Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-01-22
What will you AbOliliOniSlS do, now
Texas is Annexed,

We retract nothing of all that we have charged a.
gainst the iniquity of this measure, as a base scheme
for the benefit of slavery, and a proof of shameless
subseryiency on the part Of the North, who have done
the deed with their eyes open. 1t is the grossest eX-
hibition we have yet had, of the detestable policy
which has long governed this country. NaallNnnly
rencw our condemnation of it from beginning to end
But the question recurs, what are Abolitionists to do
next?
This is a question asked by many, at the present
time-by some seriously-by others tauntlngly-by
both classes with evident beliefthat the c%onsummation
of this %iniquity has so changed the aspect of the anti
slavery cause, as greatly to dishearten its friends, if it
does not cause a total abandonment of the enterprise.
Our answer to the question is simply this. We propose
to do now, what we have been doing these twelve
years, and moreover since the pledge was adopted
and published" TO DO ALL THAT is LAWFULLY IN
OUR POWER FOR THE SPEEDY ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
IN THE UNIFIED STATES"
And our means and measures are those which we
proposed from the beginning, MORAL AND POLITICAL
ACTION"
We do not feel that our enterprise is either bafied
or defeated by this result. The object is the same, the
means the same, the result neither postponed nor pre-
vented.
What has been done? Why, the abolitioniSts have
failed to keep out Texas. That is ali. Butthey failed
to keep out Missouri, and Arkansas, and Florida
Slavery has tnumphed, it is true, in its Vaccinations.
But 1t has always triumphed, ever since Henry Clay
won the victory in the case of Missouri. We have
lost a battle, but we have lost nothing else. The re-
suit is far less disastrous to the cause of emancipation,
than was the loss of the battle of Monmouth to the
cause of American independence.
Texas has come in, but let it be borne in mind, that
we have kept it out eight years, Is that nothing?-
When have the Shareholders had to struggle eight
years to carry their point in any other case? We have
won a more thorough discussion of Slavery in Congress
than has ever been had before. We have used it as a
means of directing more of the public attention than
was ever had before, to the political usurpations of
slavery. We have familiarized the walls of the capt.
tol to an unwonted freedom Of speech ind thought on
the subject. Is that nothing?
But the Shareholders have carried their point. True,
but so they have always carried their p%oints-and new
er with so much difficulty as now. Had we been let
alone, we could have batfied them another seven years.
But when opposition to Texas was taken up by aclass
Of politicians, ~palpably for the sake of political capital,
and to delude honest and liberty loving men into the
support Of the MAN who claims to be the first among
the foremost in the cause of slavery, our hands were
weakened, our ranks thinned, and the Shareholders
were enabled to apply the potent weapon of party big
otry to break down one half of the Northern opposition
to Texas.
But what have the Shareholders gained? They have
gained two Senotors, and two Representatives. In
deed This is the result of eight years open war, in
which slavery has been continually put upon the de-
fence against the bold assaults of abolition, They
have secured a temporary preponderance in the Sen
ate. But this they had before, by the admission of
Florida, without a free State to balapce it. And we
have two free States, Iowa and Wisconsin, larger,
stronger, more thriving than either Florida or Texas,
only waiting to go through the form of admission and
then the balance will be restored.
But Texas was obtained to enable the shareholders
to retain the balance in the Senate. Suppose it to be
SO, abolition is no worse off than it has been for twen-
ty-fve years-that the Sanate has been balanced
thanks to Henry Clay.
But then Texas will make so many States. How
many? -Four or five, as large as New York. What
constitutes a State2