Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-12-26

The Fugitive Slave Bill in Canada.

for the restoration of fugitive slaves. There IS
some difference of opinion in relation to union
with the States but when you come to speak OF
the Fugitive Slave Bill" all parties agree in,
denouncing it as one of the viest pieces OF leg
islation IN existence. We hope, in mercy to
the slave, that Canada will remain as she is
Not even the murderer under the Mosaic dis
pensation was deprived Of place of refuge to
which he could fee from the baud of the aveng-
er, and await the decision Of justice. But we
who claim, in addition to our religion, to be al
most the only free nation on the face of the
earth have shut every egress to him whose on
" crime is the desire to become the master Of
himself--the partaker of our boosted freedom.-
We thank God that there is one little nook to
which the slave can flee and be at peace.
But let US quote few paragraphs to show
what Canada thinks of the fugitive slave BILL
The writer from whom we take our xtracts, is
a correspondent of the Montreal Herald. He is
said TO be one IF the most able English writers
Of the dav. who never yields his pen, save i'll the
cause OF freedom and humanity.
This bill will make slave States OF all the
States 1t is measure of such enonnity, so
trocions violation of the panest dictates of
right and Justice that in no country where
free and honest press exists, ought its adoption
to be unmarked by the strongest repIoba-
ton"
Alter enumerating somc of the provisions Of
the BILL in relation to the affda Wit of the pursu
err the inefficieDcy of the testimony of the slave,
; and that he Is not to be taken according to the
legal forms of n free State, but to those of the
slave State from which he fed, the writer OBJ
serves
+ Truly, the spirit of the Pilgrim Fathers is
tanned down in their posterity. Let this doc
trine spread in EHrope let it be conceded that
free soil does not make free man, and
i, thnre Is no longer any refuge from oppression,
r p'n"e"t States indeed WHY Won Nau,
It E"g'dhders VIII be nothing but slaves and H..
s slave catchers OF the South. You will be thar
e man traps their blood hounds"
r. "Any person, according 10 this bill, aiding or
}. abetling the escape, or interposing to prevent
e the arrest, and reconveyance, will be subject to
- = fine of $1,000, to six months Imprisonment, and
, forfeiture OF $1,000 by way OF civil damages 10
h the pursuer. Really, the contrvels of these
u clauses, ought to have framed list of human
. feelings, and Christian precept, with appropriate
- according TO their ethlcs) penalties Tor EACH
st There should be fms for phanhropc words,
II and prohibiting penalties on pity. Congress
y. should carry out the prlncip e-Gl0 for bestow.
O ing penny on beggar incarceration with
hard labor, for administering soup to the starry
J. ing; and sixty lashes with cat o'.nine tails,
c for sympathy with manned slave. There should
be tariff for tears when shed on account of ne
e gro sufferngs"
If Thus the chain is riveted. The free specta
I tors of the outrage are not permitted even to be
: passive. Securities are exacted by the South,
r against public opinion in the North People
shall pay for looking on, if the SLAYER is baffled
{ by an actual rescue An alleged slave, liberat-
f ing himself, IS sight not to be seen with mpu-
r nifty. Property knows no such laws as these :
e nor has even contrived them in It's proudest Gu
pidity. A landowner is an angel, compared
' with slave. owner. Food monopolies are mir.
acles of mercy, compared with Fugitive Bills"
f 81 make no appeal on this subject, to what is
after all, the one great reality OF political exist
t ence-the rights of man. Nor to that grand
Declaration which pretaces the Constitution of
the United States, and records in blazing char
A acters, the inconsistency of their Legislators.
Nor 10 rake up, or take, Tor they are too
q bundant to need raking for them--the autlent-
e Gated tales of gross cruelty and outrage which
}, are the inevitable concomltants of slavery.
avoid also adverting to the unnatural horror OF
the fact, that often the slave-owner works, sells,
lacerates and pursues, with more than blood
hound ferocity, his own flesh and blood, the
. profitable and marketable issue of his own en-
forced embraces. The slavery faction is past
all these considerations. Nor is the American
public moved by them so as to pnt forth its en-
/, ergy to crush the system from whence they
: spring. pass them by. But there is one thing
s for which all America cares, and that is Euro
n pean opinion. Now, let America know that the
r Old World hears with amazement, with scorn,
t with contempt, aud with loathing, of such q
s law"
: "There is no party in GrHat Britain, or on the
j.. continent, that withholds its rebrobation. The
. authors and agents of European vilanies, in the
name of religion and order, shrug their shoulde
at il and amid the tempest of hatred which
o beats on them wherever press and voice are free
hug themselves to think that there are blackel
souls in the world, and human devils more
damned The recreants of liberty in Europe
the towards who fed the struggle, or the Ju'
dases who destroyed their cause, point 10 Re-
publican Senate, succumbing under faction o
70 slaves, bless God they are not 80 false and pu'
i. sillanimous as those Americans. Democracy
e hides its face at the story, or changes its bushes
f. Tor the glow ofburning Indignation. Monarchy
h. is proud, and walks stately as in the robes ofin
N nocence. Even West Indian planters boast that
% they needed nothing like this, in the day wher
p thew were the most reviled, and they step OF
io with heads erect. The waves of the Atlantic
Is groan at yon, Americans! its winds hiss al
40 YOU The worlds opinion you sink yourself
" below opinion No body is asked what his oPin-
at ion il of the foulness which you protectby leg