The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1845-11-20

was no offence against the laws VIVA
cafe they, who plot murder, for violated
oa,hs? The respec liable save-hoIdIng
mob of the l8.h, sat in judgment upon the
"ungenLlemanIy" mob of the 10Th by
arms aud force, cloiming for themselve;
alone supreme irresponsible power.
The "canaile" OF the 10Th were draw
up before The courts and punished; the re-
spectacle gentlemen of the 18Th, beyond
all human computation more gully, wen
unwhipt Of justice Surely the king car
do no wrong! While speak, there are
now ordered some hundreds of armed
men by the Governor into Clay county
preserve what little remnant OF civil
authority and the cd form of government
may yet remain. What will this come TO 2
Where does it all lead 1t requires no
pro phetic eye 10 see the blood knee deep,
ere this damnRble usurpation come TO
the still grave of unresised and hopeless
despotsm Did they say to Stevenson
of Georgetown, print no more upon the
subject of Slavery2 Has the Louisville
Journal been silent D.? In Lincoln, and
Jefferson, and Nelson, will peaceable
citizen be drawn from his bed at mid
night, and be hung to limb or shot
down like q dog in the day, if he ven
;Ures to read one half of the papers OF
America ? Are not these men mad /?
Are they not spinning for themselves a
web, which, like the shirt of Nessus, will,
instead of protecting, involve them in ut
ter ruin and despair? Who in South
Carolina dare now discuss Slavery p
Can Calhoun - can Hammond plead if
he would, for emancipation ? Have
they not raised devil which the COM
bined intellect OF the State cannot lay,
though death look them in the face, and
the grave open beneath their fee: p
fMadmen and fanatics" would you place
Kentucky in the same cate cory! Will
you not allow US TO be saved now while
it is to day-and while the evil years
come not
BY what tenure do you hold your slaves?
Is it by natural right, or by the constitu
ton? Ii the constitution be overthrow,
is not the slave free? Will the other
States return him t. bondage? viii
they interfere TO put down domestic vio>
lcnce, when by you all legal society is
first d9stroyed9 When you avow your
selves murderers in purpose, will the
North be thus cured Of dangerous fanati
cism' Will not blood answer TO blood,
and the earth cry out increasingly for
vengeance' Is not the liberty of the
press the common concern Of the whole
American people' Can you plont your
iron heel upon the ten millions Of Nor
thern Freemen3 Are Bunker Hill and
Lexington ideal names. and do dream
when / find myself planted upon a soil
which was namd in solemn dedication
and remembrance of that land which was
wet by The blood Of those who knew not
how to be slaves and live? Can any
people be free who voluntarily yield to
illegal force and single right? Do mot
owe allegiance to the National Govern
ment may she not call upon me at any
hour TO lay down my life in her defence?
Then does she not in turn, owe me pro
tcctionf Cln the sheep be safe when all
the watch. dogs are slain? Can the ma
ton be free when all the presses are
muzzled' Have not the organs of two
administrations made relentless war up
on me, private in3ivdual2 What is
there in my person SO terrible to the
slave power: Is any thing more terri
Bile TO tyrants than the liberty Of the
press' Will not emmissaries from a
slaveholding President do in the free
States to morrow what is done with i'm
punity here to day. Do not the cries
of the blood hounds Of national patron.
age, crying for my blood as freely as the
despots of the South, strike terror into
the souls Of Northern menu
Can it be that the liberty of the pre-
is SO small thing3 Know you not, A
mercans, that when the liberty of speech
and of the press is lost, all is lost? t1eav>
ems and Earth must argue this ques
,jon with The descenda is of Washington
and Adams1 Well then, Euripides said
"1his is true Liberty, where free born
men, having to advise the puplic, may
speak free" Said Chatham "Sorry am
1 TO hear liberty Of speech in this House
imputed as a crime; it is liberty | mean
to exercise no gentleman ought to be
afraid to exercise it." John Milton -
And although all the winds Of doctrine
were let loose to play upon the earth, so
truth be in tho field, we do injuriously !
by licensing and prohibi ing to misdoubt
her strength. lie, her and falsehood
grapple. Who ever knew truth put to
the worse in free and open encounter?'
Daniel Webster, speaking of the free
dom of opinion -" 1t may be silenced
by military power, but cannot be con-
quered. 1t is elastic, irreprossble and
invulnerabe to the weapons of ordinary
warfare. 1t is that impossible, unextin.
guishable enemy of mere violence and
arbitr Try rule, which, like Milton's an.
gels,