Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-01-31
RECOMMENDATION OF A DAY OF HU.
INITIATION, FASTING AND PRAYER,

RECOMMENDATION OF A DAY OF HUI
INITIATION, FASTING AND PRAYER,
IN REFERENCE TO THE PROPOSED ANNEXATION OF
TEXAS.
By the Com. of Am. and Foreign A. s. Society.
To such Of cur teL'oo-citiaens as regard the pro-
posed Annexation Of Icras as hostile to the
morals, liberty and happiness Of the United
States, and as c1tcnding and pcrptnating h.
man bondage;--
The Federal Government was ordained and
established for the avowed purpose of forming al
more perfect union, establishing justice, cnsuring
domestic tranquility providing for the common
defence, promoting the general welfare, and Sc
curing the blessings Of liberty. Tratorous to its
high and holy trusts, regardless of the prcserya-
ton Of union and domestic tranquility, as well as
of the common defence and general welfare, in
utter violation of the obligations Of justice, and
in contempt of the blessings of liberty it is now
conspring TO extend and perpetuate the curse g.
crime of human bondage With unblushng
prohigacy does the Cabinet at Washington in its
communications to foreign nations, ayow that it
seeks the acquisition of Texas for this most de-
testable object and there is imminent danger
that through the force of party discipline distri-
button Of patronage, and other means of corrup-
ton, the base and unholy design will be effected
We cannot in this brief address spread before
you the various modes in which annexation will
aggravate the accumulated miseries of the color
ed race--the bounty it will afford the breeders of
'human cattle'-the new impulse it will give tot
the American Slave Tradc-the barriers it will
raise to future emancipation, and the influence ii
will exert, not merely in perpetuatng slavery inl
Texas, but in spreading the accursed system over
the vast regions between our Southern boundary
and the Isthmus of Panama. To the impudent
and wicked falsehood that the annexation will
enlarge the area of Freedom and prove fatal to
Slavery, it is sufficient to oppose the frenzied
anxiety OF the shareholders to secure their long
desired object, and the trckery by which they
seek to avoid the delay and uncertainty attending
the treaty making power.
But however deep may be cur sympathy for the
slave, it ought not to he confined to him alone
the annexation of Texas will endanger our Union
morals of the country, thus involving the happi-
ness of ourselves, our chrildren, and our child
ren's children.
The equality of rights and of representation
which we had reason to expect under the FEEDER
al Government, has already been griovously dis
turbed by slavery, and when the annexation of
Texas shall force upon us half dozen or more
slave States, the North will be reduced to a mere
colony of the South. Accept the following facts
instead of arguments
In the Presidential election of 1910, 10 Free
States had 1863 Electors, and gave l,716,705
yotes-l Elector to 1928 votes
10 Slave States had lis Electors, and gave
693,005 votes-l Elector to 6,026 votes.
Ohio had 81 Electors, and gave 273, $40
votes-l Elector to ,040 votes.
Virginia had % Electors, and gave 86,394
yotes-1 Elector to 1856.
In the Presidential Election of 1914, Is free
States had I61 Electors, and gave l,690,084
votes-l Elector to II ,739 votes.
=, IL Slave States had los Electors, and gave
98,S49 votes-l Elector to 1908 votes
Michigan had Electors, and gave 56,22G
votes-l EIector to | | ,244 votes.
Louisiana had Electors, and gave &c, Sc!
votes Elector to AT votes.
Sueh is the practical working Of the Fedora
ratio OF representation. If we look to the grea
Offices of the nation, we find them filled almos
exclusively by shareholders. OF this class G
1 men, are the acting President Of the U. S. an
. in case Of his decease, his successor, the Pres
dent of the Senate, the Secretary of State, SEE
rotary Of the Treasury, Secretary of the Nav
Attorney General and p NJ. General Onl
one individual from free State, is allowed
seat in the present cabinet To the same cla
belong the President elect, and his late competi
OF; the Speaker of the House of Represent
tives, majority of the Supreme Court, and
vast proportion of our diplomatic agents, and OF
naval and military officers The ascendancy
the shareholders nOU rests upon the corrupt an
selfish suherance of Northern politicians but
the event of annexation will be established Q
the stable foundation of numerical majority
both houses of Congress. When this maiorit
shall hare been acquired, the action of the Go
.ernment will be invariably exerted for the defence
4noI oi llpSFly1 puI " DopudSe; lol ule ehcou
agement, not Of manufactures and commerce, bl
of markets Of cotton and human flesh. This no
rible and atrocious peryersion Of the powers an
objects of the Federal Constitution may well e
cite doubts how far the oaths which have bee
taken to support it will continue to have al
binding force: while the sacrifice of Norther
rights and interests to the save-holding polio
must eventually lead to dissolution of the Tn
on. We will not now dwell on the suffering
and conflicts which must necessarily attend Il
disruption Of those ties which have so long bour
together this great country. Most certainly Il
annexation scheme is the most perious to the
MON and peace Of the states that has ever bee
preached.
- In this emergency, Fellow-Citizens, where al
we to seek for help! Party in its madness asl