Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-08-06
BY JASON F. WALKER.

BY JASON F. WALKER,
Fellom Citizens Almost ily-nne years AFRO. in the
city of Philadelphia, was assembled a body of men.
whose deliberations resulted in giving plan of re-
publican government. That plan in due process
submitted to the Congress of the United States then
and there assembled who in eleven days after voted H.
unanimously to transmit the same to the several States
Of the Union for acknowledgment. The report OF this
Convention becapgat last, the Constitution of the
United States, unadfFhe following sanction:-
"WeSaTe people ofhe United States in order to form more
perfect tabls Justice ensure domestic tranquility pro
yideifor elon defence, promote the general welfare and
ordafnd establish this Constitution for The United States Of
America"
In transmitting this Constitution from the Conven-
ton to Congress, Washington makes the following re-
marks:
cit all times difficult to draw, with precision, the line be
tween those rights which must be surrendered, and those Inch
be pescvcd and the present occaon this difficulty
increased by difference the several States to their sit
uaton, extent, habits, and particular interests
In all our deliberations ON This subject kept steadily in orr
Amcranthc consolidation of our Unon in which involved
our prosperity felicity satry-pe0ps national existence
minds and led each State in the Convention to be less rigid
points Of inferior magnitude than might have been otherwise
pcctcd and thus tr Constitution which present is the
result Of spirit Of ami and Of that mutual Difference and
cesson which the popularity ofou political situation rendered IN
| dspcnsable."
Washington has cone to his grave and the blessings
OF many people have followed him He lived and died
in the advocacy and establishment Of the three great
inaenable rights of man, Life, Hberty anti The p,-
suit Of happiness" lie lived long enough to see the
cause of his country triumphant and departed in peace,
having seen the salvation prepared for this people be-
FIRE the face of al nations. host of freemen gather
ed him to his fathers, and halowed resting place for
his memory in the hearts Of the people.
Our young Republic is yet scarcely two generations
old, and yet how cventu and strange this portion of
her history, and what thrilling page yet remains to
be written in the records of history Now in prosper
ity and now in adversely now in honor, and now in
contempt among the nations of the earth now power
full, and now weak and then powerful again; some
times united, and again separated in interests and
opinions; to day rich, and tomorrow poor, and the
next day rich again; we have still continued people
-" of whom the greater part remain until this pres
emit" Did Washington himself divine that such would
be the prospective picture of his country, did he
suppose that he had waded the deepest of aflic
ton with the people Of his ove-that he had been the
sharer of their SeuaeSt trials, that the dark night of
trouble had passed. and that nOught but hacyon days
and summer JOYS were before them? His superior sa-
gacity must have enabled him to discern in the differ
ent and conflicting interests and opinions Of the sever
al States ratiyng the Constitution, and thus coming
under its jurisdiction all the necessary elements for
giving growth to the spirit of mutual sacrifice, muu
al torbearance and mutual love- to the spirit of
growing hostility and opposition of feeling, which
should eventually rpen into an open and aVowed strife
1t is at all times difficult said he ito draw with pre-
cison the line between those rights which must be
surrendered and those which may be preserved;
and the Constitution which we now present is
the result Of Il spirit of amty, and of that mutual def
erence and concession which the popularity of our po-
itca situation rendered Indispensable" Buttte per-
haps cid he think that the esprit OF mutual amty and
concession" manifested in the Convention, would on
the one hand grow into sullcn and logged determi-
nation to maintain the pecuarities of habit and inter-
est at all hazards, and on the other into settled and
almost universal Justification which should eventually
be driven to a religious and political form of
array against those peculiartes and thus in great
measure destroy the unity of feeling which ought to
pervade the confederation, and almost isolate those
whom in an earlier day, common danger and com
mon hope had bound together. And still less, opne
did he Think that almost within hailng distance Of
Philadelphia, the city of Baltimore the city his
monument renders famous to-day, would in less than
mans life time, become the scene of tragedy, which
for stangencss and brutality, is not equaled in the
history of any people, and which affords tremendous
and appalling sequel to the lesson of "muual amv
and concession" as read to us from below Mason q
Dixon's line
My Fellow Citizens, make no apology for COM
ing before you as do, on this great gaa-day of the
American nation to speak of the death of the REV.
CHARLES T. TORREY, in the Penentiary Of Balti-
more, to which he had been sentenced for six years
confinement, having been charged with practical de-
fence of tho Declaration of independence, and proved
GUILTY. make no apology for presenting this sub
iec to-day because it is matter which is of vital i'm
portancc to eroy American citizen, and one on which
the meagrc distinctions of party may safely be dlsrc
gardcd while we all Join in the just expression OF our
sympathes for the bereaved, and adherence Of that
accused system which has bereaved them. No sub
ject can be appropriate for the day II we want
any thing to think Of to-day different from that which
occupies our every day thoughts, if we want to turn
aside from our daily occupations and come up to the
gathering, we want something to think of, and some
thing to do while here that shall instruct us in our du
ties-teach us to enjoy our prvlegesor open our eyes
in regard to our political and civil rclatons-that we
may 90 from this place. better feemen, and beterab
to continue lreemen What can be better adapted to
this, than to soften our hearts in coincidence with the
distressed-than to commemorate the death OF mar
tyr to one Of our own nstitutlons--to consider the
important relations of that Institution with the webe
ing of our nation, and its bearings upon our past life,
our present duty, and our future expectations, as free
men. He who has so far succeeded in civii2ng ana
christianizing himself to become Indifferent to in
Justice suffering and woe, shall be permitted to-day to
stlle the Bromptngs Of humanity and sit an indler
ent and if he please sneerng spectator of the pres
ent scenes, and by the GOODNESS and rudeness with
which he treats the subject, vindcate his claims to the
pOsHGSsOll Ol Il Ubeldl IlGdIl ul iG, Oh Ilc Ollt
hand, who Unsophstcated and simple as not to be
able to shut his eyes when the light shines can
not do otherwise than hear when it thunders--wil be
under the necessity, to-day Illuminating and disgrace
u though it may be, of feeling the wound inflicted on
the body polite by the occasion which calls us togeth-
err
Charles Il. ToTey was a native Of the Bay State,
and born 1913. He was educated at Exter Academy
Yale College and Andover Seminary. lie spent but
few years in the ministry In 1912 Mr.. Torrey was
seized and imprisoned for week by the Slaveholdng
Convention at Annapolis, lie was again seized at
Baltimore on the 25th of June lSi4---was tried in the
Nov following and removed to prison in
Dec He sunk into gradual decline in the fall Of
l8l5, beng affected by consumption, which eventually
brought him to the grave the 9th day Of May, 1886
having been prisoner one year and ten months.
We have not come here, my friends, to bury Torey,
nor yet to praise him. His immediate relatives and an
immense concouse of friends to himself and the slave,
have performed the last sad offices Of BURIAL and ADLER
pens and more eloquent tongues than have spo-
ken his praise, and now it only remains for the free.
men of the United States in the "sober second