Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-03-14

PuOHsned IN tne newspapers, statlng Tor tne MS
formation of fre mother in New York, who
wished TO redeem her daughter from bondage,
that they cannot afford to "sell the girl Emily
for less than eighteen hundred dollars" Why
this prodgious price? They add, "We have
two or three offers for Emily from gentlemen
from the South She is said to be the finest
looking woman in this country"
Should this devoted victim escape from her
keepers, and be afterwards found concealed IN
her mothers house, not only is she to be car
RED back and subjected to the fate intended for
her, but the mother is liable by the present bill
to be sentenced to pay fine Of FIVE hundred
dollars to the United States, to pay Messrs
/ Bruin and Hill one thousand dollars for DANA
ges, and be imprisoned six months. We hope
for Mr.. Clay's reputation, no "farthest senator
/ from the southD will sak far- heavier penaltes,
| for # he does, Mr.. Clay is pledged to vote for
"the heaviest sanctions" that may be proposed.
But suppose this poor girl should find her way to
Peekskill, instead of New York, and in your ab-
sence, with bursting heurt, asked to be sheltered
in your house from her pursuers Can you for
a moment admit the possibility that your wife,
the mother of your children, could, through fear
of the law, unsex herself as to turn the tremb-
ling fugitive into the street, to be caught by the
hunters? A thousand times rather would you
see the partner of your bosom enduring Mr..
Clays heaviest sanctions" than bringing gno-
mny upon herself and covering her husband
and children with shame and confusion of face
by the committing Of a crime so foul and damn
able.
Nj. Mason, in his speech, insists upon the
right of the hunter, " to enter peaceably any en-
closure or dwelling where such slave may be
found, for the purpose of taking him." Should
this asserted right be incorporated into the com.
promise BILL then may Southern rutfians and
Northern doughfaces ere long be roaming
through our bedrooms and ransacking our clos.
cts in search Of prey.
, Should an attempt be made to enforce the heav-
lest sanctions of the law, for which Mr.. Clay is
so ready to vote, he may be assured the prisons
in New York and New England are too few to
hold the vast multitndas of men and women who
would willingly tenant them rather than peril
their own souls by bctraying the fugitive or as
sisting in his capture. Mr. Clay very kindly
declines requiring a private individual to make
the tour Of his whole state" in search of slave,
but he insists that all who are present when the
game is started, ought to follow the hounds
f Could he but enforce this obligation, we Should
f have some grand turn outs in New York and
. New England, something like one fancled by
s the poet:
n Guy luck to cur hunter how nobly they ride
In the glow Of their zeal and the strength Of their pride
The priest with his cassOck thrown back on the wind,
Just screening the polite statesman behind
4 Tbs saias and sa siRRsE Sil 'fRsaysaapd drawer
i =. ;,s.s ;s-i.sv $50 ,-s.,siss
In this land of the trave and the home the fee
If Right merrily hunting the black man, whose sin
h Is the cu.l of his lair and the hue of his skin:
So speed to their huhli ng DER mountain and glen,
y Through the cane-brake and forest-the hunting OF
@ men -
'r But the Constitution This instrument de-
Is cares, i'll substance that the fugitive slave shall
r be delivered up; but Mr.. Clay, believe, is the
first lawyer who has contended that the obliga-
10 ton of delivery rests upon "private Individuals
- Even Mr.. Mason, in his speech, insists that the
1t mandate to deliver up is addressed to the iu
4 rlsdction of the state into which the fugitive
RS may escape
I'd Ofcourse individual citizens, az such arc un
= der constitutional obligation to volunteer tc
ID catch slaves. But suppose positive law SHOULD
70 enjon such individual to betrap or aid in cap
st turing the fugitive ?--the question put by thc
IL apostles when legally forbidden to teach in tht
E. name of Jesus, would then recur: "Whether i
)" be right in the sight of God, to hearken untc
IN you more than unto God, Judge ye" 1t is no
&c merely the right but the duty of christian tc
n refuse an active obedience 10 any and every Law
le of man, which he believes contrayenes thu
commands of his maker and then, like the apos
W ties, to offer no forcbe resistance to the penal
er ties attached to his disobedence.
ar Mr. Clay may be assured, that the bill o
pains and penalties which is promised in his sew
We enth resolution, will not have the composin!
influence he anticipates. Filling our prison
s with pious, benevolent kind hearted men an
IL women, will have little effect in suppressing up
y taton.
NJ In his compromise anodyne, Mr. Clay ha
10 omitted an important Ingredient. Ample provi:
Oh ion is to be made for the recovery of Souther
ID slaves, but none for the recovery of Nouher
nj citizens If the constitution gives the Souther
r. planter right to seize his slave in New Yor
or Massachusetts, equally explicit is the gran
nd to the citizens of those states to enjoy all til
is rights of citizenship in South Carolina. Yet
lid certain Of our citizens lreeholders, and electo
nd at home, think proper to visit that state, pr
'of on is the only dwelling they are permitted to oc
in cupp and should the state to which they be
ny long send an agent 10 inquire why they are in
IN INJURED in Jail, and to bring their cases befor
g- the Supreme Court of the ULited States, he
rer compelled to flee for his lie.
g. The last item of this grand compromise
e- virtually guaranty that the American SLAVE
IN trade, vile and loathsome as it is, shall be heI
try sacred from prohibition or obstruction by tn
federal government for all time to come. Th
IN stars and stripes shall forever protect each coas
he ing vessel that shall be freighted with humu
'e misery and despair, and nanacled cofles shal
wo without molestation be driven across the cont
INT nent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I'll
ed slave trade in the District, that is in one sing
'n- market, Mr. Clay pronounces detestable, ar
lIa talks with horror Of the corteges which pas
i'll along our avenues Of manacled human beings
But why this sudden outburct of indignatic
erv against a lawful commerce? Is ii dishonorab
est to sell merchandise? Has not Mr.. Clay himse
al" proclaimed, "that is property which the la