and without law-by the i%mprison-
ment Of her seamen-by the expulsion Of, and
insult to her ambassadors by the denial Of JUS
tice in the national courts of justlce-and lastly,
by the impudeut seizure, and forclble abduction
Of her own free born citizens, upon her own soil,
and their incarceration in distant prisons. Shall
any one be so base as any longer to ask, "What
has the North to do with slavery" Or rather
shall not the cry, hencelorth, forever, be, "What
shall the North do, to have nothing to do with
slavery"
There is no question about the people Of this
Union being in all respects a nation. 1t is true
that the States, to a certain extent, are soVer-
eign, in the sense that counties of States excr-
else some independent powers under the general
permit Of the State supremacy. But it is also
true that the States are no farther sovereign than
the National Constitution allows them. If that
be the case, then it is plain that, when an un-
constitutional act is done by any State, the Ma
tionaI power is ample to correct it. The Llber-
ty Of the Press, which is now violated in my
person, is a right of old common-Iaw inheritance,
it is guaranteed to us by the National Constitu-
ton, and there is power in the Congress Of the
United States to vindicate this right. | call
upon them to do it. They owe me protection.
/ owe them allegiance. Better far were it for
me that / had been born a wild Arab of the
desert, or an untamed Camanche of the West,
than an American citizen, if the stern officer Of
the law, stands by and sees me murd cred, while
she strips me ofthe naturalright of selEdefence.
BY the laws of Nature, | could proceed against
the rebels Cf the 18th, with stratagem, poison,
secret, or open murder. But the law Of the
land will not allow me to do this. She exposes
me TO the attacks of enemies, whilst she strikes
the weapons of defence from my hand. Is not
this condition insufferablel Look at your own
wives and children. See your own hearth-stones
Acknowledgements exposed to inevitable
insult, injury, and death, and then turn a deaf
ear to my cause if you can,
If this be an unnecessary infection Of the
slave power, | call upon the Nation to relieve
me. If it be a necessary 70, following in the
wake of American Slavery, then by all that is
sacred among men, or holy in Heaven, let Amer
leans rise in the omnipOtency of the ballot, and
say, "SLAVERY SHALL DIE"
Your obedient servant, G. NJ. CLAY.
C, d. Cleveland, j. BOuuir, VIM. Elder,
and r. s. CdUend9. Esqrs, Committee, Pitt
Gdelphia.