Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1848-05-18

posing the mob were said to be IN them, declare them
selves ready to Justify the mob to the fullest extent
He had no disposition to look for protection to body
from which he had received many lndlgntes as ne
had from members of Congress. Was he, at this late
day, to come here to ask for protection? No TWAS
no part of his object No. said he let the House pro-
tect its own honor protect their own dignity and he
would take of the protection OF his person IN his
own way.
He therefore said that the JURY was plain and
simple in ITSELF Its object was to carry information
to the people of this Union To inform them of the |
feeling that existed in this slaveholding community.
To expose the spirit of violence and anarchy which
was exhibited here against those who dared to speak
tine sentiments which they entertained III favor oil lib
erty, and the rights Of humanity.
He wanted his constituents, the people Of his State
and the free States, to understand what violence and
lawless mobs from the slavehoding and slave
dealing influence in this District This what he
wished them to understand. He cared not whether
the House passed this resolution or not 1t was well
known to the members of this House, that for forty
eight hours prior to the introduction of this resolution
awess mob did control this city; that men if report
was true and there was no reason to doubt lt Office
clerks in the employment of the United States, atten
ded and led on that mob; that men in official stations
were there stimulating that mob to volence that the
mob consisted the first night of hundreds, and the next
night OF thousands and during this time, here, where
the arms, munitions, and the whole power of protec
ton, was committed to the Executive officers Of the
Government, not a movement made to suppress it,
so far as they were conce rned The object of this
mob unquesonably was to PROSTATE of the presses
OF this city. There doubt about that. And
not only this but who those who led it on? Not
the respectable citizens of the city of Washington;
far he knew their department, they to be ex
cepted from any charge of participating in the disgrace
They were your slavedealGrs from Baltimore, AleXan
dri0, Richmond, and the surrounding country; it
tbn and clovn hrnndnrr. tho
mankind for Market whose living and support was by
raising and selling their fellow-men. 1t was that
class of characters who came into this city to threaten
Its government and community, disturb its peace and
overthrow the PRESS to which he had alluded. These
men, assocatng together in this way, were the lead
ers and eXclters Of this mob,
Now, another thing known to every man here, and
one which had been referred to this morning. was that
the mob, when it assembled on the stnght did avow
the intention of prostntng that press and that office
nnd with this publicly avowed purpose, ad ourned I'M
I'll the next night, for the purpose Of bringing in more
OF these despcabe characters from abroad to enable
them to effect their object This was all known by
report and was proposed to be inquired into
SO far as report charged that a member or members
of this House had been menaced, was also to be in
quired into, He cared nothing about it. He would
state, as his name had been connected with it, that
Tuesday Of last week. being member of this body,
and feeling some little interest in the way their laws
over the District to be carried into execution he
had visited one of the public institutions of our
try prison in this city, erected by this Government
and where, if his person was protected in this bull
ding, it was there, much it was in the Treasury
Department, or any other of the departments at the
seat Of Government. lie had gone there under the
CONSEQUENCES of protection, much if he had been
in front Of the Speakers DESK because was public
building, erected by the funds of his constituents
well of the people of all the free States, together
" In Ot Tho cnIpS tutp Hp bad n
the purpose declared here on former occasion. He
had then said all he wished to on this point There
were your slavedeaers and slavebreeders gathered
together in the entrance Of the JAIL to menace and
threaten him. Did he ask protection from this House?
No. when he felt in danger, he would let them know
it. But what he held in unutterable contempt was,
that member of this body, in visiting one of the pub
lie institutions erected by this Government should be
threatened by miserable mass of moral putrdity,
called Shareholders and slavebreeders. Had it
to this that the members of this House could not go
in and out of the public institutions IN this District
without meeting that class ofmen and being threat
encd by them?
lie knew not who these men were, but from reports
which he had received from various quarters, he I'M
derStoOd they that class Of men. Now, the res
outlon of the gentleman from Massachusetts Mr.
PALFREYl proposed an inquiry into those facts.
But again; Who was it that stimulated that mob
1t was members in this Hall. While their galleries
families to the MARKET and bartered men, women and
children, for gold-honorable members stood up here
in this House and declared that they justified the mob
to the fullest extent And did he Mr.. g. ask for pro-
lection from such men2 Such a declaration had
been made, and repeated, and reiterated here. This
not the place which he should 90 for protection.
Yes, members Of this House OF Representatives stood
in their places and proclaimed not only to this coun-
try but to the whole civilized world, that in their
pacty of Legislators they stood by and sustained those
wretches in their lawless violence. And it was with
humility and deep abasement that he acknowledge
that these declarations came principally from mem
bers Of the political party to which he himself be-
longed lie also felt compelled to acknowledge, that
while this going on here, the President of the
United States to whose party he Mr.. g. did not be-
long, was said to have been making efforts to put
down the mob. 1t was due to the President that he
should state this fact. The people should know it
No man there would accuse him Of being friend to
the President; but he honored him nevertheless for
his efforts to suppress these riotous proceedings and
for his exertions to stop those dsgracefu outrages
which were about to disgrace the whole Union. He
took pleasure in indicating the President for that
act.
When the pending resolution was brought forward
it was Immediately seized upon by gentlemen from
the South and made the subj ect of exciting DIS
cussion. 1t was gentlemen from the southern States
who did this, and it those gentlemen who insisted
upon going back into inquiry respecting all the
facts and circumstances which had given rise to the
mob. And what were the facts? Why, that from
seventy to eighty men, women, and children-persons
who had as good natural right to liberty any gen.
teman here, who were entitled to the rights which
their Creator had given them-feeling the calling
chains of slavery chatting and fostering in their fesh
themselves bowed down in bondage, and shut out
from the social and intellectual enjoyments of life
sought the blessings of liberty and it said that
they were assisted by three or four white men from
the free States But in the attempt to escape from
the custody of those who held them in bondage they
were arrested and placed in prison erected with the
money of this nation; and this was done under the
authority of the laws of this District, enacted by
Congress, and sustained by members on this floor.
In that prison they kept two or three days. and
on Friday last, this very man Slater of Baltimore
who had headed the mob at the prison on Tuesday,
purchased forty fifty of those fathers, brothers
and sons mothers, daughters and sisters and marched
them to the depot where their friends had collected
to take their final leave they proceeded to the
South to drag out miserable existence in the rice
fields and cotton plantations of that region. There
scene was presented which he thought not even a
STAKEHOLDER could have looked upon without some
l. Il IL