Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1851-10-23
From the Evening Post.
SIX Hundred Men to be Hang d.

The administrator JouIndio a." ''
rous for the condemnation OF all who were
.enpased in the late disturbances at Syra-
cuse, and all who were in any manner con-
ce-ned in the affair at Christiana, as gulIty
of treason. There were about hive hyhdred
men engaged in the rescue OF the slave at
Syracuse and about a hundred are IN some
way implicated in the affair at ChrisiIana
All these, if the demand Of the admn'stra-
ton and its friends is gratifed, are to be
hanged; for the punishment OF treason by
our law is death, aud all who in any way
favor reasonable action are considered
by the law, not as accompices and there
fore subject to lighter punishment, but as
principals and liable to the uttermost pen
atty. One of these journals, the Syracuse
Star, quoted in this mornings journal 81
Commerce, demands that the clergy, espe-
cially those of Syracuse, who preach against
the Fugitive Slave law, should be punished
for this, equally with those who led the riot
i'm other words, that they should be hang
ed. We are to have victims, not slngly out
by hecatombs; the administration thltsts
for blood and must bave it, not III shallow
draughts but in rivers.
But it demands loo much. Let il beware
lest by prosecuting these men for crime
which the public sense will almost unani'
mously declare that they never committed,
1t does not furnish them an opportunity to
escape from all punishment whatever. we
do not Justify the conduct of those who
were engaged in the riots at Christlana ana
Syracuse we uphold no man in iorcIble
resistance to the ordinance respecting fugl-
tive slaves, detestable as we think it but
we hold that the attempt on the part OF Mr.
Fillmore's administration, and its creatures,
to change the character of these riots, from
that which they truly bear-as occasional
acts of resistance to law-and cause them
to be regarded as acts of war upon the UNI
ted States, in order that the punishment
may be the more bloody, and involve
greater number Of victories, is proceeding
much worse than the offences committed at
Christina or Syracuse, as murder is worse
than mansaughter. Let the administration
belhink itself whether it is likely to sue
coed in this attempt, when the lurles OF the
country come to pronounce upon the lnno-
cence or guilt of the accused.
Is there jury in Pennsylvania or New
York, which will allow itself, at the instance
of the government or any of its partlsans,
so far to forget its common sense as to say,
that the country is or has been in state OF
civil war; for this in fact is the point In
question Treason, by the constitution,
consists "onIy in levying war against the
United States" or aiding those who are at
war with them. Observe the phrase cho-
sen, phrase Of very particular meaning,
" Ievying war ;"-impIying not a transltory
resistance, not occasional acts OF violence
) or hostility, but an armed organization for
withstanding and breaking up by bloodshed
the authority of the government within Its
) rightful sphere.
Will any jury, in any part of the coun-
try, when they come to compare the acts OF
the accused with the words of the cons.ltu-
ton, say on oath that there has been war
in the country of late-a war waged, LEVIED,
organized-or anything else than a mere
outbreak of the popular feeling against
d hated law! In some parts of The country
d where this law has been put in execution,
the people have looked on with gloomy
f and disconnected acquiescence; in some,
) as in Syracuse, their indignation has over
mastered their discretion, and they have
rescued the prisoners in other cases the
free people that unfortunate race to which
the slaves belong have resisted the law, and
, taken the slave from its grasp. This very
diversity in the manifestations of discomfort
with the law, shows that there is nothing
like war in the country, nothing like an or
ganized system of hostillties directed a.
ganst the government.
r Those who have resisted the law have
made themselves amenable to the courts for
breach of the peace, for unlawful violence,
, tor riot. This is their crime, and for this
lei them be punished; but let there be no
strainng of the words of the constitution
and the laws from their fair and Just mean
; ing, i'll order to make the administration of
justice snare for mems lives, and pretext
for condemnlng our fellow-ciliZens to the
, gallows by thousands. If the federal ad-
V minstratlon perseveres in this course, we
! predict for it signal and ignominous de-.
feat. Its agents will find themselves repuls-
ed by the verdicts of the juries, and will
steal out from the courts in disappointment
r and shame.
L Some stress has been laid, by the journals
}, in the interest of the administration, on the
c opinions of English jurists, as to what con-
r stitutes treason, and the words of Judge
:, Chase, Of the United States Court, have
been cited, interpreting the leyying of war
to mean almost any act of forcibe resist
ance to the laws, in which more than one
= person is engaged, We have, for our part,
y little regard for such opinions, inasmuch as
d those who hold them manifestIy sought by
d subtle interpretations to extend the power
of men in authority to avenge themselves
Oh their political adversares. The mean
ing Of the constitution in regard to treason
= is so plain to every mans common sense
!" that it needs no legal gloss
III AS for Jud ge Chase, his expostions of
l. the constitution, which are now quoted with
y such Difference, were given by him at the
S trial OF John Fries, for his conduct during
k which, among other matters of accusation,
l. he was lmpeached before the Senate
Fries, IN 1893, headed successful attempt
0 to rescue thirty prisoners from the hands Of
the United States Marshal, who had them
n IN custody for resisting the levy of an I'M
I'd popular direct tax. Fries was prosecuted
d for treason and found guilty; his compan.
r, ions were found guilty of high INSIDE
10 meanor.
The President pardoned Fries and thus
}. wisely quieted the public indignation. On
d the Impeachment of Judge Chase, the arti-
Gle which accused him of g arbitrary, OPP
PressIye and unjust conduct ON the trial