Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1847-07-22

from thdt institution. They lett 1t where they II
found it; they did not NEEDLE with it. They
gave to the Congress of the United States no
power whatever to interfere in any manner with
it, Am | right! If not, on the morrow, sit
down, you of legal acumen, you who have studi-
ed the constitution of your country, you who are
iurists and lawyers, take your pens and expose
my errors.
And here permit me to 60 another step, and
say that the rights of the free states and the slave
states were perfectly reciprocal and mutual, and
that the people Of New Hamsphire hold their
rights as fully to be exempt, to be free from the
contamination Of slavery, as Virginia her right
to sustain it. There was no power to involve
you in the support of that institution to the a.
mount of one cent or to involve your moral pur
ty in its guilt. Am right in this? for if am
right, our government is in a most important er-
ror, and | will endeavor to show it to you before
conclude Have you, the citizens of N. Hamp-
shire to-day, have you by the representatives, that
framed the constitution, given the federal gov
eminent power to involve you in the moral guilt
Of that institution! Can they take your money!
Can they involve you in war! Can they compel
You to shed your blood and pour cut your lives
to extend and sustain it? Let me be understood.
On this point hangs a question Of immense mag
nitude. If am right here, then hls the pract-
ice of this government from its commencement
been wrong. But in order to decide that, re-
peat, the federal government have no power
whatever to involve you in the pocuniary ex-
pense, in the moral guilt, Or the public disgrace
of sustaining slavery in any manner or to any de-
gree.
There are sometimes two exceptions made;
II IN, f,nf but off
considered as such, and to which | will alludc.
One is the power of the federal government to
suppress instructions. 1t is said that this pow
Ter is given for the express purpose ofsuppresslng
slave instructions. | deny the fact; and he who
will refer to the history of the matter will find
that the Shay rebellion in Massachusetts, among
the fcemen Of that state, gave rise to that provi-
sion. | say further that in suppresslng an in
surrection, neither you nor the federal govern
ment can inquire who it is that takes up arms;
whether they are slaves or masters you cannot
inquire. The President of the United States
when domestic violence exists, is called upon to
suppress that violence, and when the military
force goes, it is their duty to shoot down any man
who may be found in arms against the govern
ment. The officer or soldier cannot stop to en-
quire whether the man is an owner Of slaves or a
slave himselE-it is the Uioleacc with which they
have to do, and which they are bound to sup
press; and when they have suppressed the VOL
ence, though every slave should leave his master
at that very moment,-should leave his master
within gun-shot of them, there is no power in
the President to command officer or man to
seize an individual slave and take him back to
his master. When the violence is suppressed,
the duty of the President is finished and com
pete; he has nothing further to do with 1t. lie
can institute no inquiry whether 1t has been an
instruction of slaves or masters. With this
explanation, | pass to another exception
| 1t is, as some have sud, that the federal gov
eminent have involved us in the recapture OF
fugitive slaves Not so. The Supreme Court
have given construction which verify believe
to be correct although many eastern lawyers and
abolitionists are dissatisfied with it. With all
the reasoning | cannot fully coincide but the
general results, believe to be correct. The
constitution, as all of you rccoect reads that,
NO person held to service or labor in one state,
under the laws thereof, escaping into another
shall, in consequence of any law or regulation
therein, be discharged from such service or labor
but shall be delivered up on claim Of the party
to whom such service or labor my be due The
Supreme Court have declared that delivering
up means the same as when we all deliver uF
our friends when arrested by the oificer-men
that we will not resist, but will leave the office
to take him. So you must leave the master t
take his slave, but there is no power IN the gov
eminent by which they can compel you, m
friend, to leave your office or your shop and ar
rest a slave who passes in the street. They can
not compel you to take the slave The maste
may chase his slave through your streets and be
fore your eyes, and you have stipulated that you
will not interfere; but there is no power to com
pei you to assist him in the arrest of his slave.
therefore say that this is no qualification to the
rule. You have a right to be entirely clear of al
participation in the arrest of a slave and by thC
constitution you are.
have sometimes run this out to further eX
tent, and will this evening The slave in pas
sing through your streets, is pursued by hi
master The slave knows it, and you know ii
There is no obligation for you to say he shall
stop. On the contrary, you may tell HIM, sir
that the master is on his track You may tel
him, there the roadt Canada; you may put you
purse under contribution to assist HIM on HI
way; you may say to him, Sir, your are man
with a RIGHT to life and liberty, and with RICH
to defend your life and liberty and on the sol
of New Hampshire, if your master lays his han'
upon you if there is no other way, if you are
pushed to the wall, you may defend yourself b,
taking his life, and there is no law IN N. Hamp
shire that will punish you for staying your mast
er rather than surrender yourself up to hun
his slave This is the independence which you
have of it, and | take it upon myselfto say, (an'
if | am wrong, expose my error,) that althougl
the slave, here in front of your capitol, shoul'
strike down his master in sell-delence, shoul'
lay him corpo before your door, there is no Law
of New Hampshire there is no law of any Ne'
, England state, OF of Ohio, that will punish hin
for the act On the contrary, would say to him
in all kindness and friendship, you are goo
fellow.
These are the rights, the constitutional right
that you hold towards that institution, with thes
two exceptions to which | have alluded, Blu
= which are not exceptions; for in these respect
y the northern states stand entirely free nav
j now completed the first ofmy genera, propose
o. tons, which is that we have right to be entire
u In rroo from all narticiDatlOn IN the expense, u