Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-07-09

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The South, by cabling the West in the last
Presidential election, have obtained such politi-
cal power as to enable them to admit Florida as
II slave state, annex Texas as slave state and
now have the entire disposabIe force of the ma
ton at their command to open and annex new
slave territory to an unlimited degree south of
the Rio Grande. BY this same power they have
set bounds to free territory on the north by al
lowing the British claim to Oregon. The forty
ninth parallel is now the northern limit of free
last link OF boundary east Of those mountains to
the Atlantic was fixed by the Ashburton treaty
But where is the limit TO Stare territory Is it
the Sabine, the Nueces, or the Rio Grande 2
Are not our republican forces now south of the
last mentioned line! Is it not said that California
is soon to be ours, and perhaps the whole of Mex
leo! Who knows but the next jump of the slave
boundary may be to the Isthmus Of Darien =
We 60 for enIargng the area of freedom, not Of
slaUery, Since the South have fixed boundaries
for free territory, let the North fix boundaries for
the slave territory South.
AT present. the slave power, aided by the
Wings, rule the nation Our rights to Oregon
have been shamelulIy compromised, not so much
to avoid war, as permanently to fix the bound
aries of free territory; so that if the policy of
the Union be to enlarge itself, it can only be
enlarged by the addition of slave territory
England can hold her own at the north, bur pu-
Grille Mexico cannot do it in the south Now,
as a matter Of duty, we feel bound to resist with
all our power and ability, feeble though it may
be- every effort Of the South, whether from Dem
Ocrats or Wings, to continue this slave gov
eminent. We never advocated the annexation
Of Texas with any other view than that, as it
was already slave country, by receiving it into
the Union the effect would be to draw off the
slaves from the middle states, rendering the lat
ter free, and thereby reducing, instead of i'll
creasing, SLAVE territory, We owe no party al
legiance to slavery in any form our motto is
"equal rights" and the whole slave policy, as
shown by southern legislation and the sentiments
of southern men, is opposed to this. So arro-
giant have the South become, that they deny ouT
right to think on the subject of slavery, on the
ground that even meditation on that topic is i'll.
terdicted by the spirit of the federal compact
Said Henry Clay
The people Of the tree states have right to dis
cuss the subject of slavery in the slave states. Dis
cussion implies delberaton and deliberaton leads t.
action.
Bat we claim the right not only to think bu
to discuss and act. We say it is time tha
boundaries were set to the dominion of southern
slavery, and we call upon the West holding al
she does the balance Of power, to fix the bound
aries, and to fix them now.
The trainers of the Constitution evidently
looked forward to time when this blot upor
our nations escutcheon should be wiped out II
was a necessary evil in their day; hence the
compromise in that sacred instrument But il
was an evil which they knew time, and the pat
rlotlsm of the people, would surely eradicate
They deplored the doom which then bound mill
ions Of human beings in chains, and hoped thai
by some just and gradual measures Of philanthro
py, their letters one by one would be broken
till at last through all our borders no bondman',
groan should mingle in our rejoicings for free
DOM They even went so far as to condemn as
piracy any traffic in slaves on the high seas af
ter the year 1903, which sentiment being then
incorporated into the Constitution, is now the
law Of the land We have, then, but to carry
out the spirit of these venerable patriots, and
curtail the slave power by every possible mean:
consistent with constitutional rights; and NJ
means are half so efFectua as to circumscribt
IL 4 i
ponds alone upon political power-take that away
and the whole fabric falls. 1t has no foundation
in morals or religion, or in the common sympa
thies Of the people.
The West has but to say that no more slave
territory shall be annexed to this Union, and the
dark tide Of slavery will be stayed. 1t is only il
the new Democratic states of the West that thi;
conservative power is to be found Look at the
narrow strip Of free territory on the North-Amer
lean continent. We are hemmed in with the
parallel of forty-nine and British slavery on the
north, and Mason f. Dlxon's line with African
slavery on the south, The two realms of tyran
ny unite to lessen our limits aa in the late Ore
gon question. and it is time the lovers of freedom
should unite in opposing the common enemy by
fixing bounds to their aggressions.
Now we have no objection to annexng Cali
fornia, and even the whole of Mexico, with THU
proviso, that slavery shall not be admitted. -
Let the word be passed along the lines. and lie
the motto be written on the back of every man.
vote when the question arises" No more slave
territory"
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