Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1848-02-10
That bind you to your dreadful slaves )
Hug, if you will, a corpse that stinks,
And bear it with you to your graves;

And bear it with you to your graVes'
But that you mmy go, coupled thus,
You never shall make slaves of us"
Under the constitution of the federal Union
they demanded an exemption from all connexlon
with slavery, and until they were exempted this
country would never have quiet. He did not
say to the South, he did not believe that they
would have quit at any time if they adhered to
slavery; for they could not have peace until the
South got rid of it themselves, for it was an lt-
@stitution which was derogatory to the honor OF
man, and was a violation of the laws OF God
and, unless they had the power successfully to
oppose the DEGREES Of Heaven, they could not
stand on that institution and prosper.
He admitted there were difficulties that sur
rounded the subject, but he claimed exemption
from all connexion with the institution. ms
was a position which he had assumed ewher
as well as here. Gentlemen had talked of the
fanatIcism of abolitionists, but they should bear
in mind that the excitement in this country IN
relation to the institution of slavery had grown
out Of the aggressions of the slave power on the
free States, and in consequence Of its having
been proclaimed to the world that we live under
a constitution that compels this whole Union to
sustain and extend the institution of slavery
He admitted it was " fdnaticism" which dis
turbed the peace of this Union, and introduced
agitation and danger in the halls of Congress;
but it was the fanaticism of slavery aud not fan
t~i-slavery. | charge the President with lanaticism,
not only for involving us in war in behalf Of
slavery, but for recommending in his message to
the two Houses of Congress that they should take
the money of the nation aud pay, not for slaves,
but rather for free men unsuccessfullv attempted
to be reduced to bondage by Spanish pirates
Such a recommendation ought at once to meet
with an emphatic condemnation.
Mr.. T. here referred to the e~xlctions Of the
slave power, not only in the monopoly of infu-
ence, patronage and Office, but also in applying
the national purse and army to subserve slavery.
He said at the close Of the war Of 1912 a large
number of fugitive slaves, free negroes, and ln-
dams, established settlement in Florida on the
Apalachicola river, built a fort, and commenced
the cultivation Of the neighboring country, but
our national forces, paid for their service by 4
common treasury, in obedience to the request of
shareholders, attacked that fort, blew up the
magazine, destroyed three hundred negroes on
the spot, and returned several hundred more to
bondage. This was the valley of Wyoming on
the escutcheon of slavery, and would not be for
gotten.
He also said the Seminole war and the mil
lions spent in it were in defence Of and for the
extension of slavery. He spoke of the enact
ment Of slave laws in the District Of Columbia,
which had within a few days countenanced kid
mapping and crime worse than murder, under
their own eyes. He said that Northern Rep
resentatives did not dare to inquire into these
evils on account Of their subservience to slavery.
He alluded to the expenditures in negotiations
to recover indemnity from England and other
nations for selfcmancipated slaves, and to pre-
vent West Indian emancipation, He said it was
believed that hundreds of millions had been paid
to sustain, defend, and indemnify slavery prior
to the Mexican difficulties. Talk not of fanatI-
cism at the North against slavery, when such
immense sums have been eXacted from us for its
support. Talk rather Of the fanaticism of those
who understand their mission to be to propagate
slavery who announced in legislative resolutions
that it is a problem yet to be solved whether a
republican government can long continue which
does not tolerate domestic slavery.
He next proceeded to examine the immediate
causes Of the war, and said it was a work of
supererogation to adduce more proof that he
thought the President himself was convinced,
aud he did not believe that one in a hundred of
the people doubted, that the war was unneccss a.
rily commenced by the President. Let US (said
hey recur to some facts. First, the President
took possession of the land between the Nueces
and the Rio Grande, which, if not clearly Nlexi-
can territory, was in dispute. This was an act
of war. He. blockaded the mouth of the Rio
Grande, and thereby cut off supplies to the
Mexican army then at Matamoras IN their own
country. This was an act of war.
lie built a fort opposite Matamoras, supplied
It with cannon, pointing into the heart Of that
city, and named it with a force capable at any
moment of sending destruction among the Mexi-
cans, This was an act of war.
All this happened ten days before hostilities
by Mexico were commenced, At length Captain
Thornton, with Il company Outrageous, attacked
a large force, and some sixteen were killed and
wounded. That was the fist blood that was
poured out on the valley Of the Rio GEaude.
War was forced upon the M~exicans, and it was
next to impossible to make them fight. Let the
preamble asserting that the war was begun by
Mexico ever bear the nanc Of "the lying pre-
amble."
This is a wa. for the maintenance and extern
sion of slavery the people see it, know it, and
feel it. 1t will end ii the complete subjugation
of Mexico, by the necessity of the case, unless
speedily arrested. The people demand that it
cease that if there be no other way to stop it
it should be starved to death by the same vote,
which has declared it unnecessary. Shall Slavery,
he asked, be extended by the national arm ? Shall
we permit this war, conceived in sin, and brought
forth in iniquity, to be waged any longer? Shall
we invoke the fearful Judgment upon US ofIIim
who rules in heaven aud on earth, aud without
whose notice not a sparrow falls to The ground =?
lie regretted that his time would not permit
him to examine the array of fearful apprehensions
that this war brought before him.