Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-05-16


if, to have been raging for years. The sober
blood of the North is aroused to the fever point
The newspapers treat of nothing else. Public
meetings and private conversation discuss no
other theme. Hundreds Of delegates wait upon
Congress, to add, lift be but feathers weight,
to the scales which hold their interests. Petit
tons flow in in thousands and tens Of thousands
1t is announced that Mr.. Calhoun will pour out
his great mind on tho subject. Expectation is
on tiptoe. All eyes from all sides OF the coun'
try are turned towards Washington, as the
Muezzn's to Mecca. .,
The Senate chamber is packed, and the Illus
tr0us Senator rises. After an historical sketch
of existing difficuties-after reading from the
speeches which he made in 1882, and IN 1910,
he proceeds to say that he withdraws all opposl
ton to a tariff-to any tariff! He will not Of
fenh the nerves of Northern manufacturers, b5
further hostility. Were bill then before him.
he would not oppose it. "Take tile schedules,
SAYS he, scornfully to Northern senator's " and
fiji up the blanks from A to Y, with what per
centage yon please. For ad valorem rates put
minimums and maXimums, at your pleasure ]
will taunt you no longer. | am for peace and
the glorious Union. | have discovered an ire
pealeabIe and reversible law of nature, which
oyerrues all the devices men. You cannot
make one yard of woolens or cottons IN New
England. There, water has no gravity, steam
has no force, and wheels will not revolve. In
Vermont and New York, wool will not grow on
sheep's backs. have penetrated the geology
of PENNSYLVANIA, and through all its stratlica'
tions there is not thimblelu of coal, or an
ounce of iron ole and, if there were, combus-
ton would not help to forge it, for oxygen and
carbon are divorced.
As Massachusetts contributed one third OF the
men. and one third of the money to carry on the
Revolutionary War, am willing to compensate
her for her loss of blood and treasure, to the
amount of several hundreds of millions OF dollars,
which she may fertalize the barrenness OF her
renius, and indulge her insane love for church
es and schools" Had the great Southern SEN
aor spoken thus, think that even idoatrous,
man-worshipping South Carollna,-a state
which Mr.. Calhoun has ruled and moved, for the
last twenty five years, as puppet Snowman
plays Punch and Judy-woald have sent through
all her organs a voice of unanimous dissent
And much as freedom is higher tnan the tariff
so much stronger than their dissent should be
ours.
Mr.. Webster's avermenL that he would not
re affirm an ordinance of Nature, nor re-enac'
the will of God, has been commented on more
pungently than am able or willing to do. Il
has been said that all law and all vollton mus
, be in harmony with the will of the Good Splrl
or with that of the evil one,-and if we will no
, re-enact the will of the former, then either al
, legislation ceases, or we must register the de
. crees of the latter. But one important and per
2 tinent consideration belongs to this sublec
which have NJ where seen developed. 1t Il
t this.
:, Endless dolbts and contradictions exist amonI
0 men, as to what is the will OF God; and on n
" subject is there a wider diversity of opinlo
| than on this very subject Of slavery. Who's
8 law was re enacted by the ordinance of 1877
:, Whose, when the African slave-trade was pro
d hiblted? Whose, when it was declared piracy
= True, it is useless to put upon our statute book
astronomical laws, regulating sun rise, or hig
n tides-but that is physical and beyond the juris
Il diction of num- while slavery belongs to morals
: and is within the jurisdiction of man Ceas
d to transcribe upon the Statute-book what ou
= wisest and best men believe to be the will {
s God in regard to our worldly affairs, and tn
S passions which we think appropriate to devil
= will soon take possession OF society. In regar
f to slavery, piracy, and so forth, there are mutt
l tudcs of men whose fear OF the penal execution
5 of another life is very much aided by little sa
! utary fine and imprisonment IN this. Look
that noble array of principles which IS containe
IN the Declaration If RIGHTS in the Constitute : IT.,
, beautiful exposition of the will of Coda trans
} crpt, as it were, from the Book of life? So
the amendments to the constitution of the Uni
} ed States. Yet our fathers thought it no tam
pering with holy things to enact them-and j
times of struggle and peril, they have been t
many tempted man, as an anchor to the sou
sure and steadfast,
, approach Mr.. Webster's treatment of tn
Texas subject with no ordinary anxiety. Hav
ing been accustomed from my very boyhood, t
regard him as the almost infalible expounder G
of constitutional law, it is impossible to de
scribe the struggle, the revuIslon OF mind wit
which have passed from an instructed and Joy
Gus acquiescence IN his former opinions, to IN
hesitating dissent from his present ones.
must premise that cannot see any neces
sary or bGneficent connection between the sub
ect of new Texan States and the admission O
California, and the government of the territories
The former refers to some indefinite future, whel
from lis fruitful womb of slavery, Texas shall
seek to cast forth its untlmey birth. In tb
excited state OF the country, at this critica
Juncture OF our affairs when there is sober tall
OF massacreng majority Of the House of Rep
resentatlves, on their own floor, and senator
instead OF threatening to hang brother senator
on the his own state, now draws a revolver Of
SIX barrels on another brother Senator on the
floor OF the Senate, in mid,sesson-at snch a
time, say. when however few Abels there NAV
be at work IN the political field, there are Gains
more than enough, would it not have been well
to have said, sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof"
AS the basis of this argument, Mr.. Webster
quotes the following resolution:
New States, OF convenient size, not exceed.
ing four IN number, in addition to said State ot
Texas, and having sufficient population, NAV
hereafter, by the consent of said State, be form.
ed out OF the territory thereof, which shall be
entitled to admission under the provisions of the
federal constitution. And such States as NAV
be formed out of that portion of said territory
lying South of 36 deg. 80 min. North latitude
commonly known as the Missouri compromise
line, shall be admitted into the Union, with Or
without slavery, as the people of such State ask
ing ADMISSION may desire aud in such State or
States as shall he formed out of said territory
North OF said missouri compromise line, slavery
or involuntary servtude, Except for crime) shall
be prohibited"
Note here, first, that only "Gour" States are
" w ouLltlOu III uuulllOll 10 lllt stale OF ley.
as" and, second, that such State or ,SoJeq vi,
the pluraD as shall be formed from territo Sr,,
north of Sc deg 30 min. shall be free. If fpo, Or
only one free State is to exist on the north s;de
of the line, then how many will be left for the
south side 3? should expose myself to ridicnio
were to set it down arithmetically, four minus
one, equal to three. Yet Mr.. Webster saws ,,,bs
guaranty is that new States shall be made ont
OF it 1.-THE Texan territory and that such States
as are formed out of that portion of Texas lvin1
south Of 30 deg, 30 min. may come in, as slave
States, to the number of -FOUR, In addition IN
the State then in existence, and admitted al that
time by these resolutions" p. 20. N'
Here Mr. Webster gives outright to the South
aud to slavery, one more State than was contrac-
ted ior,-assumDg the contract to be valid. He
makes donation, a gratuity, oil an entire slave
State larger than many European princjpalitv,