Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-06-20

no distinct image to common minds, | supposed
the every day case of litigation respecting
horse, which is a civil case" and this differ
ence of forrn is the only difference between my
language end that OF the learned judge. can
wish Mr.. Webster no more fitting retribuion,
after reposing from this ill-tempered attack up
on me, than to awake and find that it was Judge
Story whom he had maligned
Bu' the opinion expressed by me on this point
does not need the authority of any hume to sup.
port rs and the Illustration which give is not
only ineligible to every sensible man, tut is al
so opposite. | SAID "a man may not lose his
horse his property in horse without a right
to this trial" Mr. Webster's Comment is, that
this case, "if it have any analogy to tie mntter"
means that if mans horse 'strny iuto his neigh
boris field he cannot lead him bdck ViAtoM pre-.
p'Ous HidL by jmg to ascertain the rgM." Was
the plain meaning Of a sentence more cXtctly
changed about, end for end Mr. Webster
may pitch suNmersets with his own doctrines,
but he has no right TO pitch them with mine.
sand man may not lose his horse, OF his prop
erty in hose without a right to the trial by
jury. He says | said, a man cannot Init or re-
take lost horse, without previous trial Dulce
est deSipere IN loco. Or, it is pleasant to see a
be wit to redeem 1t from puorility.
But the chdshness of this criticism is not its
worst feature What is the great ir7h which
Mr.. Webster and his apologists attempt here to
ridicue? 1t is that while every man AMONGST
us, IN regard TO any piece of property worth
more than twenty dollars, of which violence or
fraud may attempt to despoi him, has a right to
trial by jury, yet mans freedom, and that of
hu noctorit, fornvnr p,ou l,n ,vrostol f-o,, hi,
as our law now stands, without such trial.
Doe not this hold mans freedom TO be of less
value than twenty 20 lars If two adverse claim
ants contest title to an alleged slave, whose
market value is more than this sum, each is en-.
titled to jury to try the fact of ownership
But if the alleged slave declares that he ownes
himself, he is declared from this right And
this truth, or a common illustration Of it, Mr..
Webster and bis upologists think suitable
topic for sheer or pleasantly! foreign prov
erb says that for man to kill his mother is not
in good tpSte trust the moral and religious
people of Massachusetts have too much good
taste to relish joke on such theme.
MIR. MANN then goes on to examine at length
and with remarkable ability and learning, the
merits of the legal and constitutional question
Of granting trial by jury to persons claimed as
fugitive Slaves, arguing that they have every
way good right thereto.
We quote the following paragraphs:
Mr.. Webster advises me, in a certain con-
tngency, /" 10 appeal to that higher authority
which sits enthroned above the Consultation and
above the law" | take no exception to this
counsel, because of its ofliciousness, but would
thank him for it. My ideas of duty requires me
to seek anXiousy for the true Interpretation of
the Constitution, and then to abide by it, I'M
swayed by hopes or fears. II the Constitution
requires me to do anything which my sense of
duty forbids, shall save my conscience by re-
signing my Office. am free, however, to say,
that if in the discharge Of my political duties, |
should transfer my allegiance to any other pow
err, l. should adopt Mr. Webster's advice, and 90
to the power (which sits enthroned above"
rather than to descend to that opposite realm,
whence the bill which he so cordially promised
to support, must have emmerged.
Mr.. Webster holds Massachusetts up to the
ridicule of the world, because she ''grows fervid
on Pennsylvania wrongs; !" and he has deemed
it his duty TO inquire how many seizures of fug-
tive slaves have occurred in New England
within our time Is this the Christian standard
by which to estimate the evil of entertainments
upon the most sacred rights of men? II | re-
pose in contentment and Indifference, because
my own section, of State, or country, Is as yet
but partial sufferer, why should not continue
Contented and Indifferent while | myself am
safe? In providing for the liberties of the cit-
zens, under a common government, | think
Massachusetts worthy of all honor, and not of
ridicule, because she does grow fervid on
Pennsylvania wrongs" and on the wrongs of
an entire race, whether in Pennsylvania or Cal
ifornia, certainly within the boundaries of our
own country. see no reason why my sympa-
thies as man, or the obligations of my oath as
an officer in regard to the nearer or the remoter
States, should be inverSely as the squares of the
distance. Even with regards to foreign countries,
did Mr., Webster think so, in those better days,
when his eloquent appeal for oppressed and
bleeding Greece reused the nation like the voice
of clarion? Did Mr., Webster deemit neces.
safy to make inquisltions through all the New
England States, how many Hungarian patriots
there had been shot at the tap of the drum, or
how many noble Hungarian women had been
stripped and whipped in their maIket-places, be-
fore he thrilled the heart of the nation, by the
wrongs OF Kossuth and his compatriots, and in
voked the excavations Of the world upon the
Austrian and Russian despots? | see no differ
ence between the cases, which is not in favor of
our home interests, of our own domestic rlgAis, ex
cept the difference of their bearings upon part
san politics.